“We spoke in council. It would be better for our children to live so that there may always be Crow on the earth. It may be otherwise. But we would have you speak with those people. Your voice is our voice, Longarm. We know you will not betray us the way the men at the agency did.”
Longarm raised an eyebrow, but Tall Man either did not see or chose to pretend that he did not. “I see Yellow Flowers outside my lodge looking for us, Longarm. Come. See my new daughters and meet my new wife. We will talk more later.”
Longarm grunted an acknowledgment and followed his friend back the way they had come. He had no idea where Captain Wingate had gotten to, but apparently the blue-leg soldier was not invited to lunch. Later, Longarm figured. Time enough to look for him later.
Chapter 13
There was the sound of scuffling outside. Panting and grunting from great effort. Shuffle of feet and smack of flesh on flesh. Whatever it was, politeness dictated that Longarm ignore it. He tried, reaching into the stew pot for a chunk of pale, boiled meat that was probably, judging from the faintly sweetish flavor, young dog. It was good, actually, cooked together with yams and wild onions and some herbs and spices that he did not recognize but which tasted just fine in the combination Yellow Flowers had put together.
Outside, the grunts and now some muttering continued as at least two men and possibly more wrestled and strained.
“You honor me with a meal this fine,” Longarm said, directing his words to Tall Man, but knowing Yellow Flowers understood English quite as thoroughly as did her husband and knowing the older wife would be flattered. As for the younger wife … she was pure berries and cream. So fine there ought to be a law against screwing her on the grounds that such an act would contaminate an edible commodity. Tall Man obviously felt no such constraints, however, for the girl’s belly was as round as her eyes. She was five, maybe six months along, Longarm figured.
It would be just one hell of a shame if Longarm let things get out of hand here and some Piegan warrior decided to grab the girl—Longarm never had gotten a name for her—and knock her brains out with a war club. Hell of a shame; hell of a waste. No, sir, he couldn’t let that …
“Long Arm. Come out, Long Arm.” The voice was immediately followed by a loud grunt, the moist sound of meat hitting the ground, and something on the order of a cough, which Longarm took to mean somebody had had the wind knocked out of him out there. “Long Arm. Come.”
Longarm looked at Tall Man and motioned past the buffalo hide wall of the lodge. “Would you excuse me, friend?”
Tall Man nodded and rose first, thus giving his guest permission to leave.
Longarm sucked the last remnants of stew broth off his fingers and winked at Yellow Flowers, then ducked his head to pass through the low flap that served as the doorway for the lodge. He felt Tall Man’s presence close behind.
Outside he found two Crow warriors on the ground, one of them bleeding rather badly from a split lip, and a thick-bodied, swarthy Piegan in fringed leggings and breechclout standing over them.
“You are the one who is known as the Long Arm?” the Piegan asked.
“I am,” Longarm admitted.
“I am Cloud Talker, son of John Jumps-the-Creek.”
Which explained rather a lot. Including why a Piegan who Longarm never heard of before might have asked for Longarm to be assigned to whatever was going on here.
Longarm smiled. “Your father is a good man and a good friend, Cloud Talker. I look forward to sharing a meal and tobacco with him. It has been too long. Is he well? Is he here?”
“He is here, Long Arm, but my father is not well. He was murdered.” Cloud Talker’s arm rose and he aimed his forefinger into the face of Tall Man. “My father was murdered by this man and his people.”
Tall Man glowered but said nothing, although it was apparent that he was having difficulty keeping his emotions under rein.
“My father’s spirit cries out for justice, Long Arm. My father asks the Great Father in Washing Town for justice.” Cloud Talker dropped the accusing finger and looked into Longarm’s eyes. “My father asks his friend of the Long Arm for justice. My father asks that this man and his killers die. An eye for an eye, the black robes tell us, is the white man’s way. A death for a death. This is what my father asks of his friend now.”
“Nobody dies without a trial, Cloud Talker. The Great Father’s justice requires that.”
Cloud Talker shrugged. “As you wish, Long Arm. Have the trial that you want. Then they die.” He looked from Longarm back to Tall Man. “But know this, Long Arm. My father’s murderers must die for what they did. In the manner of the Great Father if you will. If not that, then the Piegan nation will do what must be done, and all the Crow will be swept from this place so that our people may remain here in peace and harmony with all the spirits. You understand this that I say, Long Arm?”
“I believe that I do, Cloud Talker.”
“Good. I have no more to say.” Cloud Talker grunted contemptuously down at the pair of Crow guards by his feet, then turned and stalked silently away. That, Longarm thought, was one impressive damned Indian. And a dangerous one too. He was a keg of powder just waiting for somebody to light his fuse. Any-damn-body. Longarm turned back to his friend Tall Man. Funny, he thought, how it seemed to’ve slipped Tall Man’s mind that John Jumps-the-Creek was dead. A body would think the Crow should have mentioned that little fact. But then there was an awful lot that Longarm did not know about how Indians thought. He expected that was not apt to change to any appreciable degree either. “Let’s go back inside an’ finish our meal, old friend,” Longarm suggested.
Chapter 14
Longarm rubbed his groaning belly. He’d passed being full half an hour ago. Now he was miserable. But it was the sort of misery that a man just had to like. That Yellow Flowers really was a fine cook. Longarm’s extravagant compliments hadn’t stretched the truth hardly at all. The two men stood outside Tall Man’s lodge now, having a leisurely smoke. There was no sign of Cloud Talker nor of the Crow guards who had tried to keep him away. Someone else seemed to be missing also.
“Any idea where I can find Colonel Wingate, Tall Man? Or at least the horse I rode in on?”
