Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience. Chapter 7 June 6, 1847 We got up this morning and began our day like normal, drinking coffee (Claire and I) or tea (Elizabeth) and having leftovers from last night"s meal. I was wondering what, if anything, I could do to discourage slavery in Oregon after we got there. I was really bothered about this and I still broke my heart when I thought about it. I was determined to talk to Claire about what she had done in Philadelphia when she was involved in the anti-slavery movement. However the process of getting ready for the day drove the problem to the back of my mind. I found I wasn't the only one disturbed about the importation of slavery into the Oregon Territory. This episode threatened to break apart the wagon train for a while this morning. Some of the people were determined to free the slaves even if it was by force. I had to fight my own feelings and used many of the same arguments my wives had used the night before to convince me. Cooler heads prevailed and we as a group decided that this problem would be considered after we reached Oregon City. I still would like to shoot the SOB. I was tasked with supplying the wagon train with meat for the next two days. Elizabeth and I decided that we were going to hunt for buffalo as they were the most plentiful animal around. Several people offered to show us how it was done, but I decided that I would try a method I'd read about that the hide hunters used. We rode out ahead of the wagon train and found a small mound about a quarter of a mile away from a herd of buffalo and set up our weapons. Elizabeth decided that she wanted to shoot the .54 and we discussed how many animals we needed. We thought that two would be enough for today, and if any more were needed, we would hunt again tomorrow morning for deer or elk. I had read that the hide hunters had found that if they stayed more than a quarter mile away from the herd, that the buffalo didn't associate the noise with the fact that they were being shot. I thought that this would allow us to pick which animals we wanted rather than just getting whatever we could reach. I didn't think that I could shoot well enough to do it but Elizabeth stated she would have no problem. I had to keep from laughing when I saw her getting ready to shoot. Here was this 5 foot 1 inch woman who couldn't weigh 90 pounds shooting a rifle that was taller than herself and weighed about a fifth as much as she did. She frowned when she saw me trying to repress my grin and growled at me, "Remember, you get to help skin them." Taking aim, she fired and I saw a smaller animal go down. The others started and looked around. Seeing nothing near, they resumed browsing. Elizabeth reloaded and firing again, shot another smaller buffalo. I asked about her choice of animals and she said that they were more likely to be cows, and she thought they tasted better. We stood up and began moving toward the herd. Their heads went up and moving slowly they kept away from us. By the time we reached the dead animals, they were a half mile away and getting further away by the moment. I looked at the animals and remarked to Elizabeth, "Will you teach me how you shoot so well?" "Will you teach me how to make love with your tongue? I want to surprise Claire." "Anytime you want." I began to remove my shirt, when she stopped me and reminded me that we needed to get the animals ready for the wagon train. I reluctantly re- buttoned my shirt and began to cut open the bellies of the animals we had killed. I was going to throw out the organs, when Elizabeth stopped me and took out the liver, kidneys and heart. Now, I've never been one to like organ meat and would just as soon left them, but Elizabeth just told me to wait until she had them roasted and I would like them. She took out some salt and a small metal spit from her saddlebags and picking up some dry buffalo chips began to roast the organs. In a short time, I began to smell the meat cooking and found my mouth watering. She was right, I did like the taste. I figure my body was telling me that I needed more than the meat, bread and beans we had been having. We made sure to take the other animal's organs back for Claire. We decided that we would look ahead for a bit while we waited for the wagon train to make it to our location. I spotted vultures circling around something ahead and we headed toward the location. Soon we spotted something in the grass ahead but couldn't make out what it was. When we arrived we found a young Indian boy of about 12 or 13 years who had been badly beaten. I saw the same marks I had seen on the on the slave girl being led by the SOB yesterday. I dismounted and checked to see if he was breathing. His breathing was labored and slow, but his heart sounded strong and even. If this would have been modern times I wouldn't have moved him, but here and now I had no choice. Lifting him up to Elizabeth, I told her to ride to the wagon train and put him in our wagon. I looked around and saw that there was evidence of a struggle in the area and found some clothing that didn't belong to the boy. It appeared to be the dress of a young Indian girl. I looked for her but couldn't find any trace of her around. I had my suspicions that she had been taken by the slave wagon. Fearing this would be trouble for us, I returned to the wagon train. After arriving I found the boy in my wagon resting in our bed while an argument went on outside. Elizabeth and Claire were arguing with the wagon captain about treating the Indian. He wanted them to leave him on the plain and let his own people find and treat him. I spoke up, "You leave this boy on the ground and he'll be dead within an hour." I told the wagon captain about the signs of a struggle and showed him the garment I had found on the ground. The guide spoke up, "Those are Sioux markings. What kind of fool would stir them up?" I told them both about my belief that the slave wagon people were responsible, and showed them the marks that had been made by some sort of whip. "If we let this boy die what makes you think we won't be blamed for the whole thing?" I asked. Reluctantly the wagon captain agreed and I entered our wagon to check on my patient. I checked the boy and found that my wives had removed his clothing and had bathed him to remove the dried blood. I checked with Elizabeth and found that she had used the boiled water we had for ready for drinking because it was warm. Feeling thankful that she had not used the water directly from the barrels, I checked to see if he had suffered any broken bones or major cuts. I found a broken leg and it felt like two cracked ribs. In addition he had several cuts on his body that I had to close using thread and a flap of skin on his scalp that I sewed down. I got the bottle of what the storekeeper at Fort Laramie had called whiskey and putting some on a boiled cloth, washed him down. I had to get the guide to help me with the leg. I had he and Elizabeth hold him still while I pulled his leg until I felt it fall into place. I was thankful he was unconscious as I couldn't imagine how it would have felt if he were awake. Claire brought over some short boards from another wagon and we wrapped the leg in cloth then tied rope around all of it to hold it in place. Finally we finished and left him in the wagon to recover or die. The guide looked at me afterwards and asked, "Are you a doctor?" I gave him the same reply I had given Elizabeth long before. He complemented me and told me that I could set his leg anytime he broke it. He was curious about my stitching the wounds closed. Apparently most were left open to be able to let the pus out as they healed. This resulted in most of the scarring I had noticed on the older men. I shuddered to myself and hoped I would never need the services of a doctor in this period. Claire and Elizabeth made up a pallet for the end of the wagon and we went to bed. We didn't make love tonight because of the boy. I checked him several times during the night. He started running a slight fever, so we spent much of the night using a wet cloth to bathe him in an attempt to cool him down. He remained feverish for two days, waking only long enough to drink water and some soup, until his fever broke on the third day. He began talking after that, but as we spoke no Sioux and he spoke no English, we had to wait until the guide got back to communicate. He managed to tell us his name, Leaping Fox, and that he was a member of the Lakota Sioux tribe. This effort left him exhausted and he soon fell asleep. June 9, 1847 We learned that he had been taking his sister to gather some food when he had come upon the wagon train of the slave wagon. As he had never seen black people before, he had hung around the wagon staring at them. He had seen a knife laying on the tailgate and had picked it up to look at. The next thing he remembered was being beaten by three men, one who was riding a horse using a whip. After that, nothing until he woke up in our wagon. I showed him the clothing I had found and he identified it as belonging to his sister. He was concerned about her and became agitated when we were unable to tell him anything else. He wanted to leave right away to find his tribe, but found he could barely sit up, let alone ride after them. After a long talk which the guide did not translate for us, the guide stated that he would contact the tribe and have someone meet us at Ice Slough by which time he should be able to ride. June 10-15, 1847 Over the next few days we learned some Sioux and he learned some English until by the 15th we were talking to each other in a pidgin that allowed us a limited amount of communication. We learned that he was one of several sons of a warrior in his band. His father had several wives and he realized that I had two. This did not seem unusual to him but raised my status in his eyes when he realized that the other men in the wagon train only had one wife. As he became more active Elizabeth had to intervene more than once to settle arguments between him and the other people. Leaping Fox didn't understand the idea of privacy and was always getting into trouble going around the other wagons and examining things. They were always returned, but you can imagine the frustration of the other women when they reached for a pot and found it being held by Leaping Fox. One of the biggest complaints the other women had was his refusal to listen to a woman, with the exception of Claire and Elizabeth. I don't know if he listened to them because of their association with me or because they were the first white women he had seen. Elizabeth finally began to teach him to handle the oxen and shoot her rifle in an attempt to keep him out of trouble. As we got closer to Ice Slough he gradually either had seen everything or became anxious about returning to his band and became less active. We had gradually been going up a slight slope during this time and the nights had become colder. More than one morning we had woken us to find Leaping Fox snuggled up to either Claire or Elizabeth for warmth. We tried giving him some more blankets but he still ended up next to us. By the third night we had given up and accepted that he would be there when we woke up. We had tried to be discrete with our lovemaking but after having a steady diet of sex every night we found ourselves becoming frustrated with our sudden abstinence. By the third day we had resumed making love at night, pretty much ignoring his presence, with the attempt to make sure he was asleep before we began. I'm still not sure if he actually remained asleep during our lovemaking, but if he was awake he never let on. June 16-20, 1847 I have begun getting other people in the wagon train coming to our wagon for medical advice. Apparently the guide has spoken about my treatment of Leaping Fox and his rapid recovery from his injuries. This has convinced many of them that I know more about medicine than I admit. Most of the injuries I have seen are minor cuts and sprains. Only a few have needed to be stitched closed, but I am amazed at the stoicism of the patients. I have no anesthesia to keep them from feeling pain but except for minor grimacing and tears from the younger ones they have remained still while I stitched them up. I find my biggest problem is getting them to understand that they must keep the areas clean and use alcohol to clean them at least twice a day. Another problem is the necessity to remove the stitches on time. I have had to remove the stitches from several patients after the wound became infected to allow it to drain. Tomorrow we expect to reach the Ice Slough and meet whoever arrives to pick up Leaping Fox. I have removed all his stitches and have managed to get him to understand that he must keep the cast on his leg for at least one more month before he will be healed. I must admit we are going to miss him after he returns to his family. He is a scamp, but at the same time he has been a joy to be around. I find myself looking at things with new eyes after seeing his wonder about the most common things. Elizabeth has asked if she could give him her rifle since Claire almost never uses hers. We have decided that this would be acceptable as a gift. We still have not seen or heard of the fate of his sister. He has shown Claire how to find edible plants on the prairie, so our diet has expanded to include a lot more greens. We have had several other women ask to learn how to harvest the greens for their use. I must get used to the fact that the only way they know how to fix greens is by boiling them. I think just our new ability to find greens is worth the effort we have expended getting him well. June 21, 1847 We have arrived at Ice Slough and now I know how it got its name. We have had nothing but alkaline water for the last three days. We were told to dig in the dirt here and quickly found chunks of clear ice. We managed to collect enough ice to fill our barrels with clear sweet water. For the first time since I got here I have a glass of ice water to enjoy on a hot summer day. Bliss! The guide came by earlier and told us that he expects Leaping Fox's band to have someone here today. If not we will leave a sign that we arrived and have continued on to the west. I'm not too sure if I want them to show up or not. We have camped in our normal circle for the day and have not seen any sign of Leaping Fox's band yet. The wagon master stated that if they have not arrived by the time we are ready to start tomorrow, we can either leave him here or he can come with us. We are at the extreme end of their range, as we should be entering Cheyenne country soon. We'll have to see what happens tomorrow. One thing that we are determined will not happen is our leaving him here by himself. June 22, 1847 We were awakened by the night guard this morning. One of them had seen movement in the nearby hills. We have been up since before dawn with our weapons ready. The wagon master has warned all the women to keep the children inside the wagons and have pails of water available for extinguishing fires. At times like this I wish I had a watch I could wear. The watch that came back with me is a digital and I don't dare wear it, so here I am waiting for dawn like everyone else. We are beginning to be able to see things now in the growing light. I have been told to be ready to treat any injuries suffered by the others and have my needles and some knives ready for removing arrows or bullets if I can. I told the wagon master that I was no doctor and was told I was close enough for him. We can see the Indians in the hills but have no idea who or how many there are. The guide is puzzled because the tribes in this area have always been friendly before. He has asked permission from the wagon master to talk to them before we get into any battle. I have been told to meet with him and the wagon master at the main campfire. I have no idea what is going on or why he wants me there. I have been told to bring Leaping Fox and my wife and her sister when I come. I hope it is to have Leaping Fox picked up. I really don't want to have to fight the Indians unless there is no other choice. The guide and the wagon master are at the fire with some Indians. I would have expected Leaping Fox to have run to one of them if they are his band but he is hiding behind Claire. I have no idea what is going on here. The guide turned toward me and is waiting for me to arrive. One of the Indians is talking and I recognize some words but not enough to understand what he is saying. The guide translated, "Where is my daughter and Leaping Fox? All I see is a white boy."