Grizzly Killer: The Medicine Wheel

by Lane R Warenski

  Red Hawk and Buffalo Heart started caring for the horses, while Sun Flower and Running Wolf laid out the buffalo robe that was Sun Flower and Grizzly Killer’s bed roll. Once they had him on the robe and comfortable the two of them started in on the fire. After they had a fire going and Grizzly Killer’s buckskins set by it drying, Running Wolf went to help the boys rub all the now dried lather from their horses. They used clumps of grass and made sure they got it all. When they were satisfied Running Wolf picked up his rifle and asked the boy to go with him to make meat, or they would all go hungry tonight. With smiles on both of their faces they grabbed their rifles and on foot headed across the meadow to the timber beyond.

  Zach had scooted over closer to the warmth of the fire and was rubbing his aching leg. Sun Flower came and knelt in front of him, told him to lay back and she started rubbing his leg. She looked over the healing wound closely as she rubbed and was relieved to find it was still healing nicely. He closed his eye and enjoyed this rub down of his aching leg. She worked on that injured calf muscles and then down to his foot then back up to the calf again. She did that several times until she was wondering if he had gone to sleep.

  She continued the gentle massage moving above his knee, working her fingers into the hard muscles of his thigh. She watched his face as she moved even higher and smiled as she saw he was becoming aroused. She moved back down to his calf and massaged around the injury again, then without saying a word she untied his breath cloth and made love to him surrounded by a meadow full of wild flowers and the sounds of the stream tumbling by. When he opened his eyes the sun was just disappearing behind the ridge to the west.

  She started to get up and add more wood to the fire but he held her tight. She just smiled and buried her face into his chest. He heard a gunshot come from the timber on the other side of the meadow and smiled knowing they would have fresh meat for their supper. He let her go with a smile and she added wood to the fire and turned his buckskins to dry the on other side.

  It was a pleasant evening as they ate their fill of fresh roasted strips of a small doe that Red Hawk had taken. It was his first kill with one of the white men’s rifles. He told the story of stalking it over and over. Grizzly Killer was proud of both of these young warriors. They were true friends and were going to be great warriors for their Shoshone people.

  19 Old Friends but Bad News

  With a good night’s rest and plenty to eat the horses, as well as themselves, were ready to travel early the next morning. The sun had just peeked over the eastern horizon as they started down the trail. There was a chill in the air as usual before sun rise and the first rays of sunlight hitting their shoulders felt mighty good to them all. Running Wolf and the boys did not have a sleeping robe with them so they had just curled up around the fire and added logs several times during the night to stay warm.

  They were making good time, not like yesterday for they weren’t tiring out the horses and Zach figured they would be back by midday. It was a pleasant ride down this beautiful canyon. There were large pure white clouds billowing up over the high peaks and he figured they could turn dark and give them showers by this afternoon. There was still snow up in the high country but the majority of the spring runoff was over. Black’s Fork was still running fairly high but the water was back to being crystal clear.

  They saw several scattered herds of deer along the edges of the trees, and one large herd of elk in a meadow. They jumped a couple of cow moose with calves in different spots along the stream and they saw a herd of mountain sheep grazing their way up over one high bald ridge. Zach still marveled at the bounty of this land.

  When they were only about a mile from camp, Jimbo ran on ahead and as he ran in wagging his tail there were smiles all around and everyone had a deep feeling of relief. The first thing Shining Star saw, as she watched the trail, was Ol’ Reds long ears but just the blink of an eye later she saw the smiling face of her husband. There were tears of joys in her eyes as he dismounted and she ran into his waiting arms. She was holding Star in one arm with the other around her man.

  That night they roasted the rest of the deer Red Hawk had taken and after they ate, each of them told the story in their own way of the great bear that had chased Grizzly Killer and the great medicine dog up a tree. As Buffalo Heart told of the great medicine dog turning into a squirrel so he could climb the tree Zach and the rest of them couldn’t tell whether he really believed it or not. They all knew this would be a story the boys would tell around the fires at night for many, many years to come.

  After the story telling was over and everyone else had turned in for the night, Zach stayed by the fire holding his baby daughter in his arms. He gently rocked back and forth and just watched her sleep. Shining Star was on one side of him and Sun Flower the other. No words were spoken, but none needed to be, they were all happy and contented just to be together.

  Zach’s leg was getting stronger each day and the ache seemed to lesson as it did. It was nearing the time to leave for Rendezvous and they had all the packs to make ready for the trip. While Zach stayed in camp working on the packs, Running Wolf took Buffalo Heart and Red Hawk out hunting. Both boys were getting better with their rifles each day. They loved learning more about the land of Grizzly Killer. Running Wolf was teaching them hunting techniques that were used by the Ute’s and they were bringing in game almost every day. They had drying racks set up making jerky and the smokehouse was nearly full. They wanted plenty of dried and smoked meat to last them through Rendezvous.

  Zach figured it was about the third week of June, or as the Shoshone called it, daa’za-mea’ the moon of summer starting. Another week and they would be on their way to Sweet Lake, the site of the rendezvous. It was at the same place as last year, right at the south end of the big lake. Zach felt excitement for seeing old friends and regretted knowing Henry Clayson and his men wouldn’t be there. He wondered how Grub Taylor and Ely Tucker had faired this past year and smiled thinking of Stinky Johnson and his Flathead woman. He hoped the pack train from St. Louis hadn’t had any trouble and the supplies would be plentiful.

  He heard a baby start to cry and that brought him out of his thoughts about the coming Rendezvous and the friends he hoped to see. He smiled as he watched Raven Wing walk over and pick up Gray Wolf and softly singing to him. Raven Wing had recovered her strength from the hard birth and loss of blood she had suffered and Zach was truly thankful that both the babies and their mothers were happy and healthy.

  Running Wolf and the boys brought in a black bear they had taken about midmorning and they spent the rest of the day rendering the fat and making jerky of the meat. The fat was needed as their supply was almost gone.

  By evening, a strong wind had started to pick up and there was no doubt in any of their minds a storm was blowing in. They made sure everything was covered and tied down. They rolled down the flap around the bottom of their teepees that they rolled up to let the summer air inside. Then turned in early as the wind whistled through the pines and they listened to the creaking of the quaking aspen. Buffalo Heart and Red Hawk moved their robes into the lodge of Bear Heart and White Feather for the night.

  They saw the flashes of lightning and heard the distant thunder before any rain had started, but not long after dark the first rain drops started hitting the buffalo hides of their lodge coverings. The storm moved in fast, one lightning strike right after another. The thunder was almost continuous and so loud it shook the ground but the teepees were warm and dry. Zach held Star in his arms as he watched his two beautiful wives slip off their doe skin dresses and climb under the warm buffalo robes of their bed. He laid Star between his wives and smiled as he got ready for the night.

  The rain lasted all night. It was very hard at first then just a gentle steady rain. By morning the ground was muddy and the whole world was wet. The clouds were still low but the rain had mostly stopped. There was just a whisper of a breeze moving the low hanging clouds and mist through the trees. Zach never got tired of th
e beauty of this place. The rain brought out the colors of the wild flowers like they had just bloomed all over again and being wet made the grass even look greener that it usually did.

  The rain had made the stream rise and the normally clear water had a muddy tint to it. The rain in the Rockies is cold, whether it falls in the spring, summer or fall, the rain is always cold in the mountains. Zach was shivering by the time he got the fire going. He stacked the wet fire wood around the growing flames to dry and would slowly add it as it dried out.

  By midmorning, the clouds were breaking up and by midafternoon the ground was drying out. Shining Star and Raven Wing had stayed inside with the babies most of the day but as the sun finally hit the west sides of their lodges they brought the littles one out to see the world.

  Zach figured on traveling easy to Rendezvous taking five or maybe six days to cover the hundred miles to Sweet Lake. He didn’t see any reason to push themselves or the animals for they had plenty of time.

  That afternoon, as Running Wolf and the boys were riding across the big meadow they saw a lone rider on his horse standing right on top of the hill where Sees Far was buried. At a quick glance, Running Wolf could see he was a Ute. He held his right hand up in the sign of friend and Running Wolf turned and he and the two boys headed right for him.

  They were still a couple of hundred yards away when several other riders rode up along-side of the first one. At that, Running Wolf stopped not sure what to make this, but they were Ute and signing friend. Running Wolf and the boys continued at a walk and the rider they had first seen started down the hill towards them.

  He was still a hundred yards out when Running Wolf recognized him. It was Two Feathers, the son of Chief Stands Tall from his own Uintah Ute village. Running Wolf kicked the Chestnut into a run glad to see Two Feathers, an old friend and as he slid to a stop he waved at the others to come down. Running Wolf waited until they were all down and invited them into camp.

  As they started back across the big meadow Jimbo came out to greet them. At first he was weary of the strangers but as soon as they spoke to him his tail started to wag. He turned and ran back into camp let everyone know they were coming in.

  It was a happy meeting, seeing friends they not seen in nearly a year. Badger was with them, he was Running Wolf and Shining Star’s uncle. As they rode into the camp Badger saw Shining Star was holding a baby and right next to her was Raven Wing with another baby.

  He was fascinated with Morning Star, and Gray Wolf, talking to and playing with both babies. Zach stood back and smiled at this old, tough warrior smiling at and talking to these new born babies.

  It was a happy reunion seeing friends again, there were two younger braves with the Ute’s, Standing Bear and Running Deer, they were about the same age as Buffalo Heart and Red Hawk. The two Ute boys were fascinated with Luna as she followed Running Wolf around like a shadow. They tried to coax her to them but she wouldn’t leave Running Wolf even for a minute. Finally, Running Wolf picked her up and handed her to Standing Bear and she turned and whined as Running Wolf walked away.

  After all of the introductions were made, the four youngsters started using sign to talk back and forth with one another. Luna had soon escaped and was right back under Running Wolf’s feet. Zach could tell with a little time these four boys, despite their differences and many generations of being enemies, would become good friends.

  20 In the Shadow of the Tetons

  The sun rose slowly behind the towering peaks of the Tetons. Grub Taylor was bent over last night’s fire blowing life back into the coals. While his longtime partner Ely Tucker was taking the horses to the creek for water. Benton Lambert, Benny as he was called, was off checking the trap line they had set up this creek they were camped on here in the shadow of the Tetons.

  As Grub blew, a thin column of smoke started to rise and he carefully added the tinder and small sticks he had gathered onto the small but now glowing coal. The slight breeze shifted, blowing the rising smoke right into his face and he rocked back coughing and rubbing his burning eyes. Then the tinder caught and as the flames flickered up eating away at the tinder and small sticks the smoke just seemed to disappear.

  The three of them had spent the spring season trapping the streams along the west side of the Tetons after spending most of the winter in Jackson’s Hole with other trappers. That is where Grub and Ely had first met Benny. He was just a kid, barely seventeen years old, he had left home to find work on the Mississippi. However, he found he didn’t like the rough and wild life on the river and soon met up with a group of men coming west to become trappers. He joined them and made the long and dangerous journey to the mountains.

  Being the youngest of the group he became nothing more than a slave to them, doing almost all of the camp and trail chores. He was up before anyone else cooking and was cleaning up and repacking after they ate at night.

  He hadn’t liked life as the farmer on his family’s little hard-scrabble farm just twenty miles up the Missouri from St. Louis. He was the oldest of seven children and he knew very well the farm couldn’t support them all, so just as he turned sixteen he left home for a life on the river.

  At first, it had been exciting, the hard drinking and hard fighting men on the river soon made the life back on the farm not look so bad. One night after a long evening of drinking a fight broke out and his only friend was sliced across his belly with a skinning knife. Benny just watched as his friend’s guts spilled out onto the muddy road and was unable to do anything except watch him die. The next morning, he left the river for good.

  He found odd jobs in St. Louis until he met up with some men that were heading west. The fall trapping season was just getting started as they reached the Wind River and started to trap. It soon became evident to all of them that trapping took skill and patience, both of which were lacking in this group. None of them were experienced trappers and the beaver just seemed to avoid their traps. By late fall Benny had started to figure it out and was having a little more success than the others and that made them jealous, so life in camp got even worse. When the streams were finally frozen over they moved on to Jackson’s Hole to spend the winter. There they met up with other trappers to wait out the long bitter cold months of the northern Rockies.

  Benny was young but strong and adventurous. He was out hunting one day when he met Grub and Ely. Grub took right too Benny’s happy-go-lucky personality and they spent the day hunting together. They started spending more and more time together, with Grub and Ely teaching Benny how to hunt and showing him how to set traps. They caught a few wolves and wild cats and through the winter they became good friends. Then the streams started to open up signaling the start of the spring trapping season Benny left with Grub and Ely to become a partner with them.

  Grub had Strips of Elk loin on sticks over the fire when Ely came and set down. He poured himself a cup of coffee then just stared into the cup at the pale, light brown water in his tin cup. He took a sip, shook his head and asked, “How many times ya figure these grounds has been boiled now. Ya got ta use yer ‘magination ta even taste any coffee.”

  Grub just smiled saying, “That’s fer damn sure. If’n we don’t get nothin’ else at Ronnyvoo we’s got ta get lots of coffee beans.”

  They sat there and sipped their very weak coffee and watched the rays of the sun as they shot out from behind the towering rock pinnacles just east of them. The dark blue sky behind the towering peaks, the pines and white fluffy clouds, all made this a beautiful spring day.

  Benny came back into camp carrying one beaver and the eight traps they had set. He threw them in the grass as Ely said, “Come on over here and get a cup of this hot water, I has give up calling it coffee.”

  Benny smiled and with his usual happy spirit said, “Now Ely, it can’t be that bad.”

  Grub just looked at him saying, “You ain’t tasted it yet.” Benny just smiled poured a cup, took a sip and said, “Well, at least it’s hot.” They all chuckled and started in on the
roasted elk loin.

  After they ate Benny told them, “I sure ain’t no expert but the fur on that there beaver is sure thin compared to those we got last month.”

  Ely walked over to it and ran his fingers through the hair and told them, “Looks like our trappin’s done fer this season. The fur on this here critter ain’t even worth skinin’ it.”

  Benny jumped up saying, “Maybe not but I’ll skin it, I didn’t haul it back here jus’ ta let it rot. Even a little’s better than nothin’.”

  Ely just smiled, he liked the kid more and more all the time.

  They decided they would load up the next day and drop down into Pierre’s Hole then turn south and head for their cache of plews from Grub and Ely’s fall season. They had cached their furs just above a little creek that flows into the Snake. They talked about crossing the Snake figuring this time of year it could be a mighty dangerous crossing. Even in the couple of good places they knew of. The spring runoff wasn’t over yet and that big river would be running mighty high and wild.

  None of the three knew just what the date was but they knew they was in the moon of summer starting, so it was time to head to Sweet Lake for the Rendezvous. Benny had never been to a rendezvous before, and the way Grub and Ely talked about it, he figured it must be the grandest shindig of all time. They told him about all the trappers and Indians that would be there, about their friends that they hadn’t seen since last year. Benny ask them if Grizzly Killer would be there, since he had been hearing stories about him ever since he had left St. Louis.

  Grub told him, “You can bet all yer plews Grizzly Killer will be there with his big dog and Runnin’ Wolf, his partner. An’ he’ll has his women there too. He has the purtiest women in the Rocky Mountains… maybe even the whole country.”