“Here, you read it,” Cody replied, handing the telegram to Falcon. “You may read it aloud, if you wish.”
Falcon began to read.
“There is a movement among the Indians that they call Spirit Talking. This is a dangerous new development and should it get out of hand, I am concerned that another Indian war might be in the offing. It is also my belief that Sitting Bull is behind the unrest. As you are familiar with the badlands and have befriended Sitting Bull, request you visit me soonest at my headquarters in Chicago. Respectfully, Nelson Miles, General, Commanding Department of the Missouri.”
“My,” Ingraham said. “That certainly sounds like an invitation to adventure.”
Falcon handed the telegram back to Cody. “Are you going to see him?” Falcon asked.
“I don’t know,” Cody said. “He said he wants to see me as soon as possible, but I have one more week of the show remaining in New York. What do you think, Falcon? Have you ever heard of this Spirit Talking movement the general mentions?”
“I have heard of it, yes,” Falcon said.
“Do you think, as General Miles does, that there may be an Indian uprising because of it?”
“A general uprising? No, I don’t think so,” Falcon said. “There are some renegades causing problems, but nothing on the order of a full-scale Indian war.”
“I think you are right,” Cody said. “And even if were true, Sitting Bull wouldn’t have anything to do with it. As you well know, Sitting Bull was, for a short time, a member of my Wild West Exhibition. I got to know him very well, and I have a great deal of respect and admiration for him. He told me that it came to him in a spirit dream that the Indians and the White Men must live in peace, and that it is the responsibility of the Indians to adapt to our ways.”
“Do you believe that?” Andrew asked.
“The real question is, does he believe that?” Cody replied. “And because it came to him in a spirit dream, I think yes, he does believe it. From what I know of Sitting Bull, he gives great credence to the power of visions and dreams.”
“Yes, and it may well be that is exactly what has Miles worried,” Falcon said. “As you say, Sitting Bull is known to be a person who believes in talking with spirits, and as this new movement is called Spirit Talking, it is easy to see how General Miles may have made the connection.”
“But it’s not the same thing,” Cody said.
“No, it is not the same thing. However, once something like this gets started, it tends to develop a life of its own, so it is important to get it stopped before it gets started,” Falcon said. “I know you haven’t asked for my opinion, but I think you should suspend the show for now, and go see General Miles just as quickly as you can pack your clothes and catch the next train.”
“All right, I’ll do that if you will come with me,” Cody said. “General Miles holds you in high regard. I know he would like to see you, and I would like you with me when I meet with him.”
“I’ll come with you. I was about to start back anyway, and it has been a while since I’ve seen General Miles, so it would be nice to see him again.”
“So you are saying there is absolutely no possibility that there will be any Indian trouble?” Ingraham asked.
“I wouldn’t say absolutely,” Falcon said. “There will always be a few Indians who, for excitement or some perceived injustice, are willing to go off the reservation and cause trouble.”
“I hope so.”
“You hope so? What a strange thing for you to say,” Rosanna said, and she and the others looked at Ingraham with equal surprise.
“Oh, don’t get me wrong,” Ingraham said. “I certainly would not want another incident like what happened to Custer. But a little excitement would be welcome and, as you know, I live for excitement.”
CHAPTER TWO
It was just after sunup and Running Elk left his tipi to walk out onto an overlook where he could view the mountains around him. Though it was late spring, the higher peaks were still covered with snow. Interspersed with the snow-covered peaks were the slab-sided cliffs rising a thousand feet or more into the sky. At the lower ranges were the sage-covered mountains that lay in ridges and rolls, marked here and there by patches of light and shadow from the early morning sun. On the lower elevations of the treeless mountains, elk were grazing.
Down in the valley he could see, sparkling silver in the sun, the Meeteetsee River. Alongside the river was a small herd of antelope, and sneaking up on them, a wolf was hunting his morning meal.
Today, Gray Antelope and Howling Wolf were going hunting. Running Elk would have gone with them had they asked, but they did not. He had not been hunting since returning from the white man’s school, and he missed it, but he knew it was not his place to invite himself.
When Running Elk was back East attending Carlisle Indian School, they changed his name from Running Elk to Steve Barr, and they told him and the other students that the Indian ways were bad. They said he must get civilized and be like the white man. While he was there he wore white man’s clothes, cut his hair as a white man, ate white man’s food, went to the white man’s church, and spoke the language of the white man. If any of the students were ever overheard speaking their native tongue, they were severely punished.
The books Running Elk learned to read told how bad the Indians had been to the white men. They made no distinctions among the Indians as to what tribes were friendly and supportive of the white man and what tribes were enemies. Running Elk was Absaroka. The Absaroka were called Crow by the white man, and though most of the Crow were in Montana, many had settled in the Big Horn Basin just outside the newly designated Yellowstone National Park. The Crow were a Siouan language tribe, but they maintained an identity beyond that of the Hunkpapa, Lakota, Oglala, Mineconjou, Brule, Blackfeet, and Cheyenne, who were their traditional enemies.
