It was the kind of thing that seemed a regular occurrence with him.
“Don’t worry,” he said, as if determining Harry’s thoughts perfectly. “I can’t hear anything you want to keep to yourself. Don’t you remember me telling you that?”
He used his arms to help himself to his feet in the painfully slow way of old people. “Do any of you buckoes know anything of medicine? I have noticed that most white men have some doctor training.”
“Not much besides what you taught me,” said Harry. “You showed me there is something in the forest to cure most anything that bothers you.”
Comet Elijah’s features rearranged themselves into a grin. Pleased by the flattery.
“I fear that something ails my ótkwareh ,” he said, mournful again. “It seems to be slowly disappearing. It has retreated noticeably just since the end of winter. I think it is being absorbed into my body.”
“What is an ótk . . . ?’” whispered Noah, stumbling on the word.
“It’s Tuscarora for the male member.” Then, to Comet Elijah, “I don’t think we need to see . . .” But he was too late. With a swift motion, the loincloth slipped away from the slender waist.
“This has happened to many of my people since the arrival of the whites,” he said, gesturing toward the evidence. “So far I have escaped, but now I think it is my time. My body is eating my ótkwareh , and I will soon die.”
“There is nothing wrong with your ótkwareh ,” Harry said. In fact, it looked very healthy for a man of his age. “Now, please put that back on.”
Comet Elijah obeyed, complaining as he stooped to pick up the cloth that they had not looked close enough to make an informed ruling.
“Well, I am dying, that is definite. Last night I was visited by some of the stonish clan. They asked if I had seen the Giant Head. He has been gone for a long time, but now he is in the forest again, looking for humans to eat. I know it was only a dream, but such visions come to those who are nearing the entrance to the Sky Land.”
He scratched his rump, giving it a good deep dig.
“How is my old friend Natty doing these days?” he said. “And his son—what’s his name? Hendry. Has Hendry returned from the war yet?”
“Natty is fine. My father is still missing. Lying in an unmarked grave on the Spanish Main, most likely.”
“I am sorry to hear that. I didn’t think anything good would come of him going off. He never dropped by to see me, so I didn’t know if he was dead or not.”
Harry’s mind went back to the day everyone decided Hendry was not coming back. He had refused his family’s pleadings and gone off to fight for the king at a place called Cartagena. The Spanish proved not as willing to leave their outpost on the South American continent as the British were eager to see them go. People later called it the navy’s worst defeat in history. Hendry’s mates in the New Bern militia said the last time they saw him, he was walking at a crouch toward the walls of Fort San Lazaro under showers of musket-and cannonballs.The only one of them who had not thrown down his scaling ladder that fearful night and fallen back. Hardheaded to the end, they said.
Fifteen months later, at the approach of Harry’s tenth birthday, Natty told Talitha he wanted to take the boy on a winter hunting trip in the mountains. It was something Natty and Hendry, along with Comet Elijah and several of their planter friends, did every year during the season when there were no crops to plant or harvest. A weeks-long excursion into the West. Talitha protested that such a trip would be too much for a ten-year-old boy. But Natty said it was time Harry began learning the things Hendry would have been teaching him were Hendry still around. In the end they left it up to Harry. Talitha said later she knew she had lost when Natty turned to Harry and said, “So, son, would you rather spend your time with the men, or stay back here with the women?”
The trip was
“Don’t worry,” he said, as if determining Harry’s thoughts perfectly. “I can’t hear anything you want to keep to yourself. Don’t you remember me telling you that?”
He used his arms to help himself to his feet in the painfully slow way of old people. “Do any of you buckoes know anything of medicine? I have noticed that most white men have some doctor training.”
“Not much besides what you taught me,” said Harry. “You showed me there is something in the forest to cure most anything that bothers you.”
Comet Elijah’s features rearranged themselves into a grin. Pleased by the flattery.
“I fear that something ails my ótkwareh ,” he said, mournful again. “It seems to be slowly disappearing. It has retreated noticeably just since the end of winter. I think it is being absorbed into my body.”
“What is an ótk . . . ?’” whispered Noah, stumbling on the word.
“It’s Tuscarora for the male member.” Then, to Comet Elijah, “I don’t think we need to see . . .” But he was too late. With a swift motion, the loincloth slipped away from the slender waist.
“This has happened to many of my people since the arrival of the whites,” he said, gesturing toward the evidence. “So far I have escaped, but now I think it is my time. My body is eating my ótkwareh , and I will soon die.”
“There is nothing wrong with your ótkwareh ,” Harry said. In fact, it looked very healthy for a man of his age. “Now, please put that back on.”
Comet Elijah obeyed, complaining as he stooped to pick up the cloth that they had not looked close enough to make an informed ruling.
“Well, I am dying, that is definite. Last night I was visited by some of the stonish clan. They asked if I had seen the Giant Head. He has been gone for a long time, but now he is in the forest again, looking for humans to eat. I know it was only a dream, but such visions come to those who are nearing the entrance to the Sky Land.”
He scratched his rump, giving it a good deep dig.
“How is my old friend Natty doing these days?” he said. “And his son—what’s his name? Hendry. Has Hendry returned from the war yet?”
“Natty is fine. My father is still missing. Lying in an unmarked grave on the Spanish Main, most likely.”
“I am sorry to hear that. I didn’t think anything good would come of him going off. He never dropped by to see me, so I didn’t know if he was dead or not.”
Harry’s mind went back to the day everyone decided Hendry was not coming back. He had refused his family’s pleadings and gone off to fight for the king at a place called Cartagena. The Spanish proved not as willing to leave their outpost on the South American continent as the British were eager to see them go. People later called it the navy’s worst defeat in history. Hendry’s mates in the New Bern militia said the last time they saw him, he was walking at a crouch toward the walls of Fort San Lazaro under showers of musket-and cannonballs.The only one of them who had not thrown down his scaling ladder that fearful night and fallen back. Hardheaded to the end, they said.
Fifteen months later, at the approach of Harry’s tenth birthday, Natty told Talitha he wanted to take the boy on a winter hunting trip in the mountains. It was something Natty and Hendry, along with Comet Elijah and several of their planter friends, did every year during the season when there were no crops to plant or harvest. A weeks-long excursion into the West. Talitha protested that such a trip would be too much for a ten-year-old boy. But Natty said it was time Harry began learning the things Hendry would have been teaching him were Hendry still around. In the end they left it up to Harry. Talitha said later she knew she had lost when Natty turned to Harry and said, “So, son, would you rather spend your time with the men, or stay back here with the women?”
The trip was
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