Free When the Legends Die by Hal Borland Page B

way.”
    “That doesn’t make sense.” The agent frowned again. “Do you mean to tell me—” He broke off, then asked, “How old is he?”
    Blue Elk shrugged. “Eleven years, maybe. I do not know.”
    “Go tell Fred to send Benny Grayback in. You wait outside, Blue Elk. I want to talk to this boy alone.”
    Blue Elk said to the boy, “This man wants to hear what you have to say. He says I should bring another person who speaks the tongue.” And he left the office.
    A few minutes later Benny Grayback came in. He was stocky like most of the Utes, perhaps thirty years old. He wore blue work pants and black shoes, like the Indians the boy had seen outside the building, but he had a white shirt and a blue necktie like the agent. His hair was short and parted on one side. Benny Grayback was a vocational instructor in charge of the carpenter shop.
    The agent said, “Benny, I want to talk to this boy. Blue Elk says he speaks no English. Is that true?”
    Benny asked the question. The boy answered, and Benny said, “That is true. He knows only Ute.”
    The agent asked questions, then, and the boy gave answers, and Benny Grayback translated.
    “What is your name?”
    “My name is Bear’s Brother.”
    “Blue Elk says your name is Thomas Black Bull.”
    “I do not know that name.”
    “Who is your father?”
    “My father is dead.”
    “Who is your mother?”
    “My mother is dead.”
    “Where do you live?”
    “I live in my lodge.”
    “Who lives with you in your lodge?”
    The boy answered at some length. When he had finished, Benny Grayback said, “He says he lives with his brother. He says his brother is a bear. He says his friends, a jay and the squirrels and chipmunks, also live with him.” Benny smiled. “No other person lives with him, he says.”
    “How long has he lived alone?”
    “He says he has lived alone since his mother died. He says she died the winter before last. I think he must be wrong, but that is what he says.”
    “ Tell him he will live here now, with the other boys and girls. He will go to school here and learn the things he should know.”
    “He says he did not come here to live. He does not understand school. He says he came to tell us of the old ways.” Benny smiled at the agent again. “ Blue Elk told him we would want to know these things and he should come and tell us. That is what he says.”
    The agent nodded. “Sounds like Blue Elk. Tell him we will want to hear what he has to say about the old ways at a proper time. First he must learn the new ways.”
    “He says he will go back to his own lodge until you want to listen to him.”
    The agent sighed, shook his head. “He must stay here for a while. Put it that way, Benny. Tell him I say he must live here for now. He cannot go back to his lodge.”
    George said this. The boy did not answer.
    The agent asked, “Do you remember a George Black Bull, Benny? Some years back. He got a permit to go to Pagosa and work in the sawmill. I think that was the name. He got into a scrape, killed another man. Self-defense, if I remember right, but he got scared and ran away and hid back in the hills. Remember?”
    Benny shook his head. “It must have been while I was in school at Fort Lewis. I do not remember.”
    “He had a woman and, as I remember, he had a small son. When he ran away he took them with him. Blue Elk says this boy’s baptismal name is Thomas Black Bull, so he is probably George Black Bull’s son. Tell him his name from now on is Thomas Black Bull.”
    Benny told the boy, who shook his head. “He says he already has his name, Bear’s Brother.”
    “He will be Thomas Black Bull here. Go get him some clothes, Benny, then check with Fred. I’ll have him assigned to a room. And look after him a few days, get him started. He looks like a bright boy who can learn if he wants to. And Benny, don’t let him turn that bear cub loose, no matter what happens. I’ll hold you responsible.” The agent turned back to the