The Sun Maid: A Story of Fort Dearborn

“The – Fort! I thought it was all burned up.”

“There is a new one on the same old ground. It is our real home, you know. We will be refugees. When we meet Wahneenah, we’ll go and claim protection.”

“Oh! Gaspar, where is she? I want her terribly. I am afraid something will happen to her.”

In his heart the lad was, also, greatly alarmed; but he felt it unwise to show this. So he answered, airily:

“Oh! she’s on, a piece. I pointed her the road, and told her where to meet us. At the top of the sandhills, this side the Fort.”

“The sandhills! That dreadful place. You must be getting a real ‘brave,’ Gaspar boy, if you don’t mind going there again. I’ve heard you talk – ”

“I don’t want to talk even now, Kit. But I had to have some spot we both knew, where we could meet, and we chose that. I expect she’ll be there waiting, and as soon as the horses get cooled a little, and we do, we’ll go on.”

“I’m hungry. I wish we had brought something to eat.”

“I did. It’s here in my blouse. I noticed at the dinner that you did more serving than eating. There’s water yonder, too; in that clump of bushes must be a spring,” and the prairie-wise lad was right.

The supper he produced was an indiscriminate mixture of meats and sweets and, had Kitty not been so really in need of food she would have disdained what she promptly pronounced “a mess.” But she ate it and felt rested by it; so that she began to remember things she had scarcely noticed earlier in the day.

“Gaspar, Wahneenah must have known about this – this money being offered for her and other Indians. She had taken everything out of her wigwam. I thought she was terribly grave this morning, and she kept looking at me all the time. Do you think she knew she was going to run away as she was?”

“Course. She’s known it some days.”

“And didn’t tell me!”

“She couldn’t, because she loves you so. She wouldn’t do a thing to put you in danger. So I thought the matter over, and I tell you I’ve just taken the business right out their hands. I was tired, any way. I’m glad we came. I’m almost a man, Kit; and I won’t be scolded by any woman as Mercy has scolded me. And when I found Abel was getting stingy, too, and claiming our horses for their keep, when they’ve really just kept themselves out on the prairie, or anywhere it happened, I – ”

“Boy, you talk too fast. I – I don’t feel as if I was glad. Except when I remember Other Mother. They were horrid, horrid about her. I hate them for that, though I love them for other things. I wonder what Mother Mercy will say when we don’t come home!”

“She’ll have a chance to say a lot of things before we do, I guess. Well, we’ll be going. I wouldn’t like to miss Wahneenah, and I don’t know but they close the Fort gates at night.”

“Did she ride Chestnut?”

“Course. What a lot of questions you ask!”

The Sun Maid looked into the boy’s face. It was too troubled for her comfort, and she exclaimed:

“Gaspar Keith! There’s more to be told than you’ve told me. What is it you are keeping back?”

“I – I wonder if you can understand, if I do tell you?”

“I think I can understand a good many things. One is: you are making me feel very unhappy.”

“Well, then, I’m going to take Wahneenah to the Fort, and give her up myself!”

They had remounted their horses, and were pacing leisurely along toward the rendezvous, keeping a sharp lookout for the Indian woman; but at this startling statement the Sun Maid reined up short, and demanded:

“What – do – you – mean?”

“Just exactly what I say. I’m going to give her up and get the money.”

Kitty could not speak; and with a perplexity that was not at all comfortable to himself, the lad returned her astonished gaze.

“Then – you – are – just – as – mean – as – Mercy – Smith!”

“I am not mean at all! Don’t you say it. Don’t you understand? I do – or I thought I did. It’s this way. She can’t be given up but once, can she? Well, I’ll do it, instead of an enemy.”

“You – wicked – boy! I can’t believe it! I won’t! You shall not do it; never!”

“Oh, don’t be silly! Of course, I’ll not keep the money. I’ll give it right back to her. Then she can do what she likes with it – make a nice new wigwam near the Fort, and she can get lots of skins, or even canvas, there. Come, let’s ride on.”

But there was a silence between them for some time, and the scheme that had seemed so brilliant, when it had originated in Gaspar’s mind, began to lose something of its glitter under the clear questioning gaze of the Sun Maid.

It was fast falling twilight when they came to the sandhills; and though, by all reckoning, Wahneenah should have been long awaiting them there was no sign of the familiar Chestnut or its beloved rider.

“Gaspar, will Wahneenah understand it? Will she believe it is right for you to do what is wrong for another to do? Will the soldier men pay you – just a boy, so – the money, real money, for her, anyway?”

Gaspar lost his patience, with which he was not greatly blessed.

“Kit, I wish you wouldn’t keep thinking of things. I didn’t tell Other Mother, of course. She might – she might not have been pleased. I acted for the best. That’s the way men always have to do.”

The argument was not as convincing to the Sun Maid as she herself would have liked; but she trusted Gaspar, and tried to put the money question aside, while she strained her eyes to search the darkening landscape for the missing one.

But there was no trace of her anywhere; even though Gaspar dismounted and scanned the sward for fresh tracks, as his Indian friends had taught him; and when, at length, he felt compelled to hasten to the Fort and seek its shelter for the Sun Maid, his young heart was heavy with foreboding. However, he put the cheerful side of the subject before the little girl, observing:

“It’s the very easiest thing in the world for people to make mistakes in meeting this way. What seems a certain point to one person may look very different to another. I’ve noticed that.”

“Oh! you have!” commented Kitty. “I think you’ve noticed almost too much, Gaspar. I – I think it’s awful lonely out here, and I don’t believe Abel would have let anybody hurt Wahneenah, even if Mercy would. And – I want her, I want her!”

“Sun Maid! Are you afraid?”

“No, I am not. Not for myself. But if some of those dreadful white people whom Wahneenah thought were her friends should overtake her on their way home, and – and – take her prisoner! I can’t have it, – I must go back, and search again and again.”

“Sing, Kit! If she’s anywhere within hearing, she’ll come at the sound of your voice. Sing your loudest!”

Obediently, the Sun Maid lifted her clear voice and sang, at the beginning with vigor and hope in the notes, but at the end with a sorrowful trembling and pathos that made Gaspar’s heart ache. So, to still his own misgivings, he commanded her, also, to be silent.

“It’s no use, girlie. She’s out of hearing somewhere. Maybe she has gone to the Fort already. Any way, it’s getting very dark, and the clouds are awful heavy. I believe there’s a thunder-shower coming, and if it does, it will be a bad one. They always are worse, Mercy says, when they come this time of year. We would better hurry on to shelter ourselves. If she isn’t there, we can look for her in the morning.”

“I like a thunder-storm. I believe it would be fine to go under that clump of trees yonder and watch it. I have to go to bed so early, always, that I think it is just grand to be up late and out-of-doors, too.”

“You are not afraid of anything, Kitty Briscoe! I never saw a girl like you!” cried the lad, reproachfully.

“But you don’t know other girls, boy. Maybe they are not afraid, either. I can’t help it if I’m not, can I?”

Gaspar laughed. “I guess I’m cross, child, that’s all. Of course I wouldn’t want you to be a scared thing. But, let’s hurry. The later we get there the more trouble we may have to get in.”

“Why – will there be trouble? If there is, let’s go home.”