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

and then let out a blood-curdling yell that aroused the entire tribe. Soon the three trappers were surrounded by howling Indians who didn’t even know yet why their chief had called them, but his yell was all they needed.
    Harlan, quickly realizing this was a no-win situation, tried through sign to get control of the rapidly escalating events. What had started out as a simple horse trade was now heading in the direction of a bloodletting.
    The chief was having none of the contempt shown by the young Indian sitting on his horse, especially because he now realized from their beaded markings that the two young men with the Hawkens were from the hated Crow Nation.
    The ruckus had not gone unnoticed by the large numbers of trappers interspersed among the Indians. The call went out among the trappers that one of their kind was surrounded by the Northern Cheyenne, and soon a hundred or more had gathered alongside Harlan and the boys. A battle was in the offing unless cooler heads prevailed, and once again Jim Bridger strode to the forefront of the action.
    “Harlan,” he said, “what the hell is this all about?”
    Harlan explained the situation, and a cloud of concern spread across Jim’s face and those of the trappers near enough to overhear his words. Most of them disapproved of slavery. Squaw- swapping was all right because a business deal was struck in the process, but slavery stuck in the craw of most trappers.
    It turned out that the Big Eagle and Winter Hawk’s sister belonged to the chief Harlan was dealing with over the horses! Hoping a deal could be struck and bloodshed averted, Harlan asked the chief in sign if he would trade for the young girl.
    “No,” was his cold reply.
    Then trouble came in a double dose! Out from the chief’s tepee stepped another young woman to see what the noise was all about. She was younger then the first woman and, from her general appearance, had been badly abused. Winter Hawk jumped off his horse in an instant, ran to the young girl, and wrapped her in his arms before she even knew what was happening. She was another sister of the boys who had been taken prisoner by the Northern Cheyenne during the same raid on their village.
    Now Harlan had his hands doubly full of hornets, and so did peacemaker, Jim Bridger.
    “What else good do you have to trade for the women?” asked Jim with a hopeful look on his face as he nervously fingered the hammer on his rifle. He knew full well this could blow up in a heartbeat, leaving this rendezvous with a special note in the history books—if anyone survived to describe the bloodbath between the trappers and the Indians over a couple of young squaws.
    Harlan, realizing the danger that any spark could set off, told Winter Hawk to let go of his sister and return to his horse. There was a long, heartfelt moment as the two separated, but Winter Hawk did as he was told. Harlan then walked to his pack mule, took off a large tanned grizzly-bear hide, and walked back to the chief with a flourish and show of importance. Laying it on the ground, spread out with the fur side up for the full effect, he bade the chief in sign to sit. After a moment’s hesitation, the chief sat down across from Harlan with a scowl that seemed as wide as the mighty Missouri was long, and just as cloudy.
    In sign Harlan explained, “The two young girls are sisters to my two boys. These sisters were captured in a fight many moons earlier between the mighty Northern Cheyenne and the horse-stealing, dog-eating Crows.”
    Those words, deriding the Crows to smooth matters over, brought a flicker of a smile to the chief’s face ... but just a little one. Harlan went on to quietly explain that he would like to purchase the girls from the great chief.
    "No sell um, " the chief said flatly in a tone of finality.
    Harlan continued as if he had not heard the chief, “I will give you one horse for each woman.”
    For a moment Harlan thought he saw a glimmer of greed cross the chiefs eyes