The Triumphant Return

The letter from Ben in response to his father’s apology was positive. He was glad to forgive his father and to hear Otto approved his choice of Clara as his chosen partner for life. He told his father while his punishment had caused Ben physical and mental suffering in fact the event had done him a favour. He could never have saved sufficient to contemplate marriage without help from parents if he’d stayed in his job in Vancouver and even though the logging venture had been hard on him physically when he arrived the experience had made him into a man who was now sure of himself and his future. He was healthier in this work than he’d ever been and had built a sizeable savings through logging and trading with the Indians and expected to be well placed when he returned permanently to Vancouver after his two-year contract had expired. He was looking forward to marriage to Clara Hoffmann and happy his father approved of his choice of partner for life. He looked forward to returning to see his parents and siblings when his contract had been fulfilled and was overjoyed to receive his father’s letter.

The relationship between the Krause and Hoffmann families had been fully restored by the time Ben’s contract was coming to an end and the respect Otto had received in earlier times from his wife and children slowly returned as they saw a mellowing in their father’s nature. Letters from Ben came infrequently now to his father which he shared with the family, and they rejoiced that Ben was doing so well. Leo was so enthused at the things Ben shared in his letters he announced when he finished school he wanted to go logging under contract like his brother and earn the kind of money Ben was indicating was available for those who worked hard.

Leo had been keeping company with one of the neighbour Schwarz young women Leni with the approval of her parents and saw logging as an opportunity to build his own wealth so he could marry his love. Josef Schwarz approved of the plan as it meant the two would be mature enough to contemplate marriage and Leo would have the financial backing to give Leni a good life. He’d consider a proposal when Leo returned to Vancouver after working in the logging camps.

Josef Schwarze was a quiet man and demanded his family be kept busy. If not at school, then he had his children either in his construction workshop learning under his instruction or the girls preferably learning house duties under their mother Sophia’s instructions. Josef was a very religious man and attended church services regularly. He wondered why his German neighbours were not as faithful as he only saw them at church Christmas and Easter, but he had no objections to his children associating with the Krause or Schwarz families when they had occasional spare time or at the festivals when the large German community came together to celebrate. He’d observed Leo Krause was a respectful young man eager to work hard and please so when he saw the interest developing between his daughter and the Krause young man, he indicated he’d allow it if Leo attended church with his family each week. That way Josef could observe him more closely and the more he got to know the young man the happier he was with him as a prospective son in law. Leo’s plan to work in logging country would test whether he could generate funds to support his daughter and if he and she were willing to still be pledged after his return he’d give his consent.

It was now two years since Ben had departed for the logging fields and Ben had been singing the praises of an Indian squaw who cooked for him and kept house and her Indian husband who Ben had taken as a close friend and father figure. He was learning the intricacies of work with leather, pottery and weaving the Indians traded for white man’s products. Ben said he’d even picked up enough of their language to be understood by the Indians who inhabited that area and were friendly with the loggers who valued Indians for their knowledge of the countryside.

The logging company Ben worked for paid their workers in gold as they had mines further inland so traders from Toronto now made their way west on the railway recently constructed to purchase that gold and paid in United States currency where the bulk of their gold purchases were smuggled to. The loggers were happy with the arrangement as it would be unsafe for them to be travelling to Vancouver carrying gold, but the traders bought a small army with them to guard them on their return journeys by rail to Toronto so were at an advantage in safety.

Ben had also mentioned the Squaw’s daughter followed him around whenever he had free time to spend and he liked that. This pressed alarm bells in Clara’s mind and she wondered if Ben still loved her or whether this Indian girl was taking her place there. Was this Indian girl more beautiful than Clara?  Why had he not returned as promised and his usual letter had not arrived as anticipated? Was he delaying coming home to Vancouver because of this girl?

She confided this to her best friend Gisela who unhelpfully fed her concern by demanding she confront Ben immediately and was ready to challenge her brother herself. This alarmed Clara and she became despondent and avoided the usual happy fellowship with her siblings. Emma noticed this and confronted her daughter who burst into tears as she shared concerns with her mother. Emma assured her daughter she had every confidence Ben was faithful, but privately she to begin to wonder if any of these concerns could be true. But she’d not share this with her husband Hans. The last time she and her friend Mia had become involved it had not worked out very well at all.

Hans Hoffmann had returned home that day with some startling news. Hans had worked many years now for an English family who owned a shipping line servicing west America from Mexico, the USA and the newly purchased US Alaska territory to the north. They had warehouses in strategic ports in these countries served where they stored commodities produced exclusively in each country they could trade to other parts of America.

But the younger generation of the Gifford family now wanted to concentrate wholly on shipping and extend it to other parts of the Pacific Ocean and that required considerable money to build more ships. With increasing central government control over each government’s western territories, it was becoming harder to handle distribution from their warehouses in each country due to establishment of regulations and duties to pay for government and suspicion of foreign ownership. So, they divested themselves from the warehouses selling them to locals in each country on the understanding they’d continue to be suppliers to these warehouses and care for their orders. They decided to do the same in Vancouver. Local people were better equipped to bargain with their respective governments.

The Giffords had offered Hans first option on the purchase of this warehouse he was familiar with in Vancouver and managed for the Giffords. Hans had saved much money over the years thinking it would be a fund he could help set up his own children when it came time for them to establish their careers. But this was too good of an opportunity to miss. He had most of the money demanded by the Giffords after bargaining back and forth and the rest they agreed to receive in instalments from profits generated from sales at the warehouse until the balance was paid. He declared his intention to the family that evening during supper together and Paul and Noah were excited to work with their father in this family business. Henry and Anna were still at school and Elke had formed a relationship with the son of one of the English families’ residents in Vancouver who manufactured clothing. Hans had studied the background of the family and found them to be exemplary so would supervise that relationship until he was happy this was in Elke’s interests.

Clara continued to sink into depression because she’d not heard from her Ben for longer than usual. Then one morning as she was heading for work with Gisela her friend turned back to look behind her before turning out of Frazer Street and paused. She shouted to Clara who was walking on oblivious to the fact her friend was no longer with her.

“Looks like a carriage and wagon behind it have arrived at our place. I wonder what my dad has been up to now and whether he is planning to work on our home at last having some materials delivered?”

Clara glanced back and beckoned to her friend.

“We need to get going or we’ll be late for work Gisela”

Gisela shrugged tempted to turn back and see what this secret was and risk being late but reluctantly joined her friend and they both walked briskly to their separate workplaces. They’d meet for lunch as usual and talk about what this could mean.

That evening when they rounded Fraser Street on the way home the carriage and wagon had disappeared. So, they first headed to the Hoffmann house to sample Emma’s cakes before proceeding on to the Krause home. They were surprised to find Emma absent. This was unusual as Emma was always present to welcome her children home. The rest of Clara’s siblings were not at home either. That was even stranger as there was always noise in the house or back yard when Clara came home.

They proceeded to the Krause home missing their usual treats and found the carriage and wagon loads at the back of the home out of sight. They’d have not been seen from the street where now parked, but the two young women went through the back hedge as they usually did and that’s where they came into view. Gisela paused as she observed an Indian wigwam. It was a beautiful construction made of skins and stood tall and erect in the Krause backyard with an Indian family cooking food outside and Emma and Mia squatting with them accompanied by a well-built muscular man with a beard and an Indian brave.

The muscular man catching sight of Clara leapt to his feet and sped over to where Clara was exiting the hedge. He was followed by a young Indian girl who obviously idealized him and was probably about ten years old judging by her size. He enfolded a surprised Clara in his arms, and she drew back to look at him wondering why her mother was not coming to her aid. She stared at him trying to comprehend who he was, and Ben withdrew his embrace disappointed.

“Don’t you recognize me? I’m Ben and I’ve longed for this moment for years, but it seems you’ve changed your mind about me.”

Clara fainted and Ben caught her before she hit the ground. Emma raced to their side and spoke.

“Ben, you do look very different. You’ve put on weight and muscle, your hair is long, and you have a beard. She’s been moping for you for weeks because you didn’t write to her. She’s in shock because she thought you didn’t want her anymore.”

Emma moved to her daughter’s side as Clara recovered still staring at this stranger.

“Clara this is Ben. Is this the welcome you’re going to give him when he’s been longing to see you?”

Clara stared at Ben as the fog began to lift from her eyes.

“Is it really you? I thought you’d forgotten your pledge. You look so different now.”

Ben laughed happy again.

“Tomorrow, I go to town and have a good haircut and shave off this beard Clara. If you’re still interested in me, I’d like to marry you and set you up in our own home as soon as possible. I’ll be working on that also tomorrow if you agree. This Indian family and I will be going into business in Vancouver. I’ve made a good trade with one of the logger’s families and will be attending to the transfer of ownership of a workshop in the suburbs of Vancouver with living quarters up top and a large area behind the workshop to keep our horses and wagons and my Indian partners will erect their wigwam there as they prefer that to living in European style. He reached out to the young girl standing holding onto his arm. This is little Helga my shadow as I call her because I can’t pronounce her Indian name properly. But her real name in the Indian language she speaks means gentle deer in English.”

Ben spoke a few words to the young girl in her language, and she looked at Clara expectantly. He turned to Clara.

“Clara, I’ve told her all about you since we first met and she’s excited to see you. Give her a welcome.”

“Is it culturally proper for me to give her a hug Ben? All this time I’ve thought you had some new Indian romantic interest to substitute for me. I’m so relieved.”

Ben laughed until tears ran down his face.

“Clara, I can’t believe you really thought that. Hug the girl then come over to meet my partners in business. You’ll get to love them too. They’ve been so good to me.”

Clara bent down and hugged the young girl who spoke to her in broken English.

“You squaw Charging Moose we sisters. Charging Moose teach paleface talk.”

Ben laughed

“Come and meet my partners from the Chawathil First Nation traditional owners of the logging area I’ve been working in. This tribe has adopted me as one of them and I accepted that honour.”

Ben strode over to his Indian friends to introduce his intended wife and spoke in basic Halqememeylem which they acknowledged in returning greetings. They spoke for some time in that language which Ben had not fully mastered yet, but they seemed happy he was trying to honour them by attempting. Clara smiled at the woman sitting cooking and she smiled back. Ben then turned to share their conversation with the two mothers and the spellbound young people of the Hoffmann and Krause families standing at a distance watching this bizarre happening in their backyard playground now turned into an Indian camp.

Ben turned to address the combined group watching.

“My friends know the pale faces will struggle with their Indian names so will be using the English names they are known among the loggers. My partner will be addressed as Peter and his wife will be called Audrey here. They have limited English though Audrey knows more having spent some time at a mission school near Hope long ago. Peter will be the buying agent and will make frequent trips inland to buy necessary materials for the industry we’ll be establishing here. Some of it we will produce in our workshop for sale, and some will come from trading with the Indians and Peter will bring these back here for sale. He will be assisted in those purchases by his sons who know a little more English and Audrey will be the one to supervise and produce the items we’ll sell here. Her made to order leather garments lined with fur will be very popular among the citizens of Vancouver and over the border. I’ll be responsible for marketing and finances, and you may be surprised to know I own the workshop and apartment above it where Clara and I will live.

To be continued.

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