Tanacharison's voice reached us before he did.
I turned and saw him striding toward us, wearing his usual shrewd smile. But there was a trace of worry in his eyes.
"My dear Half King, you wound me," Croghan said, raising his brows and giving Tanacharison an exaggeratedly wounded look. "Whiskey isn't some poison meant to destroy my brothers and sisters. Why, it's a source of happiness!"
He gave Tanacharison a playful wink.
"And if you hadn't asked me to last time, I wouldn't have brought any whiskey this time around. You know me. I'm a respectable trader who always plays by the rules."
The Half King walked over and pulled Croghan into a tight embrace. It was obvious the two men were old friends and genuinely fond of each other.
"Ah, you have put me in quite a predicament," Tanacharison grumbled. "Without liquor, my people won't be satisfied. But once they have it, they go half mad. You traders take the hides our hunters work so hard to earn and give them a few bottles of whiskey in return. Then they drink themselves senseless, raise hell, and leave me to deal with the consequences. And those hides could have been traded for things my people actually need."
He shook his head.
"Strong liquor must have been invented by the Evil Twins."
"Mr. Tanacharison, is drinking really such a serious problem among the Indians?" I asked curiously.
"Serious? It's more than that. Some of them seem to live for the stuff." Tanacharison sighed. "Once they start drinking, they lose all sense of reason. They become wild and unpredictable."
He paused before continuing.
"I've already spoken with the people of Pennsylvania and asked them to forbid their traders from selling liquor to us. But the first ones to object were our own people. Without alcohol, they were the ones demanding that the traders bring it back. So I had no choice but to ask them to bring liquor again for trade."
Tanacharison sounded thoroughly frustrated.
I could almost immediately understand his predicament.
For people who had never encountered alcohol before, this strange liquid that could make a person feel as though he were floating above the world must have seemed like a magical source of pleasure.
And then there was addiction.
Even in the world I came from, countless people had become so dependent on alcohol that they could hardly imagine living without it.
The Indians had given tobacco to the white, and the white had given alcohol to the Indians.
Two things that could inspire both irresistible fascination and deep hatred.
Croghan looked at Tanacharison's miserable expression and burst out laughing.
He turned, poured him a glass of whiskey, and held it out.
"My brother, a wise man once said that tomorrow's troubles should be left for tomorrow. Don't let tomorrow's worries spoil today's happiness."
He raised the bottle slightly.
"And what I've brought this time is some fine Scotch whisky. Surely you wouldn't refuse a taste?"
Tanacharison's eyes lit up the instant he heard the words 'fine Scotch'.
"Fine Scotch?" He looked at Croghan in mock astonishment. "You stingy bastard. You've actually decided to be generous this time and bring out the good stuff?"
He took the glass but didn't drink yet.
"Didn't you used to bring us nothing but cheap, inferior whiskey and try to pass it off as the good stuff?"
"My dear brother, you're hurting me," Croghan said, putting on an exaggeratedly wounded expression. "You know I'm a self-made man. I built myself up from nothing, and I've always treated every one of my redskin brothers with fairness and honesty."
Tanacharison rolled his eyes. He was clearly not buying a word of it.
Still, he took a sip.
His expression changed instantly.
He looked at Croghan in surprise.
"This really is fine Scotch. The last time I had whiskey this good was when I met with the Virginians at Lancaster."
Croghan smirked.
"Of course it is, my brother. When have I ever lied to you?"
He spread his hands innocently.
"Every bottle I brought this time is fine Scotch. The only difference is that I didn't pay for it myself. Lieutenant Governor Robert Dinwiddie of Virginia provided the funds and asked me to bring it here and distribute it among our Indian brothers as a token of our friendship."
"My brother, aren't you from the colony of Pennsylvania?" Tanacharison asked with exaggerated surprise. "When did you become a Virginian?"
He made a point of saying nothing about the Virginia lieutenant governor's generous gesture.
"My brother, business has no borders, and it certainly doesn't recognize colonial boundaries. Besides, I'm Irish. Everything I've gained on this continent, I've earned for myself."
"In the end, it always comes down to land."
Tanacharison's smile disappeared.
"Our land."
He fixed Croghan with a knowing look.
"Did the Virginians finally agree to recognize your purchase of those two hundred thousand acres at the Forks of the Ohio?"
Croghan's expression tightened.
Tanacharison continued before he could answer.
"Whether it's the French or you British, you all come onto our land and declare that it belongs to you. Damn it, this is our land! It has been ours ever since our ancestors first made their homes on this continent."
His voice carried a mixture of anger and bitterness.
"But you white men come barging into our home, point at the house, and proudly announce that it's yours now. That this is your home. Your land."
My knowledge of American history was limited almost entirely to the Founding Fathers. As for the colonial period, I knew next to nothing.
So their conversation immediately caught my attention.
"Mr. Croghan, do you own a large amount of land around here?" I asked.
Croghan opened his mouth to answer, but Tanacharison beat him to it.
"A few years ago, those damned French claimed this territory belonged to their great king. They even sent men to attack several nearby tribes that were friendly with the British."
Tanacharison's expression became almost gleeful.
"The governor of Pennsylvania sent Croghan to investigate. But he used the opportunity to line his own pockets and bought two hundred thousand acres of land for himself."
He gave Croghan a deeply satisfied look."And the Pennsylvania Assembly refused to recognize the deal as legal."