The Saga of Harlan Waugh (The Mountain Men) (9 page)

Again the boys agreed, and off the trio went to the first Indian village with their goods and wares for trade. Their just-acquired goods were left under the watchful eye of Henry Fraeb and his partners for them to pick up at later time.

Chapter Ten

“No Sell Um”

Reining up in front of the central tepee he knew would house a tribal chief or important leader, as indicated by the eagle staff sticking up from the ground outside the door, Harlan dismounted. Then he realized his error!

The tepee bore the markings of the Northern Cheyenne. Before Harlan could leave because of the boys’ discomfort, out strode the chief in all his finery. Not wanting to create a ruckus by departing now that he had been seen, Harlan made the sign of peace, as did the Indian. In sign, Harlan spoke of wanting to sell his two horses for buffalo hides. The chief grunted his approval and then moved past Harlan to inspect the horseflesh. As he did, the two boys silently sitting on their horses all of a sudden froze as they stared hard into the Indian camp. Not three tepees away was a young woman carrying a large bundle of sticks for the evening’s fire. It was the boys’ older sister!

Harlan instantly sensed the boys’ uneasiness and agitation. Looking past the chief’s tepee in the direction of the boys’ gaze, he spotted the young woman.

Nothing out of the ordinary other than she is really pretty, he thought as he turned to the boys for an explanation. The words the boys spoke staggered Harlan as if he had been hit by a well-thrown tomahawk!

“Are you sure?” he asked in disbelief. Neither boy spoke, but their stares and tight-knuckled grips on their Hawkens said it all.

Then there was a piercing scream! Before he knew it, the young woman recognized the boys, ran over, and seized Big Eagle’s leg, frantically talking and crying at the same time.

The chief, stunned by the action of the young woman, quit examining the two horses, picked up a stick, and started to swing it at the woman to make her get back to her chores. It was obvious to Harlan that she was a slave. However, before the chief could strike the young woman, Big Eagle took the limb away and broke it over his knee in fury and contempt.

The surprised chief stood there for a moment and then let out a blood-curdling yell that aroused the entire tribe. Soon the three trappers were surrounded by howling Indians who didn’t even know yet why their chief had called them, but his yell was all they needed.

Harlan, quickly realizing this was a no-win situation, tried through sign to get control of the rapidly escalating events. What had started out as a simple horse trade was now heading in the direction of a bloodletting.

The chief was having none of the contempt shown by the young Indian sitting on his horse, especially because he now realized from their beaded markings that the two young men with the Hawkens were from the hated Crow Nation.

The ruckus had not gone unnoticed by the large numbers of trappers interspersed among the Indians. The call went out among the trappers that one of their kind was surrounded by the Northern Cheyenne, and soon a hundred or more had gathered alongside Harlan and the boys. A battle was in the offing unless cooler heads prevailed, and once again Jim Bridger strode to the forefront of the action.

“Harlan,” he said, “what the hell is this all about?”

Harlan explained the situation, and a cloud of concern spread across Jim’s face and those of the trappers near enough to overhear his words. Most of them disapproved of slavery. Squaw- swapping was all right because a business deal was struck in the process, but slavery stuck in the craw of most trappers.

It turned out that the Big Eagle and Winter Hawk’s sister belonged to the chief Harlan was dealing with over the horses! Hoping a deal could be struck and bloodshed averted, Harlan asked the chief in sign if he would trade for the young girl.

“No,” was his cold reply.

Then trouble came in a double dose! Out from the chief’s tepee stepped another young woman to see what the noise was all about. She was younger then the first woman and, from her general appearance, had been badly abused. Winter Hawk jumped off his horse in an instant, ran to the young girl, and wrapped her in his arms before she even knew what was happening. She was another sister of the boys who had been taken prisoner by the Northern Cheyenne during the same raid on their village.

Now Harlan had his hands doubly full of hornets, and so did peacemaker, Jim Bridger.

“What else good do you have to trade for the women?” asked Jim with a hopeful look on his face as he nervously fingered the hammer on his rifle. He knew full well this could blow up in a heartbeat, leaving this rendezvous with a special note in the history books—if anyone survived to describe the bloodbath between the trappers and the Indians over a couple of young squaws.

Harlan, realizing the danger that any spark could set off, told Winter Hawk to let go of his sister and return to his horse. There was a long, heartfelt moment as the two separated, but Winter Hawk did as he was told. Harlan then walked to his pack mule, took off a large tanned grizzly-bear hide, and walked back to the chief with a flourish and show of importance. Laying it on the ground, spread out with the fur side up for the full effect, he bade the chief in sign to sit. After a moment’s hesitation, the chief sat down across from Harlan with a scowl that seemed as wide as the mighty Missouri was long, and just as cloudy.

In sign Harlan explained, “The two young girls are sisters to my two boys. These sisters were captured in a fight many moons earlier between the mighty Northern Cheyenne and the horse-stealing, dog-eating Crows.”

Those words, deriding the Crows to smooth matters over, brought a flicker of a smile to the chief’s face ... but just a little one. Harlan went on to quietly explain that he would like to purchase the girls from the great chief.

"No sell um, " the chief said flatly in a tone of finality.

Harlan continued as if he had not heard the chief, “I will give you one horse for each woman.”

For a moment Harlan thought he saw a glimmer of greed cross the chiefs eyes because it was a very good trade in a horse-starved wilderness.

“No sell um,” the chief repeated. This time he spoke with a little less certainty.

Rising, Harlan returned to the mule and brought forth an even larger tanned grizzly-bear skin with all its claws intact. He laid it at the chief’s feet.

“The grizzly-bear hide you are sitting on and this one along with the horses for the two girls,” he bargained once again.

By now one could have heard a pin drop among the Indians and the trappers gathered around the two men seated on the bear skin.

“No sell um,” persisted the chief. But Harlan knew he was weakening in light of the more than generous offer lying at his feet. Then, removing his necklace of twenty massive grizzly-bear claws given to him by his sons from the bear that had almost killed him, Harlan laid it at the feet of the chief.

For a moment, the chief just stared at this new treasure. Then he slowly reached for the necklace in a most respectful way, illustrating the full power felt in the bear’s magic represented by the claws. As he fingered each long claw, Harlan let him be for the moment because of the magical effect the necklace was having.

Then the chief threw the necklace back down by Harlan’s knees, saying, “No sell um!”

Harlan still had an ace up his sleeve. Getting up slowly for maximum effect, he walked again to his pack mule. Removing one of his spare older Hawkens, Harlan messed with the rifle’s sights momentarily in order to create a dramatic effect for the chief. Then he slowly walked back, noticing that the chiefs eyes never left the valuable, highly prized rifle. Sitting in front of the chief once again, Harlan cradled the rifle in his arms and then, for show, lovingly caressed it. By now, one could have cut the suspense with a knife, and the crowd of trappers or Indians made no sound that would break the spell.

Then Harlan laid the heavy rifle across the chief’s knees, saying, “The two horses, the two grizzly-bear skins, the necklace, and this fine rifle for the two women—but no more!”

The tone in Harlan’s voice was not lost on the chief. The chief had bargained hard, and now it was time to make his move—or refuse the more than generous offer for the two scrawny slaves from the lowly Crow Nation. For the longest time the chief fingered the highly respected long-shooting rifle. This rifle was twice as powerful as anything his entire tribe had in its arsenal. Finally, the chief slowly laid the rifle back at Harlan’s knees, saying, “A keg of rum in addition to all this, and you shall have the squaws.”

Holding back his glee, Harlan, without taking his eyes off the chief’s, asked one of the nearby trappers to run and fetch a keg of rum, and he would make it good with Fraeb.

Soon two trappers returned, toting a keg of rum between them, and set it beside Harlan. Harlan took the heavy keg and slowly rolled it over to the chief. Then he extended his hand to close the deal. The chief skipped taking Harlan’s hand, jumped up holding the Hawken high over his head, and let out a yell of success.

His tribe joined him in hollering over the good bargain their chief had made with the crazy white man for two scrawny Crow women. When things settled down, the chief grabbed the two women and pushed them down at Harlan’s feet. Terror registered in their eyes as they looked up into the grizzly-damaged face, and that of a white man at that.

An even greater surprise awaited Harlan. A couple of Cheyenne women roughly thrust two babies into the Crow women’s laps! Harlan realized these babies belonged to the women he had just acquired in the trade. Turning, he told Big Eagle and Winter Hawk to mount their sisters and their babies on the backs of their horses and return to camp.

The women and infants were gently helped up onto the boys’ horses by the surrounding trappers. Both boys waited for a moment, looking at Harlan with tears in their eyes. Then they quickly disappeared in the direction of their camp. Rising, Harlan turned and faced those trappers who had stepped forward to back his hand, sight unseen.

“Follow me, lads,” he said. “The rum is on me, and rightfully so.”

The cheering crowd of trappers descended on Fraeb’s fur company liquor stall, and with some of his remaining credit, Harlan procured four large, uncut kegs of rum. With that, the party began in earnest!

Finally slipping unseen into the night, Harlan left the roaring-drunk party of trappers and headed for his camp. He found the boys on high alert, guarding the two shaken women and their goods.

As Harlan dismounted from his horse, Winter Hawk quickly took the reins and told him he would see that the animal was curried, fed, and watered. Surprised, Harlan walked over to the fire and discovered a pot of beans merrily cooking away and numerous pieces of fresh mule deer roasting on green willow sticks. The smell of freshly brewed coffee flooded his nostrils, and he realized just how tired and hungry he was.

Sitting on a log by the fire, he was again surprised when the older of the two Indian women served him a plate of steaming beans and several large, choice pieces of deer meat. Smiling, she turned and poured him a cup of coffee. Surprised by all the special treatment, Harlan looked over at Big Eagle with a questioning look.

Big Eagle had a smile a mile wide, and he looked back at Harlan and said, “Enjoy the attention, for it is now part of the way of this family!”

Harlan fell to the chow and ate until he was more than full. Leaning back on his log, he summoned Big Eagle and Winter Hawk over to the fire while the women excused themselves and breast-fed their babies in the lean-to.

“Would the two of you let me know what the hell is going on?” requested Harlan with a big grin matching Big Eagle’s.

Big Eagle said, “These are two of our three sisters. We just found out that the youngest of the three was killed after the raid because she could not keep up with the war party after they left the battle site.”

There was a sorrowful pause, and then he continued like the man he was fast becoming. “However, we at least have two of our sisters back! The one who provided you dinner tonight is Birdsong. She was named by my father after the morning songs of the birds that brought great joy to my people. She is seventeen summers old, and her baby is from being raped many times by the young men from the Northern Cheyenne tribe.”

There was no misunderstanding those words, recounted through tight lips and with hate-filled eyes.

“Our younger sister is named Autumn Flower. She is fifteen summers old and was raped many times by the Northern Cheyenne before and after the arrival of her baby. Despite the abuse they suffered as slaves in that tribe, they are healthy and ready to go with us. As for the babies, they are strong, if not noisy, and healthy. Can they go with us back to our trapping grounds and cabin?” asked Big Eagle as his voice hopefully trailed off into nothingness.

Winter Hawk, who had been quiet throughout his brother’s explanation, now spoke. “I will work very hard and never again say bad things about the work I have to do if we can take our sisters and their babies with us. You and they are all the family we have, and we would like to be together once again if that is all right?”

“Well, that poses a small problem,” said Harlan. “I just traded our two extra horses for your sisters, and now we have nothing for them to ride. I suppose we can try trading some of our remaining credit from Fraeb for some horses, but that may be hard to do with horses being so valuable and in such short supply.”

Continuing to think aloud, he said, “We still have the great white bear hide, which we could try to trade for some horses with the Northern Utes. But that may be a tough trail to follow as well because of the overall horse shortage. They have always been short of good horseflesh, and I don’t think they will have any in excess now.”

Big Eagle spoke up, saying, “Harlan, Winter Hawk and I have been thinking and have a plan. We realized when we left the Indian camp that we were short of horses. When we return tomorrow to the rendezvous to pick up our supplies, we will need the hide from the great white bear so we can bargain. We may be able to turn it into some horses.”