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“I’ve heard much about you, too,” Mary Beth said. “It is so good to know that some white soldiers understand the plight of the red man. Thank you for coming.”
“I knew of your husband,” Colonel Anderson said, his smile waning as he eased his hand from hers. He clasped his hands together behind him as he stood tall and slim in his immaculate blue uniform. “He had recently been given orders to join my soldiers at Fort Hope. It is a shame that General Custer chose that day to attack, for your husband was to leave for my fort on that very date.”
Mary Beth paled. “Lloyd did not confide that in me,” she murmured.
“I am sure he thought he would have time to tell you later, after the battle at the Little Big Horn,” he said, his voice drawn.
“Yes, I’m sure he thought he would be able to tell me later,” she murmured. Then she gazed up at the tall colonel again. “It would have been nice to know he was under your command, not Colonel Downing’s. He . . . he . . . is a mean, manipulative, cunning man. He has planned a massacre. He was going to start here, at Brave Wolf’s village.”
“I am here to see that his plans are foiled before they even begin,” Colonel Anderson said, gently patting her on the shoulder. “Ma’am, please accept my condolences about your husband. I’m sure he was a fine man . . . a brave soldier.”
“Yes, he was both of those, and . . . and . . . more,” Mary Beth said, her voice breaking. “I knew him since we were children.”
“Come with me to the council house,” Brave Wolf said to the colonel, then looked past him at all the soldiers who remained dutifully on their steeds. “Please bring as many of your soldiers into the council as you please.”
Brave Wolf smiled as he looked past the colonel at all the Crow warriors, who were also anxious to join the council. He was glad that when he had ordered a new council house built, he had seen that it was double the size of most normal council houses. This lod
ge was large enough for eighty men to sit in. It was twenty feet high, with the First Maker painted on one side of the room, the evil spirit on the other.
“I believe we might be more crowded than usual, but comfortable enough,” he said, then turned to Mary Beth. “I want you to join us. What we will be discussing has much to do with you. You suffered at the hand of a soldier at Fort Henry.”
“Ma’am, what happened to you at Fort Henry?” Colonel Anderson asked as he handed his reins to a small brave.
“She was attacked,” Brave Wolf said when he saw that the question made Mary Beth uncomfortable. “If you will look at her neck, you will see signs of that attack. A soldier came into her room in the dark and started choking her. Fortunately, she was able to save herself.”
“I am sorry to hear of such atrocious behavior,” Colonel Anderson said, frowning. “Was the man reprimanded?”
“Like the coward he was, he fled before anyone could get the chance to reprimand him,” Brave Wolf said, nodding toward the entranceway of the council house as he made a turn toward it.
“And so he was never dealt with, eh?” Colonel Anderson said, going into the council house with Brave Wolf and Mary Beth.
“He is paying for his crime now by having to hide,” Brave Wolf said, stunned noting that many of his people were already inside the council house. Brave Wolf nodded and smiled to them as he passed by, stopping with Mary Beth and Colonel Anderson when they came to a thick cushion of pelts that had been spread beside the fire for their chief.
He nodded to the colonel to sit first, and then he and Mary Beth sat down with Brave Wolf beside the colonel.
The evening was cool, the fire in the council house warm and welcome. Everyone became quiet as those outside filed in.
Where there was no room to sit, they stood.
Brave Wolf stood and smiled from person to person, then motioned with a hand for Colonel Anderson to stand beside him.
“Our friend and ally Colonel Anderson has come to join our fight against those who wish to see us dead,” Brave Wolf said. “Welcome him, my people. Welcome him.”
His people made grunts of welcome.
Then Brave Wolf turned to the chiefs of the other Crow tribes. “Now let us welcome our Crow neighbors who have come to form a united front against the enemy.”
There were more grunts, and then Brave Wolf and the colonel sat back down.
A young brave brought a pipe wrapped in a red cloth to Brave Wolf.
He nodded and accepted it, then laid it before him and slowly unwrapped it. The bowl was of red stone, which represented the earth. The stem of the pipe was wood, representing all that grew upon the earth. Twelve feathers hung from the stem, representing all winged things of the air.
An Indian believed that to smoke was to pray. By mingling his breath with sacred tobacco and fire, the smoker was put in tune with the universe.
Another young brave brought a tiny bag of tobacco. Brave Wolf took the bag and sprinkled the tobacco into the pipe, then gave the empty bag back to the child.
Another boy brought a flaming stick to Brave Wolf. He also took this, then held the fire to the tobacco and sucked until the pipe was lit.
