The Legend of Black Wolf - Sully's Journey Home

Chapter Forty Nine

        That night, there could be heard quite a ruckus from across the meadow as Chivington took in the full report of the talks he had missed when he had deferred to one of his most trusted officers.  A few braves commented on hearing the commotion and pulled Sully out of his tepee to see if he could hear the white men as they flung angry words back and forth.  Sully strained in the evening air to hear what was going on, and none of it was good.  The Colonel was livid at what had transpired in his absence, though only a harsh word or two was distinct.  His tone was firm enough that it turned Sully’s blood cold.

      As he stood there listening, he saw the shadowed form of Cloud Dancing appear out of the corner of his eye.  As one of the few in the group who could also understand English, their eyes met and it was clear that Cloud Dancing could hear just as plainly that anything that had been agreed upon through the other officer was now off of the table.

      “This God forsaken country is never going to be a state if it’s over-run with rebels, and I’m never going to have any peace and quiet in the Governor’s mansion if we don’t get them all out of here!”  Chivington’s voice rang out.  Though the tents were a ways off from the tepees, Sully felt his hopes sink as he made out the words.  With that, things died down, the officer was seen coming out of the Colonel’s tent for a split second, and the resounding quiet of the meadow met the darkness once again.  The black peaks of the mountaintops were stoic witnesses against the deepening azure of the sky above.  But, deep in his heart, the peace he had come to know in the heart of the wild Colorado countryside was shattered.

      Cloud Dancing came over to Sully with concern evident in his eyes, even in the meager glow of the central fire.

      “Where is this…gove enor…mansh on?  Did you hear?”  He asked, testing the new words that he had never heard before.  Clenching his jaw, Sully merely shook his head.  He didn't want to correct his friend or even explain that Chivington had been alluding to becoming the first governor if Colorado were granted statehood in the future.  There was no mistaking the Colonel’s intentions now in the settling of the treaty talks.   

      The morning dawned clear, but nothing felt right.  Sully sat up in his tepee, watching as Wolf came in from an early morning walk.  Slowly pulling the shirt over his head and shoulders as his friend laid down next to him, he sighed.  Hearing Chivington yelling last night had been awful.  Sully blamed himself for the tomahawk incident as the tipping point between the army and the Cheyenne.  Had he only kept his temper in check when Dr. Quinn had pulled Bray’s sign off of the wall…if only…

      Standing and stretching, he had barely pulled his buckskins on when a brave ducked his head inside the tent to see if he was ready to go.  Sully guessed that Chivington wanted to start early and get things over with so he’d have time to pack up and get back to his superiors.  With a nod to the brave, Sully checked his belt and donned his red and black coat.  Then he walked out and met Black Kettle.  They walked to the army’s side of the meadow in silence.

      Chivington looked as if he could have chewed a hole in the bottom of a milk bucket.  His scowl made his entire face look ugly.  His arms remained folded even as Black Kettle looked to him to shake or offer some sign of welcome.  But there was nothing welcoming about the army officials looking back at them.  The row of dark uniforms was intimidating, menacing.  Sully felt as if they detested him simply because his hair had grown out and he had buckskins on.  To these men, a man without a uniform was half a man, and a man wearing animal skins was an animal himself.

      “I hate to waste time.  And it’s become clear that the officer that you spoke with previously wasted everyone’s time in these treaty talks.  I have no intention of following through on any of his compromises.  I need his people off the reserve area south of Sand Creek without further delay.  The United States government is prepared to compensate his people with enough supplies to get them through as they move north.”  Chivington looked down his nose at Sully as if daring him to argue.