Man on Two Ponies Read Online Free Page B

home!”
    Spotted Tail charged off to where Pratt was standing, the interpreter trotting to keep up with him. The boys followed to hear what Spotted Tail said. Pratt, who was accustomed to bullying helpless Indians and who flew into a rage when anyone opposed him, tried to browbeat the most powerful chief of the Brulés but was shouted down. Red Cloud and the other chiefs came, and all supported Spotted Tail. The white ladies looked shocked. Then, leaving Pratt helplessly fuming, the chiefs departed for Washington.
    â€œI hope your father comes back and takes us all home,” Billy said to William later.
    â€œForget it,” Long Chin told him. “You won’t see them again. Captain Pratt is asking the Indian Commissioner to send them home by another route. He doesn’t want them here again.”

Chapter Two
    The chiefs did return, and Billy’s hopes rose when Spotted Tail demanded a council with everyone present. Pratt objected to including the boys, but Spotted Tail brushed his objections aside. Since the chiefs had to speak through interpreters, the boys knew all that was said.
    Pratt sat scowling as the grim-faced Spotted Tail rose to speak. “We sent our sons, the sons of chiefs, to learn to talk like whites,” he said, pausing for the interpreter. “Instead you make them work like common Wasicun laborers. You have them beaten—the Tetons do not beat children. You are an evil man!” Red Cloud, American Horse, and Two Strike echoed Spotted Tail. Pratt had lied to them. His school should be destroyed.
    When the others had finished speaking, Spotted Tail arose again. “I am taking all of the Brulé children home,” he said. He turned to the boys. “All of you get ready.” Red Cloud nodded to the Oglala boys—they were also to go home. Thrilled, Billy glanced at Pratt, wondering what he’d say. Pratt’s face was white—if all of the Teton children left his school would have to close. Elated, Billy dashed to the room, undressed, and put on the shirt, leggings, and moccasins he’d worn when he arrived. Ignoring Pratt’s orders, all were talking and joking in Lakota. Soon they’d be on the train heading for home. Billy felt like singing.
    He looked up to see the solemn Long Chin standing in the doorway, and he had the same sinking feeling he’d felt that morning when the two Indian police rode up. Before a word was uttered, he knew that Long Chin brought bad news. The blood seemed to drain out of his body, and his skin felt suddenly cold.
    â€œGet back into your school clothes. You’re not going home, at least right now.” All looked at him with shocked expressions.
    â€œWhy not?” the round-faced Julian asked.
    Long Chin explained that a big man in Washington, Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz, had wired forbidding Spotted Tail and Red Cloud from taking the Teton children. Billy waited anxiously the next few days while telegrams flew back and forth between Pratt and the secretary, whose warnings were relayed to the chiefs. When told that the Secretary of the Interior demanded that they leave their children at Carlisle, all but Spotted Tail backed down.
    â€œMy sons are going home with me,” he said grimly. “No one is going to stop them. And I will get the rest of them away from here as soon as I can.”
    Billy watched as Spotted Tail’s sons ran to his side, wishing he could join them. The other chiefs and headmen surrounded father and sons like buffalo bulls protecting cows with newborn calves from wolves. Campbell stood nearby, wolflike, ready to grab one of the boys if he could. Before Pratt could order men to guard the gate, Billy slipped through it and ran the two miles to the station as if his life depended on it. The train was on a siding, and three men stood near the engine, but they ignored Billy.
    Looking toward the school, Billy saw the chiefs coming in carriages. Still panting hard,