Chapter 7

As we rode toward the buffalo hunting ground, I asked, "What's going to happen at the marriage ceremony?"

"Well, usually the night before, you would go into a sweat lodge to try to have a vision. While you are in there, the vapors given off by many herbs and other plants will help you have your vision."

I grunted skeptically, "That's just great — they're going to get me stoned so I'll start seeing things."

Grandpa, picking up on my cynical attitude, demanded, "What is this 'stoned'?"

"It's a term from my time for being drunk or under the influence of other substances. Sometimes when people get really stoned, they have hallucinations and act crazy."

"I see," Grandpa said. "No it won't be like that for you; the vapors are more to help you relax so you can let go and let the vision happen, and there's always someone nearby in case the vision is too intense and you need help finding your way back. Usually, it seems like the person just has a real good sweat and comes out feeling a whole lot better, after sweating all the dirt out of their hide.

"Mind you, I have seen some mighty strange things happen to some of these Holy Ones — some of their visions seem to show what the future may bring. But, for most others, they just answer questions or provide a solution to a problem. Like I said, I've seen what can happen, so don't be making fun of what you don't understand."

Still somewhat skeptical, despite his reassurances, I said, "Ok. I'll try to keep an open mind, but I'm not convinced anything will happen. If it don't, what do I do then — make something up?"

"NO! Whatever you do, don't lie to them! They will know and never trust you again! If you don't have a vision, just tell them so, but chances are you will see something. Whether it makes sense to you or not, the Holy Ones will help you try to understand it."

"OK, I think I understand that part. Now, what happens on the wedding day itself?"

"First, after you talk to the Holy Woman, the girls' father will take you to the river to clean up. Then he will talk with you in private explaining his daughters to you, and he will answer any questions you may have about the facts of life."

I started to laugh. "I've pretty much known about the facts of life since I was about fourteen."

Grandpa looked at me like I was an idiot. "Not sex! I'm talking about how to treat his daughters and make a good husband to them! Any damn fool knows about sex by your age."

"Sorry." I said sheepishly.

"OK then — after you and him talk, you will be presented to both Red Cloud and White Calf Woman. You will formally ask them permission for the girls to become your true wives. At that time, Red Cloud will give you his permission and White Calf Woman will also give her blessing. And ... then — you are married."

"Is that all there is to it?" I asked, thinking I had missed something.

"Nope! Almost, but not quite! After the formalities with Red Cloud and the Holy Woman, the actual celebration starts. First, there is a big feast and much dancing. After a while, when it is polite to do so, you and the girls will slip off to a special lodge built just for the wedding night. When you come out in the morning, then the girls will be your True Wives in the eyes of the tribe."

As we rode along looking for sign of buffalo, we saw some buzzards circling in the distance. Curious, we rode over to investigate and found two dead prospectors.

At first glance, it looked like they had been killed by Indians but as lawmen, something just didn't seem right! On closer examination, we discovered that they had been shot and mutilated. Then, where the bullets had entered the bodies, arrows had been pushed into the holes.

Thanks to Grandpa's knowledge of the local tribes, when we examined the arrows, we found the black and blue markings of the Crow, not the red and yellow bands of the Lakota Sioux they should have been, as we were IN Lakota territory and a long way from Crow country.

We also discovered that the prospectors had been robbed of all gold, money and other things of value — very unusual, as the Indians had little or no use for money or gold.

Realizing the implications, I declared, "I think we had better report this to the law."

"Ain't no law except miners' court. The closest real law is at Fort Laramie and that's 200 miles from here. Besides, the miner's court would just start more trouble for the Indians. I say lets search them for anything that might identify who they are; then we can try to see if'n they have any family to contact."

Despite it getting late in the day, we took the time to properly bury them, leaving a small pile of stones to mark their graves, in case there was anyone who might want to find their bodies. Then, with nothing else we could do, we went on our way.

A short while later we came upon a small herd of buffalo consisting of an alpha Bull, two younger bulls, and six cows with young calves.

Grandpa pointed and said, "You're pretty handy with them pistols, now let's see how you are with that rifle — shoot the two young bulls."

I dismounted, got into a comfortable shooting position, got a good sight picture, squeezed the trigger, and dropped the first bull. Before he finished falling, I swung the rifle, acquired the second bull in my sights and hit him cleanly with a shot to his lower chest, dropping him in his tracks.

"That's mighty good shootin'." Grandpa said

"Wouldn't it have been better to take the old bull and one of cows?"

"Nope. Those young bulls were almost the age that they would soon have challenged the old bull for his place as the alpha male. He's still healthy and looks to throw good calves, so we let him be. 'Sides that, the meat from younger animals is better — more tender."

We dressed out the kills and loaded them on the travois and started back, although by now it was getting very late in the day, with not much daylight left. We didn't like traveling so late, but we knew we would have trouble with predators attracted by the smell of the meat if we tried camping on the open prairie, so we traveled straight through.

By pushing our horses as much as we dared with the heavily loaded travois, we managed to arrive back at Red Cloud's camp just shortly after dark. Despite the late hour, the whole camp turned out to help with the kills. The men unloaded the horses then the women attacked those two buffalo like a swarm of ants. In no time they had them both skinned, the meat cut up and the hides stretched on frames for scraping and tanning.

When that frantic activity had settled down, I told Grandpa "We need to find out where we are sleeping. You do that and I will check on Running Deer."

When I entered their lodge, I found Running Deer sleeping soundly with Little Doe watching her. Trying not to wake her unnecessarily, I carefully checked Running Deer's condition. She was showing definite signs of improvement with no sign of having a fever still. Her cast was almost dried hard and squeezing her fingertips indicated good circulation. Encouraged by these positive signs, I told Little Doe everything looked OK for now, and for her to get some rest — my little sweetie (where did that come from?) looked exhausted. I would check on her sister again in the morning.