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154 pages

English

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Description

Black Eagle, joins Conquering Bear and his wife, Running Water, a blind white woman, leaving the reservation behind, in search of the old way of life before the white man controlled the land.In the Black Hill lands of the Sioux they search for an old woman, who they are told might have the power to restore Running Water's sight.Many adventures follow often with tragic results as Black Eagle moves across the land, finally joining a circus where he finds a kind of peace. A moving sequel to 'Shadow of the Eagle', a story telling the life of the Native American, which I hope will absorb the reader.

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Historical fiction

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Publié par	E-Book Publishing
Date de parution	09 juin 2017
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781912022274
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0100€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Black Eagle Returns
By Augustine Nash
Copyright © Augustine Nash 2006
Augustine Nash asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of the enclosed book or its extract pages submitted may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, or stored in a data base or retrieval system without the prior written permission of the author.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the author’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchase.
In this work of fiction, the characters, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or they are used entirely fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
ISBN: 9781912022274
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty One
Chapter Twenty Two
Chapter Twenty Three
CHAPTER ONE
“All Indians must dance, everywhere, keep on dancing”
Wovoka, the Paiute Messiah
I t was in the time of the ‘Drying Grass Moon,’ no more than one year after the breaking up of the Great Reservation, that Black Eagle learned something which made his old heart beat loudly inside his chest.
He was sitting warming himself by the outside communal fire when a young brave of the Paiute Nation got down off his horse and quietly approached.
He began by enquiring, “Have you heard the wondrous news O Chief?”
“News? We hear little here to wonder about,” Black Eagle answered, casting his eyes round the Reservation that had now become his home.
Squatting back on his heels the stranger informed him, “I have just returned from beyond the mountains which gleam by the light of the sun. There I met a man the people call the New Messiah and listened to all he had to say. When he had finished he bade me travel and spread the word far and wide so that all our people would know.”
“You are speaking of one of those white missionary people?” the old man asked, with little enthusiasm. They had never persuaded him to become a Christian, simply because his tribal beliefs were deep after having been handed down over many generations.
“At first, like many others, I myself believed this to be true. Yet when I approached the new Messiah I saw that his face was the same as yours and mine.”
Conquering Bear had been standing just inside the entrance of the tepee listening to this conversation. Now he stepped forward to show himself, interrupting, “So what exactly has this man who claims to be the New Messiah got to say to enlighten us?” he asked.
Black Eagle did not care for this unwanted intrusion. Making no comment on seeing the look of contempt written upon the face of the young brave he had brought up as his own son, almost from birth. In truth this was Wet-khoo-weis’s son.
She of the brave heart. He had kept his promise to her and yet he felt no pride in his part of it.
“If you will have patience then I will begin,” their Paiute visitor gently chided. He went on to tell them the rest of his story, without further hindrance. After which he promptly wandered away to impart the news to anyone who would listen.
“I have no belief in this new Christ of whom he speaks,” Conquering Bear said, rather sourly.
Black Eagle sighed loudly, as if the weight of all the world was bearing down across his shoulders. “For too long you have lived in the white man’s shoes. If it had been up to me I would never have permitted you to be taught at their school, or let the missionaries put such silly notions into your head. The old ways are best,” he insisted.
“You live behind the times, old man. What you had in your youth is now gone forever,” Conquering Bear angrily retorted, stung by his uncle’s words.
“Rather that than wear the white man’s clothes and obey his law.”
“Is it so wrong to better myself? I have no wish to continue to live here in squalor, when the white man’s life appears to me to be so much easier.”
“Your mother, Wet-khoo-weis, died by the white soldiers bullets, while our tribe was trying to escape over the Old Lolo Trail. It will ever stick in my memory. She thought her life worth giving for your freedom ,” Black Eagle emphasised, still feeling a deep sense of loss even after the passing of so many moons.
“Do not fool yourself! We have no freedom. Living on this Reservation where disease strikes at the weakest and our burial ground is full of small children’s bones. Would she have wished that?”
“Her one hope was that you would become Chief, when I am gone to the happy hunting grounds.” Abruptly Black Eagle rose to his feet, promptly disappearing inside his tepee. Now, where had he put it? His brain was not so sharp as it had been in his youth. Moving over to the old tin trunk he opened the lid and gazed inside. So many useless testimonials saved up from the past, that were never likely to be used again.
His trembling fingers pushed downwards until he felt the object which he had been looking for. Reverently carrying this most treasured possession, he returned to the fire. “The last thing that I promised your mother was to give you this. Now you are of age it is rightfully yours. It once belonged to your great-grandfather, White Bird, who was fearless in battle.”
Conquering Bear stared down at the crushed headdress clutched in the old man’s hands. The once glorious golden eagle feathers looking tainted with age, mud-spattered at the tips where so long ago they had been trailed over the wet mountain slopes. He had no memory of their past glory, or how successive Chiefs had worn them with pride. He had no deep feelings for ancient times. “I have not the slightest wish to wear this, or to become head of a scattered people,” he answered forcefully.
With a sinking heart Black Eagle watched Conquering Bear walk away. On his shoulders rested the last true hope. Yet there would never be any understanding amongst this new generation who had not been taught to listen to the needs of mother earth, or understood responsibility.
Sitting with his head bowed and eyes closed to the drabness of his surroundings, he day-dreamed of that time when he had lived on the bend of the Snake River, where many salmon leapt in the time of the big migration. How the mountains had reached almost up to the heavens, right behind the longhouse. He had been both bold and foolish in those far-off times, hating his brother, Chief Long-Bow, to the point where he had tried to murder him. It all seemed senseless now. But he had been free.
Here he sat, letting time slip away, on this boggy piece of land which the Government thought he should be grateful for. While what was left of his once proud tribe struggled to keep enough food in their mouths. The poor soil grew nothing. Harsh winters when the agency never provided them with enough blankets. This was not surprising, considering all their promises had never been kept.
Black Eagle’s thoughts suddenly turned to how he and Wet-khoo-wei’s small son had managed to escape from the clutches of the soldiers, close by the Black Hills. The child had not protested or asked for his mother as they rode towards the borders of Canada. There it was said they would find safety, under the guidance of their mother, the great Queen Victoria.
It had been a beautiful but inhospitable place where the white man’s government had given no kind of help to him. No food, clothing, shelter or blankets to see them through the harsh winter. Yet he had the one thing, which made it all worthwhile, being able to live as he pleased. Somehow he had been able to trap enough game to keep them alive.
It had not been unpleasant living beside a vast lake with other Indians who had also escaped. Little Conquering Bear had enjoyed fishing, though he had rarely caught anything as his attention was always wandering away. He had made a small canoe and had leisurely sailed round the lake on fine days, enjoying the feeling of being at one with nature again.
Until one day, when he grew homesick and knew he had to take the chance of getting caught if he went back. With others he had crossed back over the border straight into the bounty hunter’s arms. It seemed to him they had known that he was coming.
At first they had been taken back to the Sioux Agency in Dakota, then moved on from place to place until he and the boy had ended up here, far from his old home. He looked down at the tattered headdress lying across his knees and felt that he had something in common with this relic out of the past. Useless in old age.
***
Though Black Eagle had mulled this latest news over very carefully he did not take long to make up his mind. Overcome with a great curiosity to see for him this Great Messiah whose name was on everyone’s lips. Could it be possible that his teachings were truth?
So he went and sought out his old friend, Long Beak, placing the whole story before him.
“You know as well as I do that it is against the white man’s rules to leave this place,” Long Beak remarked, knowing full well that when Black Eagle had a mind to do anything, he would .
“What more can they do to me?” the Chief replied, shrugging his shoulders.
“I suppose you are right. But how will we get there?”
“By way of the Old Iron Horse. After that the Paiute brave has assured me that he will provide horses for the rest of the journey, which is quite some distance.”
Long Beak did not much care for t