Read Online Cries from the Earth by Terry C. Johnston - Free Book Online Page B

snarled, “We did not make any agreement with you or your government. We made no trade. Only part of the Indians gave up their lands to you. I never did. Joseph didn’t either. Not Looking Glass or White Bird, not Hahtalekin 3 or Huishuish Kute of the Palouse either! The earth is part of my body and I can never give up the earth!”
    With his one hand braced against his left thigh, Cut-Off Arm shot to his feet, towering over the squat Toohoolhoolzote. He glared down at the chief and argued fiercely, “You know very well that our government has set aside a reservation for your people and your people must go live upon it. If any of you become a citizen, then that Indian can claim land outside the reservation just like any citizen in accordance with the law. But he has to leave his tribe to do that, and take up the land on his own the way the white man does.”
    Shaking his head violently, Toohoolhoolzote shouted, “We will never live as the white man lives!”
    Angrily the soldier chief snapped, “Then you and your children must live on the reservation my government gives you, where you will prosper in peace among your own kind.”
    Quaking with fury, the old chief whirled on the other leaders and asked them in a harsh whisper, “Who are these white creatures who stand before our Creator and tell us that they will divide His people and scatter us across the land we alone were given long ago?”
    â€œWhat was that!” Cut-Off Arm was shouting, stomping one way, then the other, demanding a translation from the half-breed Reuben as well as from the one called Whitman. “What did this old man just tell the others?”
    The Christian missionary stood and reported, “He says, ‘What person pretends to divide the land and put me on it?’”
    As Toohoolhoolzote took a step closer to confront Cut-Off Arm, the soldier chief stiffened noticeably and clenched that one fist at his waist. “I … am … that … man. I stand here for the President—and there is no spirit, good or bad, that will hinder me. My orders are plain and will be executed. I hoped that your people had good sense enough to make me your friend, and not make me your enemy. But I see I am mistaken.”
    The nervous half-breed stammered and stuttered through his translation, trying to keep up with the soldier chief’s spiteful words as angry feelings flew about the council tent. Joseph and the other chiefs and headmen, not to mention the young warriors surrounding them, were growing more and more upset.
    Then White Bird lowered the eagle fan from his face and said in a much calmer tone, “If I had been taught from early life to be governed by the white man, I would be governed by the white man. But, as it is, I have been brought up on this land, and it is this earth that sustains me.”
    Instead of acknowledging White Bird, the soldier chief turned back to the stocky Toohoolhoolzote and asked, “Then you will not comply with the orders of the government?”
    â€œNo,” the shaman replied firmly. “As long as the earth keeps me, I want to be left alone. You are trifling with the law of the earth.”
    Quickly glancing over the other chiefs and headmen, Cut-Off Arm said, “Our friend here does not seem to understand that the grave question before you is: Will your people come peaceably upon this reservation? Or … do you want me to put them here by force?”
    Of a sudden Toohoolhoolzote was fairly spitting, “I did not give these Christian Indians the right to give away my lands!”
    An equally aroused Cut-Off Arm demanded, “Do you speak for yourself alone? Or the rest of these chiefs?”
    While the other leaders remained in stunned silence, the old man waited a moment before he eventually answered, “These others may do what they wish. As for me, I am never going onto a reservation.”
    Joseph watched the crimson fury