The Lost Wife by Susanna Moore

Author:Susanna Moore [Moore, Susanna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2023-04-04T00:00:00+00:00

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Two Sisseton arrived at the agency this morning to tell Lieutenant Costello—they will no longer parley with Weems—that warriors would soon be arriving to fire a salute in gratitude for his help. Dr. Brinton sent me word of this as I was working in the garden with Henrietta, and we took the children into the house, not wanting them to be frightened by the noise.

An hour later, I saw a thousand warriors in war paint coming across the plain, singing and firing their guns. As they reached the agency, the braves jumped from their ponies and ran to the warehouse, where they began to hack at the doors with their spears. Little Crow and three of his men came up the porch steps and into the house, shouting and swinging their blankets as they demanded I give them an ax. James was playing on the floor with Jacob and looked up with a smile when he saw them. Henrietta, both Anne and her own baby in her arms, stood behind me.

Little Crow’s war bonnet reached the low ceiling of the hall. He was no longer dressed in trousers and a gingham shirt, but wore a breechcloth and quilled leggings decorated with tufts of hair, and a necklace of bear claws. He had painted a red hand across his mouth and I could smell the paint. I had taken hold of a pistol when I first saw them in the yard and hid it in the folds of my skirt. When I saw that they meant us no harm, I slipped the gun behind a sofa cushion and showed them the ax kept under the back stairs.

Lieutenant Costello ordered the soldiers to strip away what was left of the doors, gesturing to the braves to take what food they could carry. The men dragged barrels of flour and corn from the warehouse and loaded them onto their wagons. As they pushed their way past him, Costello shouted that he would give them more food in the morning as well as hold a council, provided they leave the agency.

I am not sure he has the authority to make such demands, but it hardly mattered. Major Weems had disappeared. I noticed that several of the soldiers had pissed their pants. The hot air was filled with dust and there was the smell of horses and sweat. Dr. Brinton emerged from the dispensary in his white coat, holding an excited James by the hand and what looked like a scalpel in his other hand, and stood on the porch with me and Henrietta.

As Little Crow mounted his pony, he laughed and waved the ax at me, his many teeth seeming to spill from his mouth. When the braves rode away, the soldiers yelled threats at them and fired their own rifles into the air. It was difficult to hear, but as Dr. Brinton took Anne from my arms, he said, “Have you lost your mind, wife?”

Later that evening, I overheard Major Weems tell Mr.

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