THE NATIVE WAR SERIES BOOK TWO - CALEB'S STORY

CALEB'S STORY - CHAPTER 5

I went into the hut, ignoring pa, and went straight into bed confused. I don't know what i'm confused about. Is it that pa tells me indians are savages but they are actually really nice? Or is it that I just met Meso'ke and she already likes me? Maybe it is the mysterious wagon and more settlers? I don't know how to stop all the questions going through my mind. Do I like her too? No, I just met her. How am I supposed to talk to her tomorrow? How am I supposed to explain? I closed my eyes and tried to go to sleep. Even if I can't understand the questions now, a peaceful night will do me some good.

When morning came, I was ready to face all the questions. I went into pa's space and saw him sleeping. I didn't want to wake him so I sat in the field outside. I was going to wait for him to get up then talk to him about Meso'ke and Akecheta. I found a rock and threw it into the woods. Right where I threw it, I heard a muffled voice. I stood up and watched the woods.

Akecheta, the indian with the feathers and Meso'ke walked out. I quickly ran to them and apologized for the rock.. I didn't dare speak to Meso'ke after yesterday so I addressed Akecheta.

"Can we not speak here, my father aint awake yet?" I was desperately hoping pa wouldn't wake up, even though I was just about to talk about the indians with him.

"If you don't mind I think it would be best if you came back to the village with us." I thought this over, if I go I would have to speak to Meso'ke. If I didn't go then I would have to talk to pa. I guess Meso'ke would be easier.

"I'll go with you." I said to him. It couldn't be worse than what my pa would say.

"Ok , follow us" the one with the feathers said. He turned around and walked into the woods. The other Indians followed. We walked through the woods for awhile, wondering when we'll get there. Then we came into this clearing with a bunch of sticks, I think they call them Teepees. They are long sticks standing up everywhere. Occasionally I see other indians walk into some and out of others. The man with all the feathers showed me around the camp. When we were looking at the horses the girl came up and exchanged words with the man with all the feathers, then she ran off. I wondered where she was going and when I would see her again.

As we walked along this one woman came up to me and started speaking. I looked to Akecheta and the one with the feathers for clarification.

"Do you want to learn how to speak Cheyenne?" Akecheta asked. " Matź kome will teach you" I realized if I learned how to speak their language I could explain to Meso'ke that I did not like her like that. " Yes Please?" I guess I was smiling because they both looked at me with weird expressions. I calmed down and followed the woman to a larger teepee. The woman followed us and she sat down in the middle. They told me to sit and I did. I sat across from her and she smiled. Just like that it was me and her left in the teepee to learn Cheyenne.

"Matz kome." She pointed to herself. I believe that was her name. "Raccoon." She said after. Her name meant raccoon.

After a couple hours I was almost fluent in Cheyenne. We left the teepee and found the chief, I figured out his name was Notāxeo'kome or soldier wolf. Akecheta means Great warrior and Meso'ke means swallow. I asked where swallow was and he just looked at me stunned.

"I didn't know you could learn so fast." He said in Cheyenne. I was proud that I could understand him. All of a sudden I heard gunshots off in the distance. Everyone looked around. A few minutes later man came running out of the woods with a scratch on his face. "Chief, chief, we were ambushed. White men attacked us. I was the only one who survived. I am afraid your daughter was killed!"