Legacy of the Chief, Chapter 24: "Green Butte Copper-1924" , pt 4, conclusion |
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“This is the real country of Nicolai. He probably climbed this very ridge looking for debae.” “Sheep? Yes, we’re close to Tsedi Denyii. It was his favorite place.” “I feel close to him and all those who came before him up here. It’s like they’re right here with me. Maybe they are. “But being up here at Green Butte or down there in McCarthy, I still can’t help feeling like I have an intruder in my father’s house. I try not to let those feelings enter, but I am always reminded of how those graves at Eskilida Camp were disturbed. What would keep any of these men from doing something like that? They have no understanding of where they are or who we are. We’re the Native people. but they don’t care.” “I think some of them do, Cap” “Not in the same way we do. They have no roots. They are lost. Lost men who do not know where they are from or where they are going are desperate men. I think any one of them would turn on us in a moment.” “My Dad is one of those men, Cap.” “Did he raise you? No, he did not. Did he live in your village? No, he did not. He lives in the white man’s world. He always has. It is the world of the syndicate. It is Kennecott.” “Kennecott is just a name. Don’t give it power it does not have, Cap.” “Kennecott is those men who let our graves become disturbed and even robbed. It is the men who tried to cheat Nicolai and Billum and who still try to take from us what is ours.” “Cap, you cannot create a monster like that. It will eat you if you let it. Like the hex. Nicolai’s Curse. It feeds on itself and its creators. Kennecott is also people like Frank. Frank is with us. I know he is.” “Frank is with Kennecott. He works for Kennecott. He answers to Kennecott.” “I sure hope you don’t let any of them hear this, Cap.” “I only say this to you, Sla’cheen. I would not even say this to the other Natives, because they would only see the hate. We have to take part of what the white man has brought here for ourselves. We can’t fight them by staying away from them. They can try to ignore us, but we can’t ignore them. We have to face them as one. We were born to walk together, Sla’cheen--you and I--so we could help our people. Together we have power. If we are separated, we are doomed. Nicolai said so.” “You knew all along that I would insist you come with me to Kennecott, didn’t you Cap?” Johnny smiled, then knocked Cap off his seat. Cap leaned up on his elbows from the rough, wooden floor and laughed at Johnny. “I did not know. I only hoped. Since McCarthy, I have not been so sure if we could keep working together. We’re still here. We need to go there. To Kennecott. It waits for us. I can’t tell you why, but we both have to go there.” Johnny helped Cap back off the floor. “You didn’t hit me back, Cap. You could have knocked me over easily. You let me knock you down, didn’t you?” “I did. No point in proving something you already know.” “You’re a boxer, Cap. That’s what you are. That Cordova promoter wanted you to travel to the states to fight. You’re that good. We all know it, too. You need to go there. You’d make us all look good.” “This land around us is part of what we once were and still are. But out there is a strange world I do not understand. I choose to stay here in ‘Atna’ tuu Ts’ itu’. ” “Someday you may go out there to box. But if you never do, I’d sure understand, Cap. I feel the same way about Chittyna and Nicolai’s land of Denyii Tsedi, but a part of me wants more than just this. Going to Kennecott may be the key. It may be the way to get wherever it was I want to go. I just don’t know where that place is yet.” “At one time the Great Man made me an offer to see that I get more education. At least I think that’s what he meant. He mentioned it once again when we were playing billiards at the Mecca. He did not forget after eight years.” “I know. I guess I’ve known that ever since you told me about your billiards game with him just before you got the railroad job. I wonder how Schee’ ya would have felt about that.” “Grandfather? He never told me in so many words, but Stephen Birch did. Grandfather wanted something more for me. He made some kind of arrangement with Birch. I just don’t know exactly what was in the deal. I’ve often wondered about that, because I’m not so sure I’m up to it. Many of our own won’t listen to a half-white anyway. What good could I do for them?” “He’s Stephen Birch, not the Great Man. I wish you’d stop calling him that.” “Birch? He is the Great Man. He brought the railroad, developed the mines, changed everything. Maybe it did not work out that well for us, but he knows how to make things work.” “That’s very white of you, Johnny.” “I just admire people who make things happen. We can’t live in the past, Cap.” “We can’t forget it, either.” “We won’t Cap. I promise you that. Anyway, Schee’ ya seemed to like Birch, but he was no fan of the syndicate. He was intrigued by the railroad, but not pleased with everything it brought in. And he seemed to be impressed by the way they built Kennecott, while resenting all that ore leaving without benefiting us. So it’s not like it was a matter of black and white for him, either. “All I’m sure of is that he wanted us to remember who we were and do the right thing by our people, including getting a white man’s education. He pushed me into that, just like I shamed you into learning how to read well. I’m still who I always was. I’m Johnny Gadanski, grandson of Nicolai just like you. I may be half-white, but I still feel 100 percent Indian. It’s not easy being a half-breed, you know.” Cap stopped playing cards and looked at Johnny thoughtfully. “I know it’s been tough for you all your life. I sometimes wonder how you can possibly know who you are. Yet I know where your heart was. You don’t have to tell me. I wouldn’t be out here at all if not for you. You probably saved me from becoming another drunk by insisting that I come along.”
“Hey, Cap, you started this yourself by convincing George Brown to hire you. Then you followed me to Cascade Station. You can’t know how much that meant to me. I almost gave up on myself until you showed up. You gave me the power I needed to continue being who I am. I enjoy challenging these white men. Maybe you haven’t noticed, but many of them aren’t nearly as smart as either one of us. I notice you keep silent to hide your intelligence, but you’re every bit as smart as I am and probably a lot wiser, which was why you’ve never bored me. I wish the women I have known were as smart as you.” “Smart women? I don’t know about that, Johnny. Doesn’t sound like a good idea to me.” “Anyway, that fellow Frank over there at Kennecott is one of those more intelligent white men. He doesn’t seem to have any prejudice in his heart. He even stuck out his own neck to get me hired there. That’s probably never been done before. Not for an Indian. Imagine what it would be like if the two of us could work there--if only long enough to prove the point that we can work anywhere in our own country--and just as well or even better than anyone else.” “You’re asking a lot from Frank. He’ll probably be tearing his hair out when he gets your letter. But I don’t want the white men to feel too secure that they can run all over us in our own country, so I guess I’m still with you on this one as well.” “You better be, because we’re going.” “Haven’t you guys eaten yet?” “Harry! Cap, look who came up the stairs to check on us. It’s the Chinese cook himself.” “I’m an American just like you. You boys need to eat. I have pot roast on stove. Never mind me. I fix you dinner. You keep talking.” “No moose meat, Henry?” “It is moose meat. How you know?” “Henry, I’ll love you forever. How did you get your hands on . . .” “We Chinese have our ways. You two need to eat. Hard work in mine.” “Cap, you haven’t said anything!” “Okay, Johnny. Harry, good to see you! Let me help. You need Indian to fix moose meat.” “No Indian. Chinese-American cook well trained. You just sit. I fix!” Cap looked out the window to the west. The far canyon wall was now black. Overhead the stars were coming out. Somehow the time had slipped by. It was hours past dinner time. Since the men had first arrived in mid-July, the daylight hours had diminished considerably. The time had arrived where it was getting dark at night again. It was also one of those rare August nights when the Aurora Borealis makes an early appearance. As the two young men carried on their conversation while enjoying a late dinner of moose roast, the lights began to dance overhead, just as they had fourteen years before when Cap, Johnny, and Charlie sat on the grassy hill at Taral listening to their Schee’ ya tell them Nicolai’s Raven Story of Creation. The two men were too busy eating to notice it. “Harry, this is great. You make a tender moose roast that might just put my mother’s to shame.” “Sla’cheen !” “Well, it’s good, anyway.” “No need to tell Chinese-American. Harry knows he is good cook.” Harry brought over two tin cups and filled them with hot tea. “I leave you now. Hot tea in pot on stove. Dessert on counter. Chocolate cake tonight. Very good. Almost gone. Don’t love Harry. Just appreciate good cook. Good night.” Harry disappeared down the stairs to the cook’s quarters. “Johnny. No one beats your mother’s cooking.” “It’s not that good, Cap. That Harry really did a great job with this meat.” “Can’t say that to the whites. Can’t admit someone else can do it better.” “Harry’s Chinese.” “You know what I mean.” Cap glanced outside and finally noticed the Aurora Borealis. “Yaykass ! It’s the Yaykass, Sla’cheen. Just like at Taral, except it has come early!” “You mean when grandfather told us the story?” “Yes, that’s when I think it all started. He told us the story and it’s never been the same since. Maybe it’s Schee’ ya.
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