The Travelers 1

by Lee Hunnicutt

  She whacked him again.

  She looked at him and could see how miserable he was and how sorry he was for what he had done.

  She put her arms around him and said, “I know how hard it is for you. These changes in our lives are coming too fast. It’s like we are being swept away by a river but it’s not the children’s fault.”

  “I know.” he said. “I have told myself the same thing and it makes my heart heavy that I have behaved so badly.”

  He gently pulled her head around so that he could look at her. “What should I do?”

  She knew that he was too proud to apologize.

  “I will think of something.” she said. “The children will come to me and tell me what happened and I will think of something.

  After I have talked to them, you will ask them to take you out and show you how to shoot the rifle.”

  She held up her hand before he could protest. “You know what I say is right. We have to learn how the white man fights if we are to be successful in fighting him.”

  He thought about what she had said and then nodded his head. She was right. He did have to learn the white man’s weapons. And even though he would be eating crow by asking the children to teach him, it wasn’t as if he was really apologizing.

  He pulled Falling Moon Woman close to him and said, “You are the wisest and best wife a man could have. I am indeed fortunate.” He then smiled and said, “Also, you really know how to use a spoon.”

  Tears came to her eyes and she hugged him tightly. She then pushed him away and said, “Go before the children come back. Be back in time for supper. By then, I will have had time to talk to them.”

  Soon after Two Feathers had left, the children were back and found her in front of the tent working on the buffalo hide. She could see that they were dejected. They sat down beside her and she waited for them to speak.

  Beth was the first to speak, telling Falling Moon Woman what had happened.

  Falling Moon Woman listened carefully and waited for Beth to finish.

  Falling Moon Woman said nothing for a long time. All she did was work the hide, softening it. She had been thinking about what she was going to say ever since she had sent Two Feathers away. She still didn’t know what to say and was buying time.

  At last the solution came to her. She opted for the direct approach.

  She said, “Two Feathers has told me of how he acted when you tried to show him how to use the rifle. He is sorry for how he acted. He knows that he needs to learn to use the white man’s weapons but change comes hard to a man like him.

  All of his life he has fought our enemies hand to hand or with a bow. Until now he never thought that he could kill or would kill a man at the distance that your rifle can kill.

  It’s not that he is not proud of you or doesn’t think of you as his children, he is very proud of you and you are our children. It is just that he is too proud to ever tell you what I have just told you or to ever say that he was wrong.”

  The children’s egos were still bruised but what Falling Moon Woman had told them made sense. They now knew that things between them and Two Feathers were going to be all right and it made them feel better.

  For a while, things were strained between Two Feathers and the children but two days later as they were eating breakfast, Two Feathers looking a little self-conscious said to the children, “Today would be a good day for you to teach me the rifle.”

  Jack and Sonny were surprised but before it could register on their faces, Beth in her best perky voice said quickly, “Yes, today is a good day. When do you want to go?”

  “As soon as we finish eating,” said Two Feathers.

  “Can Tall Boy go with us?” said Jack.

  Two Feathers hesitated for a minute and said, “No, it will be just us.”

  He didn’t want everyone shooting or wanting these repeating rifles until he, as war chief, could shoot properly. It was his place to teach the other braves how to shoot and it was his responsibility to see who got a rifle and who didn’t.

  For the next four days, the children and Two Feathers went out to the makeshift rifle range. At first, he couldn’t hit anything and became frustrated but he kept at it. By the fourth day, Two Feathers was putting all of his shots into the silhouette at three hundred yards. He also learned about adjusting the sights for different shooting distances and how to use Kentucky wind age.

  Thanks to Frank, the three children had been practicing with a rifle and pistol of the last few years and they were all excellent shots. Beth was the best shot with a rifle. She had an uncanny ability to gage wind and distance. She could, without resetting the sight, compensate for the wind and distance and hit the target every time. If the sight was set for three hundred yards and the target was four hundred and thirty yards away, she knew instinctively how high to raise the muzzle of the rifle so that the bullet would hit the target. She was a natural with a rifle.

  The boys were very good with a rifle but Beth was nothing short of amazing.

  If Beth was good with a rifle, Sonny was equally as good with a pistol. He had the ability to snap shoot. Beth and Jack could snap shoot and hit a target but Sonny could snap shoot at fifty feet and hit a precise spot on the target. Beth and Jack’s accuracy dropped off after fifty feet but Sonny could hit a target with great accuracy at one hundred feet and at a hundred and fifty feet hit the target five out of six times.

  All three of the children were surprised at how quickly Two Feathers picked up shooting a rifle and pistol. He had phenomenal hand eye coordination. Once his initial frustration was over, he learned shooting techniques very quickly and was soon hitting the target with both rifle and pistol with great accuracy.

  The children were delighted with his progress and told him so both with actions and words. They started Two Feathers out shooting in the prone position and worked him up into the standing position. Hitting a target in the standing position takes much more skill, concentration and patience than hitting a target in the prone position. When in the standing position, he began to put all of his rounds in the silhouette’s head and chest at three hundred yards. All three cheered. Jack and Sonny pounded him on the back. Beth couldn’t help herself and much to Two Feathers embarrassment, she hugged him.

  Two Feathers felt a little awkward at all of the attention but soon was smiling. He lifted the rifle above his head and gave out a loud whoop.

  The ride back to camp was a happy one full of laughing and joking.

  That night over dinner Sonny, Beth and Jack told Falling Moon Woman over and over again about the great shots Two Feathers had made and what a good rifleman he was. It filled her heart with pride for her husband and it filled her heart with love for these remarkable, wonderful children.

  These children had become very special to her and although they had only been with her just a short time, she already thought of them as her children. Early on in her marriage as a young woman, she had miscarried and never since was able to have children.

  Two Feathers had never said anything to her but she knew that he had wanted children. His love and devotion to her had never wavered. When her sisters were widowed, rather than have them move in and become his wives, as was the custom, he had them move their teepees next to his and Falling Moon Woman’s teepee but he stayed with Falling Moon Woman as his only wife.

  He treated his nieces as if they were his daughters. His sisters-in-law and nieces never wanted for anything. It was just his nature and his single love for Falling Moon Woman that made him demand separate households.

  The days were becoming shorter and colder. Soon the tribe would be going south into Colorado. They would move further out into the Great Plains and away from the mountains. This move did two things. The winters weren’t as brutal further south and secondly they needed winter grazing for the horses.

  Two days after teaching Two Feathers how to shoot, Beth, Sonny, Jack and Tall Boy decided to go fishing upstream from the village. Sonny gathered up their fishing hooks and
the roll of fishing line.

  They went to look for Stone Fist. When they found him and asked him to join them, he looked down at the ground in disgust and said with disappointment in his voice, “My father says that I am to look after the horses today. I have to take them out to graze and when that is done I am to wash and groom his buffalo pony.”

  They all nodded and with understanding looks told him goodbye and headed out to their favorite fishing hole.

  When they were about a mile from the village, they cut fishing poles and attached the line and hook to the poles. They dug for worms and grubs, baited their hooks and sat down within a few feet of each other to fish.

  The day was clear and the setting glorious. They were fishing at the base of the Rockies. The mountains soared up to the left of them. They were high enough to look down on the vast plains below.

  Before Jack sat down he looked around and said, “It takes your breath away.”

  Beth looked up at the snow covered peaks and said, “I thought the tropics were gorgeous and they are but this does take your breath away.

  Tall Boy, you grew up with this and see it every day.” She swept her hand around indicating the mountains, the river and the plains below. “Do you ever look around and appreciate the beauty of it all?”

  Tall Boy looked seriously at Beth and said, “Every day I look at my surroundings and think how lucky I am to be Cheyenne and to be part of this land. These mountains, the river, the buffalo and the plains are part of me and I am part of them. Ever since I was a young boy my father would take me to the mountains or out on the great grasslands and tell me that all of this belongs to me and I belong to it. It is difficult to explain. The white man believes that they own the land.

  I don’t own the land. I am part of the land. Just as the buffalo are part of the land or the trees are part of the land.”

  Tall Boy looked a little embarrassed. This was a pretty long speech for him. He smiled sheepishly and turned his attention to fishing.

  It gave the three white children something to think about.

  Jack sat down between Beth and Tall Boy. Sonny had sat down next to a tree and had leaned back against it.

  It was a mild autumn day and the sun was hot on their skin. Soon Beth, Jack and Tall Boy were lying back in the grass against the bank with their eyes closed. Jack and Tall Boy were soon asleep. Beth was dozing. She was very happy. She was with her friends, fishing in one of the most beautiful places on earth. The sun was warm and she thought that life doesn’t get much better than this.

  After about an hour, Sonny became bored and decided to go upstream and see if the fishing was any better. He looked at the three sleeping on the bank, gave them a disgusted look and started upstream by himself.

  As he walked upstream, the incline became more pronounced and the river was running faster. Close to the river were large rocks and trees. Off to the left of the river the land was at the same steep incline as the river but there were not as many trees or rocks. It was a fairly steep grassy slope.

  After going up the riverbank for about two hundred and fifty yards, Sonny decided that it would be easier going on the grassy slope. There he wouldn’t have to negotiate the rocks and trees. He would walk along parallel to the river until he could find a good place to fish.

  He made this decision just as he was at a clump of trees. He started moving towards the grassy area. The going was rough. The trees were growing between the rock and he had to watch himself very carefully.

  His attention was on his footing and as he was about to clear the rocks and the last of the trees, he walked around a large pine to run right into the biggest grizzly bear he had ever seen. It was hard to tell who was startled more, he or the bear.

  Sonny yelled. The bear roared. Both were scared witless, Sonny more than the bear. The bear is the largest land predator on earth and nothing much scares a bear but it was surprised.

  Sonny froze in place. The bear, who was on all fours rummaging for grubs, stood up and let out a deafening roar.

  This jump started Sonny into action and he took off downhill hollering at the top of his lungs.

  The bear took a few steps forward on his hind legs in Sonny’s direction, roared again, dropped down on all fours and took off after Sonny.

  Beth was in that place between being asleep and being awake. In the back of her mind she heard a noise. She couldn’t place it and started to drop down into sleep when she heard it again. Slowly she began to come to full consciousness. Now she could hear what sounded like someone at a distance screaming. In the dream like fog of semi-consciousness she wondered who could be making all of that noise? Then she sat bolt right up and looked in the direction of the hollering. She knew before she saw Sonny who was screaming. Her heart began to pound and she reached over without looking and shook Jack awake. She then saw Sonny come around a boulder about a hundred and fifty yards away running full speed down the hill. Soon a large gray brown animal came around the same boulder. It too was running full speed and gaining on Sonny.

  Beth was on her feet in a flash. She could see that Sonny and what she now recognized as a bear would be passing within fifty yards of her, Jack and Tall boy.

  Most acts of great physical heroism are spontaneous. This is where someone sees a situation of danger, instantaneously sizes the situation up and acts with little or no thought to their own personal safety. If for a moment they thought about what they were going to do and the danger it would entail, they would not do it.

  For example, no one in their right mind would run into a burning building to save a trapped child. Only those who act spontaneously, without thinking of the danger to themselves would run into the flames. Beth was about to run into that burning building.

  She began to run as fast as she could toward Sonny and the bear.

  She and Sonny passed about ten feet apart, Sonny going down the hill, Beth going up the hill. All Sonny could think of in his distressed state was “What the Hell?”

  Beth hit the bear at a full run high on the left shoulder. To the bear it was a minor annoyance. To Beth it was like being hit by a Volkswagen.

  Instead of bouncing off and being thrown away from the bear, Beth was thrown under the bear’s feet, tripping the bear. Both she and the bear tumbled down the hill. They came to rest a hundred feet from impact.

  Beth was thrown clear and landed hard about ten feet downhill of the bear. Surprisingly, besides a few bruises and scrapes and having the wind knocked out of her, she was in pretty good shape for what had happened to her.

  At the end of their tumble both she and the bear were confused.

  The bear stood up on all fours and shook its head, wondering what had happened to him. If Beth had, at that moment, just laid still and not moved, the bear would have probably ambled off. But Beth was dazed and not sure what had happened or where she was. She slowly staggered to her feet. This is when the bear first noticed her.

  The bear stood on its hind legs and began its awkward walk towards her. It was now only four feet from her. It let out a loud roar and swiped at Beth with its right forepaw.

  Beth’s ears were ringing and her vision was blurred. She saw a large indistinct silver brown object moving towards her. She saw it raise up and amble in her direction. She had no idea what it was and was too confused to feel any fear.

  As the bear began its downward swing, Beth became very dizzy and began to fall backwards. Her falling is what saved her life. She was falling away from the full brunt of the bear’s blow. The outer claw of the bear’s right paw struck Beth just below her left collarbone and ripped across her chest diagonally, cutting her from her left collarbone bone across her breast bone and ending just above where her right rib cage ended. The force of the blow twisted her to the right and slammed her to the ground.

  She hit the ground on her right shoulder and rolled onto her back. Hitting the ground snapped her back into a fuller state of consciousness and sharpened her vision. She looked up and saw the bear towering over her, its
arms spread wide, its mouth open, roaring. In her continuing state of confusion, she was still feeling no fear. She looked up at the bear with a confused interest wondering, “What in the hell is a bear doing here?”

  This was all like a dream to her and then to add to the dream like quality of this experience the bear grew another head and this head looked a lot like Jack. Beth started to give a weak laugh at the surreal scene and then everything went black.

  Jack woke up annoyed at Beth for waking him. By the time he realized what was going on and got to his feet, Beth had taken off towards the bear at a run. He watched in horror as Beth collided with the bear and they both began their tumble down the hill. He thought if she will just lay still, she has a chance. He held his breath. At first it seemed that his hopes would come true. The bear was on its feet, looking around in confusion. Jack could see that the bear hadn’t seen her yet. He hoped within hope that the bear would not see her and would move on. He stood transfixed as Beth struggled to stand and the bear rose up on its hind feet.

  It was at that moment that Jack began to run toward the bear. In his mind’s eye he could see the big carnivore tearing her apart. In the four or five seconds that it took him to cover the ground between him and the bear, Jack rehearsed in his mind what he had to do. The next thing he knew he was in the air landing high on the bear’s back and shoulders. He wrapped his legs around the bear’s body and circled his left arm around the bear’s neck and under its chin. With all of his might, he jerked the bear’s head up. In his right hand he held his knife and he brought it down into the left side of the bear’s throat. His adrenaline was pumping. All of his focus was on what he was doing. He buried the knife up to the hilt into the neck and with a strong sawing motion pulled the knife to the right across the throat. He had severed the larynx and both carotid arteries. Blood went everywhere.

  The bear tried to roar but nothing but air came out. He tried to shake Jack off but it was too late. He was dead on his feet. He just didn’t know it yet. He turned trying to face the thing on his back. He was now facing up hill. He died falling backwards with Jack on his back.