In the early days of the Wild West, a band of Indians approached a priest and requested that he baptize them.
The padre was delighted. However, to fulfill church policy, he inquired into the braves’ desire for baptism.
The bronzed warriors replied that they wanted the Spanish medicine. (Medicine, to the Indians, was anything that gave one a power or warded off the power of another.)
“Why?” asked the priest.
“Because Spanish medicine make us more powerful than our enemies. You baptize us, and we win big battles!”
The priest refused to perform the rite, and the warriors had look elsewhere for their medicine.
The above is a true story from the real Wild West that I uncovered while doing research for my upcoming western novel, The Sons of Thunder. If you’re new to my work, you can get my free eBook The Ghost of Shanaghy Jones, which is available through Amazon, Barnes&Noble, and Kobo.
Dusty Trails 