Chapter 24
It was many years before he saw another white man. After the horse died he resorted to traveling by foot again. The Indians still avoided him and he seldom saw them. He often saw signs that they had been following him and he knew that he was being always being followed. He crossed a long flat grassland. In this land the Indians had huts in the shape of cones. They were made of hides and there were often many of these huts in a village. Several times he watched as Indians hunted big animals with horns that looked like they might be some form of wild cattle. At times the animals would race over the grasslands, making a noise like thunder. Often, he would shoot one of these animals for the meat and hides. The hides made very warm clothes.
One morning Benjamin went to the stream to get a drink of water. As he drank the water, he noticed a shiny object on the opposite bank. He crossed the stream to see what it was. As he looked into the stream at the object he saw that there was a small animal attached to it. He reached for the object and pulled it out of the water. Although he had never seen anything like this, he knew that it was some form of trap. The trap was very well made. The technology was farther advanced than the metal work he remembered from England.
He heard a metallic click behind him. He had been so engrossed with the trap that he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings.
"I'd leave that trap right where it is, mister," a gruff voice behind him said.
Benjamin slowly turned and saw a man dressed in hides as he was. The man pointed a weapon at him that he didn't recognize. The man inched forward and looked to see if Benjamin had a weapon. After he was sure that Benjamin was no danger to him he moved away and sat down.
"What are you doing out these parts? I thought that I was the only trapper in these parts. The Indians don't appreciate white men trapping their animals."
Benjamin stared at him for a minute, "You're English. It's been years since I talked to an Englishman."
The man laughed, "English hell, I'm an American. Apparently you're English though from the way you talk. How the hell did an Englishman get way out here? You a trapper?"
Benjamin picked his words carefully, "No I'm just living out here. I've lived out here for years."
"What are you running from? No one comes out here unless they can't go back to civilization."
Benjamin leaned back on his heels, "Mainly I'm running away from myself."
The man bellowed, "You ought to stop that. I don't think you'll succeed getting too far away from yourself."
Benjamin smiled at the man's joke, "Why do you trap animals?"
The man looked at him for a long time before answering, "I guess you have been out here for a long time. I sell the skins back at the trading post. The people back east like to wear the skins but don't like fighting the Indians for them. What's your name?"
"Benjamin, What's your name?"
Well Ben, I'm called many things. I like to be called Tiny. My mother called me that as a joke. I've always been a big person."
Benjamin was shocked. This man had cut off most of his name and had called him just the first part. Ben... no one had ever called him that before. He wished that he knew how to ask the man about the weapon that he had. It resembled the muskets that he had in England, but seemed much further advanced.
"You say you're American? What country did you come from?"
The man looked at him strangely, "Where you from, Canada?"
Ben didn't know how to answer that. He had never heard of Canada. He decided to take a chance and nodded his head yes.
"Hell, I thought so. You must have really been back in the woods. We kicked old King George out in 1793. We became an independent country. Hell man, we're the United States of America now."
Ben asked the man to show him how the weapon worked. Tiny went into great detail about how to fire the weapon and its capabilities. When Ben saw the bullet he was amazed. The powder and bullet were all in one unit.
They continued to talk for quite a while. Tiny was amused that Benjamin knew so little about the United States. He accepted Benjamin's explanation that he had come from Canada and was ignorant of American history.
Tiny rose and walked to the woods. In a short while he returned with two horses and his gear. One horse was loaded down with skins. He sat down and continued the conversation where he had stopped.
An arrow suddenly came from out of the woods and struck Tiny in the back. He pitched forward and tried to speak. He died at Benjamin's feet.
Benjamin did not see who fired the arrow. He had no idea how the Indian knew that he was the God who could not die. He searched the woods for the Indian but did not see anyone.
Benjamin walked back to where Tiny's body was. He buried him under a pile of rocks.
He gathered Tiny's things and set out on the horse heading east. He knew that he was a good distance from the Spaniards but he was intrigued that the English had been run out of the new land. He wondered when they had come. He decided to see if he could blend into this new country.
He traveled for two days and came across an Indian village. The Indians watched him approach warily. They did not want to anger this God. He stopped at the edge of the village and got off of the horse. He took the horse loaded with the skins and tied it close to the village. He rode off and left the skins for the Indians. He knew that the women would use them for the widows and old people.
As the years progressed it became harder and harder to avoid the white men. They increased in numbers and they spread from coast to coast. Soon he found that the only way to avoid detection was to live as an unknown in one of the larger cities. He found that there were always people that wanted some dirty job done and they didn't want to do it themselves. He had no trouble finding work that paid daily. Usually, the people that had this type of work didn't ask too many questions. If they did he just disappeared.
His life became a set routine. He avoided making any friends and kept out of fights and avoided trouble with the law. He made sure that his name never appeared on any public records. When the banking system became more sophisticated, he refused to be paid by check and often had to turn down jobs because the employer only paid by check.
He had to keep his hair cut a little longer than the style of the
day. Since his hair did not grow longer, he had to be sure that, if the
styles changed, he could keep a style that would allow him to remain
unnoticed. Every night since the curse was put on him, the wizard
taunted him in his dreams.