Chapter 8

June 23, 1847

When I looked at Leaping Fox, I realized that he did look like one of the boys from the wagon train. His clothing had been torn and bloodied from his beating. After his clothing was removed it was thrown away. His hair had been trimmed while he was still unconscious. Claire and Elizabeth had cut up some of their old clothing and made his new shirts and given him new leather pants to wear. The only thing that he was still wearing from his original clothes was his moccasins. With my obsessive compulsion to be clean he had probably washed himself more in the last two weeks than he had in his entire previous life.

I turned to the guide, "Translate for me."

I spoke to Leaping Fox's father, "This is Leaping Fox, your son. He is of the Oglalla Sioux and is not white. His hair has been cut to show sorrow for his inability to defend his sister from several men. His fight was worthy of any warrior. He was hardly alive from his battle when I found him, and you can see his major wounds are in the front as a warrior's should be. To be defeated by overwhelming odds is no disgrace as long as you have struggled to the end. Can you think of a warrior who could have lasted alone against such odds?"

The guide repeated my speech between my sentences. Again I almost understood the words. Leaping Fox's father remained standing and I was unable to read his face. I didn't know if he agreed or felt that I was full of shit. I was beginning to worry what was going to happen when suddenly Claire impatiently spoke up.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Come greet your son. Men!" She pulled Leaping Fox out from behind her and gave him a small push toward his father.

The guide said something after this and slowly, every male in the area began to laugh. Claire became indignant with the laughter and hit me on the shoulder causing me to lurch forward.

I asked the guide what he had said when we managed to stop laughing.

"I just repeated her sentence and used her Indian name, She Strikes Hard."

Leaping Fox's father then stepped forward and held out his arms. Leaping Fox joined his father and told him something too fast for me to understand. Leaping Fox's father replied, then turned to the guide and spoke. The guide translated:

"You are welcome in my camp and I offer to protect your wives and children if they come to my camp. Leaping Fox tells me that you had nothing to do with his injuries and the theft of his sister. He asks that you and She Strikes Hard keep looking for his sister and pledges to help you until she can be returned to our people. I have given him permission to stay with you until she is returned. He has shown his spirit in battle and must undertake his spirit journey when we return to our medicine man. Afterwards he will join you."

He stopped and waited until I could answer. I looked at my wives and got small nods in return. I turned to the guide and had him translate.

"We will look for his sister until she is found and returned. We will welcome the presence of such a brave warrior during our journey."

I turned to Elizabeth and took her rifle, powder horn and the bags containing the caps and bullets. I turned to Leaping Fox.

"I give you this rifle to help you on your journey to your camp and your return to us." I removed the knife from my belt and offered it to Leaping Fox's father.

"I hope this knife will help you on your journey and I promise to protect your wives and children if they come to my camp. If I break this promise you may use this knife to take your revenge for my falsehood."

Leaping Fox's father spoke to several of the other men and one left to return to the main party of Indians. Shortly afterwards, we saw a horse being led by him toward the wagon train with something on the back. He threw the bundle off the horse and pulled a rider from behind him. It was the black girl we had seen and the bundle was a collection of scalps of both white and black men. Leaping Fox's father spoke to the guide again.

"We have found my daughter and our enemies are dead. We will welcome you if you wish to join us in our camp. You have proved that you are not an enemy of the Oglalla Sioux and are welcome in our lands. I give this woman."

With that he picked up Leaping Fox and the bundle of scalps and placed them on the horse. The girl he left lying there. Without any other words he rode off. Soon afterwards the hillsides were empty.

My wives and I looked at each other and then in unison turned toward the girl on the ground. Claire was the first to move and picked the girl up and hugged her. The girl began crying and Elizabeth joined them and placed her arms around both. She looked at the men standing around and with a biting tone in her voice uttered one word.

"Men!"

June 24, 1847

Last night I was kicked out of my wagon by my wives and told to sleep under the wagon. When I protested, I was unceremoniously told that if I was good I 'might' be welcome to get back in the wagon tonight. I was told that the girl, whose name we found out was Louise, didn't need to see any men that night. This morning I asked for some clean clothes and was handed them with the injunction to keep out of the wagon until I was told to enter. I saw Elizabeth and Claire get out but saw no sign of Louise. When I asked what was going on last night, both women looked at me as if I were stupid and refused to answer. Later that day Claire had pity on me and told me the reason Louise was crying was because she thought she had been returned to slavery. It took all night to convince her this wasn't true. She was sleeping and Claire expected her to remain asleep until tomorrow.

The wagon master decided that we needed to move yesterday and we made 16 miles towards South Pass and are no longer over the Ice Slough. We have left the lands of the Sioux and have entered the lands of the Cheyenne. So far we have not seen any of them and the guide seems satisfied about that. He told the men at the morning meeting that the Cheyenne are easily affronted and tend to demand more than most tribes to keep them from harassing the wagon train.

I was informed that my presence was no longer required on the night guard, but I was to act as the train physician if anyone became hurt. I again repeated that I was no doctor and I was told that they didn't care. I guess that I have to accept that I am going to be the doctor for this train. I just hope they don't expect me to do any surgery. I only have the vaguest idea where most organs are.

I was expecting to see this narrow pass through the mountains, but the South Pass is miles wide. For the first time we are beginning to see most streams flowing to the west instead of the east. We were told by the wagon master around the noon break that we are now in Oregon Territory. The people in the train gave a loud cheer upon hearing this but quickly sobered when the wagon master reminded everyone that we still had a thousand miles to go to reach Oregon City.

We found the remains of the slave wagon today. The bodies had been stripped and the wagon train was directed well away from the site. I was informed that I and several other men were detailed to bury the bodies and see if there was anything we wanted to take with us. We were told to look especially for papers in order to identify the bodies. When we arrived we found there were no animals left. The horses were gone and the oxen had been killed. The wagon had been set afire but it had only partially burned.

When we checked the wagon we quickly found bills of sale for the slaves and several leg and hand irons. There were some foodstuffs remaining but most of it had been ruined during the attack or animals. I began to look for identity papers for the slavers but found only two letters that had first names only. I also found several blank bills of sale without any names on them, which made me question if the black men had really all been slaves in the first place. It wouldn't have been the first time that blacks were taken into slavery regardless of their real status.

During our search I had checked the bottom of the wagon to see if they had a secret compartment in their wagon similar to ours. I was unable to find it until I got to the front of the wagon. Under the front seat I found a small box in a hidden compartment, that when opened was found to be full of gold and silver coins. I slipped the box into a barrel of flour and told no one of the find. When I emerged from the wagon I showed the men the papers I had found and claimed the barrel of flour for myself. As I had the least food in the wagon train they agreed. Others took the harness, wheels and the wagon cover while one man took all the iron he could find, including the restraints. We teased him about that as his wife had a reputation as rather a shrew in the train. We rode back to the wagon train and returned with extra horses and transported the items back to the wagon train.

I met Louise upon my return and found that the men in the slave wagon had been taking freemen into slavery. Louise told me that she and her brother were freemen living in Missouri when the slavers ambushed them. They had been stripped and their manumission papers burnt. She stated that she and her brother had tried to escape several times. The man who had whipped her, Wyatt Dugay, had killed him the last time they tried. She identified the other two men as Cole Dugay and Charley Benson. She was only able to tell me the first name of the black men as that was all they were called by except 'You'. Louise told me that she and her brother were the only family each had, as their parents had been sold years ago to other people and she had no idea where they ended up.

I was happy that the slavers were dead but regretted that the black men also died. I promised myself that I would still keep slavery out of Oregon one way or another. I just wish that there had been some way to free them without death being involved.

When I asked my wives if I could sleep in the wagon tonight, Elizabeth told me of some of the conversation they had yesterday with Louise. I learned that the slavers and some of the black men had repeatedly raped Louise while she was a captive. She feared most men now and was in no shape to sleep in the same place as a man, let alone one who would be making love to his wives. Elizabeth offered to join me under the wagon but stated that there would be no loving until they thought Louise could handle it. When I asked how long that would be, they looked at each other and shrugged. As half a loaf is better than none, I accepted her offer. I hope this doesn't last too long.

June 25, 1847

I am dreading the next week. Elizabeth started her period yesterday and Claire should be starting either today or tomorrow. I remember last month when she became so unstable. I guess that I have to learn to live with it. She is too good a woman to give up because of one or two unpleasant days a month. I felt much better after waking up with Elizabeth in my arms. I am finding it hard to sleep by myself. I didn't realize how addicting it would be to sleep with a woman you love in your arm. When we woke up I saw Louise already at the fire making breakfast. We both told her she didn't have to do that.

"I know, but if I'm not doing something, I'm just brooding about my brother and the past. There's nothing for me in Missouri anymore and I don't know what I'm going to do by myself." She began crying softly.

I remained by the wagon, unsure of what to do. Elizabeth grabbed my arm and pushed me toward Louise.

"Get over there and hold her!" she directed.