Free The Saga of Harlan Waugh (The Mountain Men) by Terry Grosz Page A

because theirs were wearing out, 10 pounds each of red and blue glass beads for trading, and two dozen fire steels (which were always being lost). He added eight sharpening stones (usually broken or lost), files to float the horses’ and mules’ teeth, and fancy bridles for each horse and mule.
    Then he purchased 5,000 primers for the Hawkens and horse pistols, five nipple picks, two dozen nipples for the Hawkens (always deforming), and four more single-shot horse pistols to add to the four he already possessed.
    As the boys toted supplies to their ever-growing pile of goods, Harlan purchased two bolts of calico, one red and the other blue, for trading with the Snakes for furs, as well as sewing needles and thread. Lastly, he added two dozen fish hooks and line, four square axes, twenty assorted iron buckles, eight dozen flints for Indian trading, 30 pounds of top-quality James River tobacco, a new coffee mill, and 100 pounds of beans. As an afterthought, he had the traders throw in 100 pounds of rice in four 25-pound bags.
    Harlan had two extra horses, so he proposed to the boys that they sell them to the Indians for their remaining buffalo hides and then sell those hides to Fraeb as well. With that credit, they could buy a dozen or so of the Northwest fusil rifles for resale to the Snakes for more furs. (It is a little-known fact that the bulk of the furs taken during the heyday of the mountain men actually came from Indian trappers.)
    Both boys nodded in agreement. Harlan also suggested, because of the Indian’s mystic associations with the grizzly bear, that they take their three grizzly hides, including that from the great white bear, and sell those to the Indians as well.
    Again the boys agreed, and off the trio went to the first Indian village with their goods and wares for trade. Their just-acquired goods were left under the watchful eye of Henry Fraeb and his partners for them to pick up at later time.
     
     

Chapter Ten
     
    “No Sell Um”
     
    Reining up in front of the central tepee he knew would house a tribal chief or important leader, as indicated by the eagle staff sticking up from the ground outside the door, Harlan dismounted. Then he realized his error!
    The tepee bore the markings of the Northern Cheyenne. Before Harlan could leave because of the boys’ discomfort, out strode the chief in all his finery. Not wanting to create a ruckus by departing now that he had been seen, Harlan made the sign of peace, as did the Indian. In sign, Harlan spoke of wanting to sell his two horses for buffalo hides. The chief grunted his approval and then moved past Harlan to inspect the horseflesh. As he did, the two boys silently sitting on their horses all of a sudden froze as they stared hard into the Indian camp. Not three tepees away was a young woman carrying a large bundle of sticks for the evening’s fire. It was the boys’ older sister!
    Harlan instantly sensed the boys’ uneasiness and agitation. Looking past the chief’s tepee in the direction of the boys’ gaze, he spotted the young woman.
    Nothing out of the ordinary other than she is really pretty, he thought as he turned to the boys for an explanation. The words the boys spoke staggered Harlan as if he had been hit by a well-thrown tomahawk!
    “Are you sure?” he asked in disbelief. Neither boy spoke, but their stares and tight-knuckled grips on their Hawkens said it all.
    Then there was a piercing scream! Before he knew it, the young woman recognized the boys, ran over, and seized Big Eagle’s leg, frantically talking and crying at the same time.
    The chief, stunned by the action of the young woman, quit examining the two horses, picked up a stick, and started to swing it at the woman to make her get back to her chores. It was obvious to Harlan that she was a slave. However, before the chief could strike the young woman, Big Eagle took the limb away and broke it over his knee in fury and contempt.
    The surprised chief stood there for a moment