by Joel Baker
“Even if we do get across, what do we do with our supplies on the travois?” Molly asked.
“It looks like the level is down at least,” Dalton said. If this were spring the level would be five feet higher. You can tell from the high water marks.”
“Shannon,” James said. “Have the dogs search the river both east and west.”
“What should they be looking for?” Shannon asked.
“A bridge would be nice,” Molly said, half joking and half wishing.
After the dogs left, Matthew and Fala had ventured into the river far enough to bathe. Shannon washed clothes for a while. The combination of lye soap and rushing waters did a superior job. Unfortunately the clothes were still wet when the sun went down.
The dogs were gone for most of the day and finally returned after dark. They reported to Shannon and Banner. Shannon called the Colters together by the fire. Jason was asleep, and Jessica wasn’t feeling well. Molly rummaged through her medicines and made some tea from Willow bark for Jessica, before putting her to bed under one of the tarps.
Shannon waited for everyone to get comfortable. Molly joined them after putting Jessica to bed. There was a full moon reflecting off the waters running by their campsite. Molly had enough Willow bark tea left over to serve everyone a cup. The evening cooled enough to make the hot tea welcomed. Finally everyone was situated.
“The dogs found an old bridge still standing,” Shannon began. “As near as I can figure, it’s thirty five to forty miles almost due west of here. As you can probably guess, it’s well into Wyoming. There are no habitations east of here, at least not for next hundred miles. The land flattens out though and the river widens. The dogs said they couldn’t see any rocks or white water.”
“Did they say anything about trees?” James asked. “If we’re going to ford this river, were going to need rafts for our provisions. If the horses have to swim, it could get treacherous for the little ones too. “
“They didn’t say much,” Shannon said. “There were small trees down on the river edge. East of here, the dogs said there is a large pile of dead limbs. They must have washed down when the river flooded.”
“Did they see any sign of people?” Dalton asked.
“No,” Shannon said. “The dogs wouldn’t say anymore beyond that.”
“Anyone have any thoughts?” James asked.
“Matthew,” Molly said. “Ask Banner what he thinks.”
“Mom,” Matthew said. “The dogs don’t respond to those types of questions.”
“Then ask him if he had pups traveling with us,” Molly said. “Would he use the bridge?”
Matthew was quiet for several minutes as he stared up at the sky with his eyes closed. Finally he turned back to the others.
“Well?” Molly asked.
“He said they would use the bridge, because the pups are not good swimmers,” Matthew said.
“Can’t they use a raft?” James asked.
“Think about it Dad,” Shannon said. “Do you think the dogs would build a raft?”
Everyone laughed at the look on James’s face.
“Sorry,” James said smiling. “Sometimes I forget we’re talking with dogs.”
“We all do,” Shannon said. “We all do.”
****
The trip west along the bank of the North Platte River, was almost enjoyable to the Colters. Only a few short weeks ago, they were starved for water. Now they skirted a large river with what seemed like all the water in the world. It was hard not to be optimistic about the future.
Away from the river’s edge, the temperatures climbed under the relentless July sun. The group stopped early each night. They reached the first sign of civilization after three days.
Nate, James, and Dalton rode ahead of the group. They pulled up next to the concrete bridge. It seemed reasonably intact and solid. The only problem appeared to be a twenty foot gap between the entrance ramp and the bridge. James thought the bridge was a little over a hundred yards long. The entrance ramp on the far side appeared to be intact. Apparently this side of the bridge washed out during a past flood.
“It looks like your dogs missed a little detail,” Nate said. “How are we supposed to get on the dang thing?”
“The water is faster and deeper here,” Dalton said exasperation in his voice.
“We’ll build a ramp,” James said. “Get some trees or lumber, we can repair the ramp in no time.”
Nate leaned over the shoulder of his horse and spit a chaw of prairie grass he’d been chewing.
“You ever try to get a skittish horse to walkover a log bridge?” Nate said.
“What if we blindfold them?” Dalton asked.
“It might work,” James said.
“There’s no guard rails on that thing,” Nate said, pointing up at the bridge.
“Ease up, Nate,” James said. “Work with me here.”
“I’m just saying,” Nate said. “If we get up on that thing, we’ve got to be careful.”
“Beat’s swimming,” Dalton said.
“Not by much,” Nate said.
Dalton was laughing as he and the others turned for camp.
Chapter 7
The warm air was heavy with moisture and the noon day sun shimmered off the prairie grass. The Lakota had followed the buffalo herd to Missouri overlooking the Mississippi river. Everyone longed for the cool evenings of their village to the north.
Cass knew it was almost time for the Lakota to return home. The tribe depended on the buffalo that wintered near to where they lived. The herd migrated southeast last spring. Now they showed signs they were ready to begin their return trip north any day.
As the Lakota followed the herd, they sometimes passed through the territory of other tribes. Those tribes sometimes resented the Lakota passing through their lands. The Lakota were a small tribe, but brave in battle. The other tribes usually let them pass without conflict. The Lakota were just following the buffalo.
When the Lakota finally reached the Mississippi River they first encountered the white man. The white people made a big show of their displeasure when the Lakota arrived. The white leader and a group of concerned citizens met with Cass and several of the other tribal leaders. It went well once Cass had fifty mounted warriors ride onto the hill overlooking the meeting place. The whites decided that as long as the Lakota left with the buffalo all would be well.
Cass thanked the white people for their patience, and told them it was almost certain the Lakota would depart when the buffalo returned north. He told them that a dozen cattle, including a bull, would certainly speed their decision to leave. He assured them the Lakota would be gone not long after the cattle were delivered. Cass expected the cattle to be delivered any time.
****
“Cass, what are you thinking about?” Mina asked.
Cass whirled at the sound of his name. He laughed with relief when he saw his beautiful wife standing behind him, her arms crossed before her.
“Mina!” Cass said. “You startled me.”
“Are you looking for your cattle?” Mina asked, as she smiled at him.
“They will come,” Cass said. “You will see.”
“I don’t think those settlers will ever return,” Mina said. “I was watching when they saw the warriors on the hill. I think more than one of them wet their pants.”
“You underestimate them,” Cass said. “We’ve made that mistake before. We won’t again.”
“Come back to the tent now,” Mina said, a coy smile on her face. “We have much work to do, if you are ever to have a son.”
Cass jumped onto his horse and lifted Mina up in front of him. The horse turned and walked slowly in the direction of their camp. They were half way back when they decided there was no reason to wait.
****
A delegation of men waited patiently by Cass and Mina’s tent. It was a tepee some fifteen feet in diameter with a fire pit in the center. Twenty foot lodge poles, covered with hides, formed the wal
ls of the tent. Because the day was warm, the walls of the tent were pulled up to allow a mild breeze to circulate through the tent.
“What is it?” Cass asked, lowering Mina to the ground.
Cass looked over at one of the Elders in the delegation.
“Several of our scouts reported the buffalo are returning to the north,” the Elder said. The council thinks we should follow.”
“We will,” Cass said. “After the cattle arrive, we will leave.”
“Why do we wait?” the elder asked. “What are a few cattle when we have thousands of buffalo?”
The other men, who stood a few paces away listening, began to mumble among themselves. They were frowning and were whispering to each other. Cass knew they were very unhappy about being this far south and close to white settlements. It reminded Cass of how they had reacted when the dogs first came onto their lands. Cass didn’t want to go through that again, so he decided to deal with it now.
“I’m calling for a council meeting just as the setting sun touches those trees,” Cass said, pointing to the west. “Make sure everyone knows.”
With that, Cass and Mina headed to where Mina’s mother was cooking dinner over a campfire.
“What will you tell them?” Mina asked.
“Nothing,” Cass said. “I want to listen to what they have to say. I don’t want a repeat of what happened when the dogs came.”
“That was almost two years ago,” Mina said. “Besides, for some reason I’m starving!”
****
No one was sure when the dogs first appeared in the Lakota territory. A boy of fourteen and his friends were the first to see one of the dogs. The large black dog was standing in a tree line some distance from the Lakota village. The boys called to the dog to see if he was friendly. The dog turned and disappeared into the underbrush.
The boys went back to the village and told everyone about the dog the size of a bear they’d seen in the trees. No one believed them so the boys decided they would capture one of the dogs. They spent several weeks setting traps, only to be outsmarted by the dogs at every turn. The adults of the tribe thought it was a kind of game they were playing. Then the dogs killed one of the horses the boys were riding.
When the boys walked back into camp, they were bloody and scared. At first no one believed their story. Some of the warriors followed the boys back to the site of the attack. From the carnage, it was apparent these were not ordinary dogs.
Over the next few months the men hunted the dogs without success. The dogs started confronting the Lakota whenever they ventured north of the Lakota village. Over time a border north of the village was established there. When the Lakota crossed the line, the dogs would aggressively attack whoever had crossed.
They decided the dogs should be left alone and everyone avoided them. Eventually the line in the forest became a border between the Lakota and the land of the dogs. Not everyone agreed, but the council decided it made no sense to enter their territory in the forest.
****
The elders gathered just after sunset. They’d traveled a long ways following the buffalo. The tribe was tired of living on the trail. Cass knew everyone was anxious to start north following the retreating herd. He also knew it was important everyone get to have their say. One by one various elders expressed their desire to return north. When everyone had spoken Cass rose to speak to the gathered council.
“You have convinced me,” Cass said. “Tomorrow we will begin the trek north. The buffalo herd has grown and prospered here in the south. Now the herd seeks the shelter of the northern woods for the coming winter. The buffalo should reach our valley in time for us to store our winter provisions. We will kill the buffalo, smoke the meat, and prepare the hides long before the snow begins to fall. This is a good thing.”
The council was obviously pleased by the decision to head north. The older men smiled and nodded to one another in agreement with what Cass had told them.
“Four will stay behind with me,” Cass continued. “They will help me drive the cattle the white people will bring to us,” Cass said. “We hope to catch up to you in a day or so.”
His close friend Mato stood in the back of the group to speak. He was one of the leaders of the Lakota warrior clan. Mato was a heavily muscled with a deep, resonate voice. He was feared in battle and respected as a man.
“The tribe will be pleased to hear we are returning north,” Mato said. “I trust Cass to have a good reason for wanting the white man’s cattle. Cass always thinks things through before he makes decisions. However, there is another piece of unfinished business we need to discuss. Now that we return north, it is time for us to talk about the dogs.”
A murmur ran through the group of elders. All knew of the disagreement between Mato and Cass over the dogs in the north. Mato was unhappy when the council decided to cede the Lakota lands north of their village to the dogs. He preferred to drive the dogs out of the region no matter what it takes.
“There is nothing to discuss,” Cass said. “We understand and respect your wanting to drive the dogs further away from our village. We discussed this and the council decided to respect the current border with the dog people.”
Mato said nothing and stood there scowling.
“This was the decision of the council,” Cass said. “The dog people are to be left to themselves. They do not take much land. They leave us alone. We will leave them alone.”
“Why do you refer to them as dog people Cass?” Mato asked.
“Our Cheyenne brothers to the south know of these dogs,” Cass said. “Their Shaman calls them the dog people.”
“And why is that?” Mato asked.
“They are smart,” Cass said. “They are much more than dogs. They are something never seen by the Lakota before. They fight like mountain lions. The Cheyenne also said if you leave them alone there will be peace.”
“What if we don’t leave them alone?” Mato asked.
“Then the Cheyenne said many Lakota will die,” Cass said. “Mato, you and I grew up together. You’ve helped me in many ways. You’re a strong and mighty warrior. But we will do nothing to antagonize the dog people. We will not make them angry. We will not call them down upon our women and children.”
****
The Lakota broke camp the next morning. By midday they were following the buffalo north. The following morning Cass found a small herd of cattle, milling about not far from his campsite. The buffalo herd was easy to follow because of the swath of chewed up earth left behind when they passed. Cass and his men caught up with the rest of the Lakota moving north, by the end of the next day.
Cass turned the cattle over to the young men guarding the herd of horses for the tribe. He instructed them to keep a careful eye on them, since unlike horses, cattle were extremely stupid. They would wander off in all directions if not watched closely.
The Lakota noticed the large number of wolves also trailing the herd of buffalo. The wolves would occasionally pull down one of the trailing old or injured buffalo for food. The wolves did not worry the tribe. They knew the wolves would disappear as the Lakota drew close to home. The dog people killed wolves on sight. The wolves wanted nothing to do with the dogs. For that matter, neither did the Lakota.
Cass and Mina lay under the stars on a bed of buffalo robes. The soft fur felt good against their skin. The stars were a cascade of lights spread across the prairie sky. When he was a boy, Cass had been told by a Shaman the earth was only a small rock, on the edge of a giant pinwheel of stars. It was easy to think this must be true on such a night.
A damp chill settled on the couple as they snuggled closer under the robe just before dawn. Cass was up and dressed as the sun broke over the eastern horizon. He and Mato were going to ride out front of the tribe this morning. They wanted to make sure there were no surprises waiting for them.
Sometimes a local tribe would cut in front of the Lakota and try to stampede the herd of buffalo. Occasionally they would even try to steal horses if the
y thought no one was watching. Mato and Cass were always alert to these situations.
“Remember riding out like this as young boys, Mato?” Cass asked.
“Yes,” Mato said. “Except as I remember it, we were the ones stealing the horses.”
“We were a real pair, weren’t we?” Cass asked.
“Do you remember the time we kidnapped that woman from the Cheyenne camp?” Mato asked, laughing.
“Remember?” Cass said, now laughing with Mato. “It was years before any of our friends would let us forget. They just wouldn’t let it go.”
“You have to admit, that was one ugly woman,” Mato said. “No wonder she was so eager and willing to go with us.”
“Remember how she wanted to stay with us?” Cass asked.
“We had to drag her back to her people!” Mato said.
“We were young,” Cass said.
“We were friends,” Mato said.
The two men rode in silence, each remembering how it had been to be so young, and so alive.
Chapter 8
James worried about how they would get across the river. Finding wood for the bridge ramp turned out to be much less a problem than James thought it would be. There was a massive log jam in a sharp turn in the river about three miles upstream from the bridge. It took the men a full day to cut and drag the logs to the bridge. It took another a day to position the logs and cover them with dirt.
“What do you think Nate?” James asked.
“I like the way you covered the logs with dirt,” Nate said. “Do you think we’re ready to try this?”
“Matthew and Dalton are almost done carrying the loads up on the bridge,” James said. “Once that’s done, I thought we’d use Nina’s mare to go first. She’s the steadiest horse we have.”
Both men watched as Dalton walked off the ramp. He’d carried the last of the buffalo robes up on the bridge. Dalton was shaking his head, obviously not happy that he and Matthew had to carry their possessions. No one was sure if they could even get the horses to go up on the ramp, let alone pulling travois loaded with everything they owned in the world.