John Karr part two

After nearly an hour of slow progress following behind Crossing the water he seemed to find the type of tree he was looking for. He used a tool that looked like a small axe to chop of a larger branch perhaps just smaller than my wrist and several smaller branches that looked to be mostly straight and had no kind of knots in them.

"you will make your own arrows and hunt your own meat" he proclaimed

"did your people take any guns from my house?" I asked him but I saw immediatley that he would not answer that question. "I hunt better with my father's gun"

"you will learn to make a bow and to shoot with arrows. This is how the Cheyenne hunt"

"I am not Cheyenne" I declared

"you will be" Crossing The Water looked straight at me and I did not like the way he did it.

"you killed my entire family and you think I will just go along with this scheme of yours whatever it is?" I shouted at him following as he started to head back towards the camp "I will fight all of you until I pull my last breath"

"you are still here White Runner" Crossing The Water said plainly "and all you have is a broken leg, many bruises and some broken ribs. Do not fight us"

"you can all go to hell" I told him refusing to say anything else.

 Crossing The Water spent much of the rest of the day instructing me on how to shape the bow so that it could be cured to make it stronger. Then we worked on the arrows picking out ten good sticks that were straight and shaving down any bumps.

I knew that unless I learned to make this bow and arrows I would not be eating and I would not die of starvation here. I was not through trying to escape and return home and I just hoped there was a home to return to.

Moon Rising came again that night and I could not look at her the same really. What family would allow their daughter to come lie with a man night after night? What purpose could it hold? And then I realized how stupid I had been. Would an honorable man be so ready to leave a woman if she were carrying his child? Is this what she had intended from the begining? Could she already be carrying my child?

The only thing I did know was that from this night onward I would not give into her. I would allow her to stay with me but nothing more.

The next morning I could hear a lot of loud commotion outside and sat up listening. Of course I could not understand what was being said but all the same I was curious as to what was happening and got onto my knees tying the cloth at my waist 

then crawing to the entrance.

Crossing The Water was walking towards me with a purpose and I waited as he drew near.

"come, you will race"

Race? Again? With my ribs still unhealed and in pain this was not a good idea.

"No, I will not race"

Crossing The Water's face set in that determined look that he always wore when he would not be argued with. "these men would not even consider racing a white man, You are the one who has presented a challenge to them. It is an honor to be chosen like this"

"Honor or not my ribs are still broken"

Crossing The Water shook his head as if such were not a standing problem. "We will wrap them tighter. You will race"

"go to hell" I told him ducking back inside and pulling the flap closed behind me. Moon Rising was now sitting up curious but I didn't have any way to tell her what was happening. After a few minutes someone shouted to Moon Rising from outside and she answered then the flap was drawn back from outside and three men, one of them considerable in size entered. He immediatley grabbed my ankle and dragged me outside then continued to drag me over the dry grass and rocks to where several men and a few horses waited. My side was throbing considerably at this point and I found it hard to breathe but did not have even a seconds releif as I was pulled to my feet and the hide around my chest was pulled away.

The older woman who had tended to me when I first arrived applied a poultice to my ribs and I was bound even tighter than I had been.

"now, you will race" Crossing The Water approached me and I could see that they had a big black horse waiting with two men already on their own horses. I knew that I could simply loose and drown their appetite to race with me any more after this but I was not about to let that happen. I was a better horseman than all of them and I did not mind proving it.

This race was the same as before except that I was racing two men and at a much longer distance.  The motion and Jarring did expectely hurt my ribs and I could not breathe as easily as I would have liked though these things did not deter me at all. I wanted them to know that they would always have a very difficult time trying to catch me whenever I ran and ended the race about a horses length ahead of both men. The Cheyenne seemed to like this for whatever reason but I found it hard to accept any kind of congratulations. These were the people that had killed my family and kept me prisoner here. I would play their games, for a little while.

Moon Rising was among those that congratulated me at the end and tried to convince me to sneak off with her but I would not do it telling her "no", one of the few Cheyenne words I had learned. Hard as it was I would have to hold strong on this end.

I returned to my home but the thought of doing nothing all day held no appeal with me and since I did not have any weapons big enough to hunt deer I decided to go after some smaller game. I knew everyone would be watching me like a hawk wherever I went but I did not really have a care as I headed towards the herd of horses and looked for my own horse two shot. I had not seen him since the day Crossing the Water had taken me hunting and I wanted to ride him. I called for him and immediatley his big head raised above the others nickering, he came to me and I stroked his face especially between the eyes where he liked it most. I managed to climb up on him bareback after a few tries dashing away the few unwanted tears it caused because of the pain and turned him towards the trees without the use of any rope.

By this time I had caused quite an excitement among the people close by and I could hear them shouting behind me.

"White Runner" I could hear a man calling me but it was not Crossing The Water. I turned to look and found a man between forty and fifty years of age walking towards me. Something about him told me that he was a man not to be trifled with that that he knew things.

"you will be hunted down and perhaps break your other leg"

"I have a wife now and we must eat" I told him matter of factly then continued on. He spoke to someone behind him then selected a horse and followed behind me.

"what will you hunt?" The man from behind asked me

"whatever I can. I have only my bare hands" I told him nudging two shot faster and caring very little if he followed or not.

He followed me as I headed out towards the tree line but did not say a word even as I found that place that Crossing The Water had taken me to several days ago. Another man caught up with us handing my father's rifle to the man behind me confirming my suspicions. The Cheyenne would have taken everything of value to them before burning my familie's house to the ground including any good weapons.

Angry I kept on caring very little if he allowed me to use it or not. I did not want his presence here.

"you understand, this rifle does not belong to you but you may use it until your bow is finished"

"it was my father's rifle, and he is dead" I kept my words even but the hurt at seeing that rifle would not go away for a very long time.

We did not see any deer until it was near dark and as usual my aim was dead on dropping a doe several feet in front of us. All the other wildlife scattered but I could see was we approached her that she was still alive breathing heavily and rather than let her suffer I shot her again.

"she has provided you with sustinence, before you touch her thanks must be given" the man told me and I remembered from before when Crossing The Water had told me the very same thing. It was a belief of the Cheyenne, one that I was not accustomed to but it made sense to me somehow and I did as he asked.

The man took the rifle back and we returned with the deer. I was fully prepared to take care of it in the dark but Moon Rising was waiting with another woman and took it from me.

"This is what the women do" the man explained

I watched as the two women efficiently gutted and stripped the deer then led two shot back to the herd of horses.

As I slowly hobbled back a realization came to me. How was it that the Cheyenne could get me to do things without even realizing it? I had only been here a little over two weeks if my counting of days was correct and already I had a wife as well as a desire to provide my own food. I still didn't want to be here but now things were much more complicated and they knew it. I'm sure this is what they had meant to do all along but now that I realized what they were up to I would have to be much more careful.

That night I again refused Moon Rising knowing that it would become harder and harder to do so. We were both young, I having seen only three more years than her and there were some things that just come natural to two young people. It did not help much either that she was extremely beautiful.

The next day Crossing the water came to me and we worked on my arrows.

"You must be ready to hunt but also to protect yourself and the Cheyenne from any enemies." he said I didn't really know what he meant by that but if he meant anyone be it soldiers or men for me I'd be damned before taking a shot at them.

"You will learn to speak as the Cheyenne do" he told me and I had known sooner or later it would come to this.

"I am not Cheyenne" I replied

He just looked at me with that stubborn look he posesed "you will be"

"I will never be" I told him wanting to snap an arrow in defiance but knowing I would need it if I wanted to be able to eat.

Crossing The Water just smiled almost chuckling to himself

We spent most of the morning and into the afternoon making arrows and he trying to teach me words that I would not learn.

"you must speak as the Cheyenne do" he told me

"I am not Cheyenne" I told him angrily "the Cheyenne stole everything from me and they will not have my soul too"

"no one will speak to you" he said standing

"that does not matter to me" I told him

"it will"

I was truly sick of his confident manner and the fact that he felt the Cheyenne had rights where I was concerned simply because they had destroyed my home and killed my entire family. I was not giving up, not at all and I was not finished trying to leave. I would play their game, give them cause to trust me for a while.

Crossing the Water said something in the Cheyenne language and I knew what he was doing. I ignored him working on the binding of one arrow but somehow knew from this point forward he would not be speaking to me in my own language. Nor would anyone else. By the finish of that day I had two arrows that were ready to use but my skill with a bow and arrows was lacking. My own bow was not finished as it was in the process of curing to make it stronger but Crossing The Water had lent me a bow to use and I decided to walk a short distance from the camp and practice a bit before the light left the sky completely. I saw this as a challenge. If I was going to have to use a bow and arrows to hunt I was going to be damned good at it. That was how I took on everything. This would become part of freeing myself when the time came and to make no mistake about it, I was not done trying.

My first shot completely missed the tree and flew into the bushes behind it and as I went to retrieve the arrow I could hear someone walking up behind me. He didn't say a word, just held out his hand demanding the arrow and picked up the bow from where I had left it on the ground. With a skill and ease that I would posess someday he pulled back the arrow and let it fly hitting the tree but just barely.

He walked to the tree pulling the arrow out of it after some effort then keeping hold on the bow and walking back to pick up my other arrow he spoke a single word in Cheyenne which I did not understand before walking off. Clearly I was supposed to follow him which I did until he reached one of the homes behind mine and motioned for me to sit. He went inside returning with a knife and a small hide pouch then sat and proceeded to cut the fletching from the arrows at the bottom. He worked the feathers into a twist all the way around and rebound them then did the same for the other arrow. He stood taking the bow and arrows with him motioning for me to follow. Who was this man and why was he being so accomodating? Wasn't I the enemy to them? I followed him with that thought in mind but was also curious to see if the arrows would work better this way. He stopped at the spot we had been to previously and let one of the arrows fly hitting the tree dead on then demonstrated the correct stance and sighting to shoot. I tried to imitate him with a few corrections and let the second arrow fly hitting the tree but just barely and without enough force to really embed the arrowhead.

It was getting too dark to continue but I would do this again tomorrow until I could shoot well enough to bring a deer down. I knew with out any doubt that the Cheyenne did not intend to feed me even though I was married to one of their women and I would not let them starve us.