[Here’s part of the deal, Colonel. He’s the middle man. He’s the only one trading goods between the Indians upcountry and whites downriver. He thinks you might be after his trade.]
?—?Assure him. I have no interest in trading. We are just traveling through. Will he help us?
[He doesn’t seem to have any more to say on that, Colonel.]
?—?Tell him we are very grateful for his hospitality. He and his people have treated us very well. We could not be sure how they would welcome us.
?—?If you had been Russian, they would have killed you.
?—?Yes. I know there have been battles in the past.
?—?It was long ago, before he was born.
?—?Does he know about Ivashov and his men?
?—?He knows that name.
?—?Does he know why they were killed?
?—?He has heard the stories of his people.
?—?Tell him we have heard the stories only of their enemies. I would like to hear what his people say.
?—?The Russians thought they could use his people like dogs. They were made to pull the Russians in sleds up the Wolverine River. The Russians slept while his people were not allowed to rest or eat, only pull the sleds. They also used whips on them. It was not good, so they killed the Russians.
?—?What about Vasilyev?
?—?That was later.
?—?Tell him I have read Vasilyev’s account of his time with the Midnooskies. It did not seem like there was any trouble before he was killed.
?—?They killed that man not because he was a bad man but because he was a Russian.
?—?Vasilyev wrote that your people treated him well at first.
?—?Yes. We did not want to kill him. He was respectful. He asked us questions about our way of living. He put these things down on his papers. After he was dead, we sent those papers back to his people with his body, so they would see that he had been a good man.
?—?If he was good, why kill him?
?—?The Man Who Flies said we must kill him or the Russians would keep coming. It would be the end of the people. The shaman was right. The Russians did not come back after that. We were left alone for many seasons. Most of us have never seen Red Beards before. Until you came.
?—?The Man Who Flies? What can you tell us about him?
?—?He is an old man. He wears a black hat. When he flies, he has black wings.
?—?Tell him we think we have seen this old man, too.
?—?He has always been the same, then, now.
?—?Is he a friend or enemy?
?—?Not one or the other. If a boy is hungry, he sees a rabbit, he kills it. If he isn’t hungry, maybe he chases it for fun. Or maybe he just watches it hop along the snow because it makes him happy to see the rabbit hop.
?—?Why do you call him the Man Who Flies?
?—?Because he flies.
?—?Tell him I have never seen such a thing.
?—?He has, when he was a small boy. Many winters ago his people were starving. The old people were dying. One day, the shaman with wings came. He said he would bring the people food. The next morning, all the snares had rabbits in them. The people had a feast that night. While everyone was singing, dancing, he says he saw the old man on top of a spruce tree. The shaman jumped into the air, flew to the next treetop, then the next, until he was gone.
?—?Tell him we hear other stories, about his people. We hear that when they are starving, or when they kill an enemy, they eat the flesh of humans. Is that true?
?—?Is that what your army believes?
?—?It’s what we fear.
?—?He says that’s good.
?—?What is?
?—?That your warriors are afraid.
?—?But is it true?
[He says he doesn’t have any more to say. Best leave that be, Colonel.]
?—?Please tell him, I meant no offense. I have many other questions. Since we came to the Wolverine River, we have seen women who behave like geese. There is the baby we found in the woods. Can he explain these occurrences?
?—?He doesn’t understand. You saw them, not him. How can he tell you again what your eyes already told you?
?—?We are not accustomed to believing in mountain spirits or men who can fly.
?—?He says he hears from the Indians downriver that your people catch light on paper so that you can see something that happened a long time ago or far away. You have boats that shoot fire, wooden boxes that sing.
?—?Yes, that is all true.
?—?He says he was a small boy when he first went over the mountains. He met the Wolverine People. He was frightened because he had heard many stories. Some of them were true. Some were not. That is always how it is with strangers.
?—?Yes, I wanted to ask him about the people on the others side of the mountain. Will we find them friendly?
[Colonel, he thinks I’m not translating right. He says either that or you aren’t very smart, because he answers the question, then you ask it again.]
?—?Ask him then how long it will take us to reach the Tanana? Should we stay to the east or west side of the river as we travel up?
?—?He wants to know why you carry a pack. If you are a tyone like him, why don’t your men carry your belongings for you?
?—?Because I like to do my own work. Ask him why we aren’t permitted to leave when we want to?