Chapter 2: Where to Start

We arrived at the Indian camp about two hours before sunset. I knew I was in trouble again when White Hawk said, “to take my stuff to her tepee”. I looked at White Eagle and he was staring at White Hawk, who was staring right back at him almost daring him to defy or challenge her words.

“Are you claiming him” a strong voice called out from the front of a large tepee. This caused me to look at a beautiful woman who stood with her hands on her hips. The look on her face said she was not pleased with what she heard.

White Hawk said, “father told me to take him to my bed, so I am being an obedient daughter”.

I was still looking at the woman when she said to White Eagle, “did you tell your daughter this”, while she was still looking at White Hawk.

White Eagle whom I was now looking at, just dropped off his horse and walked to the woman. I now realized was his wife. He said, “ask her to tell you the whole story, not just what she wants you to hear”. Then he entered the tepee.

“I am Golden Hawk; I apologize because my husband and daughter whose bad manners have failed to introduce me to you and you to me” Golden Hawk said. I smiled and said “I’m Isinl Kat’a”. Golden Hawk made a face and asked, ‘if I was Comanche or Sioux’. I answered ‘Sioux’.

Golden Hawk said, “Yet you speak Comanche quite well.” I explained ‘my mother spoke many of the tribes language and had taught me some’. She asked, ‘why I was dressed like the white man instead of an Indian’.

I answered, ‘I had come from the future sent by the spirits for some unknown tasks, that I had been living among the white man until now’. This made her scowl at me and then she smiled and said, “leave your things beside this tepee until it is determined where to put them”.

I dropped out of my saddle and a young boy took Spot’s reins. I followed White Hawk as she had been directed into the tepee by Golden Hawk and she followed me inside. White Eagle was drinking water and offered me some as soon as I entered.

White Hawk sat down in the main area of the tepee. I accepted a drink as Golden Hawk sat next to her daughter and began speaking to her quietly. I took this opportunity to tell White Eagle that I had my own place to keep my stuff and sleep comfortably if given a small space to set up.

With a great smile he quickly moved to the entrance and held it open for me. We exited quickly to the annoyed huff of White Hawk.

I found and set up my tent with much staring from a lot of curious Indian’s. It was a basic dome tent that was 5’ high in the center and about 4’ at the sides. It was an oblong octagon with the ends made of 2’ lengths forming three sides and the front and back being 4’ in length making the entire length about 7’ and the width about 4’. I stacked my totes along the back wall to add some protection from any wind as I had been given the area next to White Eagle’s tepee. I found out that angled on the other side was White Hawk’s tepee and next to her was Grey Hawk’s tepee.

The air mattress took forever to pump up even though I had a fancy hand pump.

I had a special cover made of heavy canvas on the top and four layers on the bottom, two layers on sides, it laced closed at one end and was sewn around the other three. I set up a collapsing table 18”X24” that adjusted from 24” to 36” in height. Two camp chairs and a small folding stool were next. Finally, my footlocker that held daily stuff such as hygiene and clothes and the tote with cooking and other basic camp stuff were the last things I brought inside.

White Eagle, Golden Hawk, White Hawk, and Grey Hawk all asked to see inside my tent when I had finished. After the short tour I was invited to eat with them. We ate at the camp’s main cookfire a short distance from Eagle’s tepee, near the middle of the camp.

There were cut logs to sit on, but I brought my folding stool and sat on that. Grey Hawk asked to see it more closely, so I stood allowing him to pick it up and look at it. Then he called to a boy and asked him to bring three branches about 1” in diameter and 2’ long and then asked a young girl to bring him a piece of leather about 1’ in diameter and some leather cordage about 3’ long. I smiled and sat down after he gave it back.

When the young ones brought him what he asked for he tied the three branches together in the middle, then folded them in a triad and then laid the leather over the top and tied it at each end. Carefully he sat and smiled until Eagle said to make one for himself after he made one for him and to give this one to his mother as it was hers now.

Golden Hawk and White Hawk laughed as he huffed and called the young ones back to get more for three more. Golden Eagle took the newly made stool and carefully sat on it and then said how much more comfortable it was than sitting on a log was. I said it would be easy to take back to your tepee to have there and bring it with you wherever you go so you have a place to sit. Golden Hawk looked at White Hawk and they both smiled.

Eagle asked about my weapons that Grey Hawk and described. I nodded and went to my tent to get the CMR and PMR along with an extra magazine to show them. I handed the CRM to Eagle, the PRM to Golden Hawk, and the magazine to White Hawk.

Then explained how the magazine worked and talked them through ejecting the magazine from both the CMR and PMR. Eagle figured out they were the same except for the barrel length and collapsible stock on the CRM. Golden Hawk smiled as she too understood this now.

White Hawk asked why, then made a face and said because they can both use this and held up a magazine. I smiled and nodded saying that was exactly why they were a paired set. Grey Hawk pointed to my pistols and asked if that was the same with them. Again, I nodded and showed them a speed loader. White Hawk pointed at the cartridges and said 7 not 6 why. I drew a pistol and opened the swing out chamber which caused both Eagle and Grey Hawk to gasp. Grey Hawk quietly said that I could effectively kill 14 enemies and reload to be ready to kill 14 more in the time an Indian could shoot 3 or 4 arrows. I nodded yes.

Eagle said, the spencer will shoot 7 times but takes more time to reload and the henry shoots 15 times but was twice as hard to reload. Hawk said that most would expect 6 shots then have to reload not knowing there was a 7^th shot that could save my life until word got out.

Grey Hawk said, ‘I was faster than the rattlesnake’. I just said that was mostly fear. He just shook his head NO and said, ‘there was no hesitation and no panic just confidence of skill’.

Grey Hawk told the snake story again. Running Deer moved to us and repeated the speed with which I had shot the snake. Eagle asked if I could demonstrate it for everyone. I unloaded the pistol and moved so everyone could see, then drew. Silence was followed by shaking heads, finally Grey Hawk said, “AS I SAID”. I used the speed loader to reload and put the rounds I had dumped into the speed loader and put it back in my belt. Grey Hawk said, ‘that was quite easy to do’. I took that as the opportunity to claim needing to get some sleep. Made my apologies, gathered my weapons and magazines, then moved to my tent.

The next morning, I woke and was making coffee when I heard a tap on my tent door. White Hawk had brought her mother for coffee. Golden Hawk was more polite and asked if I had some she could try since Eagle and White Hawk both said it was very good. I said, “follow me” and went out to my totes. I found my camp coffee pot and a package of coffee. Walked to the camp cookfire and asked for water for the camp coffee pot. It held 12 cups and had a percolator that if you filled half full would make a decent pot of coffee. I explained the instructions to both as I demonstrated. Setting the pot next to the fire but not on it, you don’t want the water to boil as that could cause the filter to let grounds out. Almost at a boil it would percolate and about 5 minutes more or less depending on how strong you want the coffee to be. Then they could have 12 cups of coffee. I held up a hand and went back to my tote. Took a bit of searching but I finally found the four coffee cups that came with the pot. I gave these to Golden Hawk she gave one to White Hawk and kept three.

My coffee was ready when I got back to my tent, and I sat and enjoyed it. I was called to eat breakfast which was some fried bread, a bit of jerky and coffee for Eagle, Golden Hawk, White Hawk, and Standing Badger the shaman. Badger did not appear to be a fan. Grey Hawk came up quickly and said that there might be trouble as several white men were riding this way. I asked how many. Grey Hawk answered more than 10.