People have asked me why the Nez Perce, who were – as General Miles so condescendingly put it – such superior Indians, were unable to make a go of farming, especially since the government gave them land, seed and tools. What people fail to consider is that the body heals faster than the mind. The Nez Perce are fine farmers and exceptional horse breeders. For The People from the cool, rainy climate of the Pacific Northwest, hot, humid, malarial Indian Territory was not the place and those were not the circumstances. It was not their choice and they wanted nothing to do with it.

Once the Indian agent gave me up as a lost cause, I was permitted to help with the schooling of the Nez Perce children. I suppose he thought my whiteness would be a good example for the Indians. Naturally, he had no idea that my name was Her Smile, and all of Duncan’s relatives knew it now.

He also didn’t know that I was already acquainted with Thomas Adams, schoolteacher, who had married his pretty wife Sarah, one of Duncan’s cousins, as soon as he arrived in Indian Territory. When we were “introduced,” his only comment to the Indian agent was, “I think we can work together.” We did, only not long enough.

I enjoyed working with the children and learning their language, when I was supposed to be teaching them English and threatening them when they spoke Nimiipuu. My labors were tinged with sadness, as well. In the months before our baby was born, there were fewer children to teach.

Chief Joseph took Duncan and me to the burying ground once, where I counted twenty-five little graves among their elders. Malarial chills and fever carried off young and old alike. It caused me nearly physical pain, Duncan too, to think that those stalwart children who survived the long march and the surrender at Bear Paw only lived long enough to be sentenced to Indian Territory to die. So much for the promises of our captors at Bear Paw.

Tragedy came flapping in to roost when Thomas Adams died of malaria, and we lost our dear teacher. Sarah followed him to the grave with their unborn child. Duncan held me close as I mourned, his own face impassive. He and the others had seen so much death in The Hot Place. These were my first personal ones.

Thomas was succeeded by a stern and upright Connecticut Yankee who truthfully did her best, but was also defeated by chills and fever. In her case, she could leave, and did. Thomas Adams was never given that choice. I regret his loss to this day, and that of his family.