LA FAMILLE Chapter 13 BACK HOME AGAIN



Coming to Claim His Bride
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It has been a month since Jean and Elise arrived back home.

It was a busy month for it was unavoidably both for business and pleasure.  It was the first time Elise had ventured south and this was an enlightening experience.  

She found the real Cajun people most delightful.  They seemed relaxed and loved to party with music and food.  

She had to get used to the spiciness of the food but loved the flavor.  There were some similarities between the foods she was used to as a child but the Cajuns took the seasoning a couple of steps further.

The mule train trip to the post was a bit tedious because they wanted to get home.  

 

There were several Indians camped around the post, it seemed they wanted to see if the white’s man medicine was any good for them.  

Doctor Adams encouraged them to come and show him some of their methods of treating cuts and wounds.  It seemed that they survived in spite of how they treated their sicknesses.

There was an incident that perhaps you might be interested in and that was on the trip from St. Louis we were about half way home and I notice an Indian riding in the same direction as we, except he was about three hundred feet to the east of us.  

 

He stayed that distance away from us unless the road required him to come a little closer due to the rugged terrain.  Then he would retreat back when the land smoothed out.  

When we were about two hours from the post he stopped and shot an arrow high above our heads.  It was obvious he wasn’t trying to hit us but was a warning or something to get our attention.  

 

I looked over at Elise and she acted as if nothing had happened although I knew she had seen what he had done.  

 

The head muleskinner drew his rifle and took aim at him and watched him to see if he was going to lower his bow and shoot at us.  He was a crack shot and the Indian would have been dead if he shot another arrow in our direction.

I told him to lower his rifle for I didn’t think he was going to try to hit any of us.  The Indian took off at a gallop and left us behind.

When we arrived at the post he was off in the distance just sitting there on his horse.  

 

I asked Elise if she knew what was going on and she walked away without answering me.  She went over to where Grandfather was and engaged him in an animated conversation after which he went into his room.  

 
I went into our bedroom and cleaned up a bit and once again asked Elise what was going on and she said ask grandfather.

Maybe he will tell you if he thinks you need to know.  An hour or so passed and it was getting near to supper time.  

I looked out and saw Elise and grandfather looking out the gate at the Indian.  

 

Grandfather had on his Indian feather head dress and he had a knife that I had given him.  I was getting a little worried and motioned for the head muleskinner to point his rifle in the direction of the main gate.  

Grandfather and Elise went out of the gate and the three of them got into a rather brisk conversation.  Grandfather was quite agitated as he talked to the brave.  

After a few minutes grandfather challenged the Indian to fight and after the Indian turned on his heel and left.

Elise and grandfather returned and never offered an explanation as to what was going on.  We had the dinner Elaina had prepared and then headed for bed.  

It was then I said I want to know what was going on and I want to know now.  She said, “I suppose you deserved to know what that was all about.  As it happened before I was sent to the catholic school, my mother agreed for me to be married to the brave who was following us when I was grown.

He had went off and fought with the French against the British and after the British prevailed he wandered around with the defeated soldiers.

He then he decided to come and claim his bride, and that was what he wanted to do.  

When he came outside the post he was going to assert his rights or so he thought. 

 

Grandfather told him he had no claim and I already had a husband.  They argued for a while until grandfather challenged him to fight till death.

He saw the head dress indicating grandfather was a chief and he wouldn’t dare to touch him for he knew it would have meant death for him and his family.  That is when he rode off, and we will not see him again.”  

Jean sat for a while starring straight ahead and finally said, “I’m glad that’s settled. Come on and let’s go to bed.”     

 

To be Continued