“He had so little time. "You use the land while you live, a few short years, and pass it to your sons. But if they are killed in battle, or if they have no sons, who does the land belong to then?" James could stand it no longer. "It is my land, forever!" he cried out. Doublehead knew he had touched a deep chord in James, but suddenly felt inadequate to express the depth of his feelings. "The land is eternal, and we are mortal," he said. "You cannot own land." He s...aw, with astonishing clarity, that James was scared, and understood that he was scared of death, that the white men MERGING 295 were seared of dying. Their afterlife, their spirit world, was in some other, unknown country, and they were afraid to go there. Suddenly, all the wars and the treaties and the bargains and the promises seemed a useless waste of time, because the Indians had never understood the basic fear that possessed the white men. Doublehead knew that he would never see the new land in the West because he had no heart for it.MoreLessRead More Read Less
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