Wilderness Double Edition 25 by David Robbins

Author:David Robbins
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: wolverine, western series, the rockies, hawken rifle, david robbins, best western ebook, nate king explorer, pp westerns
Publisher: Piccadilly

Back at the clearing, Wakumassee of the Nansusequa could not tear his gaze from the body of the man who had meant so much to him. Hunumanima had been more than the father of his wife. Hunu had been his best friend. They were much alike, the two of them. Both had been devoted to peace.

Their voices, more than any others, had urged the People of the Forest to live in harmony with the whites. There were dissenters, a few elders and others who said the whites could not be trusted. Always, it was Waku and Hunu who persuaded the dissenters to smother their animosity and reach out to the whites in friendship. To set an example, Waku and Hunu had even gone so far as learning to speak the white tongue.

The two of them had done all that on behalf of the whites, and now Hunu was dead, their people under attack.

“What have I done?” Waku asked aloud.

“Husband?” Tihikanima grasped his arm. “We must hurry to our village. Why do you stand here like this?”

“Hunu,” Waku said simply.

“He was my father and I loved him dearly,” Tihi said. “But now we must think of the rest of our people. Do you not hear the screams?”

Only then did Waku become aware of the new sounds mixed with the shots. “Come.” He made for the trail, settling into a jog. His wife ran on his left, and his daughters trailed them. They ran smoothly, with the practiced ease of long-distance runners.

Tihi cocked her head. “How is it that the whites invaded our land without us being aware?” she wondered.

“They traveled at night,” Waku guessed. His people invariably retired to the Great Lodges after the sun went down. Sentries were always posted, which Reverend Stilljoy had known, making it likely the whites had waited until dawn, when the village was astir, to sneak in close and wait for the command to kill.

“How many do you think there are?”

“I cannot say.” Waku had never bothered to learn the population of New Albion. It had to be in the hundreds, and that just in the settlement. Add the farms and homesteads in the outlying areas and the total white population was likely two to three times that of the Nansusequa.

“Our people must go on the warpath,” Tihi urged. “We must call a meeting of all the tribes and unite to drive the whites from our lands. The Shawnee, the Yuchi, the Chickasaw, the Muskogee—we must send runners to each.”

Waku had never heard his wife talk like this, and said so.

“This is war,” Tihi said simply.

“It is the Nansusequa way to seek peace with all,” Waku said.

“You can still say that after what the whites have done?”

Waku had spoken out of habit. He had been a staunch advocate of living in harmony with all people for so long that to contemplate doing differently did not come easily.

Teni was listening to her parents with only half an ear. A great fear had seized her. Not for herself, or her family, but for her people, the People of the Forest, and the life she loved.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.