Chapter Twenty-Two

Adam went back to the opening of the hut, leaving Mike lying on the pallet after crying herself to sleep. When he saw that several men had brought in a mule deer, he stepped outside, hoping they would ask him to help. He had slaughtered enough cattle and deer in his life to know his way around a mule deer. When he approached the men with his knife out, none took it as an act of aggression, but rather that he was coming to help like every other man in the small band. He knelt next to the man that had spoken to him before and began pulling and cutting the skin from the underlying meat.

“What are you called?” asked the man.

“Adam.”

“Do you have a Shoshoni name?”

“Tsiishchili.”

The men surrounding the mule deer looked at him, his chest, his arms and legs then laughed heartily. “Then you shall be called Homar huwhen,” said the man, laughing.

“What are you called?”

“I am Empote quatacheech.” Adam slowly pronounced the name, and Empote quatacheech gave him a satisfied grunt and nod.

When the men had finished removing the skin and gutting the mule deer, they passed the skin and waste back to the women who were waiting to clean and hang the skin to dry. The waste was taken away from the camp and sparsely spread over the ground. By morning, there would be no trace of it.

Once the meat was cut and cooking over the fires, the men went to wash the blood of the mule deer off their bodies as the women brought corn and squash. Each Aha macave man patted Adam on the back, inviting him to go with them, appreciating his skill with the knife. The men washed silently, ever vigil of their surroundings.

When they returned, Adam was happy to see Mike tending the fires with the other women. He followed the men, sitting in a circle, discussing the kill of the mule deer and the location of the Army patrols. When the food was ready, the women laid large wooden trays of food in front of the men in the circle then positioned themselves behind the men. He noticed that a woman who was the wife of one of the men sat close to him, just behind and to the right. The wives were treated with greater respect than the single women who brought their food with them and sat farther back from the circle. The wives were given food from the trays by their husbands. Anything the husband didn’t finish was passed back to the wife who could then pass back to the other women. The wives were allowed to speak when spoken to.

Empote quatacheech spoke to the small band of Aha macave, raising his hands to the sky, thanking Mutavilya, their creator, who gave them their names and their commandments and his son, Mastamho, who gave them the river and taught them how to plant and hunt. When the prayer was done and everyone started eating, he spoke again. “Adam, you use the knife well. You are Homar huwhen.” Everyone, including the women repeated his name, then laughed.

Adam turned to Mike. “Why are they laughing?”

“Your name means ‘hairy man with short hair,’” she answered, laughing.

“What does your name mean?” She frowned and looked away, muttering. “What? I didn’t hear you.”

“Beautiful ear of corn.”

Adam laughed loudly, but didn’t cause anyone to take notice. His laughter blended in with theirs. He found it refreshing, especially after hearing how vicious the Aha macave could be, that they were so friendly. He knew he wouldn’t have been so fortunate if he had not been traveling with Mike. It was clear…to friends they were a very gracious people.

When the meal was over, the women on the outside of the circle behind the wives took the trays and gathered near the cooking fire.

“Chacha hoda, do you bring medicine?”

She nodded and passed a skin-wrapped bundle forward. It made its way around the circle to Empote quatacheech. Another package was passed to Quaskette howa. When Empote quatacheech opened the package he held up the bottles for all to see. A mumble arose through the small band with everyone nodding approval, and again, when the medicine man unrolled the two snake skins.

“Homar huwhen and Chacha hoda, you have brought much needed medicine and have pleased the Great Spirit,” he said, nodding toward Quaskette howa. “Speak your gift.”

“My half brother has been taken as a slave in the lead mines. We ask for your help in freeing him.”

“Homar huwhen, many of our brothers have been taken to work in the mines. They are never seen again. We have been to the camps of the white men who guard the mines. The white slaves sleep in chains outside. The Aha macave slaves sleep inside the mine so that we cannot free them.”

“My brother is not Shoshoni. He is white.” A murmur passed around the circle. “Our father is a white man. We have different mothers.”

Empote quatacheech sat with his eyes closed while the medicine man sitting beside him whispered to him. “Chacha hoda has the blood of the white man. She is mutaquesa manyieh, a good spirit.”

Empote quatacheech opened his eyes. “We will help you free your brother. But be warned. It will not go easy. We may all meet the Great Spirit.”

“Before we go, I would speak with the Captain of the soldiers.”

“No. It is the soldiers who take my brothers to the mines. It is the soldiers that guard the wagons that come from the north full of white slaves. If you speak to this Captain, you will not return. You will be a slave in the mines.” Adam nodded. “We will go to watch when the sun is high. Then we will go after the next sunset to find your brother and free him. Tonight we drink the water of the seer.”

Mike tugged on Adam’s arm, and when he looked, her eyes were full of fear. She whispered, “You cannot drink the water of the seer. It will…change you.”

“What do you mean?”

She looked sadly at him, knowing that he would drink with the men. “You will become…Aha macave…not Adam Cartwright. It will make you act like an Aha macave man the night before he goes to fight…so that his spirit lives on.”

She didn’t have a chance to explain further. The single women in the group took her, struggling to the hut, forcing her inside. “You will wait here,” said one of the women.

She had no choice. Adam would soon come into the hut, and she had to be prepared. She began to pull the leather straps from the baskets, pulling long pieces of string through the ends.

The men sat around the fire while Quaskette howa prepared the drink that would be shared by all the men. He cut a dried cactus into small pieces, dropping them into a half gourd filled with water that he slowly warmed over the fire. He said a prayer then passed the gourd around with each man taking a drink. When Adam drank the effect was slow, but soon the men in the circle began to move from side to side in a wave; their heads would move first then their bodies would move while their heads moved back. The gourd came around again, and he took another drink. As time went by, the sparks from the fire became small figures dancing around the fire as if they were alive. The medicine man danced with them. The drink had other effects, too, and soon, the men were leaving the circle, going into their huts with their wives amid the hoots and howls of those men left at the fire, watching the strange fire dance taking place in the middle.

When the gourd came back around, Adam pushed it away, swaying as if he was going to fall…but wait…he was sitting on the ground already. Finally, he was pulled to his feet by someone saying something about his Shoshoni blood was too thin to take anymore. The bodiless arms guided him to his hut and shoved him through the opening. He fell to his knees, swaying. Then he saw her, the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, her tanned body flowing to the floor like a river, her hair growing longer and longer. He reached for her and pulled her to him, running his fingers through her long hair.

Mike pushed him backwards, straddling him, and he pulled her face down to his, taking her mouth with his. She whispered words to him that he could not comprehend; the melodic sound of her voice, soothing. She moved his arms over his head then climbed down his body to his feet, gently touching him, whispering promises.

She suddenly backed away. He tried to sit up, but he couldn’t bring his legs underneath him. He reached for her with his hands, but he couldn’t separate them. As much as he tried to get to her, she was always just out of reach until he fell from his knees onto his side, mumbling. His mumbles slowly faded, and he lay motionless. Mike stayed in the far corner of the hut the rest of the night.