Billy Joe Dare longs to leave his father’s farm and go West with the settlers, trappers, and fortune hunters. The wilderness has a powerful call, and one night, he screws up his courage and answers.
The first thing he does is get mauled by a bear. The second is to get rescued by Walks With the Wind, a young Native American warrior with beautiful eyes. Billy Joe learns Walks With the Wind is on a dream-quest to see the Indian Territory over in Oklahoma, where the white man wants to relocate him and his tribe. No one among them has seen this territory and his dream warns him the land there is no good, and his people will regret giving up their ancestral lands to be relocated there.
Together, Billy Joe Dare and Walks With the Wind brave the dangers of the wilderness as well as angry white settlers and slave owners. Billy Joe learns the Indian warrior is not what he seems to be. And they both learn falling in love may be the biggest danger of all in the ruthless world of the American Wild West.
“Ain’t no sense going to Oklahoma,” a young man said to them as they milled about the port at Greenville and watched the steam boats and paddle boats go up and down the Mississippi River.
“Oh?” Billy Joe asked.
“Oklahoma’s a miserable shit-hole,” the man said. “Worse than Arkansas -- and Arkansas ain’t no Garden of Eden. Most of it’s flat, dry, dusty, and ain’t fit for shit.”
“That right?”
“Miserable place,” the young man offered. “Giving it to the Indians. May as well -- can’t do anything else with it. If the land was any good, they wouldn’t be giving it to those piss-drinking bastards, and that’s a fact. Everybody wants land – but they don’t want that land. It’s just a great big prairie -- miles and miles of prairie dogs and rattlers and nothing else.”
The young man’s name was Ollie and he had been trying to interest them in purchasing tickets on one of the paddle boats which came up from New Orleans deep in the south and went all the way to St. Joseph and Kansas City and beyond in the north.
“You heard that?” Billy Joe said to Walks.
Walks With the Wind nodded.
They had already heard a lot of disparaging comments about the Arkansas and Oklahoma territories. Some folks said they were headed to Texas or California. Others said they were crossing the territories so they could get to the Rockies or find the Santa Fe trail. Nobody said anything about wanting to settle in the new territories -- and certainly not with Indian tribes as neighbors.
“We could keep going to Oklahoma,” Billy Joe offered. “See the land for ourselves.”
“Indian territory no good,” Walks said softly. “I know now. Not good. If good land, white man not give to Indian. I don’t have to go there. I know.”
They had no money, could not afford to stay at an inn or saloon.
They walked down to the river at dusk to look at the water and the boats.
Billy Joe knew the moment had come to talk about their future.
“Let’s go west,” he said. “Let’s see what Oklahoma looks like.”
Walks merely shook his head.
“We need to know for sure,” Billy Joe argued.
“I go home,” Walks said firmly. “I say Cherokee father me ... land not good. We not want. I go home.”
“But I want to go west,” Billy said. “I don’t want to go back home.”
Walks said nothing in response to this.
“I don’t want to go back to that life,” Billy Joe said. “I don’t want to work on my daddy’s farm. I want to be out here -- I want to go west. I want to be free. I don’t want to go back. And anyway, if we go back, we can’t live together. We can’t be together – not like we are now. Is that what you want?”
Walks regarded him with unreadable eyes.
“And how are we going to get back now?” Billy Joe pressed. “We don’t have our horses. It’s almost winter. How are we going to make it all the way back?”
Walks With the Wind had no response.
“Answer me!” Billy Joe insisted. He was frustrated by the youth’s silence.
For a long minute, Walks said nothing. Then: “What I say you? I say, you eat, I eat. You walk, I walk. You fight, I fight. You not eat, I not eat. You ... brother me. I ... not alone. You ... not alone. Now you say me ... I alone. And you ... you alone. You want what you want. Must have. Not stay with me. Your word ... not good.”
Walks With the Wind stood suddenly and began to walk away.
Although the youth had not raised his voice, Billy Joe knew he was very angry. He got to his feet and followed.
“Don’t you understand?” Billy Joe asked. “We can’t go back to that world! They’ll never let us stay together!”
Walks whirled about. “I not one thing. I many things. But you ... you not many things. You one thing. You ... white man.”
“I don’t even know what that means!”
“Mean ... it mean you not brother me.”
Walks abruptly turned and walked away.
