SCENE: A timber fort under construction somewhere along Montana’s Bozeman Trail. A light snow is falling on the crude timber wall and hastily made shacks housing the soldiers and workers. A young lieutenant James David McAffee is in his shack putting a few more logs into the open door of his cast iron stove. He pours another cup of hot coffee in his tin mug and sits back in his chair to finish writing his dispatches.
“What was I thinking”, he says to himself. “I was smart enough to be in the Army Engineering Corps and dumb enough to volunteer to build this wood cutting camp”. I guess someone was needed to do it, but all I have gotten out of it is a frozen ass, frozen fingers, frozen face, and bad coffee, but I think it would be wise to leave that out of my report.
“Lieutenant”, we found something for you”, blasted the familiar voice of the Sergeant Major from just outside his door.
“Don’t stand on ceremony, Sargent major, bring it on in”.
The door swings open and two figures wrapped in just one buffalo skin robe are pushed in and fall to the floor. He can see they are both old. A man and a woman….Lakota Sioux, but very old and near frozen to death. “They were found out near where we were doing some cuttings. I think they might be scouts for Red Cloud. We searched them, but they had no weapons on them. Only ceremonial fetishes and heathen things like that.”
“Go get our scout, maybe he can find out why they were out looking over our cuttings” “
Yes, Sir, but you know it would be even easier if we just took them out beyond the wall….”
“Just go get the scout, Sergeant”!
As the sergeant leaves he looks in their eyes and they both seem resigned and distant. No fear or even pain. Yes they are shivering, but they look different than someone lost out in the snow….and besides, Indians don’t get lost out in the snow. Everything Indians do has a purpose to it. He motions for them to get near to his fire in the stove to get warm. They do so and when they do so, he locks eyes with the old man. He sees no enemy there, and he does not see hateful eyes looking back at him. Instead he sees an ancient wisdom there.
As they await the scout, he takes the bowl of warm stew he was eating and hands it to the woman. She looks surprised, but quickly dips a spoonful into the old man’s mouth, then takes one herself. They now readjust themselves and share the bowl of stew as they are beginning to be warmed by his stove. The old man looks over their shared robe at him, and then goes back to eating.
A pound at the door and without waiting for a reply, the Sergeant Major returns with the scout who wears an Army tunic with corporal stripes.. All eyes in the room look up as they enter. He notices both the old man and the woman’s eyes narrow a bit in anger when they see him. Not surprising since he is working for the Army and they may think he is a traitor because of it.
The scout goes over to them and immediately starts talking to them in their native tongue. It is easy to tell they are both not happy with the conversation. After a brief pause and seeing the old man give the scout a “go away” gesture with his hand, the scout turns to the Lt.
“They are scouts for Red Cloud just as you thought. He says his name is Two Wolves. They are here to spy on us and tell what we are doing. You should kill them now.”
All the time he is talking the two sit there near the stove sharing the stew. Not saying a thing or seeming to care.
“Thank you, Corporal, as usual, you have been a big help”.
“Sergeant Major, and extra ration of meat for this man”. On that, they both leave.
Being an engineer and of an inquisitive mind, he knows something does not add up. Feeling this is true, he takes some paper from his desk and pen and ink. Sitting down on the floor with them in the same manner they are, he draws a bunch of trees and two stick figures, then gestures to then they represent the two. Then he gives them a questioning look, asking, why were you there?
The old man understands and immediately gets another piece of paper and starts to draw. He draws the same image the lieutenant did but much smaller in a corner, then draws several high hills. On one of the high hills near the other end of the page, he draws a figure on a man lying prostate on an elevated platform. He also draws a circle for the sun and a line going from the man to the sun and up in the sky. Now all is made clear. His engineer’s mind fills in the blanks.
The old man, with a woman in attendance was going to his death ground when a snowstorm blew up and they took refuge in the trees they were cutting. That was how they wound up in his cabin this night. The lieutenant nods to them his understanding, puts another two logs in the stove, then lays out two extra blankets he has on the floor for them. He motions in sign language, they can continue on their journey when the storm is over, and for right now they are guests in his lodge. There is no war between them.
The woman looks kindly at him and gives a slow downward nod to him, closing her eyes as she does. They can stay here for the night. Tonight, there is no war. He feels this old man has done a lot of hard living, seen much death, and also saw some peace. He has earned the right to die honorably on a day of his own choosing. They all settle in for the night, though he does ensure his Spencer rifle is tucked up in the corner near him. All now settle in for the night.