Chapter 10

Four days later we were once again on our way, Dove and Fox were doing ok, we had Fox’s arm secured and he wasn’t in too much pain. We had them on the same horse for now so that Fox would have a little help for the first few days. They both needed time to learn about horses and I figured they would get plenty of practice while traveling with us. They really didn’t have any family left after their grandfather died, we said for now they could go with us until they figured out what they wanted to do.

Just over a month later we were close to the people we were sent here to help. I took out the necklace that was left for me to show the tribe so that they would know me as a friend. As we fixed our dinner, Dianne and I talked with Fox and Dove, they seemed content to being with us. Fox’s arm was still wrapped and in a sling, we tied it down while he was riding so he wouldn’t try to use it and keep it from moving as much. They knew we were meeting someone from a different tribe than them. We wanted the two of them to have a good start in life, so we gave them the choice of trying to find their people or living with us. They at some point wanted to let their tribe know what had happened to them so as to cause no pain, wondering if they lived or not. If they lived with the tribe, they would be orphans, having to start over on their own. They were much more comfortable with us after being gone for so long.

After waking and breakfast, we took off knowing we were only an hour away. I wore the necklace on the outside of my shirt. Hoping I wouldn’t get an arrow in me before they saw it! We came to a large opening with what looked like 30 or more teepees, people milling around and horses on the other side of a creek away from the teepees. We slowly made our way towards them, with our hands empty. I was scared, this was the dangerous part, just hoped they were ok with visitors. Several came towards us with bows, but none were notched, that was a good sign. I said friend and took off the necklace so they could see it. One held up his hand and motioned us to stop, he ran back towards camp and said something and another man came towards us.

Once close enough he asked in broken English who we were and what we wanted. I held up the necklace and told him we were there to deliver a message. We were made welcome and shown where we could set up our camp and put our horses. Ours was a much different camp than theirs, think of a six-man Coleman tent and some canvas tarps. When we took the horses across the creek and put hobbles on them, they thought that was funny especially when they started to hop around. We saw the women all working around cook pots and kids being kids were everywhere getting into everything. Dove tried talking to a few young people and although not the same language it had some of the same words and they got by.