Chapter 58: Hostage

"Yes, it's just temporary." Ma Shao smiled, "Sooner or later, this place will become a city, like Santa Fe, or even New York or London."

"Ha, ha, ha!" William Browning laughed without disguising himself. He had long seen that this strange Indian chief who knew English did not care about such ridicule at all.

"you do not believe?"

"No, I just don't think it's possible."

Ma Shao didn't care: "Whatever you say. In a few years, this will be the first Aboriginal city in North America."

"Move in, I believe you know the limits." He patted Browning's shoulder.

Browning certainly knew that his entire family was in Ma Shao's hands, and if he really dared to cause trouble, his entire family would be in trouble.

Therefore, they could only move into the cowhide tent that they despised. At the same time, Ma Shao arranged several Apache warriors to stand guard for them, both for surveillance and protection.

Browning had barely put down his luggage when Ma Shao came in with a briefcase: "This is your first business, Mr. Gunsmith."

Browning opened the briefcase: "These are... damaged Colt revolvers?"

Ma Shao nodded: "It seems that you have done some research on this kind of gun."

"Of course. Although few people in the public are interested in this type of gun, as an excellent gunsmith, I have been paying attention to it for a long time, especially after what happened in Texas." Browning looked at these revolvers. "The marks on it... has anyone repaired it?"

"That's me," said Ma Shao. "But obviously, I can't solve this problem. In fact, I can't solve most of them. And this is a pistol that is easily damaged."

Browning looked surprised: "I didn't expect you knew this."

Ma Shao: "It's just some basics. I'm only good at making guns. You should be able to repair them, right?"

"Can."

"Then I'll trouble you."

After settling the Browning family, Ma Shao took the twenty or so white children to the Minister of Women, Hongnu.

"Hongnu, I leave these children to you." He led a group of crying little kids to find Hongnu.

The youngest of these children is only five years old and the oldest is only nine years old, so it is natural that they are more professionally taken care of by women.

Looking at these white-haired children, Hongnv was very surprised: "Who are they?"

"Hostages." Ma Shao explained succinctly, "So we must take good care of them and don't let them starve or freeze. Treat them like orphans in the tribe."

The Women's Department is responsible for managing women and children, and the task of taking care of orphans naturally falls on them. They are basically experienced mothers or grandmothers.

"... In addition, we must also avoid conflicts between them and the children in the tribe." Ma Shao warned again.

Hongnu agreed and tried to comfort the crying child with other women, but they couldn't communicate due to language barrier and were naturally in a mess.

"Teach them more Apache."

The red girl held the youngest child in her arms. "Why don't we ask Millie to help? She's a big kid and she's white. She should be liked by these kids."

Ma Shao thought for a moment and said, "That's right, I'll go find her."

He turned back to Millie.

Millie was watching a card duel. Although she barely understood Apache, the enthusiastic atmosphere of the players and spectators infected her.

"Millie." Ma Shao saw her, walked closer and called out.

"You're back." Millie pointed at the cards on the duel board and turned to ask, "Is this a game like poker?"

"Almost." Ma Shao smiled.

Millie said a little frustratedly, "It looks really fun. I wish I could play it, too."

Ma Shao: "Although you can't play duel cards for the time being, I brought you some... Well, my friend, come with me to take a look."

"Friend?" Millie asked doubtfully.

Soon she saw a group of children from Clark Town, which surprised her: "Why are there so many white people suddenly?"

"Well, this..." Ma Shao found it a little difficult to explain, and finally told the truth, "These are the hostages we captured."

"Hostage?" Millie's eyes widened.

Ma Shao: "We had a battle with a town in the southeast, and they lost, so they have these hostages."

Millie was silent for a moment, then said angrily: "You said you were a good person!"

"It was that town that attacked us first." Ma Shao quickly added important information, "Did you see the new tribesmen who moved in over there? They suffered heavy losses because of the attack from the town."

Millie paused for a moment, then asked, "Even if that's the case, why did you capture them? They are younger than me. Are they fighting with you?"

"Of course not." Ma Shao said, "In fact, this is a way to stop the war. Bring these children to the clan, and their parents will not continue to fight with me... I have an easier way, which is to kill them and their parents directly. I can do it, but I won't do it."

Millie moved her lips: "Why did they attack you?"

"For benefits, such as land and bounty." Ma Shao pointed to his head. "The US government is offering a bounty for our scalps. An adult's scalp can be exchanged for 100 US dollars, and a minor's scalp can be exchanged for 50 US dollars."

Millie was silent for a while: "...You bring them to the clan, how do you plan to treat them in the future?"

"Just like treating Apache children, their parents can come and visit from time to time." Ma Shao said, "But they obviously need an adult friend, otherwise they might cry non-stop, and you are the only candidate, so are you willing to accompany them?"

"Okay." Millie still had some doubts in her heart, but she nodded and agreed. She really needed these friends, otherwise when Ma Shao was not around, she would just be bored and read the newspaper by herself.

Over the next few days, Horse Whistle kept a close eye on the impact the new white men and Comanches had on the clan.

But because he was well prepared, no conflicts occurred and people slowly adapted to each other.

Ma Shao's concerns about the clan eased slightly, but his concerns about Clark Town rose rapidly.

After all, Clark Town is dozens of kilometers away, and he cannot be informed and intervene in time if anything happens. I don't know what the situation is now.

So after a few days, he returned to Clark Town again.

Fortunately, the town of Clark was relatively calm, at least on the surface. The twenty Apache warriors stationed there were standing guard and patrolling as usual.

After confirming that there was no violent conflict, Ma Shao found Mary Freeman.

"Mary, how much canvas have you collected?"

Mary took him to the room where the canvas was stored and said, "I bought almost all the old canvas in the town. Take a look. What do you think?"