And, leaning in toward her, he kissed her, then he signed, "I cannot speak of it, because this plan I have is given to me by Sun, the Creator. Now, I must prepare. We leave in the morning to go into the Flathead camp. Remember, we cannot return home until you speak to the Black Robe."
"Aye," she whispered. Then again, "Aye."
****
On foot, they set out the very next morning, having slept very little during the night.
Liliann was stumped. All night long, she had watched First Rider fuss over his medicine pipe, cleaning it and adorning it with feathers hanging from its stem. Then, from one of his bags he had extracted a long cord of tobacco, and placing both the pipe and the cord into a buckskin wrap, he had set it aside and appeared to be, at last, satisfied. He had also found and decorated a single stick with feathers, and had decorated a beaded ring he wore upon one of his right fingers.
Though neither of them had brought a change of clothes, they cleaned those they wore as well as they could. Then, braiding each other's hair, she placed some reddish paint on her cheeks, while First Rider adorned himself with a feather attached to the back of his head, in addition to masculine earrings and a beaded, looping shell necklace hanging down over his white buckskin shirt.
Then, standing up from their tiny camp within the timber—he first, and in the lead—they walked toward the Flathead encampment. They were met by several Flathead scouts and warriors, most of whom wore expressions of wonder at the Pikuni man leading a white woman behind him. And, how they stared at her.
Had they never seen a white woman? Liliann was to learn later that this was, indeed, the first time they had ever beheld a white woman, and because of her unusual pale hair and deep-blue eyes, instead of asking First Rider his purpose in coming so far to visit them, they instead made a clear path for them, while their leader led them into camp and directly to the chief's lodge, as was customary. No one inquired about Liliann's or her husband's purpose in coming to their village. Indeed, so startled did the scouts and warriors appear to be, they quietly followed First Rider and Liliann into camp.
The leader of these scouts and warriors opened the entrance flap of the chief's tepee, and ushering First Rider and her in, he showed them where they were to sit, which was to the right of the chief.
The chief, a man of perhaps fifty years, looked up at them and said with sign, as well as broken words in the Blackfoot tongue, "Welcome, medicine man of the Pikuni, whom I remember well from last summer. And, welcome to the woman with him. My lodge is your lodge while you remain with us." The chief then called one of his women to him and, with a few words and sign, which Liliann could see, bid her to leave and ask a person amongst their tribe to come and act as interpreter.
The chief's woman hurriedly left the lodge to attend to the task he had given her.
Then, said the chief in sign, as was custom, "Let us take up the pipe and smoke it." As soon as this was done, the chief asked, again using sign, "How may I help you, medicine man of the Pikuni?"
First Rider answered in sign, saying, "I have come here bearing a peace pipe to you because I would ask a favor of the great Flathead Nation." He then unrolled his pipe along the rope of tobacco, and giving them both to the chief, he signed, "I am happy to see you again, Chief Black Bull. I remember well our friendship from last summer. I have come here to the great Flathead Nation and am escorting this woman because she has need of a Black Robe. The favor I would ask is if the Flathead people might bring the Black Robe here so this woman might speak with him."
The chief, summoning another of his wives to him, bid her to find the Black Robe and to bring him to the chief's lodge. The woman left quickly on the errand.
Then, smiling at First Rider, Chief Black Bull signed, "Thank you for these gifts. I am very happy to receive them. Wehave long been without tobacco and have been using only the red willow bark to smoke in our pipes. May I smoke it now?"
"Yes.The gift is yours."
The chief then bid one of his male children to come to him and asked the child to go on yet another errand for him. And, like the others, the child left in a hurry to attend to the request.
Soon other chiefs came to the lodge and were bid to enter, and once they were seated, Chief Black Bull signed to these men, "You might remember this medicine man of the Pikuni from last summer. He has brought us a precious gift, and I wish to share it all with you. He has brought us a peace pipe and a rope of tobacco."
Looks of joy, and words of what must have been praise passed between the men, and soon whatever substance had been in their pipes was dumped onto the ground, and as the chief filled the pipe with the new tobacco, his hands were shaking. The pipe was passed around the lodge, and no sooner had all smoked it when the entrance flap was thrown back and the personage of the Black Robe entered.
Meanwhile, Liliann became aware of a crowd gathering around the outside of the lodge, and so curious were the onlookers, they held up the bottom of the chief's tepee, trying to look in, perhaps, to see her and the Pikuni visitor.
The chief indicated a seat to the Black Robe—one to his left beside him as well as directly across from First Rider and herself. And, with both sign and the Flathead language, he said, "The woman you see here with this Pikuni medicine man has a question she would like to ask you. They have come here a great distance, and it is my hope you will allow her to ask her question here in my lodge. Because she is white, she might become embarrassed if she is made to feel different. Thus, it is my hope she might feel comfortable enough to speak to you here within the comfort of my lodge."
"Of course," said the Black Robe to the chief. Then, looking directly at Liliann, he said in English, "My child, I am happy to answer any questions you might have if you are comfortable doing so now. As the chief has said, you might become the object of many curious stares were we to leave here and go to my lodge. I am here. I am called Father d'Gallo. Speak, and I will listen and try to help you if I can."
Although not a single one of these men or women looked at her directly, she felt their curiosity. But, because First Rider had arranged this for her, she took a deep breath, and speaking in English, she said, "Father d'Gallo, I come to thee with a question I am hoping thou might be able to answer for me."
All was so quiet within the lodge, it was as though even the wind and sun above them were listening. Still, taking courage, as First Rider had often told her, she detailed the entire sordid problem, from her marriage to Ernest, to his promises made to her, as well as his intense drinking. It was with reluctance when she detailed the night of her beating and her escape, then First Rider coming to her at her father's request to take the stick from her eye and to minister to the knife wound on her arm.
When she paused, the Father said, "My child, I am glad you have come to me. May I ask what it is that troubles you now?"
Again, summoning her courage, she told of her love for First Rider and her father's quoting of the Scripture about how a woman can leave a husband because of physical abuse, dissolving their marriage. But, this wasn't all; she told him about how she and First Rider had found that they loved one another, and in the tradition of the Pikuni, they had become one in marriage.
"But," she continued, "me former husband, Ernest, be sayin' now I am a loose woman and still married to him. Be this true?"
Father d'Gallo paused and was silent for so long, Liliann began to believe he might not answer at all.
However, at some length, the Father asked her, "May I ask who married you, my child?"
"Why the factor at Fort Benton," she replied. "There be no one else to marry us."
