As he presented them, he kept his focus on the chief’s face. This was a bold move on his part, introducing the women without their host asking. The man frowned, making the lines around his mouth and jaw sag even more. But he didn’t reprimand Riley.
A short silence fell over them, and Riley held his tongue. Hopefully Rosemary and Juniper would also. The chief should be the next to speak, as the host. And he would likely want to discuss events in the area, maybe the happenings at the rendezvous, or even the weather, before allowing Riley to ask about Steps Right.
The man drew in another draft from the pipe, then blew it out as the younger man exited the lodge beside them and came to sit beside the elder.
A small bit of the tension in Riley’s chest eased. At least he could see the fellow now.
That seemed to be what the older man was waiting for to speak, for he leveled his gaze on Riley. He signed withoutspeaking aloud.This is my grandson, Flies Ahead.What have you come to ask?
It seemed there would be no small talk then. He glanced at the women and kept his voice low but made it clear in his tone he was interpreting. “He inquires what we’ve come to ask.”
Without giving either of the sisters a chance to answer, he looked back at the man as he spoke and signed at the same time. “We have come searching for a Peigan woman named Steps Right. Do you know of her?”
The chief gave no visible reaction to the name, nor did the younger man, as far as Riley could tell. Riley kept his focus mostly on the elder as a sign of respect. Something about the younger fellow made him wary.
The chief shook his head in a slow yet sure motion. Then he signed,There is no woman with that name here. Why do you look for one of the People?
As Riley gathered the right response in his mind and how to translate it into signs, he slid a glance to the younger man. That was a definite frown on his face, almost anger. When the man saw him looking, the expression slipped away.
Riley looked back to the chief and formed the signs as he spoke. “The father of these women knew her many years ago. She helped him, and now they wish to repay the kindness.”
The chief still showed no sign of his thoughts or any reaction that might make Riley think he’d ever heard of the woman. But the younger man’s mouth had pressed into a thin line. Did he know of Steps Right and wasn’t happy that they were looking for her? Or perhaps he was only displeased with one of his people helping a white man.
He might risk the chief’s displeasure if he directed the same question to the younger man. But it might be worth a chance to get a better read on the fellow.
Riley kept his voice and expression as amiable as he could while he signed the question. “What of you, have you heard of a woman named Steps Right? She may be the age of the grandmothers.” Perhaps not that old, but it would be a good estimate.
The glimmer that touched Flies Ahead’s dark eyes and the slight twist of his mouth sent a shiver of unease through Riley. Like the chief, he signed his answer without speaking it aloud.As my grandfather says, there is no woman by that name here.
His choice of wording, though ... Riley hadn’t caught it in the grandfather’s response, but now that he thought back, neither man had said they didn’tknowSteps Right. They’d only said she wasn’there. Had they used those words because they were the clearest to understand when signing? Perhaps not. The sign fornowas simple enough.
Riley nodded understanding, then signed and spoke to them both. “Have you ever met this woman?”
The younger man lifted a shoulder in a casual move. I do not think much of women I meet. He probably meant he didn’t remember much about them, not that he held a low opinion of them. Although perhaps both meanings applied to this man.
Either way, it didn’t seem like Riley would get a straight answer from either of them. What were they hiding? There was a chance that they simply didn’t trust white men enough to give details about one of their people. Was there a way he could test that idea?
He affected a lighthearted air. “We are on our way back to the trapper meeting to trade for supplies. Have you gone to trade as well?”
The older chief made a sound almost like a grunt, but it was his grandson who answered again. “We have come for that purpose, to trade with the white men who bring wagons. But the Crow dogs stole our horses. We have only last night taken them back. It is the sign that we should not have come to this place. We leave this day.”
Well ... finally a bit of detail, and it told him plenty, though not about Steps Right. At least these people trusted the whites enough to trade. And it sounded like it was a good thing he’d not stopped at the Crow camp yesterday. He might have landed the women in the thick of a rivalry, and that was the last place they belonged.
He nodded to the younger man. It might be best to avoid the topic of the Crows, for it seemed that was one that still stirred hot anger. Instead, he opted for a little more small talk. “There are many who have come to trade, even more than in past years. The supplies have gone quickly, but there may yet be some if you plan to go that route.”
His words yielded only a single nod from the chief and nothing from his grandson.
If the tribe was planning to pack up and leave today, they were likely hoping their visitors would leave quickly. Better he ask his final question so they could be gone. “Thank you for sharing the pipe with us. Do you know where this woman Steps Right might be? Who can we ask about her?”
He may not follow their advice, but at least he’d like to hear how they answered. Since it didn’t seem these men distrusted whites in general, it must be something aboutSteps Right they didn’t want to tell. Why would they hide details about her?
The younger man’s gaze flicked to the fire, his expression saying the topic mattered little to him. The chief was the one to answer through sign.I do not know. There is another group of our people who should be gathering to trade on the other side of the white man’s camp. They may know of this woman.
Those must be the first band they’d spoken to, the one south of the main trappers’ camp.
Riley signed a thank-you, then prepared to stand. He glanced at Juniper and Rosemary with a nod to show they should do the same.
After a final farewell, they were ushered out of the little camp. The tension that hung thick in the air had to be more than just the unease of mixing two different races in an unsteady peace.
