And Still the Wind

About the Book

AND STILL THE WIND is the first of a series of stories that chronicle the saga of Charles Tucker. Charles spends much of his childhood years reading books from his father’s library.  He is particularly drawn to the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, and carries the book with him for the rest of his life.  As a young man, he leaves Harvard and his childhood sweetheart, Ruby, to join the Union Army.  After the war, he and his Army buddy, Jack Taylor, establish a

trading post near Fort Benton, Montana.  The trading post provides supplies to personnel from the fort, local trappers and traders, and members of the Blackfeet Indian tribe, who live nearby.

Charles falls in love with Na-Ha-Ki, the daughter of the Blackfeet Chief, but has a rival for her hand in a respected tribal warrior, Many Hawks. A pivotal background character in the story is the powerful Lightning Horse, who allows only the Chief’s young son, Au-Ti-Pus, to ride him, until Charles’ special gift with horses grants him the privilege. The Blackfeet see this as “strong medicine.”

Charles rescues Many Hawks from a certain-death encounter with a white buffalo, then kills the animal. Many Hawks withdraws as his rival for Na-Ha-Ki, and is honored by the gift of the white buffalo hide that Charles had rightfully won. Years later, the white buffalo robe comes back to Charles when Many Hawks, now old and alcoholic, trades back the robe for subsistence supplies.

Charles and Na-Ha-Ki are disappointed that they have no children and Na-Ha-Ki fees she has failed Charles.  When Charles goes back east to settle his father’s estate, Na-Ha-Ki fears he will abandon her. On his return to Montana, he stops in Denver, where, he has learned, the family of his childhood sweetheart, Ruby, runs a hotel.  Ruby, now a young Civil war widow, and Charles, soon ignite their old passions for one another. Without revealing his marriage to an Indian woman, Charles leaves for Montana, but promises Ruby that he will return to Denver to marry her.

When Charles leaves Denver to head west, he joins up with a former Confederate soldier with whom he had had a “friendly” confrontation during the war. With his newfound companion, he continues the dangerous journey to Montana, and on arrival, finds his wife pregnant. He writes to Ruby that he has been “unavoidably detained” and cannot come for her as they had planned. She decides to go to Montana, and leaves Denver before Charles’ second letter arrives, explaining that he is married, about to become a father and cannot leave Na-Ha-Ki.

Ruby is escorted west with a group of Army officers and their wives. A young officer assigned to protect the women, rescues Ruby from a buffalo stampede and a near rape by buffalo hide-hunters. On her arrival, Ruby, angry and disappointed at finding out the truth, quickly returns to Denver.

When Charles and Na-Ha-Ki’s son is six years old, he is instantly killed trying to ride the Lightning Horse. Na-Ha-Ki mourns over his grave for days in the cold, without food or water. She dies of exposure and a broken heart.

Guilt-ridden and stricken with grief, himself, Charles seeks a way to overcome his torment. His response is to get away from the scenes of his wife’s and son’s deaths, and somehow keep on the move. Compulsively hanging on to the white buffalo robe, Charles begins a life of erratic travel from the northwest to east and back again.  His travels always appear directed toward Denver where, in his mind at least, he’ll find Ruby.

The series continues with FAIR WIND THAT BLEW.

About the Author

Gene Jeys is a storyteller whose parents helped to settle the West. He wrestled for the University of Iowa, worked as a bridge carpenter during the steam train era, was a mechanical designer, draftsman and quality assurance engineer involved in the Space Program. In 1985 he retired, received an MA from Antioch University and served as a Family Counselor. Gene has several publications in Scouting Magazine and holds the Silver Beaver Award. With 6 children, 7 grandchildren and 1 great grandson, as well as an extended family of former Boy Scouts, Gene looks forward to continuing this saga of adventure in the American West.