It all seemed so unjust, so cruel. Many of these things were trifles in themselves, but the sum of them was soon to become portentous.
She stood irresolutely for a moment in front of the post-office. Where could she go? What could she do? Her employment was gone. The school was closed—to her. She looked over at the trader's store. Cadger had been shamed before a lot of men and made to apologize to her, an Indian woman. He wasn't likely to forget it in a hurry, and so the store, the social rendezvous of the Agency, was closed to her. There was the blacksmith shop, the saw-mill out on the bench, the corrals and stables, and the agent's house. She drifted aimlessly along. Time hung heavy on her hands. She had ample leisure to think, to face the situation. She felt physically weak. Her limbs began to tremble and she sank down. She looked up at the inhospitable sky. There waving over her was the flag. At least she could sit down here and rest, under her country's flag. But was it her country, or her flag? Would it protect her, a friendless Indian woman? Thousands, tens of thousands had died to make it the symbol of protection.
"Wah-na-gi, my child, what are you thinking of?" And John McCloud laid his long thin hand upon hers.
"I was thinking that this has meant so much to the white people, perhaps it might some day mean something to me."
The gaunt man followed the direction of her eyes and saw that she meant the stars and stripes, and the simplicity of her faith touched and saddened him.
All he could say was: "Perhaps! Perhaps at an hour when ye think not." And he took off his hat reverently and without ostentation to that gallant symbol. "It hasn't always stood for justice to your people, but on the whole we have reason to be proud of it, and perhaps even the Indian may come to love it some day."
"I was thinking, too, why everything was made so hard for me."
"That question comes to us all, my dear! To me, too, very often."
But she was so absorbed in her own perplexities she did not see his wan smile or note his effort to resist the racking cough.
"Have I done anything wrong?"