Chapter 5

They woke up earlier than normal the next morning, and had quick breakfast.

John went forward with his binoculars to check out the village. He noticed that most of the people in camp looked very thin. They were thin enough to make him think some kind of health problem was being encountered. He did notice that several of the males looked to be injured, and recovering. All in all, this small tribe had some problems.

When he got back to camp to talk to Sarah he noticed the U-haul trailer's colors had changed. Now it was completely white, with a Red Cross symbol in the center of each long side. This change was something he immediately asked Sarah about. It seemed there was more in the vehicle's owner's manuals than he had thought. With just a few settings on a panel he had not noticed, they could change the color of a vehicle or a trailer attached to it, as well as any design markings.

Sarah asked John about the village, and he described all that he had seen. They decided to leave their vehicles parked a ways from the village, and to walk up. Each of them was wearing two pistols, and a belt knife. They both had rifles slung over their shoulders, but were going to have empty hands. They slowly approached the village, until they were in plain sight.

They stopped, and hailed the village.

This immediately brought results. The women grabbed their children and ran for their teepees. The able bodied men gathered on the side of the village closest to John and Sarah, while an older man slowly approached. John noticed that some of the younger tribe members had weapons at the ready.

John greeted they person they assumed was the chief pleasantly in English. The spokesman responded in his own tongue. Of course, neither of them could understand the other. The spokesman started using sign language, to try and communicate that way.

Much to the surprise of both John and Sarah, they could understand it. They introduced themselves as travelers from far away. The man introduced himself as the tribe's shaman, Storm's Eye. When asked about the leader, Storm's Eye told the story of the last hunt.

"Hunting has been poor for some time, because of the drought. Several of the men had gone on a hunting trip to try and bring back a buffalo or two. They had just gotten there, and were ready to take one of the older calves, when something set the herd running. The edge of the herd caught the tribesmen. That's where most of the injuries you see came from. Unfortunately, both the chief and his son were killed. So far, portents had not been right to pick a new chief. However, even more worrisome was the fact that no meat had been brought back from the hunt."

John and Sarah talked. They decided to ask the shaman that if they went hunting, and brought back a buffalo, would they be welcome to visit the tribe. The shaman was enthusiastic about this idea, and assured them the tribe would be friendly if they brought back any kind of meat animal.

John asked if he brought an animal back, would the tribe be willing to clean and cut it up. This caused the shaman to laugh and agree. John found out what direction the buffalo had gone, and the pair headed back to their vehicles.

The shaman went back to his men, shaking his head. He told them about the strangers, and joked about the two of them carrying back a buffalo for the tribe to cut up. They didn't look strong enough to bring back a hindquarter, let alone a whole buffalo!

When John and Sarah got back to their vehicles, Sarah helped John get a small collapsible flat trailer out of the cargo trailer, and put it together. With this attached to the SUV, they headed toward the herd.

An hour and a half later they approached the herd. With Sarah standing watch, John shot a large male. He misjudged his shot, and the bullet glanced off the bull's skull, causing him to bellow in pain. John took more time for the second shot, and got him in the lungs.

Sarah immediately fired on a second animal when they started running thinking they really should bring back two animals because of the hunger in the village. Her shot hit its target's spine, which made the cow collapse. They slowly approached the bodies in the SUV. Using the winch on the back of the SUV, they got the carcasses loaded onto the trailer.

They approached the camp in their SUV, with the trailer. This caused quite a stir among the people. John stopped a good one hundred yards out. He and Sarah approached slowly on foot, and the shaman met them.

John showed the shaman the two carcasses on the trailer, and asked permission to bring them into the camp. This was readily granted.

While the women of the tribe were working on the meat, Sarah asked to look at an injured man who was limping, badly. With the shaman's assurances that everything would be all right, the man allowed Sarah to examine his leg. He had cracked his tibia (shinbone). With all of the walking he had done, the bone had separated, injuring the muscle of the lower leg, as well.

Sarah sent John for some strong reeds, or thin branches, that could be used as splint material. Sarah asked the man's wife if they had any thongs that could be used to tie the splint on. After the splint material had been gathered, Sarah had John help pull the leg to correctly line up the bone.

After splinting the leg, she warned him not to walk on the leg for four weeks.

Of course the brave complained that he was strong. A little hurt leg was not going to stop him from hunting.

This set Sarah off! She explained that if the leg didn't heal correctly, he would never be able to run again, and hunting would be impossible.

The brave's wife had been watching. She tore into him, good. Sarah wasn't sure what was said, but she watched him melt and agree to do as Sarah asked.

John asked the shaman if he could bring his "house" near camp, so he wouldn't have so far to walk to go to sleep. After getting permission John and Sarah drove back to where they left the pickup and trailers. Making sure everything was working correctly, and was properly hitched; they drove back to the village. They set up on the south side of the village.

John and Sarah were invited to a feast that evening, to celebrate the hunt. With great ceremony, a piece of the heart and liver were given to them with a large piece of roasted meat. Along with the meat, they were given a variety of vegetables that had been gathered from the area.

The fresh food tasted great after living on canned food for almost a week. One thing they noticed at this feast was that several of the ladies and children that looked to be in the poorest shape, were given food first.

They decided to try and find out what was going on, and why these people looked to be in such bad health.

John went up to Storm's Eye and asked "Why are these people in such bad shape? They look like they have not had enough food."

"These people are the widows and orphans of some of the braves that have been killed recently. They have no one to hunt for them. When meat was scarce the family of the hunter eats first then others could have any extra. In this case, the food was given to the tribe as a whole instead of a particular hunter so they were fed first."

Sarah responded with, "Tell me more about them."

Storm's Eye went on to say, "The widows and orphans are not normally a problem. When a brave is killed, the widow goes to the family of her brother and joins that family with her children. If she has no brother, then she goes to the brother of the husband. Finally, if there are no brothers, the widow and her family go back to the father of the wife first, then the father of the husband second. Last, if there are no relatives at all she and her family eat of the extra of the tribe. We do everything we can to help them, but this has been a time of very little extra."

He paused and looked at them "John and Sarah, will you be staying long? You seem to be blessed by the Great Spirit, with the ability to hunt safely. We really need the meat, to get strong enough to follow the herd, again."

John and Sarah looked at each other with raised eyebrows. John turned back to the shaman and signed, "Storm's Eye, we aren't certain yet. We must discuss this and pray. We will tell you in the morning.

As the evening progressed they enjoyed the dancing and positive spirit these people seemed to show. These people had many problems yet they tried to stay as positive as possible. That evening when they returned to the camper, they settled down to talk.

"John, why did you tell the shaman we would pray about it?"

"Well, first, because he is the shaman. He believes in gods. Second, if we decide to leave it won't sound like it was our idea."

"I can't help feel that these are a good people and somehow we were put here to help them. I know that with all the stuff in your trailer, you need to build a settlement somewhere. I even need to build a clinic at that settlement."

"Thank you. I felt we needed to help them, also. I felt silly saying so, because I had no logical reason to stay."

"Men! You don't always have to have a logical reason to do something. Sometimes you have to go with what you feel is right."

The next morning John and Sarah looked around camp. There were fifteen teepees, here. On one side of the encampment was a pool from a fresh water spring. The run off from the spring caused a stream, and its bed had cut through the bluff. This streambed made an easy way down from the bluff top into the river valley.

Over the years, use by animals and people had cut the streambed much wider until there was a good path leading down beside the creek. Drought conditions were very obvious up on the bluff but the valley looked in decent shape. When Sarah asked why they didn't live down in the valley where it was nicer, she was informed that the valley had good animal habitat, which made hunting easier. Some of the foods gathered came from the moister valley and some came from the upper bluff lands. This spring made a good place to take advantage of both places.

Storm's Eye greeted them, "Have you made your decision?"

John responded for them, "Yes, we have. We are staying. We will help hunt and do other things, as we can."

Storm's Eye smiled and signed, "I knew the storm was a sign of good things to come. I did not expect the two of you walking in out of nowhere. I am sure the Great Spirit put you here to help us in our time of sorrow and great need. As a representative of the elders, I invite you to stay as long as you want."