Chapter 3

Sunday evening, he got a call. "Chief Tall Grass?"

Howie asked in Kiowa, "Who is this?"

The police chief identified himself. "We had a problem in your village. A gang of thugs has been attacking small villages. They burned a village and killed two people. That scared all the old people. No one will testify. They looted your village, beat up some of your people and I am told, took a woman and sold her all night at the truck stop."

"Neither she nor the others will make a complaint. They are afraid. I don't blame them but there is nothing I can do. Only the Chief can do anything in his village without a complaint," he said.

"They took their coal and food. I had one of my officers take them food. It is getting cold here," he said.

Howie said, "What can I do?"

He said, "I don't know. I don't even know if you could do anything if you were here. The gang hits villages too small to have a chief. Maybe the people in the village would talk to you."

"I am coming. It takes about twenty hours for me to drive," Howie said.

Howie told his parents, "I have to go to my village. They need me."

His father said, "Howie, you can't go. You have school."

"Dad, call Coach Smith. Tell him that I had to take carry of a family emergency."

Howie grabbed his Kiowa bag and his 30.06.

His father said, "Howie, come back here."

Howie hopped in the truck, turned the blue emergency lights on and headed for I 70 West.

Seventeen hours and forty-five minutes later, he pulled into the Council police station. It was below freezing and a forty-mile an hour wind was blowing.

Howie said, "I need coal for twelve houses."

The police chief came in. "Chief Tall Grass, glad to see you made it."

"I need coal for twelve houses. I don't want my people to freeze," he said.

"I doubt they will freeze, but I will open the store. But you will have to pay for the coal. I will take your promise, of course, Chief. It is not my coal," he said.

Howie said, "Done. Can somebody help me bag it?"

The police chief said, "I will help you."

Two others officers helped.

Howie bought twenty-four sacks of coal, enough for twelve houses for a week.

He drove to his village. He saw no smoke from the stovepipes.

He stopped at the first house. He honked the truck horn and took two sacks to the house.

He had to holler, who he was, before the old couple opened the door.

Howie carried the sacks to the stove and left.

He repeated the procedure eleven more times.

The widow was terrified.

His house had been ransacked and his Swedish stove taken. There was water running through the house. The thugs had broken his pipes.

Howie turned the valve and the water stopped. When Howie went back to his truck, he saw ten pipes smoking. The widow's wasn't.

Howie went to her house.

She said, "Chief, I am so scared. Fifteen men raped me, over and over. They told me if I told anyone, someone would take me off and that would be the way I would be treated as long as I lived."

"Who were they?" he asked.

"I don't know, some renegades. I don't want to know," she said.

Her stovepipe had been knocked off her stove. Howie connected it and sealed it with duct tape.

He started a fire.

She looked at him, "Please, not tonight, I don't want to. I still hurt."

He hugged her. "I'll get them."

Howie didn't figure they would come that night.

He drove to Dolph's.

He told Dolph what had happened.

Dolph asked, "Do you want help?"

"Thanks, but what I need is some food. Do you have any extra?" Howie asked.

"Just stocked up for the winter. I got plenty. Take what you need. I can get more before it snows," he said.

"Sure, I can't help?" he asked.

"Would you ride down in my truck, then drive it back here? I don't want them to think I am there."

"Sure"

Howie said, "You better bring your rifle."

They drove to the village. Dolph stayed hidden as Howie unloaded the food into his house. Howie broke down enough rations for everyone to have a couple of meals. He delivered the rations. Howie took supplies and hid in a doghouse. Then Dolph drove off in the truck.

In the doghouse he had a good field of fire for the village. Howie stayed in the house the rest of the night and all the next day. The villagers thought he was gone. It was below freezing in the day and colder at night. The villagers stayed in their houses.

Howie stayed in his sleeping bag and waited. He hoped the thugs would come. Two trucks, one with three men and the other with two men, came in the middle of the night. A truck blocked his field of fire to some of the houses.

The thugs tore the door off the first house. They beat an old man and took his coal and food. At the next house, they beat an old woman. Still, the truck blocked Howie's shot.

Howie waited for his chance. When all five walked toward the widow's house, Howie shot them all before they could turn.

Howie called to the widow, but she wouldn't come out. All the other villagers came out and called to her. She came out.

Howie asked, "Are these the men?"

She nodded.

Howie tossed the men's bodies into the truck bed. He took the beaten man and woman in the cab and drove to the police station.

The officer on duty got the police chief in a hurry.

The beaten man and women waited for the nurse.

"What happened?" asked the police chief.

Howie said, "I waited for them to come. They beat the man and robbed his house. Then they beat the woman and robbed her. When they went to the woman that they sold at the truck stop, I had a clear field of fire and shot them all."

One of the cops came in, "You shot them all in the back, did you give them a warning or chance to surrender?"

"Young men, who beat and rob old women, get shot without warning the first chance I get," he said.

The cop said, "You should hold him. You can't slaughter people like that," he said.

The police chief said, "I believe Chief Tall Grass. Does anyone doubt his word?"

No one said anything.

Then he said, "I saw the beaten old man and woman. They said that the men he shot did it. That's all I need to hear."

The cop said, "That won't be good enough for their friends and relatives."

The police chief said, "It better be. Killing a Chief and Medicine Man wouldn't sit well with me. They should come claim their dead and move on."

He said quietly to Howie, "You better watch your back. When are you leaving?"

"Not until it is over," Howie said.

Then Howie said, "Part of this stuff is from my village. And one of them took my new stove before, I want it back." Howie said.

"I need to have somebody take me to my uncle's, take my people home, and get dead men's other truck," Howie said to the police chief.

"I'll take you to your truck and have the rest done."

He told two men. "Check their pockets for keys. After the nurse is finished with the two old folks, take them home and bring back the other truck here. I am taking the Chief home."

In the police chief's truck, he said, "I am sure their relatives know by now. The Chief there protected them. I expect there will be trouble. We can go look for your stuff now, but I would wait a few days to see what plays out. There is a council meeting tomorrow. It would be good if you were there."

He let Howie out at Dolph's. "Sorry I couldn't have protected your people better."

Dolph gave Howie the receipt and the serial number of the Swedish stove. Howie drove back to his village. He put the doors back up on the houses and went to sleep. He slept with the 9mm in his sleeping bag.

At the council meeting, the Chief of the village where the dead men were from, protested that the men should have been warned and not shot in the back.

The police chief passed pictures of the beaten old man and woman.

Howie said, "Anybody, who comes to my village, beats old women, takes women and sells them at a truck stop, beats old men and steals from them, will be shot without notice."

The council got very quiet. The Council Chief said, "Chief Tall Grass, I doubt if anyone will pick your village again. The blame is not on you. Your Medicine is strong."

Howie had a bad feeling before the end of the meeting. He knew an attempt would be made against him on the way back to his village. He drove a different way home and circled his village. He changed clothes and went hunting.

He thought there were three good places for an ambush on the road from his village to the council offices.

He found three men at the second place he checked. Howie checked the terrain for anyone else with a pocket telescope. He saw a truck, but no other people. Howie moved in place like Black Eagle had taught him. He identified the leader. He waited until the three were in favorable positions, then he shot the leader and the other two. One quick shot at each.

Howie waited. He saw and heard nothing. He picked up his shell casings.

He walked to the men. He put on gloves and searched their bodies. He took keys and walked to the truck.

Howie drove the truck and stopped on the road in front of the ambush site. He carried the bodies to the truck bed. He covered the bodies and put on the leader's hat. He drove into Dolph's outback region. He dug a deep hole and buried the three men. He parked near the road and walked to Dolph's.

"Dolph, could you pick me up a mile east of the beer joint?" he asked.

"When?" Dolph asked.

"An hour after dark," he said.

Howie waited until dark and drove to the beer joint near Dolph's. He parked the truck in the middle of the lot among the trucks. He left the keys in it and walked east.

Dolph picked Howie up and took him to his village.

The next morning, Howie drove his pickup to the police station. He gave the police chief, the sales slip with the serial number of the stove.

He said, "I would just as soon get it over."

Howie followed the police chief to the village. They went to the Village Chief's house.

Howie said, "I have come to claim the women and property. Do you deny my claim to them?"

The police chief had not expected this. Tall Grass just asserted a claim for the men's wives and everything they owned.

Howie knew the Kiowa custom. It was a warrior's privilege to claim the belongings of someone he killed in battle.

The old chief said, "No, it is your right."

Howie went to the house of the leader of the five men he shot. He walked in and surprised two pretty young women in the house.

"Do you know how I am?" Howie asked.

They nodded.

"Get in the back of my truck."

The women hurried to the truck. They didn't know what Tall Grass would do. Their mothers had told them about the old ways and they were frightened he might kill them.

He carried his stove to the truck also. He drove back to the Village Chief's house.

Howie said, "I claim these women and I am taking the stove that was stolen from my house."

The Chief nodded.

Howie had his hand in his pocket. A 9mm pistol was pointed at the Chief. Howie never displayed the pistol or its outline. The Chief probably knew he had something however.

It was very cold. The women were so afraid; they left without their coats. When Howie came from the Village Chief's house, they were already cold. He drove a little way outside the village then stopped.

He walked to the back of the truck and said, "You can join me in the truck or stay out here. Which do you choose?"

When they moved to the cab, he knew they were his.

Howie drove to Dolph's. Dolph opened the door and the three came in.

Howie led the women to the middle of the room. "Take off your clothes and be quick."

He waited for them to be completely undressed. "Your names."

The older one said, "Dawn."

The younger one said, "April."

Dawn was better looking and had an outstanding body, but Howie liked April better.

Howie said, "I do not like women that stink. Take a shower and hurry."

When they were in the shower, Howie asked, "Would you like Dawn?"

Dolph said, "She is beautiful. You should take her."

Howie said, "I will take April."

When they came out, Howie said, "Dawn, I hope that you please my friend. I would hate to see you as a servant to the women of my village."

She nodded.

"April, you will have to please me."

It did not take Howie long to find that April was better than the widow and she tried her best to please him.

In a while, four well-fucked people came from the bedrooms. They ate and went back to bed.

In the morning, Howie said, "Dawn you may stay here with Dolph or you may stay at my village. Which do you choose?"

"I want to stay."

"April"

"Here"

Howie went back to his village. He put his stove back in the house, connected it and started a fire. He heated some cans from K rations, took a bath, ate and went to the council building.

The police chief said, "Three relatives of the dead men are missing. One of the missing men's truck was found at the truck stop."

Howie said, "I do not have them."

"And you missed some wives," he said.

Howie went back to the village. He went to two of the dead men's houses.

The first one, he knew was hiding in her house.

Howie walked into the house and said, "I have come to claim you. Don't make me look for you."

She came out.

"Do you know who and I am and why I have come?"

She nodded.

He looked at her. "Take off your clothes. Don't be slow."

He took her to her bed. "If you are not good, I will give you to the women of my village."

When he was finished, he said, "Get dressed and get in the back of my truck."

He found the other one in her house. She was a bit haughty. "Do you know how I am?"

"Yes, I know who you are."

Howie said, "You know why I am here."

She shook her head.

In a flash, he had pulled his knife and in one motion cut her dress from the hem to the neck.

"The women of my village will enjoy you," Howie said.

Howie saw fear in her eyes.

She shed the scraps of her clothes. After she took him around the world, her haughtiness disappeared.

"Get clothes on and get in the back of my truck," he said.

The women were not as pretty as the first two, but they were young and healthy.

When he got to his truck, an older woman was standing by the truck.

She asked, "Where is my husband?" She was defiant in her tone.

Howie said, "When you speak to me, you will refer to me as Chief and you will act properly."

He saw fear in her eyes. She was no longer defiant.

"Yes Chief."

"Who is your husband and why would I know where he is?"

"He is the father of my son, who you killed at your village. And he has been gone two days."

"Why would I know where he is?" Howie said.

"He and two others went looking for you," she said.