Stands Strong barely nodded.
"These gold seekers you mentioned, what did they look like and what did they say?"
As was tradition, Stands Strong waited a moment before replying. In due time, he said, "I did not see the gold seekers; I only know the results of what they did. By my oath to Sun, I will tell you what I know, although some of it was related to me by my newly married wife and her brother. The gold seekers came upon my wife's caravan in the night and convinced a scout, whom we know by the name of Hanson, to betray those who had hired him. This scout, Hanson, drank too much of the white man's poison and, throwing his lot in with the gold seekers, stole all of the gold and silver given to him for his services by the manservant, Henrik, whose duty it was and still is to take my woman's family into the Backbone-of-the-World Mountains to meet with her cousin, whom we all know as Old Tom Johnson.
"This man, Henrik, left my woman and her family alone because he decided it was important to go after Hanson and regain the treasure stolen from him. But, he was shot at several times and was badly wounded; he almost lost his life. He is, however, recovered now, and from this man, Henrik, I learned the gold seekers are heading south and west toward a place known as the "gold fields" to the whites. We know this place to be withinBlackfoot territory, but it is used by all the tribes, and with our consent, for hunting.
"This is all I know of these whites. The man, Henrik, is, as you know, now mostly recovered and could be asked to this council if there is further knowledge required about these men who chase the evil golden rock."
No one spoke, and it was at some length before the chief replied, "You are to be honored for your role in saving the life of the man, Henrik, and for bringing him here. It is as we have all feared since the Stevens Treaty with the whites of only one winter ago. As you all know, we were told by the interpreters that the whites only wished to make a road through our country; that they would not stay nor take anything from us, save their need to hunt for food. As you all know, it was at the place we callO-to-kwi-tuk-tai, Yellow River, where this treaty was made.
"But, we were not told all of the parts of the Stevens Treaty. Because the whites chose the interpreters, we were informed only of the part of the treaty that favored us, not the part of it which favored the Blue Coats. I have since asked three of the white women in our camp, who are all married to medicine men, to obtain a copy of this treaty and to read it to us in all its parts. We asked for this because of people like these gold seekers who are swarming into our country and who seem to have no god or morals to prevent them from killing or stealing. As we all have discussed, we have trouble now with these men, since they often come into our camp as though they are friends, only to molest some of our women and young girls. It is because of their actions that we have learned of the deception of the treaty, which I fear many of our chiefs signed.
"It is not right because we were not told about the treaty giving the 'right' for these strangers to enter into our country and to settle upon our lands, taking as much land as they need for their cattle. They were also given the 'right' to make towns upon our lands and to take from it whatever they would need.
"We did not know this at the treaty signing. We trusted our interpreters. Perhaps they, too, were deceived," continued the chief. "We do not know. But now, because of this deception within the treaty, and without our knowledge, we have much trouble. We must now decide what we are to do about this, because, as you know, our warriors now believe it is the whites who have broken the treaty, causing many of our warriors to go on the warpath against their coming onto our hunting grounds and settling down. Some white men have already claimed a part of our land, and some of our warriors have now sworn to go on the warpath against these whites.
"Almost-son of the medicine man Strikes Fast, because of this trouble, we might require your skills again in the future, since you and a few others speak the white man's tongue. For now, we will have to think well on this, and we will need to counsel together again in the near future about what we are to do. As you know, the killing of a white man—regardless of his wrongs against us—could bring us much grief."
Looking directly at Stands Strong, the chief went on to say, "Since you told us of your duty toward your woman, we inquired of the other bands of our tribe about your woman's cousin, Old Tom Johnson. We have now discovered this man's whereabouts from our relatives in the north. This is how we know he is no longer to be found in the Backbone-of-the-World Mountains. Because the beaver are all trapped out where he made his home in the Backbone-of-the-World Mountains, and he has moved to another place. You will now find him in the Bears Paw Mountains. You are free now to take your woman and her family there, and we will speak again when you return, since we may yet need your skills in the near future."
Stands Strong nodded and signed, "Good. It is good."
The chief then brought the council to a close, and Stands Strong, along with the others, filtered out from the chief's lodge.
Stands Strong's first thought was to return to his lodge and let his wife know where they would now find her cousin, but upon realizing he was not yet calm enough to speak to her with good words, he left to visit with his almost-mother and -father.
Áa, this is a better plan than letting the slip of my tongue further estrange me from my woman.
