Frontier Lady (Lone Star Legacy Book #1) by Judith Pella

Author:Judith Pella [Pella, Judith]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781441262974
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 1993-03-01T00:00:00+00:00

38

In the fall of the year 1867, Deborah gave birth to a son. She could not remember the last time she had felt such pure and uncluttered joy. She had not the least reluctance to look upon this child and felt only gladness when she saw how he resembled his father.

“Except for his blue eyes,” said Broken Wing proudly.

“You don’t mind … ?”

“Why should I? They are your eyes.”

“You once said that the black hair and dark eyes and brown skin were the best gifts of the Wise One Above.”

He smiled sheepishly. “I think I was wrong. It might be that in a time before memory, a drop of white blood found its way into me also. Nevertheless, here is a Cheyenne son, as perfect as I have ever seen, and his eyes are blue like the sky where Heammawihio dwells. So it must be that the Wise One has other perfect gifts I know nothing about.” He paused, then added with satisfaction, “I will call him Blue Sky.”

That night Broken Wing went out alone and raided a Crow camp, returning home with a dozen horses, which, in joyous celebration of his son’s birth, he gave away to all his friends.

About two weeks later, runners were sent from the bluecoat fort requesting the various tribes to come in for a council.

In the preceding months, Broken Wing had committed himself to defending his tribe’s rights to the Smoky Hill region by participating in raids on the stage line and the encroaching Kansas-Pacific railroad. But he considered his actions to be of a purely defensive nature, so when the whites began to make overtures toward peace, he believed himself honor bound to follow the path of peace whenever it was possible.

The Dog Soldiers, still furious over Hancock’s burning of their village, wanted no part of it and even tried to physically bar any warriors from attending. But Black Kettle managed to evade the Dog Soldiers, and by October 14, he had moved his village south of Fort Larned to the Medicine Lodge Creek where the council would be held. Decked out in a robe of fine blue cloth, a tall dragoon hat upon his head, Black Kettle made an impressive sight as he rode up to meet the white chiefs. Broken Wing rode proudly with him, hopeful that this might be the council that would finally bring a true peace between the white and red men. Unfortunately, from the beginning, it was beset by misunderstanding, confusion, and intrigue.

Black Kettle told the United States commissioners that the Dog Soldiers were still on the warpath and he warned the officials that he could not guarantee that they wouldn’t attack the camp. He also wanted eight more days to gather in the rest of the tribe. The commissioners were not happy about this delay; after all, the Kiowa, Comanche, and Arapahoe were already represented. They did not comprehend that in the Cheyenne power structure, a chief was not a supreme authority. He made no major decisions without the approval of the tribe in general.

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