The Mandie Collection (45 page)

After a few minutes Riley O'Neal came over to speak to the young people. Mandie introduced everyone, and it wasn't long before they were all talking as if they were old friends.

When Mr. O'Neal mentioned the possible new school, Dimar looked at him uncertainly. “We have a good school in the next town, sir,” he told the missionary.

“Yes, we do,” Sallie agreed.

“But with the money my church has allotted, we could give you a much better school—right here,” the missionary told them.

“And I think we could make it attractive enough so that all the young Cherokees would like to attend it. In fact, we can even teach the older people who have never gone to school,” he said.

“Could you teach my grandmother to speak English?” Sallie asked.

“And my mother?” Dimar added. “Neither of them knows more than a few words of English.”

The missionary smiled. “We could certainly try very hard,” he promised. “We would need to hire one of your people who speaks both languages, first. Of course, we would pay them a salary, and we would
pay other people to take care of the school, and to build it right in the first place,” he said. “And when the students finish with this school, we will pay for their higher education at another school.”

Sallie and Dimar looked at each other in disbelief. “You would?” they both asked together.

Mandie knew both her friends were anxious to get all the education they could.

“What would the students have to do to get higher education?” Sallie asked.

“As soon as they finished certain books and could pass certain examinations, we would transfer them to one of our many schools around the country,” the young man explained.

“Around the country?” Mandie questioned. “You have schools in other places?”

“Oh, yes, we have schools all over the United States,” the missionary replied.

“I would have to leave home, then, if I wanted to get a higher education?” Sallie asked.

Riley O'Neal smiled. “Yes,” he said, “but you would be given a choice about where you wanted to go.”

Dimar leaned forward. “Would it depend on what we planned to learn?” he asked.

“That's right,” the missionary agreed. “If you wanted to be a doctor, say, you'd go to a different school than that of a person who wanted to be a lawyer or teacher or nurse or preacher.”

Dimar nodded thoughtfully. “It sounds as though you have come to give us a great opportunity,” he said.

“Yes,” Sallie agreed.

As the time for the council meeting approached, the adults started gathering in the doorway, calling to each other about who would ride in which wagon.

Mandie laughed. “I think we'd better join the crowd or we may get left behind,” she said.

Snowball had been running around everywhere all morning, and now he came up to his mistress as though he knew she was going somewhere.

“Snowball!” Sallie exclaimed, stooping to pick him up. “Where have you been?”

Mandie eyed her kitten with a grin. “I know where he's been. Wherever he can find food,” she said, laughing.

Dimar reached out to rub the kitten's head. “Are you taking him with us to the council house?” he asked.

Mandie thought for a moment. “Do you think it'd be all right?”

“I think so,” Sallie said. “If you leave him here, he may get lost.”

“I'm not sure he'll behave during the meeting,” Mandie said.

“We will help you watch him,” Dimar promised.

A few minutes later the young people piled into Dimar's wagon and asked the missionary to join them. Riley O'Neal climbed onto the seat next to Dimar, and the girls and the kitten rode in the back. Dimar's mother went with Uncle Ned and Morning Star.

The young people asked around, but no one had seen Tsa'ni. His parents were there, but he had not shown up. Yet just as Dimar pulled his wagon onto the road, Tsa'ni came running up behind them and jumped onto the back of the wagon, uninvited.

Looking around, he quickly moved away from Sallie, who was holding the white kitten. “That white cat!” he said with disgust. “Mandie, do you have to take it every place you go?”

“Yes, Tsa'ni,” Mandie replied. “He does belong to me, you know.”

“Are you going to let him vote, too?” Tsa'ni retorted.

The missionary turned around to look at the troublesome boy. “I heard them call you Tsa'ni,” he said. “You must be Mr. Pindar's grandson.”

“Yes, I am,” Tsa'ni replied. “And you must be that new preacher that everyone is talking about.”

“I am Riley O'Neal,” the missionary introduced himself.

“I know your name,” Tsa'ni said.

The other young people rode on in embarrassed silence. Mandie hoped the missionary didn't judge all Cherokees by Tsa'ni's rude behavior.

“I am glad to meet you, Tsa'ni,” Riley O'Neal said with a smile.

Tsa'ni didn't seem to know how to respond to the missionary's kindness.

But Mandie knew Tsa'ni could make trouble at the council meeting. They might have a rough time at the powwow if her cousin decided
to vote against the missionary's school, because he would be allowed to tell why he was against it.
Oh, why can't he accept white people
? she wondered.

Mandie quickly closed her eyes and said a silent prayer.

CHAPTER NINE

POWWOW!

Several hundred Cherokees were milling around the council house, laughing and talking when they arrived. The young Indian girls, who looked as if they were wearing their best dresses, shyly chatted with the young Indian men.

Mandie had been there before, but she gazed excitedly at the seven-sided, dome-roofed structure, where so many important issues were settled.

As Dimar slowed the horses to look for a place to park the wagon, Tsa'ni suddenly jumped down without a single word and disappeared into the crowd.

“Well!” Mandie exclaimed.

Dimar pulled off to one side of the road under some trees. “I hope he does not cause trouble at the voting,” he remarked.

“He'd better not!” Mandie declared.

Riley O'Neal turned to look at Mandie. “What seems to be his problem?”

Mandie laughed. “Oh, he has lots of problems,” she said, “the main one being that he hates white people. Even though I am one-fourth Cherokee and I am also his cousin, he considers me some kind of foreigner.”

“Maybe we can help him if we can get our school started here,” the missionary told her.

“We wish you would,” Sallie sighed.

Dimar set the brake on the wagon. “Even his grandfather cannot control him,” he said.

They all got down from the wagon and walked toward the council house, where Uncle Wirt was waiting in the doorway. Mandie stroked her white kitten as they approached the old Indian.

Uncle Wirt greeted the missionary with a firm handshake. “You say about school. You leave. We vote.”

Riley O'Neal looked a little puzzled. “You want me to tell the people about the school, right?” he asked.

Uncle Wirt nodded.

“And then I am supposed to go outside while you vote, right?”

“Yes,” the old Indian confirmed. “Come.” He led the way into the council house, where almost all the benches were full. Stout log poles held up the dome-shaped thatched roof, and the symbols of the various clans adorned the posts. The place of the sacred fire lay directly ahead as they entered. Behind the fire sat six men with stacks of papers and books.

Uncle Wirt turned to the young people and motioned to a bench nearby. “Sit,” he said. Then gesturing to the missionary, he said, “Come.”

Mandie sat between Sallie and Dimar and watched Uncle Wirt lead the young man to the front row, where they both sat down.

Mandie looked around for Uncle Ned and the others who left from Uncle Wirt's house. She spotted Aunt Saphronia sitting way over to her left, but she didn't see Uncle Ned or Tsa'ni. It was Tsa'ni who worried her.

“Where are Uncle Ned and Tsa'ni?” she whispered to her friends.

Sallie and Dimar looked around and shook their heads.

As the drums sounded from one corner of the council house, the man in the center of the group by the fire stood and spoke a few words in Cherokee. Mandie couldn't understand him. She looked at Dimar.

“He is asking your Uncle Wirt to introduce the missionary,” Dimar told her in a whisper.

The man sat down and Uncle Wirt stood to face the crowd. Speaking a few words in Cherokee, he motioned to the missionary and said, “Tell. Go.” He motioned to the platform in front of them.

Riley O'Neal got up, smiled at Uncle Wirt, and stepped up on the platform.

He told the people about his church in Boston, about their desire to build a school for the Cherokee people, and about the money they were prepared to give toward the project. The Indians stared at him in silence.

Mandie knew
some
of the Indians could understand him as he spoke in English, but many could not. She wondered why no one was translating as he spoke.

“Of course, it is up to you people to vote on this offer,” he said with a smile. “And we hope you will accept our assistance. I thank you very much. God bless you all.”

Even though many of the Indians didn't understand what he said, they politely applauded as he stepped down and walked to the side door of the council house.

Uncle Wirt stood and looked down at a man sitting on one of the front benches. He motioned for him to come forward. To Mandie's amazement, the man was her Uncle John! And as he got up, Mandie saw Uncle Ned beside him.
How did Uncle John get here, and when
? she wondered.

Uncle Wirt said something to Uncle John in Cherokee. Then Uncle John mounted the platform and began talking in the Cherokee language. Mandie glanced over at the side door. Riley O'Neal still stood there, watching.

“What is he saying?” Mandie whispered nervously to Dimar.

“He is roughly translating what the missionary just said and telling them the school would be a great opportunity for our people,” Dimar whispered in reply.

Mandie's heart beat faster. She would soon have to face her uncle. In fact, she decided, he probably made the trip here just to take her home. She usually got her way with Uncle John, but she doubted if she would this time.

When her uncle finished speaking, he sat down and the people clapped and stomped their feet. Snowball clung to his mistress in fear of the noise.

The man in the center stood up once more and quieted the people. “Vote,” he said.

The missionary started to leave, but just then there was a commotion at the back of the council house. Everyone turned to see Tsa'ni stomping up the aisle to the front.

“There will be no vote until I have had my say!” the angry Indian boy shouted.

Uncle John stood and took him by the arm. “Tsa'ni, you may have your say, but at least be civilized about this,” he said sternly.

Mandie's heart pounded. Somehow she had known this was going to happen.

“Civilized?” Tsa'ni mocked. He looked out at the roomful of Cherokees. “Did you hear that? The white people do not consider the Cherokees civilized. That is what that white preacher man is here for. He wants to
civilize
us.”

Riley O'Neal rushed back to the platform, shaking his head. “No, Tsa'ni, that's not true,” he said gently. “We want to teach the Cherokee people, train them for jobs so they can make a better living. Wouldn't you like for your people to advance in this world? With an education, they can. That's what we're here to do.”

“You are only here to put our people down and teach that white men's ways are better than ours,” Tsa'ni argued hotly.

A buzz of whispers swept through the crowd as those who understood the dispute in English translated for those nearby.

The missionary's face tensed, but his voice remained calm. “That is
not
our intent,” he replied. “We only want to help.” He turned to the rest of the Cherokees. “We hope you will give us that opportunity.” He hurried out the side door.

Tsa'ni looked flustered. “We do not need your help!” he cried. “We are a proud people, are we not? Let the Cherokees decide,” he said confidently. “I vote no!”

A hush fell over the room for a moment.

“Vote,” the man in the center called out again.

Mandie's stomach felt like it was tied in knots. Would her Cherokee kinspeople be swayed by Tsa'ni's angry appeal?

The audience got up and started filing by the front platform. The six men there gave out pieces of paper. The Cherokees scribbled on them and handed them back to the last man in the row.

Dimar stood. “Come on, Mandie,” he said. “We will vote. All you have to do is write yes or no on the piece of paper.”

Mandie and Sallie followed him in line. Mandie took her piece of paper and handed Snowball to Sallie while she quickly wrote the word
yes
. Then she gave the paper to the man in charge.

Taking Snowball back, Mandie waited for Sallie. The people milled around in the council house and some went outside after they voted. Mandie avoided looking in Uncle John's direction.

Dimar stood at the open doorway. “Let us wait outside,” he suggested. “When they count the votes, they will let us know. I see the missionary out there.”

The girls worked their way through the crowd and followed Dimar out the doorway. Riley O'Neal was sitting on a tree stump nearby in the shade. He held his black hat in his hands, and the wind blew through his curly red hair.

Dimar sat down on the ground beside him, and the girls joined him. “They will be counting the votes, and they will let us know the result soon,” Dimar told the missionary.

Riley O'Neal fidgeted with his hat in his hands.

He looks nervous
, Mandie thought.

“Do you think they understood that we only want good for them?” the missionary asked Dimar.