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"Well, I must find a way to remedy that," Jolena said, glancing over her shoulder as Moon Flower came walking back toward them. "Somehow."
Her eyes brightened when she saw Double Runner step from the crowd and offer Moon Flower a tray of food. When Moon Flower smiled up at him and accepted the tray and sat down with him so that they could eat together, Jolena concluded that she did not have to worry too long about this beautiful, slight woman. Even though she was pregnant, what manbesides her brother Kirk, who could not see past his prejudicescould not see the worth of a woman such as Moon Flower? Jolena leaned close to Spotted Eagle. "I think we have nothing to worry about," she whispered. "Moon Flower is too lovely not to have a father for her child well before it is born."
Then Jolena laughed softly. "I will be sure to have a dream that will make that prediction come true," she said, then began eating the meat with her fingers, contented through and through.
When the time came for games to be played among the warriors, Double Runner came to Spotted Eagle, his eyes gleaming mischievously.
"My friend, you have won the challenge of finding a woman of your desire, but can you today win the challenge of the it-se-wah?" Double Runner taunted. "Or is your mind only on one thing? Hai-yah! Ok-yicome! Join the game!"
Spotted Eagle gave Jolena a wavering glance. When she nodded and smiled, giving her silent approval, he jumped to his feet and followed Double Runner to a level, smooth piece of ground that had been selected for the game. At each end a log and two bows and quivers of arrows had been placed.
Jolena stood among the crowd of Blackfoot who were going to watch the warriors gambling with a small wheel called the it-se-wah. It was about four inches in diameter and had five spokes, on which were strung different colored beads made of bone.
Spotted Eagle and Double Runner took their places at each end of the course. Jolena looked anxiously around her as the men who were not playing began to bet on the side, some choosing Spotted Eagle as the winner, others choosing Double Runner.
When the game started, Jolena cheered Spotted Eagle on as she watched, wide-eyed, to see how this game was played. The wheel was rolled along the course, and Spotted Eagle and Double Runner aimed their arrows at it. Points were counted accordingly as the arrows passed between the spokes, or when the wheel, stopped by the log at the other end, came in contact with the arrow. The position and nearness of the different beads to the arrow represented a certain number of points. The player who first scored ten points won. Jolena could tell that it was a very difficult game and that a player had to be very skillful to win it.
Spotted Eagle was the victor. Double Runner embraced him, laughing and sweating. "You have won it all today, my friend," he said, his eyes dancing. "You have much to celebrate tonight in your lodge."
Jolena blushed, understanding his meaning and anxious to be a part of her husband's victory!
Chapter Thirty-Five
Five Years Later
It had been a long and tiring day for Jolena. She had gone with the other women of the village to dig up a good supply of camas root while it was still in its blooming stage. A large pit had been dug in which a hot fire was bu
ilt, and the women had baked the camas for hours.
Now the sun had set and a cool spring breeze was blowing through the camp. A roaring fire was burning in the firepit as Jolena sat beside her father inside Spotted Eagle's lodge. They had just eaten a delightful meal of camas, the fresh-roasted roots tasting like a roasted chestnut, with a little sweet potato flavor.
Jolena gazed proudly over the fire at Spotted Eagle as he was telling their son, Yellow Eagle, the different ways to count coups.
Although only four, Yellow Eagle was an apt student of Blackfoot lore and customs, already able to ride a horse and shoot the small bow and arrow that his father had made for him.
Yellow Eagle was just like his father in features, manner, and habits. And this made Jolena very proud and happy.
The only thing missing from their lives now was Spotted Eagle's father. He had passed to the other side, over the mountains into the ghost land, the Sand Hills. On the day of his burial rites, Spotted Eagle had stood before his people and had spoken to them of being their chief.
The people of his village had cheered him on, looking to him as a leader who would keep them in peace, for Spotted Eagle took pride in the fact that from his earliest days never had he fought the white man.
Now Spotted Eagle was beginning to prepare his own son for the role of chief. "Long ago, my son, when I was a small child of three, my father sat me down beside him, as you are sitting with me now, and taught me many things," Spotted Eagle said.
Spotted Eagle stopped in mid-sentence and eased Yellow Eagle from his lap when the sound of horses approaching outside broke the silence of the moon-splashed village.
"Who can that be?" Jolena said, scrambling to her feet.
She joined Spotted Eagle at the entranceway and stood aside as he lifted the buckskin flap and peered outside. Then he stepped from the tepee, Jolena following him.
She slipped her arm through Spotted Eagle's as they awaited the arrival of those who were approaching. There were ten horsemen, flanked on each side by Spotted Eagle's sentries, who kept a constant vigil surrounding the village, to keep enemies from attacking.
The moon was bright, and as the horsemen grew closer, Jolena recognized more than one of them as white people, not only by their attire, but by the beards that some of them wore.
"It has been many moons since white people came into our village, especially without an invitation to do so," Spotted Eagle said. "I do not wish to share a smoke with any of them. Too many are taking land that does not belong to them! If ever I make war, it will be against them!"
"Warring is not the way," Jolena murmured. "I hope that you will not become as the Sioux, Sitting Bull, who is seeking confrontation with the white soldiers. I hope that you would still follow your own heart, darling, by never seeing war as the only way to find justice for our people."
Spotted Eagle gazed down at her. "It is always good to hear you say 'our people'," he said, smiling. "Fawn, for so long you were not a part of us." He paused, then said, "And do not worry about warring. I differ from Sitting Bull. It is still my intent never to see the blood of our warriors spilled across the land. If there is a peaceful means to settle disputes between our people and the whites, I shall always find it.'' "And what of the Cree, your archenemy?" Jolena dared to ask, glad that while she had been married to Spotted Eagle the Cree had kept their distance.
