Soaring Eagle

by Stephanie Grace Whitson

  “You think I believe that you are evil. But I see your ears turning to hear me. You do not wish to admit it, but you enjoy doing what pleases me.”

  The stranger shouted out. “Perhaps she is also one of a strange people, Soaring Eagle.”

  Soaring Eagle stared at the stranger carefully. Jim took off his hat and smiled. Slowly, recognition shone in Soaring Eagle’s eyes. He smiled back. “She is among a strange people, Jim Callaway. How could she act any other way?” Soaring Eagle unbridled the mare, who trotted away, snorting and bucking playfully. As he walked to meet Jim, Soaring Eagle reached out to grasp his hand in friendship.

  “I am glad to see that you have found your way back to life.”

  Jim nodded. “I, too, am glad to see that you have found a way to live.”

  Soaring Eagle shook his head. “I am not living yet, my friend. I am watching these people to see if they can show me the way to live. It is a hard thing.”

  Jim pointed to the locket. “You still wear your war trophies.”

  “They have become part of me.”

  Jim leaned on the fence and scratched the back of his neck. Soaring Eagle pressed him. “You must say whatever it is that makes your hand shake, Jim Callaway.”

  Jim grinned sheepishly and pointed to the locket. “One of the women you carry inside of that locket is here. I have brought her here. Your sister.”

  “How do you know it is my sister?”

  “Carrie Brown told us. The minute she saw LisBeth—that’s her name, LisBeth Baird—the minute she saw LisBeth, her eyes got big and she just blurted it out. Said she was the pretty lady in Mr. Soaring Eagle’s locket.”

  Soaring Eagle pondered the revelation. He took the locket from around his neck and handed it to Jim. “You look.”

  Jim complied. Looking from the locket to Soaring Eagle he nodded his head. “That’s her. LisBeth King Baird. She was married to a soldier. MacKenzie Baird. She said he was killed at the Little Big Horn—the Greasy Grass. She said he had this locket on.”

  “She told you this?”

  Jim nodded.

  Soaring Eagle said sadly, “I am sorry I have brought pain to my sister.”

  “Her people brought much pain to you as well.”

  Soaring Eagle looked at Jim. “I would have killed them all if I could. Now I look for a better way to victory. They want to keep us all on the reservation. I will learn from them. Then I will leave the reservation and show them that the Lakota are men.” Soaring Eagle learned against the fence and folded his arms. “I would like to know my sister.”

  “She’s very confused about things right now.”

  Soaring Eagle turned to face Jim. “Tell my sister that I will not make her look upon my face.” Jim nodded, and then Soaring Eagle added, “Wait.” He trotted to the barn and came back clutching a yellowed quilt. “Tell her that I give her this to say that I grieve for what has caused her sorrow.”

  Jim asked, “What about what her people—my people—have done to you?”

  Soaring Eagle looked at Jim and said slowly, “In my village there were bad Lakota. They did evil things. Here I have learned that there are villages where there are good whites. People who wish to help. What is happening to my people is bad, but not all the whites are bad. When you give this to my sister, you must tell her that what was done to her husband was a bad thing. But not all the Lakota are bad. Her father, Rides the Wind, was a good Lakota. Tell her that her brother, Soaring Eagle, is trying to be a good Lakota.” Soaring Eagle ran his hand over the surface of the quilt.

  “This was made by Walks the Fire. Jesse King. The story was told of this blanket, that when it was brought into our camp, Jesse King’s friend, Prairie Flower, owned it. Prairie Flower kept it with her even after Jesse King left our people. It has remained with us and we have remembered that not all the whites are bad. Now you give it to my sister and tell her that I wish her peace. I hope that she will live in peace.”

  Soaring Eagle walked back to the corral and whistled low. The black mare came trotting over. Soaring Eagle turned to Jim. “When this mare was wild, she kicked at me. But then I showed her that I was kind, and now she comes to me willingly. When I was wild, I kicked and fought the white man. But I have seen that the white man can be kind. And so I stay among them willingly to learn their ways. It is better than killing.”

  Jim nodded in agreement, and then smiled when Soaring Eagle added with a shrug. “There are too many of them. We cannot kill them all.”

  “Do you regret that, Soaring Eagle?”

  Soaring Eagle smiled ruefully. “I have spent much time wishing that things were different. That way brought only unhappiness. Now I am trying to learn to live with the things that are different.”

  “And has that brought you happiness?”

  He pondered the question before answering. “It makes my heart hurt less to stop hating. Sometimes I think that I will never be what you call happy. That is gone forever. But I am learning to live. I do not ask to be happy. I am from the old ways. The young ones who go to the mission—if they learn new ways, then happiness will be for them. That is good to watch. And I can live with the emptiness in my heart.”

  Soaring Eagle motioned to Jim. “You go back to my sister. Tell her that I am going hunting tomorrow with John Thundercloud. I give her this gift and I ask her to remember me without hatred.”

  Jim drove the wagon back to the mission alone, a yellowed quilt folded neatly beside him on the wagon seat.

  Chapter 29

  For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.

  Psalm 107:9

  Carrie Brown sat beside Soaring Eagle and dangled her feet in the cool waters of the creek. Her lower lip quivered and from time to time she wiped a tear from her cheek. Soaring Eagle wrapped his arm about her thin shoulders, and she leaned against him and cried. After a bit, she pushed away and looked up at him. “Mama’s sick, so I know we got to go. But I don’t want to.”

  “You have said you will see your grandmother and grandfather. It will be a happy time, little Red Bird. When your mother is rested, you will come back to your friends. So why do you cry?”

  Carrie sniffed loudly. “I’ll miss Christmas.”

  “They do not have this Christmas in St. Louis?”

  “Sure they do. Mama says we’ll decorate a tree and have presents and everything.” Carrie stifled a sob. “But my friends won’t be there. You won’t be there.” Her young voice quavered again. “I promised I’d tell you all about it.”

  Soaring Eagle smiled kindly and patted Carrie’s hand. “You must go with your mother, Carrie.”

  “You don’t understand.” Carrie took a deep breath and blurted out the burden of her young heart. “I promised you I’d tell you all about Jesus. At Christmas you’ll understand—then you’ll love Jesus too. You promised you would stay and come to Christmas. But if I go away, then you don’t have to come to Christmas. You can run away. I heard Pastor Thundercloud and James Red Wing. They said you might go away. But you can’t go away yet, Mr. Soaring Eagle. Not yet. You have to know about Jesus first.”

  Her young heart swelled with love and concern, and Carrie began to sob again.

  Soaring Eagle looked at her with wonder. “You cry because of this?” The red braids shook as Carrie nodded her head vigorously. “Red Bird,” Soaring Eagle said gently. “I will stay at the mission. I will go hunting with John Thundercloud, and then I will come back. When you are in St. Louis and you are celebrating this Christmas, I will go to the service. I will not run away.”

  Carrie smiled through her tears but still looked doubtful. “You promise?”

  Seeing the tears stop so abruptly and the beloved young face brighten, Soaring Eagle reached up and took off the cross and chain he wore about his neck. “This belonged to my mother. I wear it to remember her.” As he put the cross on Carrie, Soaring Eagle said, “You wear it for me now. With this gift I promise you that I will not run away while you are gone. I will
go to Christmas and I will listen. I will be here to welcome you back when you return.”

  Carrie fingered the gold cross and then solemnly dropped it inside her pinafore where it would be hidden. “There,” she said solemnly, “it’s close to my heart.” Standing up suddenly she dusted herself off. “Wait here!” she blurted out and darted up the path. Stopping at the top of the steep incline, she shouted, “I’ll be right back!”

  Carrie scampered back to the Birds’ Nest.

  “Carrie!” called Rachel. “Where have you been?”

  Carrie shouted, “Be right back, Mama, got something to give to—” The name was lost as Carrie turned to run back down the path. Soaring Eagle was still there, waiting, and Carrie thrust Ida May into his hands. “I got nothing else to give you, Mr. Soaring Eagle. But you keep Ida May here—then you’ll know I’m coming back. I wouldn’t take anything for Ida May. When I come back in the spring, I’ll give you your Mama’s necklace, and you can give Ida May back.”

  Soaring Eagle held the doll awkwardly. At the sight of the doll in his hands, Carrie was suddenly embarrassed. Hanging her head she muttered, “Never mind. It’s just a dumb old doll—”

  But Soaring Eagle interrupted her. Kneeling down to look into her face, he smiled gently and said, “I am honored that you trust me with Ida May, Carrie Brown. Do you remember when I told you that every Lakota keeps a parfleche, a box made of skins to hold those things he values most?”

  Carrie nodded.

  “When I left my people, I left everything behind except my parfleche. Ida May will sleep there while you are gone. And when you return in the spring, Ida May will be here to welcome you.”

  “And you?” Carrie insisted.

  “And I will be here to welcome you, as well.” Soaring Eagle tilted his head and said, “You must go. I hear Rachel Brown’s voice calling you.” Reluctantly Carrie trotted up to the top of the ravine. She turned and quickly signed “friend.” Soaring Eagle returned the sign. When Carrie last saw him, he was standing by the creek, looking down at Ida May, the corncob doll.

  Rachel Brown had been growing weaker as the days passed, and when LisBeth expressed concern to Jim and Agnes, they agreed that the trip to Lincoln must be accomplished as quickly as possible.

  “We have to get her home to her folks, Jim. It would be terrible if . . .”

  Agnes’s eyes grew wide when she considered the import of LisBeth’s concern. “Don’t you be stopping to rest my old bones along the way,” Agnes urged. “I’ll have nothing but rest once I get home to that empty house of mine.”

  Thus, the clothing distribution was carried out hastily and the Browns’ things packed as quickly as possible. In only a few days, the small party was loaded and ready to head for Lincoln. LisBeth had been so busy for those few days that she had been able to stop thinking about Soaring Eagle for moments at a time. Still, she found herself watching every distant figure nervously and breathing a sigh of relief when strangers did not turn out to be Sioux braves.

  Jim reassured her. “Relax, LisBeth. He promised he wouldn’t come unless you wanted him. He may be a heathen by mission standards, but he’s a man of his word.”

  LisBeth tried to calm herself and turn to the task of packing up Rachel and Carrie Brown. It proved to be a simple task, as they had few earthly possessions.

  As the wagon rumbled away from Birds’ Nest, Carrie tried to stifle her tears. Rachel reached out to hug her. “We’ll be back before you know it, Carrie. You’ll love it at Grandma and Grandpa’s. St. Louis is where I grew up. I’ll be able to show you so many things, and you can see where I went to school. You may even decide you want to go there yourself.”

  Carrie shoved away from her mother and shook her head stubbornly. “No. I want to come back here. I promised.”

  Rachel sighed wearily. “Perhaps the Lord’s plans for us are different from our own.”

  Carrie smiled brightly. “Oh, I’m sure the Lord likes my plans.”

  Rachel and LisBeth smiled indulgently and LisBeth asked, “How can you be so sure?”

  “ ’Cause they’re good plans. I’m gonna come back and make sure Mr. Soaring Eagle learns to love Jesus. We promised each other. We’re gonna be friends forever. See?” Carrie reached inside her pinafore and pulled out the cross and chain. “Mr. Soaring Eagle said I should wear this until I come back. Then I can give it back!”

  Rachel gasped. “Carrie! You should never have accepted that.”

  “Oh, it’s all right, Mama. We traded. I gave him Ida May. He’s going to take care of her for me, and I’ll take care of his cross and chain for him. He said it was his mama’s.”

  LisBeth listened in disbelief and studied the horizon deliberately. She stole a glance at the gold cross and chain, smiling ruefully at the realization that even as she fled her living brother, his presence followed her in the form of a dirty white quilt hidden deep within one of the trunks and a gold cross displayed proudly by a child.

  Peering over the edge of a hill, Soaring Eagle looked down on the small herd of deer and motioned to John Thundercloud to scramble up beside him. The two men motioned to one another and took aim. In a few minutes, they were working side by side, skinning two deer and loading their carcasses onto the backs of the string of mules they had brought with them on the hunt.

  They had been away from the mission for two weeks. Their string of mules was loaded with meat, and as John tightened a strap he smiled. “The children will have a feast when we return.”

  Soaring Eagle nodded and lead the mules along an unseen path through the hills. In a short time, the two men were sitting by a fire roasting two prairie hens.

  John Thundercloud broke the silence between them. “You have been quiet for days, Soaring Eagle.”

  Soaring Eagle took a bite of chicken before answering. He talked with his mouth half full. “All around us is open land. Emptiness.” He stretched his hand out and motioned to the horizon. “I thought that when we came here, the darkness inside would be gone. I thought that hunting in the old way would bring back the light. But these hills are empty. My brothers are not just over there,” he nodded toward a ridge, “skinning their own kills. Tonight there will be no celebration. No one waits to hear me tell of this hunt.”

  Thundercloud interrupted him. “There’s everyone at the mission.”

  Soaring Eagle shook his head. “The people at the mission are good people. I see that.” He struggled to find the words. “But they are not my people. Among my people, to be a man, we had to be good warriors and good hunters. I was a man.” He nodded east. “I have been watching at Santee. You, John Thundercloud, are like our holy men. James Red Wing is trying to be what they call a farmer.”

  Soaring Eagle tossed his chicken bone into the fire and licked his fingers before continuing. “But I have not learned how I am to be a man there.”

  Soaring Eagle settled back and waited for John Thundercloud to answer him. With a prayer for wisdom, John said, “James and I both found our way in a new world by asking God to show us what to do.”

  Soaring Eagle considered and challenged. “Which god does a Lakota ask, John Thundercloud?”

  “A Lakota should ask the God who answers—the God who says in his book, ‘Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is Mine . . . every beast of the forest . . . the cattle upon a thousand hills . . . everything that moves in the field . . . the world is Mine, and the fulness thereof.’ ”

  “And this god you say owns the world, how do I know he will answer me?”

  John Thundercloud replied earnestly. “Because he has promised to answer. He says, ‘Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.’ He says, ‘If thou seek Him, He will be found of thee.’ ”

  Once again, the bitterness of the past rose up to block Soaring Eagle’s vision of God. “If this god of yours owns all things, then why does he not care for them? Why does he let them be hurt? Why does he allow them to slaughter one another?”

 
Leaning forward, John Thundercloud answered. “I have pondered these questions for long hours into the night. All men wonder why God allows evil. In the end, we are not given the answer. We are asked to trust God and serve him. He promises that his purposes will be accomplished, even through the actions of evil men. He promises that in the end he will judge these evil things.”

  Sensing Soaring Eagle’s rejection of this message, John Thundercloud held up his hand and begged, “Hear me, Soaring Eagle. Hear the end of the matter.” Soaring Eagle settled again beside the fire, folding his arms to show his disagreement.

  John Thundercloud continued. “It seems to me that your own life, Soaring Eagle, proves that God uses men’s evil to accomplish what he wishes. It is wrong when the government breaks its treaties with the Lakota. It is wrong when the soldiers kill women and children. But did not God use those wrong things to bring you to us? Here you have heard again and again that God loves you and sent his Son Jesus to die for you. If you come to believe that, then you can have victory against all the wrong. If you come to believe that, you will have eternal life. Soldiers can come and kill your body, but you will go to be with God. The government can break its treaties and take your land, but you will still have your home in heaven. That is freedom. Knowing that nothing men can do to you will change your future with God. ‘If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.’ Jesus Christ died to set you free. He can help you live in a way that is right before God. He can help you live as a real man wherever you go.”

  John stopped for moment to allow Soaring Eagle to ponder the words. When no questions were forthcoming, John added, “I am still trying to learn about God. For many years I have read his book. For many years I have tried to live for him. Still, I cannot answer all your questions. If I could know everything about God, he would not be God. You have said that there is a hole in your heart. You have said that darkness covers your life. I am only a man. I cannot answer all your questions about God. Open your heart to him. He will fill the hole in your heart. He will pierce your darkness with light. I can promise you this because He did this for me. And for James Red Wing. You see many Dakota coming to church on Sunday. They have had their homes taken away, just as the Lakota. They have been killed and beaten and starved by soldiers. Still, they do not live in darkness. It is not that they are better men than you, Soaring Eagle. It is only that they have hearts that belong to God now. Ask God to show you what you must do. He will answer.”