Singing Creek Camp

by Donna and Abby

After the men left the bathhouse, Shiloh and Kasumi went back into the living quarters of the house and after talking for a while longer, turned in for the
night. It was a nice airy room, with a futon mattress on the floor. Shiloh slept soundly, her dog at her feet. But the next morning, she was faced with the
problem of whether or not she should stay there, find her own house, or what. She was leaning towards the *or what*.

Kasumi could see her restlessness. She did not say anything, but Shiloh knew she would understand. “I have never lived in a house,” she confessed. “It is very strange.”

The Oriental girl nodded. "I understand. Perhaps you should live as you are accustomed to? Maybe Coltec-san feels the same way, and would prefer that manner of life as well?"

“He might,” said Shiloh. “I could set up a good camp for him! He would be proud of the teepee I keep!” 

Kasumi smiled. Her place was very neat and clean itself. "Then we ask him," she said as they chopped vegetables for that day's meals. She had decided to be open for about four hours a day, around lunch time, and then have the bath house open for the public during the evening hours after the supper meal. But before they finished, Coltec showed up again with the two hopeful fishermen. 

"We are going to get some fish!" he said with an almost wicked grin. "Think they will catch another girl like you?"

Shiloh blushed. “I am sorry if I put you to any inconvenience. Hayoka? I know am unworthy, but if you would prefer a more traditional life to this closed in, white man’s world, I can set you up a proper teepee. I would just need to know your tribe,
so I can follow your traditions. I know many,” she added, almost ashamed of this.

"I don't think you would know my tribe, my little clay princess," he said. "They all died a very long time ago. But I would enjoy living in a camp with you, little one," he said, smiling gently. "Who knows, maybe that young man we passed yesterday could be
persuaded to camp with us?"

Duncan nodded. "A camp like that would be a good idea," he said. "I know of a couple others that might set up teepees there as well. One of them has a pinto mare like Coltec, here. You could run a herd of mares with your stallion and breed us some very nice horses!"

“White Foot is the most valuable thing I own,” said Shiloh. “He and Juneau, but she tends to take up with wolves and the puppies are always wild. He would make
a fine stud to any mares you may want to breed him with.” She thought of what he had mentioned about the Handsome Brave, but refused to think about it. A Brave such as that would never want to look at her!

"I know of a perfect place for such a camp!” Duncan said. “I'll take you all there. There is a beautiful meadow with a good stream where we should be able to
catch some trout or something. It’s in the woods behind the empty farm that Waneta and Hudson took over.”

So they all went out, mounted their horses, and let Duncan lead them to the spot. Shiloh was anxious to begin; unfortunately, she needed hides to make the teepees, and she was now worried they would expect the shelters to go up magically. She could hunt a little if need be, but a teepee took more than one deerskin to make!

As they rode out of town, Duncan suggested they stop at Connor's place. "He has quite a bit of canvas left over from making the sails for his ship. You can use
those for the teepees. All you would have to do is find the right size poles!" 

Shiloh was so happy; she almost thought he had read her mind! “I can cut poles from trees! I have knife!” She showed them her wicked looking Bowie. It had saved her life more than once, and in fact, she had gotten it off a dead man’s body. She would not
tell them that, though.

"Now that’s a knife!" both Methos and Duncan quipped at the same time. They pulled into the lane leading toward the farmhouse. In one of the paddocks, a longhaired man in buckskins was feeding a pinto mare. He turned to look at the visitors, and to Shiloh's surprise, he looked just like Duncan! "That's me at a younger age," Duncan chuckled. "His name is Black Wolf."

“He is a handsome Brave,” she said. “But I thought you were white.” Methos laughed at this, getting a confused look in return, and he reached over to pat her hand. She just looked down, more confused than before.

Duncan shrugged. "I have been a lot of things. When I lived with the Lakota, I had a family. A beautiful woman, and her son. Little Deer and Kahani. I became part of their tribe, and her people *adopted* me. Just before Wolf came here, he buried them all. Every single one of them." A haunted look crossed his face.

“You say her son. Not yours?” 

"Hers. But I adopted him as my own when his father was killed. His last wish was that I take care of them for him." He shook his head. Even after over 100 years, the pain was still sharp. Connor came out of the barn to greet them, along with another man who looked just like him. When told what they needed, he took them into the barn, where several bales of large canvas pieces were stored.

Shiloh looked them over happily. She was not sure how she would lash them together to make the teepee, but she would try. And she would make paints from berries to decorate them! There was enough canvas there to make more than one teepee, so she need not impose on the Hayoka.

Wolf and Trapper, as the younger version of Connor was now called, followed them in. "We can put the bales on a travois and drag them out to your camp,” Wolf
suggested. Trapper and Connor agreed and went to go get them set up, using two sturdy looking mares to pull them. A short time later, the group headed out toward the meadow that Duncan had told them about. As they rode into it, the bubbling stream seemed to sing a welcoming song to them.

Shiloh smiled. She felt calm here. And Coltec agreed. “It is a peaceful place. The spirits are friendly.”

While Duncan and Methos tried out the fishing, the others set about cutting the large pieces of sail canvas for the lodges. By the time they finished, they had enough for six! On the other side of the stream, a stand of tall lodge pole pines provided the perfect size poles.

Shiloh was thrilled with the help, though of course she told them it was woman’s work, and they laughed and said she could cook the fish – IF there was any! Naturally, some had to go back to Kasumi, and both Trapper and Wolf doubted the others would catch more than one fish between them!

But Duncan and Methos proved them wrong by catching enough not only for their lunch, but to take back to Kasumi! 

Shiloh was pleased. After cleaning all the fish, she put some by for the men to take back to town, and then cooked the rest, using spices she handily found in the
woods. Everyone complimented her cooking, and all were satisfied. It warmed her heart to be so helpful! 

Afterwards, they put up three of the teepees. It was a pretty barebones camp, but they assured Methos that they would be able to live off the land quite easily. "At least someone can bring you blankets and some tools," Duncan suggested. Trapper said that he would go back to Kat's and borrow some of hers.

Wolf seemed content and happier in this spot. Maybe being with this budding little band of Indians, he would begin the healing process. Certainly Shiloh seemed happier there. She didn’t seem to mind being the only female, and took it upon herself to take care of the men as much as possible! It seemed the camp, which was called Singing Creek Camp, was a good idea for all involved!