Read Online The Indian Ring by Don Bendell - Free Book Online

the smoke wafted out of his mouth he waved it over his head. The two smoked for a full ten minutes before a word was spoken.
    Sitting Bull said, “Wanji Wambli has been asked by the
wasicun
chiefs to speak to his father’s people, to your people, and tell us we are bad Indians and we must go back to our reservations.”
    Strongheart chuckled, then replied, “No, Sitting Bull, there are some bad
wasicun
as there are Lakota whosehearts are bad, too. They hate and see with angry hearts, not their eyes and their minds.”
    He puffed on the pipe to let those words sink in.
    â€œThere are white men among the chiefs who steal from the nations, from all nations. They take blankets that Washington buys for the Lakota, the Apache, the Cherokee, and more.” Strongheart went on, “They sell the new good blankets and take a little money to buy old bad blankets and give these to the red people.”
    Sitting Bull smoked thoughtfully then said, “Why do they kill so many buffalo?”
    â€œTo kill you and all our people,” Joshua replied. “They feel if the buffalo dies, the Lakota and all plains tribes will die.”
    Sitting Bull puffed again several times, then said, “This could be true, but if all buffalo are taken away, we will ask Mother Earth to give us new animals for our meat, hides for our lodges, and clothes. The Great Spirit did not give the buffalo to the Lakota to hunt them. He gave the buffalo to the Lakota to feed and clothe them.”
    Joshua thought about this simple, logical, positive thinking when faced with the enormity of the problem, and he understood he was in the presence of a great man and a true leader.
    He said, “Yes, they want me to speak peace with you, but they want me to find these bad white-eyes and catch them.”
    Sitting Bull said, “And then what?”
    Strongheart said, “They will go to jail, or they will die by my guns.”
    Sitting Bull grinned and then chuckled softly, “The
wasicun
and their jail.”
    Strongheart went on, “The
wasicun
call them the Indian Ring. We know now William Belknap, one of the whitechiefs in Washington is the chief of the Indian Ring, and he is no longer any type of chief. He had a subchief named Hartwell who has been the real chief of the Indian Ring. They want to eliminate the buffalo, thinking it will kill the plains tribes. Many greedy men are getting much money by stealing your blankets and supplies and replacing them with cheaper ones and other things like that.”
    Sitting Bull said, “The leaders of the Long Knives are foolish, too. They think the Lakota, the Chyela (Cheyenne), and the Arapaho are cowards because we flee when they attack our villages. They do not understand we leave so we do not lose warriors that we must have to fight. Now, many have come together, and we will not leave if the Long Knives come. We will fight and many Long Knives will die. We are Lakota. We will die fighting not freezing and starving on the reservation.”
    Strongheart said, “My chief, they want me to tell you not to fight, but I do understand. White men have found gold in the Black Hills and come here all the time. That is sacred ground, but they do not care. The Indian Ring likes this, encourages it, but hear me, my chief: Not all
wasicun
hate the red man. Some do, but many do not.”
    â€œI know this, young friend,” Sitting Bull replied. “But when they come to kill us or put us back on the reservations, our arrows will not ask who hates us and who likes us.”
    They both smoked for several minutes without speaking.
    Then, the chief said, “You must kill these men. This Indian Ring.”
    â€œI cannot kill them all, but I will kill the Indian Ring,” Strongheart replied. “It must die before more of our brothers and sisters die.”
    Sitting Bull rose and blew smoke toward the smoke hole, watching its egress.
    He said, “Many more will die. We made