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The Sagers Go West, part 11

© Mary Trotter Kion

Spring came to the mission and immigrants who had stayed over the winter at the mission were preparing to journey on to the Willamette Valley. Often Doctor Whitman had to leave his family at the mission when one or the other of the other missions need his medical help. Sometimes Mrs. Whitman was glad that he was gone when one of the Indians needed medical attention. Her reasoning was, as she explained to Catherine Sager, that when a doctor or medicine man tended a patient and that patient died, the doctor was then considered at fault and was put to death.

Strangely, at this busy time around the mission, Frank Sager hung around rather than being off with his Indian friends. One evening after prayers, while Dr. Whitman was gone away to Umatilla to attend some sick Indians, Frank told Catherine that he was leaving, that he just couldn't stand it any longer. Catherine tried to persuade him not to go, but promised not to tell Mrs. Whitman. The next morning Frank was gone and no amount of looking turned him up.

For most of the summer the Cayuse had also been gone on hunting and fishing excursions. Then one day one of Dr. Whitman's best Indian friends, Stickus, arrived at the mission. For a long time he talked to the doctor who later revealed that some weeks ago a band of Cayuse, along with some Spokanes and Walla Wallas, had gone to California with a herd of horses to trade for cattle. They had quarreled with some white men and the son of the leading Walla Walla chief had been killed. These Indians were now on their way back, Stickus informed Whitman, and had sworn to avenge the young Indian's death. Their means of avenging was to kill Doctor Whitman and the Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Walla Walla.

Doctor Whitman, however, did not seem to be overly concerned. He had much faith in their Indians. Soon, the doctor was preparing for another trip away from the Mission. This time it would be his annual journey to Fort Vancouver for supplies. When he returned he told his family that he had seen a judge who appointed him legal guardian over the Sager children.

Doctor Whitman had also seen Frank Sager. Whitman did not try to persuade the boy to return to the mission. He just passed on everyone's love. At the end of summer, all were surprised when they saw Frank riding up the road towards the mission. He looked taller and a litter older but hesitated to enter the house until Mrs. Whitman flung her arms around him and told him how glad she was to see him.