Cousin Alfred nodded. "Come with me outside. I fear it is the only place where we might speak privately."
"Yes. Please," replied Czanna.
As both she and her cousin came to stand to their feet, Stands Strong sent her another inquisitive glance, and she, in turn, smiled at him. How she would like to invite him to join them outside, but she could not do it. Frederic had, after all, solicited her promise to give this message and the gifts to no one else but her cousin.
As soon as they stepped foot outside, Alfred led her to a place next to the corral where he kept his animals. Placing a foot atop the bottom log of the corral, he asked, "Is this private enough for you?"
"It is, indeed," said Czanna. "Let me begin by telling you how honored I am to give to you a gift my brother bid me to bring to you, and you alone. This"—Czanna reached into the bag she had taken off her horse earlier and took out an object from it, then presented it to her cousin—"is part of the treasure our family holds. I am to give it to you."
Alfred—or Old Tom Johnson, as he was known to the Blackfeet—stared at the object as though it were more of an encumbrance than what it was: their family's coat of arms. Red, white, green and blue colors of the sky, as well as the bright-brown stone of a castle glittered from their highly polished golden setting upon a rectangular wooden bed.
"Then, this means…"
"I fear it is true, Cousin. My father and mother, along with my brother, were arrested, tried and hung. Before my brother's death, he bade me to find you and give this to you, along with this letter."
Reaching once more into her bag, she pulled out the letter she had carried between sheets of wood for safekeeping all this time; it was tied with ribbons. For well over a year, she had bore these treasures somewhere on her person or in their wagon. Truly, it was with a great deal of relief to at last turn them over into the safekeeping of Cousin Alfred.
"Come here, gal," said Cousin Alfred as he brought her into his arms to hug her. "Bless you for bringing them to me."
As they stood there embraced, Czanna said, "It has been my pleasure, as well as my duty, to do so."
At last, Alfred took her by the shoulders and said, "Do you know what is in this letter?"
"Some of it, I think," she answered. "My brother told me to give it to you and said, also, that you would help me and the rest of our family to find a safe place in this western frontier…to perhaps purchase land, if possible."
"It does, indeed, say this. Are you married to that young fella back in the cabin? The one who is watchin' over you?"
She nodded. "I am," she answered. "I would never have found you if not for his ready assistance to me and to the rest of our family."
"And, do you love him?"
"I do," Czanna answered. "Very much."
"Then," said Alfred, "you are as well set as any to survive in this country. But, things, they are changin'. It would be well if I keep an eye out for land being placed on sale. It would be pure thievery of Blackfeet land, mind you, but times, they are changin', and there be those who will take what is not theirs to take. In the last year, since the treaty with the Blackfeet and the other northern tribes, we are seein' more and more of the white man come into this land, and he is of a kin we have never seen here before. He is a man who would steal and kill without nary a thought. Yep, things, they are changin', and so I will do as your brother has bid me to do. I will keep an ear and an eye out for property goin' on sale for you and the rest of your family."
"I…I thank you, Cousin Alfred. I thank you very much."
He nodded, and, placing an arm around her shoulders, he led her back to the cabin.
****
Most of the tribe had already moved away from Fort Benton, heading in a northerly direction toward a beautiful plain, there to perform their ceremonies to Sun for the renewal of their life upon these plains. When Stands Strong's small party—which now included his wife's cousin, Old Tom Johnson, and Tom's woman—arrived back at the fort, all that remained of the large Pikuni encampment was a small band consisting of only ten tepees.
How barren the plains looked without the thousands of his people's beautifully painted tepees encamped around the fort. And, how dull was the fort without the colorful camps of his people to brighten it.
His woman, Matsowá'p, said, "I miss the thousands of lodges all set up and surrounding the fort. It does not look the same. Indeed, it appears to me as though the fort, without the Indian villages, is little more than a blot upon the land."
"Áa, it does," agreed Stands Strong. "Without my people here, the land is barren. Yet, it is not all bad. The steamship brings many items to trade. Did you see there is another steamboat arrived here? It will be bringing more guns, blankets and other necessary things we will need before we join our relatives in the north. I only hope it will not be carrying more of the gold seekers. Come, your cousin and I have decided to go into the fort to see what supplies the boat brings. Your cousin has many furs to trade."
And, so it was that their party made their bid to enter the fort on this balmy day in early summer.
****
The trading room was not crowded on this day. In truth, there were only a few other people within the trading room when their party—the six men and two women—stepped foot into its chambers. Since this was the first time Stands Strong had brought his woman inside the fort and its trading room, he wondered how she might look at the place after being within the Pikuni camp.Would she compare it to the graceful Pikuni lodges? And, if she did, which would be the prettier of the two?
As he looked around the room, Stands Strong saw the many buffalo robes which were thrown over the trading table, and, gazing beyond it to the shelves behind the counter, he glanced over the many different items of trade: the striped woolen blankets, the rugs and cooking utensils, as well as the pots and pans. There were several different buckskin jackets hung on antlers at the corners of the room. At one far end of the small room was a fireplace, and, at present, a cheery fire was lit within it. Guns, knives, ammunition and paints were also amply displayed on the shelves behind the trading table, and at the corner of the table were beads of all colors, awls, needles and thread.
While he and the other men bartered for guns and ammunition, the women crowded around the sparkling colors of the beads, as well as the cups and saucers, and the pots and kettles.
