grass-stuffed beds and willow backrests. The cooking pot outside had been full of a thick antelope stew. He was relieved hard times had not yet struck this band.
“For now, it is good, but never like before. In the old days, the buffalo darkened the plains and shook the earth. No more. They are few. Even the elk and deer grow scarce. For one more summer we rejoice, but trouble comes.” The old man sat down gracefully on one of the thick beds and reclined against the willow backrest, motioning for Hawk to do likewise.
When they were comfortable, Iron Heart prepared and lit his pipe, a ritual of welcome he greatly enjoyed. He offered it to Hawk, who accepted the honor and took a pull on it.
“You speak of trouble. I know the game grows less as the whites grow more. I fear for the People.” Hawk's eyes were clouded with a worry he was powerless to dispel.
“It is more than these things that have been happening slowly. Since I was a young warrior I could see our fate.”
“What do you mean, Grandfather?”
The old man paused, thoughtfully. “You have been away to the south for many moons. You have not heard. It concerns He Who Walks in Sun.”
At the mention of his father's name, Hawk stiffened. “What has he to do with the trouble?”
“The bad medicine wagons that run on wooden trails are coming closer to our lands. Already this spring, word has come from the sacred lands of Dakota that the white men build more wooden roads. They stretch ever closer to the sunset. Within a year they will be on this hunting, ground.”
Railroads this far west! Hawk swore in English. The rails of the Northern Pacific had stopped in the middle of Dakota Territory back in '73 when old Jay Cooke went bust. Who the devil had resumed construction? “I have not heard this news. When I returned to the ranch, no word was spoken of it. Are you sure Noah is involved?”
“He sends his cattle herders to set up their little wood huts on pieces of the land to the east, all in a straight line.” Iron Heart's eyes were shrewd as he looked at Hawk.
They both knew what it meant. In order to bribe the railroad into using a route near his ranch, a cattle baron would have his cowboys purchase homestead tracts from the railroad. The railroads had supposedly paid the Indian Bureau for the land “held in trust” for the plains tribes, from whom it had really been stolen. The red .men never saw any money from the Indian Bureau.
However, once the cowboy had built a crude shack as “proof of intent” to farm the land, he simply turned the actual use of it over to his boss, who had paid for it in the first place. Thus the intent of the Homestead Act was subverted, with both small farmers and Indian tribes the losers, especially the Indians. Once railroads ran into an area, towns followed and game became scarce. With no means of sustaining their food supply, the hunters of the plains were starved onto reservations, pitiful little tracts of land the whites did not yet want.
It was happening here, so far north. Hawk had hoped the inevitable could be forestalled, at least a little longer for the Northern Cheyenne. He was hardly surprised that Noah wanted a railhead in Miles City, a shipping point for his beef to rich eastern markets.
He sighed in resignation, knowing nothing could stop the march of the rails. How close they came to the lands around the Circle S was another matter. “I will see what Noah plans, Grandfather.”
“You are the one who will one day claim his land. It would be good if you could stop him from doing this thing now.”
Hawk's face hardened in grim lines. “No. I will not be the one, Grandfather. Noah has taken a new wife, a young one.”
Iron Heart pondered that news. “Is she a second wife? The
“For now, it is good, but never like before. In the old days, the buffalo darkened the plains and shook the earth. No more. They are few. Even the elk and deer grow scarce. For one more summer we rejoice, but trouble comes.” The old man sat down gracefully on one of the thick beds and reclined against the willow backrest, motioning for Hawk to do likewise.
When they were comfortable, Iron Heart prepared and lit his pipe, a ritual of welcome he greatly enjoyed. He offered it to Hawk, who accepted the honor and took a pull on it.
“You speak of trouble. I know the game grows less as the whites grow more. I fear for the People.” Hawk's eyes were clouded with a worry he was powerless to dispel.
“It is more than these things that have been happening slowly. Since I was a young warrior I could see our fate.”
“What do you mean, Grandfather?”
The old man paused, thoughtfully. “You have been away to the south for many moons. You have not heard. It concerns He Who Walks in Sun.”
At the mention of his father's name, Hawk stiffened. “What has he to do with the trouble?”
“The bad medicine wagons that run on wooden trails are coming closer to our lands. Already this spring, word has come from the sacred lands of Dakota that the white men build more wooden roads. They stretch ever closer to the sunset. Within a year they will be on this hunting, ground.”
Railroads this far west! Hawk swore in English. The rails of the Northern Pacific had stopped in the middle of Dakota Territory back in '73 when old Jay Cooke went bust. Who the devil had resumed construction? “I have not heard this news. When I returned to the ranch, no word was spoken of it. Are you sure Noah is involved?”
“He sends his cattle herders to set up their little wood huts on pieces of the land to the east, all in a straight line.” Iron Heart's eyes were shrewd as he looked at Hawk.
They both knew what it meant. In order to bribe the railroad into using a route near his ranch, a cattle baron would have his cowboys purchase homestead tracts from the railroad. The railroads had supposedly paid the Indian Bureau for the land “held in trust” for the plains tribes, from whom it had really been stolen. The red .men never saw any money from the Indian Bureau.
However, once the cowboy had built a crude shack as “proof of intent” to farm the land, he simply turned the actual use of it over to his boss, who had paid for it in the first place. Thus the intent of the Homestead Act was subverted, with both small farmers and Indian tribes the losers, especially the Indians. Once railroads ran into an area, towns followed and game became scarce. With no means of sustaining their food supply, the hunters of the plains were starved onto reservations, pitiful little tracts of land the whites did not yet want.
It was happening here, so far north. Hawk had hoped the inevitable could be forestalled, at least a little longer for the Northern Cheyenne. He was hardly surprised that Noah wanted a railhead in Miles City, a shipping point for his beef to rich eastern markets.
He sighed in resignation, knowing nothing could stop the march of the rails. How close they came to the lands around the Circle S was another matter. “I will see what Noah plans, Grandfather.”
“You are the one who will one day claim his land. It would be good if you could stop him from doing this thing now.”
Hawk's face hardened in grim lines. “No. I will not be the one, Grandfather. Noah has taken a new wife, a young one.”
Iron Heart pondered that news. “Is she a second wife? The
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