by John Foxjohn
Hump, Crazy Horse, Good Weasel, and Hand stayed in the rear as the others retreated to Blood Creek. The Snakes gained on them.
As a last resort, Crazy Horse and Hump again charged the Snakes. Crazy Horse appeared to ride right into holes in the Snakes’ guns.
Through a pelting fire, Hump tried to turn his horse. No more than half a bow shot from the Snakes, his mount slipped and fell, pinning the warrior underneath. He struggled to slide out from under his horse before the Snakes got to him.
As the rear guard tried to lay down a base of fire to protect Hump, Hand realized it wouldn’t help. Hump was too close to the Snakes.
When Hump staggered to his feet, a giant force slapped him down. With blood-covered slush where he lay, he again tried to rise. This time, all the Snakes concentrated their fire at the downed warrior. Blood spurted every time a bullet hit him.
He went down for the last time.
Unaware of the problem, Crazy Horse raced back to the rear guard. Good Weasel yelled and pointed at Hump, lying still in the stained slush. Crazy Horse turned and charged back into the Snakes, trying to retrieve the body. He charged the Snakes three more useless times, but the enemy surrounded Hump. It would be impossible to recover him.
The Lakota trudged away from the battle, a sad, sorry sight on their trip back to camp. With seven warriors killed and thirteen wounded, and one left behind, no one wanted to talk. Not only did they not steal any horses, they lost eleven of their horses, and many had to ride double, pulling the hasty travois they constructed to carry the wounded and dead.
Although defeated, Hand knew they’d lucked out in two ways. All of them could have died in that mess, and they didn’t run into a war party on the way back.
Years later, Hand would look back on this time and mark it as the time when the spirits started to die. The death of Hump, one of the most respected leaders of the Hunkpatilia, did not set well. The fact that he’d died needlessly, in a raid that should not have taken place, and against the advice of Crazy Horse, set the Big Bellies’ tongues to wagging.
* * * *
No one felt worse about Hump’s death than Crazy Horse. The fact that he had tried to talk him out of the fight didn’t help his grief. In a short time period Lone Bear and his kola both died. Without a word to anyone, the next day, Crazy Horse rode out of the camp alone, as he often did. He returned after eight suns with five captured horses and two guns. After stopping at the lodge of No Water, leaving meat, he came to his own lodge. He wouldn’t say where he’d gone or how he captured the horses or guns, only that he’d returned and buried Hump.
Two days later, Crazy Horse asked Hand to go on a short hunt with him. The two brothers roamed the Powder River country, more to talk than hunt, but they did kill two antelope.
Upon returning to the village, they found Worm waiting for them by the fire, in the lodge. “Have a seat, Crazy Horse. I need to speak with you.” Frown lines creased Worm’s forehead.
Crazy Horse sat next to his father, but Hand remained standing.
“Have a seat, Hand. You can hear this too,” Worm said.
After Hand sat down, they waited as Worm lit his pipe. Hand knew something bothered Worm, and he could sense uneasiness in Crazy Horse, too.
“Crazy Horse,” Worm spoke hesitantly as if he had something important to talk about, but didn’t know how to start. “We had visitors today from the Bad Faces’ camp.”
“What’d…they want?”
“They were friendly—they do have some concerns.”
“Concerns…over what? Who visited?”
“Standing Bear, the brother of Woman’s Dress, and White Bull, who is related to Black Twin. We talked for a long time about things other than what brought them.”
“What’re…their concerns?”
Hand stared into the fire as flames licked up the unburned wood. This had to involve Black Buffalo Woman. He’d bet No Water instigated this because Crazy Horse had not stopped seeing her. He carried meat and left it for her. At times, Crazy Horse stood in the shadows, watching Black Buffalo Woman. Rumors made their way around camp.
Worm adjusted himself in his seat. “They came to say that they wouldn’t let you have Black Buffalo Woman.”
With a frown, Crazy Horse said, “What do they…mean? This isn’t their choice.”
“Son, she’s the niece of Red Cloud and the sister-in-law of Black Twin. She’s also the wife of No Water, and they won’t let her go.”
Crazy Horse’s face hardened and his lips thinned to small lines. “Are they white men? The white men try to say what we can and can’t do. Do they not know our rules? We aren’t the white men. We aren’t the Cheyenne. Lakota women are free to leave a lodge whenever they choose.”
“What you say is true. A Lakota woman is free to choose when she wishes, but Black Buffalo Woman is one with power. She has to choose wisely,” Worm said.
“She wasn’t given the chance to choose in the first place. They told her who and when. This isn’t the way of our people.”
Worm stared into the flames for several strained minutes. He looked up with concern sketched across his face. “They told me to tell you that you can’t have her without a fight. Do you want to spill our people’s blood?”
“They want to fight over a Lakota woman…leaving her husband, which is her right?”
“Crazy Horse, the fight won’t be over a Lakota woman leaving her husband. It’s a Lakota woman’s right to leave her married lodge. But she’s not any Lakota woman. She’s one that carries power with her. This is what they’ll fight for, the power, not the woman.”
Hand glanced from one to the other. He wanted to speak, but didn’t know what to say. He knew what Black Buffalo Woman meant to his brother. Long moments passed as they waited for Crazy Horse to speak. There would be trouble over this. Hand knew it. This wasn’t something his brother would forget. He loved Black Buffalo Woman too much.
“I was made a shirt-wearer,” Crazy Horse said at last. “I swore that I would protect the rights of all the people. Black Buffalo Woman is Red Cloud’s niece, this is true, and I know the Bad Faces don’t want to lose the following of Red Cloud. But this isn’t right. She has rights too, like everyone else.”
“You must be careful,” Worm said.
“All I want is what’s best for the people, and the woman I’ve waited for all my life. Is this too much to ask?”
“No, under normal circumstances, but this isn’t a normal situation.
They’ll try to kill you if you go through with your intentions.”
Hand’s eyebrows rose. What intentions?
“Father, they aren’t…my intentions. Black Buffalo Woman has a say in this, too.”
* * * *
The next day, as daylight melted away, Crazy Horse found Hand sitting beside the river, watching the birds swoop and fly around. Hand knew Crazy Horse had been gone most of the day, but didn’t know where. All Hand knew was that it worried Worm and Ina.
“I’m taking a few warriors…out on a small raiding party…tomorrow. I hoped you would go…with me. I know Little Hawk asked you, but…I might need you more.”
Confused, Hand asked, “Why’s that?”
“Black Buffalo Woman…is coming with us. I might need your help…if the Bad Faces make trouble.”
Hand closed his eyes tight. This worried him. He didn’t believe his brother would leave Black Buffalo Woman alone. He took a deep breath. He thought about talking his brother out of this, but knew it wouldn’t do any good. “Ayiee. You’ll most likely need my help. I’ll explain things to Little Hawk.”
“Thank you. I knew I could count…on you.”
Hand rose, but before he turned away, a thought occurred. “What about her children?”
“She’s going to let them stay…with relatives till we get back.”
As the sun rose the next morning, Little Hawk left, taking a large raiding party on the long trip south of the Platte River. He wanted to raid the white men who dug for gol
d. Crazy Horse’s group, along with Black Buffalo Woman, left shortly after. She and Crazy Horse rode side by side for most of the day. As pretty and slim as she’d been in her youth, she’d not put on a lot of weight like most of the other women when they had children. It appeared as if they couldn’t stop looking at each other. Crazy Horse smiled all the time.
Hand hadn’t seen his brother this happy in a long time. They’d wanted to be together ever since childhood, but politics got in their way. Although happy for his brother, the situation scared Hand. He didn’t think No Water or the Bad Faces would let this go. Also, for some reason he’d never liked Black Buffalo Woman. He would never tell this to Crazy Horse, but it seemed to him that she could’ve stopped that wedding to No Water.
If she had as much power and influence as they said, she could’ve stopped it. He’d talked to He Dog and Good Weasel and they both agreed. Hand hoped his brother knew what he’d gotten himself into.
After crossing Pumpkin Creek, they camped and continued the next morning. Crazy Horse didn’t tell Hand and he hadn’t asked what kind of raiding party they rode on. They didn’t have enough warriors for a war party. Hand was glad that Good Weasel had rode with them. He wished He Dog had, but knew that he couldn’t—because of his relation with Black Buffalo Woman and Red Cloud, his uncle. Red Feather, younger than the others in the party, did tag along. Like most of the young people in the village, he worshipped Crazy Horse. Hand thought he’d explode with happiness when his idol told him he could come.
After traveling south from Pumpkin Creek and before dark settled, the group approached the camp of Little Shield, a friend and older brother of He Dog.
“Hola,” he greeted them as they rode up. “Please join me in my lodge to eat.”
“Thank you,” Crazy Horse said. “That’s kind of you.”
Little Shield didn’t say anything, but he glanced at Black Buffalo Woman a couple of times. If she traveled with Crazy Horse, she had obviously left No Water.
After they ate, they sat around the fire inside the lodge.
“How long do you plan to be here?” Little Shield asked.
“We plan on leaving…in the morning.”
Relief flashed across Little Shield’s face, but he looked toward the opening as someone scratched on the lodge cover. Another friend, Little Big Man, entered and sat.
“That’s good,” Little Shield said. “You know that you’re always welcome in my lodge, for however long you might wish to stay. But it might be good this time to keep your stay short.”
“I know. I wouldn’t want to put…your family in danger.”
As they talked, someone jerked the lodge’s skin flap open. The Lakota custom called for someone to scratch on or make some kind of noise before opening a closed lodge flap.
No Water stepped through the flap. His eyes blazed. He trembled with anger.
When No Water barged in, Hand rose from the robes that he’d sat on.
“You have taken my wife! For this you must pay.” He leveled his pistol at Crazy Horse. Crazy Horse leaped up, but without a gun, he reached for his knife.
Like the haze of smoke, everything moved slowly in Hand’s eyes. Little Big Man reached and grabbed Crazy Horse’s arms in an attempt to stop him from cutting No Water. With a reverberating blast, the exploding gun in the lodge’s confined space hurt Hand’s ears.
As Crazy Horse’s head snapped backward, blood splattered the rear of the lodge.
No Water ran out as Crazy Horse’s body propelled backwards. He landed in the fire.
As everyone stood or sat in shock, Hand rushed to his brother. He grabbed a robe and smothered flames that had ignited Crazy Horse’s shirt. Little Shield and Good Weasel pulled Crazy Horse away from the fire, and onto a robe.
As Hand grabbed his rifle and started out of the lodge to kill No Water, Good Weasel caught up and stopped him.
“Hand. This isn’t good. He’ll have friends with him. You’ll get killed if you try this.” Wailing and crying echoed off the night air from the women. “No Water killed Crazy Horse.” The cry went from person to person and lodge to lodge like the fire in the tall grass on a windy day.
Little Big Man rushed from the lodge. “Where are you going?” Good Weasel yelled.
“I’m going to get the medicine man. Crazy Horse is still alive.”
Good Weasel and Hand scampered back into the lodge. Lying on his back, his eyes open, Crazy Horse grimaced in intense pain. Small Sparrow, Little Shield’s wife, washed blood off his face. With the blood gone, they could see that the bullet had entered his face right below his left nostril and had exited below his right ear.
As Hand looked around the lodge for the first time since No Water fired the shot, he noticed that Black Buffalo Woman had left. “Where’s Black Buffalo Woman?”
“She crawled out the back under the lodge cover when No Water fired his gun,” Little Sparrow said with contempt in her voice.
Angry voices droned from outside, “Our strange man is dead. Not from the bullet of an enemy, but from one of us, as he saw in his vision.”
When the tent flap jerked open, Hand leveled his rifle, his finger resting on the trigger. An angry Yellow Bear rushed in, but stopped short as he looked into the bore of the rifle three feet from his chest. He let out a sigh when Hand lowered the gun. Soon after, Bad Heart Bull hurried in also, both longtime friends of Crazy Horse.
“We’re going to get No Water. They’ll turn him over to us for punishment, or we’ll kill them or drive them out of the Lakota camp.” Yellow Bear spat out the angry words through clenched teeth.
Crazy Horse tried to rise up, but Little Sparrow held him back on the robes. He tried to speak, but blood gushed out his mouth when he opened it, almost choking him.
With his hands, he signed that they should leave No Water alone. They shouldn’t spill any more Lakota blood. His eyes kept opening and shutting, squinting tight against pain. He signed that no harm should come to Black Buffalo Woman. As a Lakota, she’d done nothing wrong.
Hand gripped his rifle with white knuckles as pain and suffering filled his brother’s eyes. His heart hammered and he wanted revenge, to strike out at No Water, and anyone else who stood in the way.
Little Sparrow shooed them out of the lodge when the medicine man arrived. They gathered outside, waiting.
“We should go and kill all the Bad Faces,” Bad Heart Bull growled. He trembled with anger.
“Yes! Yellow Bear agreed.
“No,” Hand said. “It’s not Crazy Horse’s wish. I would like to kill him as much, if not more than you. We have to honor my brother’s wish.”
“Hand’s right,” Good Weasel said. “It’s a good thing Little Hawk isn’t here.”
“You’re right.” Yellow Bear said. “There would be a lot of blood shed tonight.”
“OK, what’re we going to do?” asked Yellow Bear.
“We need to guard him,” Good Weasel said. “If No Water and the Bad Faces find out that he’s not dead, they may try to finish the job.”
“Yes. I didn’t think of that,” Bad Heart Bull said. “We need to encircle this lodge tonight to protect our friend.”
“Good Weasel, would you make sure the lodge is guarded tonight?” Hand asked.
Good Weasel cocked his head and stared at Hand for a long moment. “You aren’t going to do anything foolish, are you?”
Hand didn’t know what he meant. “I’m not going to find No Water. I’m going to stay inside tonight. I’m not about to leave his side at a time like this.”
Good Weasel nodded in agreement. They didn’t say anything for a long time. People occasionally dropped by to ask them how Crazy Horse fared. At that moment, all they could do was shrug. Hand knew one thing—if Crazy Horse died, there would be no one in the entire Lakota nation who could stop the bloodbath that would take place. He also knew, he would ride with the ones who wanted to punish the Bad Faces.
“What’re we going to do with Crazy Horse if he lives?” Yellow Bear as
ked.
“What do you mean?” asked Bad Heart Bull.
“The Bad Faces will hear that he lives tomorrow. They may, as we fear, attempt to finish what No Water started.”
Good Weasel tapped his finger on his chin “This is true. We can’t leave him here.”
“Where can we take him where he’ll be safe?” asked Yellow Bear.
Hand had thought about this while they talked. “It’s too far to take him back to the camp where Worm is. He won’t be in condition to ride that far. The same is true for his uncle, Long Face. His camp’s too far. We can take him to his other uncle, Spotted Crow. His camp isn’t far from here.”
“True. I’d forgotten about Spotted Crow’s camp and it’d be perfect, and the Bad Faces wouldn’t think to look for him there,” Bad Heart Bull said. “I’ll get my son to work on a thick, sturdy travois to carry him.”
Hand went back in as the warriors started to make a human barricade around the lodge. Crazy Horse’s condition shocked him. His jaw had swollen up bigger than a small melon and he still had blood dripping out of his mouth. After sitting beside him, Hand wiped the blood away. Unconscious, Crazy Horse burned with fever, his light skin flushed, and sweat beaded his forehead. The medicine man had given him plants for it, but they were not helping right now.
Hand held his hand all night, but Crazy Horse was out of his head most of the time, trying to rise, screaming, “Let go. Let go of my arms.” The long night passed—no one slept. Most of the time, Crazy Horse mumbled. Hand could barely make out the words through his mangled mouth and jaw. They all remembered his vision and how he could only die if his own people held him—like what happened when No Water had shot him.
Hand didn’t believe his brother would make it through the night. Fear tore through him like a rusty knife. It hurt to watch him suffer. He made himself a solemn promise that night, if his friend died, so would No Water. He didn’t care how long it took, or how far he had to go. He would kill No Water and make him suffer as Crazy Horse suffered.
No one in the camp was more upset than Little Big Man. “Hand,” he said, “I didn’t think No Water would shoot. I didn’t think that he’d shoot down Crazy Horse, who was unarmed. If I’d known, I would not have grabbed his arms. It all happened so fast, and I didn’t have time to think.”