Fair Land, Fair Land (14 page)

"
Suits me all right. I ain't one to lie abed."

Near them, Teal Eye stirred the pot and added some
sticks to the fire. The two boys were staying out of sight even now.
Summers came back and said, "Them new horses ain't bad."

Potter cleared his throat. "Brother Summers, I
hope I'm not mistaken, you do want to be married?"

Summers looked him in the face. "Have for a long
time. Been waitin' to find me a preacher, that I have."

"
Fine. What time, Brother? I have suggested
sunrise."

"
Whenever you say. We'll be ready." Summers
walked off, beckoning to Teal Eye. Likely he wanted to tell her about
high-born manners. When he came back, he brought buffalo robes and
spread them on the ground.

Potter said, "These old bones of mine can't get
used to sitting as you men and the Indians do. What is it called?
Yes, a tailor's squat."

"
You set right on that log," Summers told
him. "I got somethin' might ease your miseries."

That was the signal for Higgins to get up and fetch
the jug.

"
We're froze for glasses," Summers said,
meaning they didn't have any.

"
He" — Higgins pointed — "knows
how to drink from a jug. Done it before."

Summers uncorked the jug and handed it to Potter.
Potter put a forefinger in the handle, rested the jug on his elbow,
put his mouth to the opening and lifted the elbow.

Summers' teeth showed in a grin. "Reverend, you
been places."

"
That I have. And seen things and drunk worse
spirits than this." He passed the jug.

They had one drink each. Then Summers rose, saying,
"Nigh time to eat."

With a horn spoon Teal Eye ladled food into a tin
cup. Summers took it, put it on a tin plate and added knife, fork and
spoon. He handed the plate to Potter. He did the same then for
Higgins and himself. Teal Eye tended to her own.

Higgins felt laughter in him and held it back. For
God's sake, Summers, that old mountain-man son of a bitch, playing
waiter and being dainty about it!

"
Please, let me ask the blessing before we eat,"
Potter said.
The blessing was full of thanks
and didn't ask much. He was, Higgins thought, a man satisfied with
what had been given. That wasn't a bad way to be.

Potter took a spoonful of stew, rolled it around,
chewed and swallowed. He raised his eyes high and then looked at Teal
Eye. "What a tasty dish! What flavoring! What's your secret,
Sister?"

Teal Eye looked at Summers who answered for her. "She
knows a sight of things, wild things to eat, like roots of cattails
and balsam root and stuff you wouldn't think. Main thing is good
buffalo meat."

"
Indians have to know," Teal Eye said.
"Know or go dead."

Those were almost her first words to the preacher.
The shyness was wearing off.

"
Far better than fort victuals. Tell me, where
are the boys? Two of them, aren't there?"

"
You'll see 'em in time," Summers answered.
"They're small and wary as animals, not used to seein' anybody
but us."

As if acting on the words, Teal Eye rose, filled two
more cups and took them inside the tepee. Their meal finished, they
sat back. Potter patted his stomach. Higgins and Summers lighted
pipes.

"
Crack of dawn, you say?" Summers asked.

"
Sunup, yes." With his hand Potter kept
congratulating his stomach. "A new day. Did you ever pause to
think every morning was a new beginning?"

"
And every night, you're glad to be rid of that
day, huh?" Higgins asked just for the hell of it.

Summers said, "Please to quit that pickin. Hig."

"
Every night, thanks, I would hope. Goodbye to a
day well spent."

The sun had sunk long since, but the sky was still
filled with
afterglow. Overhead was the sound
of a wing.

Potter yawned. "Speaking of sleep — "

Higgins told him, "You can crawl into my tepee.
I'd as soon sleep outside."

"
No, Brother Higgins. I have my own bedroll, and
I like to sleep under the stars."

"
Your choice. I'll get your roll."

"
If you would. I confess to a certain stiffness
of limb."

They saw Potter bedded down on a robe. The fire was
dead. Teal Eye had disappeared. Pretty soon Potter began snoring,
snoring in praise of the Lord maybe.

Higgins was tired himself
and so said good night and went to his tepee.

* * *

Teal Eye sat on a robe inside the tepee, waiting for
Summers.

The boys were asleep. Before bedtime Summers liked to
step away from the camp, look at the stars, sniff the air and listen
to the sounds of the night. She told herself not to be moody. A woman
ought to be cheerful with her man, cheerful and helpful, not anxious,
not worried. But here, tomorrow, came the day of a proper, white-man
marriage, and she drew in on herself. Before now Summers had talked
of a preacher and a wedding, more often since she had borne him a
baby, but she had shied away from his words, saying inside herself
that the time never would come.

She could stand up with Summers and be married, but
there would be darkness in her, the weight of a truth untold. Maybe
better to speak straight with her man even if it meant losing him.
Maybe tell all and go on without him. She wouldn't let herself cry.

Summers came in the tepee and waited until he could
see in the darkness. Then he said, "Still up, girl? Worried
about the big day?"

"
Me feel — I feel — we must make talk. Not
here. By the river."

He said, "Sure," and came and helped lift
her up and walked with her past the sleeping camp to the river bank.
They sat down. He said, "Tell me."

She didn't know where to begin or whether she could
carry through to the end. She tried, "You want true woman?"

"
Got one. Don't need another."

"
Not so."

"
You keepin' something terrible from me, huh?"

In the starshine she could see his face. It was a
kind, strong face. She didn't want to put hurt in it. She turned her
eyes.

"Maybe better not tell." The words came out
low.

"
Maybe better tell, but I won't push you. Won't
make any difference. We stay together."

His voice, she thought, was as untroubled as the
little water by the shore. It helped her to go on.

"
Boone Caudill — " she hated to say the
name — "he killed Jim Deakins."

"
I knowed that from before."

It seemed to her that she had to take her strength in
both hands, to squeeze her heart to her throat. "It was — it
was — it was over me. Boone Caudill's woman once. Me."

To her surprise he said, "I kind of figured that
out."

"
He was your friend, yes? Caudill?"

"
Onct. Just onct." He shook his head. "That
dumb bastard." His hand tightened on her arm. "I aim to see
him sometime."

"
No. No. It is all over."

"
All over for Jim Deakins. That's a fact."
His voice was hard and the hand still tight on her arm.

"
Please, no. I ask please. Not to see him. Not
to think."

"
Ease off, girl. Sometime. Just maybe sometime.
Let's not fret ourselves." His hand loosened and patted the arm
it had squeezed. "Now about you? What"s the trouble?"

"
I be so afraid."

"
Afraid? Of what?"

"
I tell you the truth, and maybe you no want to
marry me."

He laughed a low laugh, and his voice was gentle.
"Think I could change my mind? Think I'm crazy? Only thing I'm
crazy about is you." He leaned over and kissed her under the
ear.

The worst was over. She could go on. "Baby born
with red hair. Jim Deakins have red hair. So Boone shoot him. But it
is not so. It is not true. Me not lie with Jim Deakins. Baby belong
Boone."

"Sure. The looks of him say so."

"
Then Boone leave me. I want no man. I fight. I
sneak away from camp. No man until you."

He put his arm across her shoulders. Into her hair he
said,

"
For Christ's sake! To be afraid! When all the
time I'm set on a marryin' you. And we'll give Nocansee a name. Not,
by God, Caudill. It's Summers he'll be. Now how are you, Mrs.
Summers? How's my little duck?"

Against his chest she tried not to cry but cried just
the same.

"
You be so good. You forget Boone? Yes?"

"
If I can. If I can. He ain't our worry."
His free hand found and held her breast. "Since we're about to
get married, I got me an idee."

She lifted her face, knowing it was tear-stained, and
met his eyes and was able to smile. She said, "Good."

18

THE CAMP stirred before the sun came up. Low in the
east, Higgins saw, a bank of clouds lay red, catching the upcoming
light. Potter might have been first out of bed. He had on another
long coat, clean but wrinkled, a white shirt and a tie. From his log
he waved a greeting and turned back, facing east, his big hands
folded over a book. Higgins could hear Summers and Teal Eye rustling
around in their tepee.

Then Teal Eye came out. She had tied a red sash
around clean buckskins and wore red bows on her braids. The sash
showed how slender she was, how slender and well put together.

Higgins searched for words to describe her. "Comely"
came to mind. So did a stranger word, "winsome." But they
weren't enough, singly or together. How describe the honest, warm
spirit in her eyes?

Potter said, "Good morning, Sister," and
got to his feet. "A glorious day."

Summers had new buckskins on, not a fringe lost or
tattered. He looked too young and strong for gray hair. Potter
greeted him and said, "The day shines on us."

The sun hadn't appeared yet, but all the eastern sky
told of its coming.

Summers smiled and said, "I reckon we're ready."

"
Fine. Fine. So am I."

Potter had them stand together, facing east. Higgins
took a place off to one side. With his book in his hand, the preacher
cleared his throat, bowed his head and said, "Let us pray."

It wasn't like Summers to bow his head, but he did,
maybe so as not to hurt Potter's feelings. Teal Eye copied him.
Potter's full voice rose, sounding over the cawing of a couple of
magpies upstream. For a flash Higgins wondered how many ears God had.
A heap of them to hear all the prayers. Nocansee and the boy had
crept to the flap of the big tepee. They sat shy, holding hands.

The preacher read from the book. "Dearly
beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God — "

Summers and Teal Eye stood close together, their
faces lifted. A good-matched couple, Higgins thought, better matched
than any he had ever known. Summers had said he didn't want his boy
to be a bastard. That was the why of the marriage. But it was more
than that. Something in Summers wanted him and Teal Eye to be bound,
tied together in law so as to be able to look any man in the face and
say, "This is my wife."

Potter was reading, "I require and charge you
both — "

Here a man ought to pay close attention in order to
know what he was letting himself in for if ever he married.

The first of the sun's rays was shining on them now,
lighting Summers' gray eyes and Teal Eye's dark ones, bringing out
the silver on the edges of Potter's bald head. He stood square and
solid, the preacher did, doing what was solemn to him. And it came to
Higgins that it was solemn, maybe sacred, and the stray thoughts in
him hushed up, and he lowered his head and
listened.

"Wilt thou take this woman to be thy wedded
wife, to live together after God's ordinance in the holy state of
matrimony? Wilt thou love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in
sickness and in health and, forsaking all others, keep thee only unto
her, so long as ye both shall live?"

Summers' "I wil1" came out strong and
clear.

Potter asked the same things of Teal Eye. For an
answer she took Summers' hand and said, "My man."

There was some more reading then, ending with "Our
Father who art in heaven — " Higgins had known all the words
once. The preacher, beaming, shook hands with them both, said
something about signing a paper with Higgins as witness and went on.
"Now, Brother Summers, do you want the boys baptized? I think I
see them both watching."

Summers looked at Teal Eye but seemed to find no
answer there. Of a sudden he grinned and said, "Might as well go
the whole way, I reckon."

"
Fine. Fine. Some water then." Potter
walked toward the tepee.

Nocansee sat with his head bowed, the little boy
between his knees. Potter said to the little one, "Can you speak
your name, my son?"