Sunflower (53 page)

The
Deer Lodge,
a Missouri paddle wheeler, steamed against the current as it fought its way upriver, looking like a two-story cabin plopped on a raft. The upper deck consisted of a large, airy salon whose walls were composed of a long row of glass doors. Relief from the summer heat was carried through the open doors on a gentle breeze, cooled by the waters of the Missouri.

Analisa sat just inside the salon of the riverboat, with Caleb and Kase beside her. She dabbed at her brow with a handkerchief, then folded the dainty square of cloth and tucked it into her beaded reticule. She thought of Sophie and the day her friend had given her the little purse. It all seemed so long ago.

“Káse,” she admonished as she watched her son sneaking toward one of the open doorways, “please try to stay clean.” She shifted nervously in her chair and tried to concentrate on her needlework.

Caleb watched her intently from where he sat across the passengers’ dining table. He sipped at a tall glass of iced tea, a pleasant afternoon refreshment.

“Anja?”

At the sound of her name she immediately looked up at him, concern etched around her deep blue eyes.

“Are you all right, Caleb?”

He shook his head, resigned to the fact that she would never cease to inquire about his health.

“I’m fine,” he answered gently, then leaned forward and whispered for her ears alone. “I thought last night was proof enough?”

It pleased him to watch her cheeks deepen to a ripe peach shade as she hid the easily rekindled fire in her eyes with a sweep of her lashes. He relished the fact that she glowed with love and life, and he was sincerely grateful to have played a part in helping her blossom into full-blown womanhood.

The picture she presented was one of elegance and refinement as she sat trying, he knew, to ignore his teasing. Her gown was a new one, periwinkle blue the trader called it, and store-bought for the occasion. She’d even agreed to wear her best kid shoes, the gray ones, after Caleb promised to buy her another pair should they be ruined. She did him great honor, this headstrong wife of his, and he was more than proud to have her travel at his side on his final journey in the employ of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Besides, it would have been impossible to leave her behind, he thought, and smiled to himself as he finished his tea. Both Analisa and Kase accompanied him, dressed in their finest. For this trip to the renegade camp, even he wore his finest suit. The utmost honor and sincerity would be shown to Red Dog and his band of Sioux. Caleb was determined to do his best for the people he had persuaded to come in peace to the agency.

The decision to take the steamboat proved to be a wise one. The miles between the fort and the renegade camp were long, arduous if attempted on horseback. Caleb knew them well, for he’d made the trip many times in the previous months. Now, on this final journey upriver, he was able to relax as well as spare Analisa and Kase the hard ride. The boat ride also saved further aggravation of the bullet wound, which still pained him on occasion.

He pushed his chair away from the table and offered his arm to Analisa. “Would you care to stroll around the deck, Mrs. Storm?”

She folded her embroidery into a small square, pinned on the needle and thread, and deposited them inside her reticule. With the purse once again dangling from her wrist, she stood and tucked her hand into the bend at his elbow.

They stood by the rail and watched the sandy, willow-lined banks of the Missouri sweep past. Caleb stared down at the swirling, mud-yellowed water and was thankful that they had not been delayed by hidden sandbars or engine fires, so often impediments to river travel.

“Mr. Storm?” A young deckhand interrupted Caleb’s thoughts with a hesitant inquiry. “You said to tell you when we’d made eighty miles, sir. Captain says we’re about there.”

“Thank you. Tell the captain he can put in anywhere he sees fit and we’ll take a skiff to shore.”

They watched the boy walk away with a jaunty bounce in his step, his hands swinging freely at his sides.

“Will anyone pick us up here in the middle of nowhere when we are ready to return?” Analisa wanted to know.

“Williamson is going to alert the next boat to watch for us when they leave Sully.”

She looked above the tree-lined riverbank to the sandy bluffs beyond. Endless miles of rolling grasslands stretched toward the horizon. Although her stomach fluttered as nervously as if it were filled with tiny flitting moths, she realized that she loved this land in all its austerity. Each and every day was different from the one before, and yet the open prairie was the same, ever constant. The colors changed with the seasons and with the passing hours of the day. The land itself, as well as the river that shaped the land it carved, was as aliye as the wildlife and humankind that took nourishment from it. She leaned against the rail and filled her lungs with the warm summer breeze.

Caleb stood beside her at the rail, his mind registering little of the natural scene that held Analisa spellbound. His own thoughts lingered over the coming exchange with Red Dog, for what he felt in his heart and what he was to tell the young Sioux warrior were worlds apart. He leaned forward, his elbows propped up on the rail, and stared out at the passing scenery, seeing nothing. If he followed his heart, he would tell Red Dog to take his people and flee to the wooded wilds of Canada to buy themselves a few years before they were forced onto a reservation.

He knew far too well, though, that that solution would last only a short time. Sooner or later all of the Indian nations would be forced to surrender themselves to the care of the overlord government of the United States. The alternative was extinction. The sad but inevitable fact was that the two civilizations could never live together in the same land and retain their own ways of life. One must indeed give way to the other, and Caleb knew only too well that it was the people of his mother’s blood who must lose.

The sooner men like Red Dog brought their people to safety, the greater chance there remained to save the lives of the children and help them and future generations to coexist. Still, the task was a mighty one, bitter and poignant, and Caleb dreaded the eventual outcome. He hoped with all his heart that the peace he made with Red Dog would prove to be lasting.

“Your thoughts are miles away.” Analisa touched his shoulder and drew him back to the present.

“It looks as if the captain has found a safe landing.” The roar of the boilers ceased as the riverboat neared the shore. Caleb whistled for Kase, using the secret signal they had devised during Caleb’s recuperation, and Analisa laughed as the boy’s dark head and then his shoulders appeared hanging over the rail directly above them.

The topmost deck of the steamboat was surrounded by an observation rail, but most passengers were discouraged from using it, because of the fierce sunlight that beat down on it and the flying sparks of wood and ash that spewed from the tall chimneys and fell upon the unwary, singeing hair and clothes alike.

“Komop, wij gaa nu,”
Analisa called to her son as she leaned back and shaded her eyes with her hand. “We go now.

“Will there be anyone here to meet us?” she asked as she followed Caleb through the salon to a stairway leading to the deck below. She lifted her skirt and held it out of the way in order not to trip as they made their way downstairs.

“I’m sure one of Red Dog’s messengers will be there as soon as the boat has pulled away. We won’t see anyone before then. You can be sure they are watching, though.”

They reached the lower landing, and Kase soon clattered down the steps behind them. While Analisa brushed off his clothing and straightened his jacket and collar, Caleb watched several crewmen load their suitcases into the skiff. Analisa and Kase were soon handed aboard the rowboat, which bumped continually against the side of the steamboat, and sat waiting for Caleb, who shook the captain’s hand as the man said farewell.

“I don’t feel right letting civilized folks off in the middle of Indian country,” the captain called down while a nervous deckhand waited to row them the short distance to shore. “Are you sure someone’s gonna be here to meet you?”

“I have Red Dog’s word on it, Captain,” Caleb assured him.

The captain looked skeptical as he scanned the shoreline for any sign of a greeting party. He pushed his cap back off his forehead with a thumb and looked at the departing passengers.

“Still,” he began again, “you can’t trust the word of a savage ...” His last words died to a whisper that was carried away on the breeze,

At least, Analisa thought, the man had the grace to blush with embarrassment. Word had spread along the river like a prairie fire, traveling from one fort to the next, of the undercover BIA man who had lived in their midst masquerading as a Spanish professor. In a few short weeks Caleb had been elevated through such gossip to a position that rivaled that of President Grant. Still, Analisa noticed that even though most people treated him with courtesy, the warmth of sincerity failed to spark a light in many eyes. He was still an Indian. A red man. A Sioux. A savage. Still, she never thought of him as anything but Caleb until a bigoted remark like the captain’s reminded her of how he was so unjustly regarded.

There was an awkward silence as the deckhand awaited the command to depart and the captain stood in silent embarrassment.

“Thank you for your hospitality, Captain,” Analisa volunteered and smiled up at him to fill the void. Caleb pulled Kase onto his lap, nodding his thanks to his wife for combating the remark with kindness rather than with a vicious retort. He’d learned to live with such unconscious cruelty, but was sorry that Analisa and Kase would always be subjected to them as well.

The small skiff moved away from the
Deer Lodge,
thrusting forward with each pull of the oars. Kase, oblivious of the captain’s remark, waved gaily to the passengers who lined the rail to watch their departure. Caleb was once again reassured, happy with his decision to bring Analisa and Kase along for the peace talks. He hoped the meeting would see the matter of her sister settled as well.

During the weeks of his recovery, messengers from the renegade camp had frequently arrived carrying information concerning Red Dog’s demands, and had returned with Caleb’s replies. The main points of the treaty were refined in this manner until all that remained was the official signing ceremony. Both men had agreed not to include army officials, for Caleb was entrusted with the government agency’s power to sign the agreement. Major Williamson had questioned the arrangements, but the matter was ultimately left to Caleb’s discretion.

Caleb had sent word to Red Dog that, as a sign of his great faith, he would bring his wife and son along to the festivities and accept Red Dog’s offer of hospitality. Caleb chose to make no mention of Meika, although he knew that Red Dog was probably aware of his reason for bringing his wife along.

Dealing with the Sioux was a game of cat and mouse that Caleb understood well, far better than any white man ever could. He knew that the Sioux looked upon certain questions as rude, and that some subjects could never be mentioned at all. He knew that Red Dog, after seeing Analisa with him on the day of Hardy’s arrest, was well aware that the white woman who had crawled into the camp to speak to Swift Otter’s wife was Caleb’s woman. Caleb wondered if Meika would make any effort at all to speak to her sister while she was in the settlement, and knew that only time would answer his questions.

“I hope I can remember everything you told me.” Analisa fretted with the ties of her shoes as she made final preparations to leave the tepee.

“Just watch me, and if you are in doubt, don’t do anything until I give you a signal.” He pulled her close and planted a sure, swift kiss on her lips.

The shadowed interior of the tepee was warm even though it was not yet midday. Analisa smoothed her skirt and then reached up to be sure her hair was still neatly combed and bound in a knot upon her head. She fought the few stray wisps that had escaped the pins and worried her lower lip with her teeth.

“Relax as much as you can, Anja. It will all be over soon.”

“But what will be the outcome, Caleb?” Her eyes were haunted as she looked up at him, and he tried to smile in return.

“The outcome,” he began, “will be for the best.”

“She is not
your
sister.”

“No, but she is my wife’s sister, and so I do care what happens today. Try not to get yourself worked up into a fighting state; it will do no good.”

She sighed and moved toward the opening of the tepee. It was finally time for her to meet with Meika and try to persuade the girl to return to Fort Sully with them.

Three days she’d waited for this moment, and now that it had finally come, Analisa was not certain her legs would carry her to Red Dog’s tepee for the meeting. Her heart pounded and her mouth was dry. She hesitated, waiting for Caleb to step outside and then followed a few steps behind him as was the custom of the people here.

The peace council between Red Dog and Caleb had gone successfully; the treaty was signed and ready to be delivered to Washington. Feasting for all had followed the day-long discussions attended only by the men. Before their arrival at the camp, Caleb taught Analisa many Sioux customs of propriety and good manners, but she realized it would take many weeks of living among the people before the customs became habit.

Finally the time had come for her to see her sister, a meeting agreed on by Red Dog and Meika’s husband, Swift Otter, after Caleb had first asked permission for Analisa to speak to her sister alone. Instead, Red Dog had chosen to officiate and had offered his own tepee for the meeting. The entire village was alive with the news, and although Analisa could not understand the words of the people who watched them pass by on their way to Red Dog’s tepee, she could feel the excitement in the air.

Kase tripped along beside them, having joined his mother and stepfather as they wound their way through the village that bordered the stream. He had been free to run and play at will, following the custom of the Sioux, who raised their children with freedom and loving words rather than with harsh punishment and admonitions. The boy had abandoned his clothes in exchange for a loincloth presented to him by one of his numerous new acquaintances. He joined readily in the rough-and-tumble games with the other boys, and although younger than most of them, seemed to enjoy himself thoroughly.