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diff --git a/42527.txt b/42527.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 0dfa5be..0000000 --- a/42527.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4789 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's Trails Through Western Woods, by Helen Fitzgerald Sanders - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: Trails Through Western Woods - -Author: Helen Fitzgerald Sanders - -Release Date: April 14, 2013 [EBook #42527] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRAILS THROUGH WESTERN WOODS *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Bergquist, Charlie Howard, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - - - - - TRAILS THROUGH - WESTERN WOODS - - -[Illustration: LAKE ANGUS McDONALD] - - - - - TRAILS THROUGH - WESTERN WOODS - - By - - HELEN FITZGERALD SANDERS - - _Illustrations from Photographs - by the Author_ - - NEW YORK & SEATTLE - THE ALICE HARRIMAN COMPANY - 1910 - - - - - COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY - THE ALICE HARRIMAN COMPANY - - _Published, July 1, 1910_ - - THE PREMIER PRESS - NEW YORK - - - - -_DEDICATION_ - - - _To the West that is passing; to the days - that are no more and to the brave, - free life of the Wilderness that - lives only in the memory of - those who mourn its loss_ - - - - -PREFACE - - -The writing of this book has been primarily a labour of love, undertaken -in the hope that through the harmonious mingling of Indian tradition and -descriptions of the region--too little known--where the lessening tribes -still dwell, there may be a fuller understanding both of the Indians and -of the poetical West. - -A wealth of folk-lore will pass with the passing of the Flathead -Reservation, therefore it is well to stop and listen before the light -is quite vanished from the hill-tops, while still the streams sing the -songs of old and the trees murmur regretfully of things lost forever and -a time that will come no more. We of the workaday world are too prone -to believe that our own country is lacking in myth and tradition, in -hero-tale and romance; yet here in our midst is a legended region where -every landmark is a symbol in the great, natural record book of a folk -whose day is done and whose song is but an echo. - -It would not be fitting to close these few introductory words without -grateful acknowledgment to those who have aided me toward the -accomplishment of my purpose. Indeed, every page brings a pleasant -recollection of a friendly spirit and a helping hand. Mr. Duncan -McDonald, son of Angus, and Mr. Henri Matt, my Indian friends, have -told me by word of mouth, many of the myths and chronicles set forth -in the following chapters. Mr. Edward Morgan, the faithful and just -agent at the Flathead Reservation, has given me priceless information -which I could never have obtained save through his kindly interest. He -secured for me the legend of the Flint, the last tale told by Charlot -and rendered into English by Michel Rivais, the blind interpreter who -has served in that capacity for thirty years. Chief Charlot died after -this book was finished and he lies in the land of his exile, out of the -home of his fathers where he had hoped to rest. From Mr. Morgan also I -received the account of Charlot's meeting with Joseph at the LoLo Pass, -the facts of which were given him by the little white boy since grown -to manhood, Mr. David Whaley, who rode with Charlot and his band to the -hostile camp. - -The late Charles Aubrey, pioneer and plainsman, furnished me valuable -data concerning the buffalo. - -Madame Leonie De Mers and her hospitable relatives, the De Mers of -Arlee, were instrumental in winning for me the confidence of the Selish -people. - -Mrs. L. Mabel Hight, the artist, who has caught the spirit of the -mountains with her brush, has added to this book by making the peaks -live again in their colours. - -In conclusion I would express my everlasting gratitude to Mr. Thomas -H. Scott, of Lake McDonald, soldier, mountain-lover and woodsman, who, -with unfailing courage and patience, has guided me safely over many and -difficult trails. - -For the benefit of students I must add that the authorities I have -followed in my historical references are: Long's (James') "_Expedition -to the Rocky Mountains, 1819-20_," Maximilian's "_Travels in North -America_," Father De Smet's "_Oregon Missions_," Major Ronan's "_History -of the Flathead Indians_," Bradbury's "_Travels_," Father L. B. -Palladino's "_Indian and White in the Northwest_," and the _Reports_ of -the Bureau of Ethnology. - - HELEN FITZGERALD SANDERS. - - _Butte, Montana, - April 5, 1910._ - - - - -CONTENTS - - - I. The Gentle Selish 15 - - II. Enchanted Waters 77 - - III. Lake Angus McDonald 89 - - IV. Some Indian Missions of the Northwest 97 - - V. The People of the Leaves 155 - - VI. The Passing Buffalo 169 - - VII. Lake McDonald and Its Trails 229 - - VIII. Above the Clouds 245 - - IX. The Little St. Mary's 271 - - X. The Track of the Avalanche 281 - - XI. Indian Summer 297 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - - Lake Angus McDonald _Frontispiece_ - - Facing Page - Joe La Mousse 50 - - Abraham Isaac and Michel Kaiser 66 - - Lake McDonald from McDonald Creek 90 - - Francois 154 - - Glacier Camp 234 - - Gem Lake 266 - - On the Trail to Mt. Lincoln 290 - - - - -_THE GENTLE SELISH_ - - - - -TRAILS THROUGH WESTERN WOODS - - - - -CHAPTER I - -THE GENTLE SELISH - - -I - -When Lewis and Clark took their way through the Western wilderness -in 1805, they came upon a fair valley, watered by pleasant streams, -bounded by snowy mountain crests, and starred, in the Springtime, by a -strangely beautiful flower with silvery-rose fringed petals called the -Bitter Root, whence the valley took its name. In the mild enclosure of -this land lived a gentle folk differing as much from the hostile people -around them as the place of their nativity differed from the stern, -mountainous country of long winters and lofty altitudes surrounding it. -These early adventurers, confusing this tribe with the nations dwelling -about the mouth of the Columbia River, spoke of them as the Flatheads. -It is one of those curious historical anomalies that the Chinooks who -flattened the heads of their children, should never have been designated -as Flatheads, while the Selish, among whom the practice was unknown, -have borne the undeserved title until their own proper and euphonious -name is unused and all but forgotten. - -The Selish proper, living in the Bitter Root Valley, were one branch of -a group composed of several nations collectively known as the Selish -family. These kindred tribes were the Selish, or Flatheads, the Pend -d'Oreilles, the Coeur d'Alenes, the Colvilles, the Spokanes and the -Pisquouse. The Nez Perces of the Clearwater were also counted as tribal -kin through inter-marriage. - -Lewis and Clark were received with great kindness and much wonder by -the Selish. There was current among them a story of a hunting party that -came back after a long absence East of the Rocky Mountains, bearing -strange tidings of a pale-faced race whom they had met,--probably the -adventurous Sieur de La Verendrye and his cavaliers who set out from -Montreal to find a highway to the Pacific Sea. But it was only a memory -with a few, a curious legend to the many, and these men of white skin -and blue eyes came to them as a revelation. - -The traders who followed in the footsteps of the first trail-blazers -found the natives at their pursuits of hunting, roving over the -Bitter Root Valley and into the contested region east of the Main -Range of the Rocky Mountains, where both they, and their enemies, the -Blackfeet, claimed hereditary right to hunt the buffalo. They were at -all times friendly to the white men who came among them, and these -visitors described them as simple, straight-forward people, the women -distinguished for their virtue, and the men for their bravery in the -battle and the chase. They were cleanly in their habits and honorable -in their dealings with each other. If a man lost his horse, his bow or -other valuable, the one who found it delivered it to the Chief, or Great -Father, and he caused it to be hung in a place where it might be seen by -all. Then when the owner came seeking his goods, the Chief restored it -to him. They were also charitable. If a man were hungry no one said him -nay and he was welcome even at the board of the head men to share the -best of their fare. This spirit of kindliness they extended to all save -their foes and the prisoners taken in war whom they tortured after the -manner of more hostile tribes. In appearance they were "comparatively -very fair and their complexions a shade lighter than the palest new -copper after being freshly rubbed." They were well formed, lithe and -tall, a characteristic that still prevails with the pure bloods, as does -something of the detail of their ancient dress. They preserve the custom -of handing down by word of mouth, from generation to generation, their -myths, traditions and history. Some of these chronicles celebrate events -which are estimated to have happened two hundred years or more ago. - -Of the origin of the Selish nothing is known save the legend of their -coming out of the mountains; and perhaps we are none the poorer, for no -bald historical record of dates and migrations could be as suggestively -charming as this story of the people, themselves, colored by their own -fancy and reflecting their inner life. Indeed, a nation's history and -tradition bear much the same relation to each other as the conventional -public existence of a man compared with that intangible part of him -which we call imagination, but which is in reality the sum-total of his -mental inheritance: the hidden treasure of his spiritual wealth. Let us -look then, through the medium of the Indian's poetic imagery, into a -past rose-hued with the sunrise of the new day. - -Coyote, the hero of this legend, figures in many of the myths of the -Selish; but they do not profess to know if he were a great brave bearing -that name or if he were the animal itself, living in the legendary age -when beasts and birds spoke the tongue of man. Likely he was a dual -personality such as the white buffalo of numerous fables, who was at -will a beautiful maiden or one among the vast herds of the plains. -Possibly there was, indeed, such a mighty warrior in ages gone by about -whose glorified memory has gathered the half-chimerical hero-tales which -are the first step toward the ancestor-worship of primitive peoples. -In all of the myths given here in which his name is mentioned, except -that one of Coyote and the Flint, we shall consider him as an Ideal -embodying the Indians' highest conception of valor and achievement. - -Long, long ago the Jocko was inhabited by a man-eating monster who lured -the tribes from the hills into his domain and then sucked their blood. -Coyote determined to deliver the people, so he challenged the monster -to a mortal combat. The monster accepted the challenge, and Coyote went -into the mountains and got the poison spider from the rocks and bade him -sting his enemy, but even the venom of the spider could not penetrate -the monster's hide. - -Coyote took counsel of the Fox, his friend, and prepared himself for the -fray. He got a stout leather thong and bound it around his body, then -tied it fast to a huge pine tree. The monster appeared with dripping -fangs and gaping jaws, approached Coyote, who retreated farther and -farther away, until the thong stretched taut and the pine curved like -a bow. Suddenly, the tree, strained to its utmost limit, sprang back, -felling the monster with a mortal stroke. Coyote was triumphant and the -Woodpecker of the forest cut the pine and sharpened its trunk to a point -which Coyote drove through the dead monster's breast, impaling it to the -earth. Thus, the Jocko was rid of the man-eater, and the Selish, fearing -him no more, came down from the hills into the valley where they lived -in plenty and content. - -The following story of Coyote and the Flint is of exceptional interest -because it is from the lips of the dying Charlot--Charlot the unbending, -the silent Chieftain. No word of English ever profaned his tongue, so -this myth, told in the impressive Selish language, was translated word -for word by Michel Rivais, the blind interpreter at the Flathead Agency, -who has served faithfully and well for a period of thirty years. - -"In the old times the animals had tribes just like the Indians. The -Coyote had his tipi. He was hungry and had nothing to eat. He had bark -to shoot his arrow with and the arrow did not go through the deer. He -was that way a long time when he heard there was Flint coming on the -road that gave a piece of flint to the Fox and he could shoot a deer and -kill it, but the Coyote did not know that and used the bark. They did -not give the Coyote anything. They only gave some to the Fox. Next day -the Fox put a piece of meat on the end of a stick and took it to the -fire. The Fox had the piece of meat cooking there and the Coyote was -looking at the meat and when it was cooked the Coyote jumped and got the -piece of meat and took a bite and in it was the flint, and he bit the -flint and asked why they did not tell him how to kill a deer with flint. - -"'Why didn't you tell me?' the Coyote asked his friend, the Fox. 'When -did the Flint go by here?' - -"The Fox said three days it went by here. - -"The Coyote took his blanket and his things and started after the Flint -and kept on his track all day and evening and said, 'Here is where the -Flint camped,' and he stayed there all night himself, and next day he -travelled to where the Flint camped, and he said, 'Here is where the -Flint camped last night,' and he stayed there, and the next day he went -farther and found where the Flint camped and he said, 'The Flint started -from here this morning.' He followed the track next morning and went not -very far, and he saw the Flint going on the road, and he went 'way out -that way and went ahead of the Flint and stayed there for the Flint to -come. When the Flint met him there the Coyote told him: - -"'Come here. Now, I want to have a fight with you to-day.' - -"And the Flint said: - -"'Come on. We will fight.' - -"The Flint went to him and the Coyote took the thing he had in his hand -and struck him three or four times and the Flint broke all to pieces and -the Coyote had his blanket there and put the pieces in the blanket and -after they were through fighting and he had the pieces of flint in his -blanket he packed the flint on his back and went to all the tribes and -gave them some flint and said: - -"'Here is some flint for you to kill deer and things with.' - -"And he went to another tribe and did the same thing and to other tribes -and did the same until he came to Flint Creek and then from that time -they used the flint to put in their arrows and kill deer and elk. - -"That is the story of the Flint." - - * * * * * - -Coyote was the chosen one to whom the Great Spirit revealed the disaster -which reduced the Selish from goodly multitudes of warriors to a handful -of wretched, plague-stricken invalids. Old women are still fond of -relating the story which they received from their mothers and their -mothers' mothers even to the third and fourth generation. - -Coyote laid down to rest and dreamed that the Voice of the Great Spirit -sounded in his ears, saying that unless the daughter of the Chief became -his bride a scourge would fall upon the people. When morning broke he -sought out the Chief and told him of the words of the Voice, but the -Chief, who was a haughty man, would not heed Coyote and coldly denied -him the hand of his daughter in marriage. - -Coyote returned to his lodge and soon there resounded through the -forests the piercing cry of one in distress. Coyote rushed forth and -beheld a man covered with sores across the river. This man related to -Coyote how he was the last survivor of a war party that had come upon -a village once occupied by the enemy whom they sought, but as they -approached they saw no smoke arising from the tipis and no sign of life. -They came forward very cautiously, but all was silent and deserted. From -lodge to lodge they passed, and finally they came upon an old woman, -pitted and scabbed, lying alone and dying. With her last breath she told -them of a scourge which had fallen upon the village, consuming brave and -child alike, until she, of all the lodges, was left to mourn the rest. -Then one by one the war party which had ridden so gallantly to conquest -and glory, felt an awful heat as of fire run through their veins. -Burning and distraught they leaped into the cold waters of a river and -died. - -Such was the story of the man whom Coyote met in the woods. He alone -remained, disfigured, diseased, doomed. So Coyote brought him into the -village and quenched his thirst that he might pass more easily to the -Happy Hunting Ground. But as the Great Spirit had revealed to Coyote -while he slept, the scourge fell upon the people and laid them low, -scarcely enough grief-stricken survivors remaining to weep for their -lost dead. - - * * * * * - -Besides this legendary narrative of the visitation of smallpox there -are other authenticated instances of the plague wreaking its vengeance -upon the Selish and depleting their villages to desolation. In this wise -the tribe was thinned again and again and as early as 1813, Mr. Cox -of the Northwest Fur Company, told in his "Adventures" that once the -Selish were more powerful by far in number than in the day of his coming -amongst them. - -There was also another cause for the nation's decline quite as -destructive as the plague;--the unequal hostility continuing generation -after generation, without capitulation or truce, with the Blackfeet. -The country of the Selish abounded in game but it was a part of the -tribal code of honour to hunt the buffalo in the fields where their -ancestors had hunted. All of the deadly animosity between the two -peoples, all of the bloodshed of their cruel wars, was for no other -purpose than to maintain the right to seek the beloved herds in the -favoured fields which they believed their forefathers had won. The -jealousy with which this privilege of the chase was guarded and -preserved even to the death explains many national peculiarities, forms, -indeed, the keynote to their life of freedom on the plains. - -It is possible that the Selish would have been annihilated had not the -establishment of new trading-posts enabled them to get fire-arms which -the Blackfeet had long possessed. This means of defence gave them fresh -strength and thereafter the odds against them were not as great. - -The annals of the tribe, so full of tragedy and joy, of fact and -fancy, of folk-lore and wood-lore, contain many stories of war glory -reminiscent of the days of struggle. Even now there stands, near -Ravalli in the Jocko, a rock resembling a man, called by the Indians -the Stone Sentinel, which touchingly attests the fidelity and bravery -of a nameless hero. The story is that one of the runners who had gone -in advance of a war-party after the Indian custom, was surprised while -keeping watch and killed by the Blackfeet. The body remained erect and -was turned to stone, a monument of devotion to duty so strong that not -even death could break his everlasting vigil. - -Notwithstanding their love of glory on the war-path and hunting-field, -they were a peaceable people. The most beautiful of their traditions -are based upon religious themes out of which grew a poetical symbolism, -half devotional, half fantastic. And even to-day, in spite of their -profession of Christianity, there lives in the heart of the Indian the -old paganism, not unlike that of the Greeks, which spiritualizes every -object of the woods and waters. - -They thought that in the Beginning the good Spirit came up out of the -East and the Evil Spirit out of the West, and then began the struggle, -typified by light and darkness, which has gone on ever since. From this -central idea they have drawn the rainbow Spirit-fancy which arches their -dream-sky from horizon to horizon. They consider some trees and rocks -sacred; again they hold a lake or stream in superstitious dread and shun -it as a habitation of the evil one. - -Thus, a cave in the neighbouring hills where rattlesnakes sleep in -Winter, they avoided in the past, not on account of the common snakes, -but because within the damp, dark recesses of that subterranean den, the -King of Snakes, a huge, horned reptile dwelt, appearing occasionally in -all his venomous, scaled beauty, striking terror wherever he was seen. -A clear spring bubbled near the cave but not even the cold purity of -the water could tempt the Indians to that accursed vicinity until by -some revelation they learned that the King Snake had migrated to other -fastnesses. He is still seen, so they say, gliding stealthily amongst -deserted wastes, his crest reared evily, and death in his poison tail. - -In contrast to this cave of darkness is the spiritual legend of the -Sacred Pine. Upon those same gentle hills of the Jocko it grows, lifting -its lessening cone of green toward heaven. It has been there past the -memory of the great-grand-fathers of the present generation and from -time immemorial it has been held sacred by the Selish tribe. High upon -its venerable branches hangs the horn of a Bighorn Sheep, fixed there so -firmly by an unknown hand, before even the tradition of the Selish had -shaped its ghostly form out of the mists of the past, that the blizzard -has not been strong enough to wrench it from its place, nor the frost -to gnaw it away. No one knows whence the ram's horn came nor what it -signifies, but the tree is considered holy and the Indians believe that -it possesses supernatural powers. Hence, offerings are made to it of -moccasins, beads, weasel skins, and such little treasures of wearing -apparel or handiwork as they most esteem, and at certain seasons, -beneath the cool, sweet shadow of its generous boughs the devoted -worshippers, going back through the little superficialities of recent -civilization to the magnetic pole of their own true blood and beliefs, -assemble to dance with religious fervor around its base upon the green. -The missionary fathers discourage such idolatrous practices; but the -poor children of the woods play truant, nevertheless, and wander back -through the cycle of the centuries to do honour to the old, sweet object -of their devotion in the primitive, pagan way. And surely the Great -Spirit who watches over white and red man impartially, can scarcely be -jealous of this tribute of love to a tree,--the instinctive, race-old -festival of a woodland tribe. - -There is another pine near Ravalli revered because it recalls the days -of the chase. It stands upon the face of a mountain somewhat apart from -its brethren of the forest, and there the Bighorn Sheep used to take -refuge when pursued. If driven to bay, the leader, followed by his band, -leaped to death from this eminence. It is known as the Pine of the -Bighorn Sheep. - -Thus, it will be seen there lives among the Selish a symbolism, making -objects which they love chapters in the great unwritten book, wherein -is celebrated the heroic past. He who has the key to that volume of -tribe-lore, may learn lessons of valour and achievement, of patience and -sacrifice. And colouring the whole story, making beautiful its least -phase, is the sentiment of the people, even as the haze is the poetry -of the hills. - - -II - -As heroic or disastrous events are celebrated in verbal chronicles -it follows that the home of the Selish is storied ground. Before the -pressure of civilization, encroaching in ever-narrowing circles upon -the hunting-ground of the Indians, cramping and crowding them within -a smaller space, driving them inch by inch to the confinement which -is their death, the Selish wandered at will over a stretch of country -beautiful alike in the reality of its landscape and in the richness -of myth and legend which hang over every peak and transfigure every -lake and stream. To know this country and the people it has sheltered -through past centuries one must first glean something of that ephemeral -story-charm which records in crag, in mist, in singing stream and -spreading tree the dreams made almost real by the thousands of souls -who have treasured them, and given them, lip to lip, from old to young, -since the forests were first green upon the hills. - -The land of the Selish extended eastward to that portion of the Main -Range of the Rocky Mountains known to them as _Sin-yal-min_, or the -"Mountains of the Surrounded," from the fact that once a hunting party -surrounded and killed a herd of elk by a stream upon those heights; -another time a war-party surrounded and slew a company of Blackfeet -within the woods upon the mountain side. Though this range marked the -eastern boundary of their territory, they hunted buffalo, as we have -seen, still east of its mighty peaks,--a region made bloody by battles -between the Selish and the Blackfeet tribes. Westward, they wandered -over the fertile valley of Sin-yal-min, where they, in common with the -Pend d'Oreilles, Kootanais and Nez Perces enjoyed its fruits and fields -of grain. This valley is bounded to the north by the great Flathead -Lake, a body of water vast in its sweep, winding through narrow channels -among wooded shores ever unfolding new and unexposed vistas as one -traverses it. On a calm summer day, when the sun's rays are softened -by gossamer veils of haze, the water, the mountain-peaks and sky are -faintly traced in shades of grey and faded rose as in mother-of-pearl. -And on such days as this, at rare intervals, a strange phenomenon -occurs,--_the reflection of a reflection_. Looking over the rail of a -steamer within the semi-circular curve of the swell at its stern, one -may see, first the reflection of the shore line, the mountains and trees -appearing upside down, then a second shore line perfectly wrought in -the mirroring waters right side up, pine-crest touching pine-crest, -peak poised against peak. This lake was the Selish's conception of -the greatest of waters, for their wandering never took them to the -Atlantic or Pacific Seas, and in such small craft as they used to -travel over the forty miles of water among serpentining shores, the -distance must have seemed immense. Many islands rise from the lake, -the largest of them, Wild Horse Island, is timbered and mountainous, -and so big as to appear like an arm of the main land. This Wild Horse -Island, where in olden days bands of wild horses were found, possesses -a peculiar interest. Upon its steep cliffs are hieroglyphics traced -in pigments unknown to-day, telling the forgotten story of a lost -race. The same strange figures appear upon the sheer escarpments of -the mainland shore. These rock-walls are moss-grown and colored by the -lichen, chrome yellow, burnt orange, russet-brown and varying shades -of bronze-green like Autumn leaves, and upon them broods a shadow as -darkly impenetrable as the mystery which they hold. Still, it is easy to -distinguish upon the heroic tablets of stone, crude figures of horses -and some incomprehensible marks. These writings have been variously -interpreted or guessed at. Some declare them to be ancient war signals -of the Selish, others suggest that they were records of hunting parties -left behind for the guidance and information of the tribe; but they, -themselves, deny all knowledge of them, saying that to them as to us, -the pictured rocks are a wonder and a riddle, the silent evidence of -foot-falls so remote that not even an echo has come down to us through -the centuries. - -Such are the valley of Sin-yal-min and the Lake of the Flathead where -the Selish hunted. But their real home, the seat of their fathers, -was the Bitter Root Valley, where one branch of the tribe, headed by -Charlot, the son of Victor, lived until the recent exodus. Therefore, -the Bitter Root Valley was particularly dear to the hearts of these -Indians. It was there the bond between the kindred tribes, the Nez -Perces and the Selish, was broken; there the pioneer Fathers came to -build the first Mission and plant the first Cross among these docile -children of the wood. It was there they clung together like frightened -sheep until they were driven forth to seek new homes in the Valley of -the Jocko, which was to be merely a station in their enforced retreat. - -Eastward and southward from the Bitter Root, the Jocko and the range -of Sin-yal-min in the contested country, is a canyon called the Hell -Gate, because within its narrow limits, the Blackfeet wreaked vengeance -upon their less warlike foes. Flowing through the canyon is a river, -_In-mis-sou-let-ka_, corrupted into Missoula, which bears one of the -most beautiful of the Selish legends. - - * * * * * - -Coyote was taking his way through a pass in the mountains during the -ancient days, when there came to him, out of the closed lip of silence, -the echo of a sound. He stopped to listen, in doubt if it were the -singing of waters or human voices that he heard, and as he listened the -echo grew into a reality and the strains of wondrous, weirdly sweet -music greeted his ear. He followed the illusive melody, attracted as by -magic, and at last he saw upon the flower-sown green a circle of young -women, dancing around and around, hand clasped in hand, forming a chain -and singing as they danced. They beckoned to Coyote and called unto him, -saying: - -"Thou art beautiful, O Warrior! and strong as is the sun. Come dance -with us and we will sing to thee." - -Coyote, like one who walks in his sleep, obeyed them and joined the -enchanted circle. Then he perceived that as they danced and sang they -drew him closer and closer to a great river that lashed itself into a -blind, white fury of foam upon the rocks. Coyote became afraid like a -woman. He noted with dread the water-weed in the maidens' hair and the -evil beauty of their eyes. He strove to break away but he was powerless -to resist them and he felt himself drawn nearer and nearer the roaring -torrent, until at last the waters closed over him in whirlpools and he -knew no more. - - * * * * * - -The Fox, who was wise and crafty, passed along the shore and there he -found, among the water-weeds and grasses the lifeless body of Coyote -which had been cast up by the waters, even as they had engulfed him. -The Fox was grieved for he loved Coyote, so he bent over the corpse and -brought it back to life. Coyote opened his eyes and saw his friend, but -the chill of the water was in his blood and he was numb. Then above the -roar of the river, echoed the magical measure of a weird-sweet song -and through a green glade came the dancers who had lured Coyote to his -death. He rose at the sound of the bewitching melody and strained -forward to listen. - -"It was they who led me to the river," he cried. - -"Aye, truly. They are the water Sirens and thou must destroy them," -replied the Fox. - -At those words Coyote's heart became inflamed with ire; he grew strong -with purpose and crept forward, noiseless as a snake, unobserved by the -water-maidens. - -They were dancing like a flock of white butterflies upon a stretch of -grass yellowed and seared by the heat of the sun. Swiftly and silently -Coyote set fire to the grass, imprisoning them in a ring of flame. They -saw the wall of fire leap up around them and their singing was changed -to cries. They turned hither and thither and sought to fly to the water -but the way was barred by the hot red-gold embrace of the fire. - -When the flames had passed, Coyote went to the spot where the Sirens -had danced, and there upon the blackened ground he found a heap of -great, white shells. He took these, the remains of the water-maidens, -and cast them into the river, saying as he did so: - -"I call thee _In-mis-sou-let-ka_ and thou shalt forever bear that name!" - -Thus it was that the river flowing through the Hell Gate came by the -title of In-mis-sou-let-ka, which men render into English by the -inadequate words of "_The River of Awe_." - - * * * * * - -Through the length and breadth of the country are story-bearing -land-marks. There is a rock in the Jocko, small of size but of weight so -mighty that no Indian, however strong, can move it; there is a mountain -which roars and growls like an angry monster; there is a cliff where a -brave of the legendary age of heroes battled hand to hand with a grizzly -bear, and a thousand other spots, each hallowed by a memory. So, through -peak and lowland, rivers and forests one can find the faery-spell of -romance, lending the commonest stone individuality and interest. And the -most prosaic pilgrim wandering along haunted streams, cooling in the -shadow of storied woods and upon the shores of enchanted lakes, must -feel the spell of poesy upon him; must look with altered vision upon the -whispering trees, listen with quickened hearing to the articulate murmur -of the rivers, knowing for a time at least, the subtle fellowship with -the woodland which is in the heart of the Indian. - -Such is the legended land of the Selish, a land fit for gentle, poetic -folk to dwell in, a land worthy for brave and devoted men to lay down -their lives to save. - - -III - -Within the Bitter Root Valley dwelt Charlot, _Slem-Hak-Kah_, "Little -Claw of a Grizzly Bear," son of the great chief Victor, "The Lodge -Pole," and therefore by hereditary right Head Chief of the Selish tribe. -That valley is perhaps the most favoured land of the region. The snow -melts earlier within its mountain-bound heart, the blizzard drives less -fiercely over its slopes and the Spring comes there sooner, sprinkling -the grass with the rose stars of the Bitter Root. Under the guidance -of the missionary fathers the Indians learned to till the soil and the -bounty of their toil was sufficient, for the rich earth yielded fine -crops of grain and fruit. The Indians who sowed and plowed their small -garden-spots, and the kindly fathers who watched over their prosperity, -little dreamed that in the free gift of the earth and the mild beauty of -the land lay the cause which should wreak the red man's ruin. This land -was dear to the hearts of the people. Victor, their brave guardian, had -saved it for them at the treaty of the Hell Gate when they were called -upon to give up part of their territory to the increasing demands of -the whites. Those of the dominant race kept coming into the Bitter Root -and they were welcomed by the Indians. Thus, bit by bit the valley was -taken up, its fame spread and it became a region so desirable that the -government determined to move the Selish tribe out of the land of their -fathers. - -Charlot was a courageous and honest man, a leader worthy of his trust. -It was he who met the Nez Perces as they descended into the Bitter Root, -headed by Chief Joseph, hot with the lust for the white man's scalp. -There are few more dramatic incidents in western history than Charlot's -visit to Chief Joseph on the LoLo trail and the ultimatum which he -delivered to the leader of the Nez Perce hosts. - -He rode forth accompanied by Joe La Mousse and a small war-party, -carrying with him a little white boy. About his arm he had tied a snowy -handkerchief in token of the peaceful character of his errand. When the -two Chiefs, Charlot and Joseph faced each other, Charlot spoke these -words, slowly, defiantly as one who has made a great decision: - -"Joseph, I have something to say to you. It will be in a few words. - -"You know I am not afraid of you. - -"You know I can whip you. - -"If you are going through the valley you must not hurt any of the -whites. If you do you will have me and my people to fight. - -"You may camp at my place to-night but to-morrow you must pass on." - -And it was as Charlot decreed. Joseph the brave, intractable warrior who -did battle with the army of the United States and kept the cleverest -of our generals guessing at his strategies, bent to the iron will of -Charlot. The Nez Perces passed peacefully through the valley and never a -soul was harmed. - -In the long, cruel struggle that followed, when Chief Joseph and his -braves struck terror to the settlers, leaving death and ruin in their -path, Charlot remained staunch and true. Indeed, the boast of the Selish -is that they, as a nation, were never guilty of taking a white man's -life. - -Meantime, while they lived in peace and plenty, the fates had sealed -their doom. There is no use reiterating the long, painful story of the -treaty between the Selish and the government, ceding to the latter the -land where the tribal ancestors lived and died. Charlot declared he did -not sign away the birth-right of his people and he was an honourable -man. He and his friends went farther and said that his mark was forged. -On the other hand some of those who were witnesses for the United -States maintain that the name Charlot was written like that of Arlee -and others, with a blank space left for the mark, or signature of each -Chief. They further state that Charlot never affixed his mark to the -document nor was it forged as he asserted to the end. This is at best -mere evasion. One of two things happened: a fraudulent signature was -put upon the face of the treaty to deceive the government, or Charlot, -as Head Chief, was overridden and ignored. Whatever the means employed -the outcome was the same. It was an unhappy day for the Indians. They -had no recourse but to submit, so most of them headed by Arlee, the War -Chief, struck their tipis, abandoned the toil-won fields where they had -laboured so long and so patiently, left the shadow of the Cross where -they were baptized, and went forth into the Jocko to begin again the -struggle which should never be more than a beginning. - -[Illustration: JOE LA MOUSSE] - -But Charlot the royal-blooded, son of a long line of fighting chiefs, -was not to be moved by the master-hand like a pawn in a game of chess. -He haughtily refused to leave the Bitter Root Valley, telling his -people that those of them who wished to go should follow Arlee, but he -with a few of the faithful, would lie down to his repose in the land -of his fathers beneath peaks that mingle with the sky. With impassive -dignity he and a party of his loyal band went to Washington at the -bidding of the Great Father to listen to the justice of the white man's -claim. Charlot proudly declined to accept pension and authority bought -at the price of his exile. He wished only the "poor privilege" of -dwelling in the valley where his fathers had dwelt; of resting at last, -where they had lain so long. He wanted neither money nor land,--simply -permission to live in the home of his childhood, his manhood and -old age. He added that he would never be taken alive to the Jocko -Reservation. The Powers saw no merit in the sentiment of the old Chief. -He had dared to oppose their will and they determined to break his -spirit. He might remain in the Bitter Root the All-Wise decreed, but in -remaining he relinquished every right. More crushing to him than poverty -and exile was the final blow to his pride. In a sense he was King of -his tribe. The title of Great Chief descended from father to son, even -as the crowns of empires are handed down. The War Chiefs, on the other -hand, were elected to command the warriors for a year and at the end of -their service they became simple braves again. The government, ignoring -the canyons of the Selish, put Charlot aside, and Arlee, the Red Night, -last of the War Chiefs, took precedence over him and became Head Chief -of his nation. Charlot was stripped of his title, his honours, his -privileges of land grant and pension; in other words, he was reduced -from Great Chief to pauper. - -Thus Charlot, who with his braves had defied his kinsfolk, the Nez -Perces, to protect the weak colony of settlers in their Bitter Root home -was driven forth by these same strangers within his gates, and he, the -bravest and best of his kind, shorn of the dignities his forebears and -he, himself, had won;--robbed, cast out, was held up to contumely as an -unruly savage and spurned by the people his mercy had spared. - -From the Bitter Root, the poor wanderers took their way into the Jocko, -a region also fair, where some of their tribe already dwelt, and made -for themselves new homes. They accepted the change uncomplainingly and -set to work to sow and reap in this adopted land. - -Charlot and his band of nearly two hundred lingered in the Bitter Root -until 1891, when driven by hunger and suffering they followed their -tribesmen into the Jocko. He had said he would never be _taken alive_ -to the new reservation, nor was he. Clad in his war dress, mounted on -his best horse, surrounded by his young men in full war regalia, he rode -into exile, proud, unbending as a triumphant Chief entering dominions -won by conquest. No expression of pain crossed his bronze-stern face; -no hint of humility or subjection softened the majesty of his mien. He -and his braves were met by the Selish who had gone before, with great -ostentation and ceremony. Charlot never forgot nor forgave. He had been -cast out, betrayed, but not conquered. - -The Selish have learned to love the soft, yellow-green of the Jocko -hills, the free sweep of its prairies, where sun flowers flow in a sea -of gold beneath the rushing tide of the summer wind, and the prettily -boisterous little Jocko River laughs and plays over its rocky bed -between a veritable jungle of trees and vines and flowers. In these -woods bordering the stream, the most luscious wild gooseberries, -strawberries and bright scarlet brew berries grow--this last, dear to -the Indian, is picked by the squaws and made into a sparkling draught. -There the trees are hung with dense tapestries of blossoming vines, -thick moss deadens the footstep and birds call shrilly from the -twilight of the trees. But the Jocko and Sin-yal-min are beautiful and -fertile, and wherever there is beauty and fertility there comes the -Master saying: - -"_This is mine by right of might! Go forth again O Indian! There are -lean hills and deserts left for thee!_" - -And the Indian, grown used to such things, folds his tipi and takes his -way into the charity of the lessening wilderness. - -Not long ago a strange thing came to pass. One evening the sun set -in a passion of red and gold. The tide of light pulsed through the -skies, the air throbbed and shimmered with it, and every lake and pool -reflected its ruddy splendour until they seemed to be filled with -blood. The Indians gazed at the spectacle in silent awe. Groups of them -on horseback, dark figures silhouetted against the bright sky, stared -curiously at the awful glory of the heavens and earth, whispered in -low tones together and were afraid. Was the Great Spirit revealing -something to his children? Some there were who thought that the crimson -banners in the West foretold a disaster and verily it was true. The end -was near. The sun was setting forever upon their freedom. Once more the -children of the old time would be driven to another camping ground where -they might halt for a little space and rest their weary heads before -they take up the march upon their endless retreat. - - -IV - -During the Summer at the time when the sun reached his greatest -strength, according to the ancient custom, the Selish gathered together -to dance. In this celebration is embodied the spirit of the people, -their pride, their hates and loves. But this dance had a peculiar -significance. It was, perhaps, the last that the tribe will celebrate. -Another year the white man will occupy the land, and the free, roving -life and its habits will be gone. It was a scene never to be forgotten. -Overhead a sky deeply azure at its zenith which mellowed toward the West -into a tide of ruddy gold flowing between the blue heavens and the green -earth; far, far away, dim, amethyst mountains dreaming in the haze; -and through that rose-gold flood of light, sharply outlined against -the intense blue above and the tender green below, silent figures on -horseback, gay with blankets, beads and buckskins, rode out of the filmy -distance into the splendour of the setting sun, and noiselessly took -their places around the musicians on the grass. - -There were among them the most distinguished men of the tribe. Joe La -Mousse, once a warrior of fame, grown to an honored old age, watched -the younger generation with the simple dignity which becomes one of his -years and rank. He possessed the richest war dress of all, strung with -elks' teeth and resplendent with the feathers of the war-eagle. It was -he, who with Charlot, met the Nez Perces and repudiated their bloody -campaign; he, whose valiant ancestor, Ignace La Mousse, the Iroquois, -helped to make glorious the name of his adopted people. _Francois_ and -_Kai-Kai-She_, the judge, both honoured patriarchs, and Chief Antoine -Moise, _Callup-Squal-She_, "Crane with a ring around his neck," who -followed Charlot to Washington on his mission of protest, moved and -mingled in the bright patchwork of groups upon the green. There was -none more imbued with the spirit of festivity than old Francois with -white hair falling to his bowed shoulders. These and many more there -were whose prime had known happier days. Chief Moise's wife, a handsome -squaw, rode in with her lord, and conspicuous among the women was a -slim wisp of a girl with an oval face, buckskin-colored complexion, and -great, dusky, twilight eyes. A pale gray-green blanket was wrapped -about her head and body, hanging to her moccasined feet. She was the -wife of Michel Kaiser, the young leader of the braves. But towering -above the rest of the assembly, regal to the point of austerity, was a -man aged but still erect, as though his strength of pride would never -let his shoulders stoop beneath the conquering years. He wore his -blanket folded closely around him and fanned himself with an eagle's -wing, the emblem of the warrior. One eye was hidden beneath a white film -which had shut out its sight forever, but the other, coal-black and -piercing, met the stranger gaze for gaze, never flinching, never turning -aside. It was Charlot. Though an exile, his head was still unbent, his -spirit unbroken. - -Sometimes we see in the aged, the placid melancholy which comes with -the foreknowledge of death, so in the serenely sad faces of the aged -Indians, we recognize that greater melancholy which is born of the -foreshadowing of racial death. They cherish, too, a more personal grief -in that they shall live to see the passing of the old life. Patiently -they submitted to the expulsion from the Bitter Root, but now in the -darkness of gathering years once more they must strike their tipis to -make room for the invading hosts. The setting sun streamed through the -leaves and touched the venerable faces with false youth. Wagon and -pony discharged their human loads who sat passively, listening to the -admonition of the tom-tom and the chant: - - "_Come, O! ye people! Come and dance!_" - -After this preliminary measure had lasted hours, not an Indian professed -to know whether the people would be moved to dance or not. A race -characteristic is that impulse must quicken them to action. It was -strange how the tidings had spread. The tipis and lodges are scattered -over many miles, but the Indians kept coming as though called up by -magic from their hiding places in the hills. - -Beneath a clump of cottonwood trees around the tom-tom, a drum made of -deer hide stretched over a hollowed section of green tree, sat the four -musicians beating the time of the chant with sticks bound in strips of -cloth. Of these players one was blind, another aged, and the remaining -two, in holiday attire, with painted lips and cheeks, were braves. One -of these, seated a trifle higher than his companions, leaned indolently -over the tom-tom plying his sticks with careless grace. He possessed a -peculiar magnetism which marked him a leader. Occasionally his whole -body thrilled with sudden animation, his voice rose into a strident cry, -then he relapsed into the languid posture and the bee-like drone. Of all -that gathering he was the one perfect, full-blood specimen of a brave in -the height of his prime. The dandy, Victor Vanderberg, was handsomer -perhaps, and little Jerome had the beauty of a head of Raphael, but this -Michel Kaiser was a type apart. His face and slim, nimble hands were the -colour of bronze. His nose curved sharply as a hawk's beak, his mouth -was compressed in a hard, cold line over his white teeth, his cheek -bones were high and prominent, his brows straight, sable strokes above -small, bright-black eyes that gleamed keen as arrow darts. His hair was -made into two thick braids wrapped around with brown fur, his arms were -decorated with bracelets and from his neck hung string upon string of -beads falling to his waist. It was he who with suppressed energy flung -back his head as he gave the shrill cry and quickened the beat of the -tom-tom until louder and louder, faster and faster swelled the chant: - -"_Come, O! ye people! Come and dance!_" - -Then out into the open on the green stepped a girl-child scarcely three -years of age, who threw herself into rhythmic motion, swaying her small -body to the time of the music and bearing in her quavering treble the -burden of the chant. The impressive faces of the spectators melted into -smiles. She was the pet of the tribe, the orphan granddaughter of Joe La -Mousse and his venerable wife. Loving hands had made for her a war dress -which she wore with the grave complaisance of one favoured above her -peers. She scorned the sedate dances of the squaws and chose the quicker -action of the war dance, and she would not yield her possession of the -field without a struggle which showed that the spirit of her fighting -fathers still lived in her. - -Suddenly a brave painted grotesquely, dressed in splendid colours with -a curious contrivance fastened about his waist and standing out behind -like a tail, bounded into the ring, his hurrying feet beating to the -tintinnabulation of sleigh bells attached to his legs. Michel Kaiser and -the young man who sat beside him at the tom-tom gave up their places -to others, and after disappearing for a moment came forth freed from -encumbering blankets, transformed with paint and ornament. A fourth -dancer joined them and the awe-begetting war dance began. The movement -was one of restrained force. With bent heads and bodies inclined -forward, one arm hanging limp and the other resting easily at the back, -they tripped along until a war-whoop like an electric shock, sent them -springing into the air with faces turned upward and clenched fists -uplifted toward the sky. - -It was now that Michel stood revealed in all his physical beauty. In -colour and form he was like a perfectly wrought bronze statue. He was -tall and slender. His arms and legs, metal-hard, were fleet and strong -and his every motion expressed agility and grace. He was clad in the -full war-dress of the Selish, somewhat the same as that which his -ancestors had worn before the coming of the white man. Upon his head -was a bonnet of skunk tails that quivered with the slightest motion -of his sinewy body. He wore, besides, a shirt, long, fringed buckskin -leggins and beaded moccasins. He was decorated with broad anklets and -little bells that tinkled as he moved. Of the four dancers Michel sprang -highest, swung in most perfect rhythm, spent in that wild carnival most -energy and force. Supple and lean as a panther he curvetted and darted; -light as the wind his moccasined feet skimmed over the green, scarcely -seeming to crush a spear of grass. As he went through that terrible -pantomime practiced by his fathers before they set out to kill or die, -the fire flashing in his lynx-eyes, his slim arm poised over his head, -his whole willow-lithe body swaying to the impulse of the war-lust, -it was easy to fancy how that play might become a reality and he who -danced to perpetuate an ancient form might turn relentless demon if the -intoxication of the war-path once kindled in his veins. - -[Illustration: ABRAHAM ISAAC AND MICHEL KAISER] - -This war dance explained many things. It was a portrayal of the glorious -deeds of the warriors, a recitation of victorious achievement, a picture -of battle, of striking the body of the fallen enemy--one of the great -tests of valor. The act of striking was considered a far more gallant -feat than the taking of a scalp. After a foe was shot and had fallen, -a brave seeking distinction, dashed forth from his own band into the -open field and under the deadly rain of the enemy's arrows, struck with -his hand the body of the dead or wounded warrior. In doing this he not -only courted the desperate danger of that present moment, but brought -upon his head the relentless vengeance of the family, the followers and -the tribe of the fallen foe,--vengeance of a kind that can wait for -years without growing cold. By such inspiring examples the young men -were stirred to emulation. The dance showed, too, how in the past -the storm-clouds of war gathered slowly until, with lightning flash -and thunder-blast, the warriors lashed themselves to the white-heat -of frenzy at which they mocked death. The whole thing seemed to be a -marshalling of the passions, a blood-fire as irresistible and sweeping -as those floods of flame which lay the forests low. - -The warriors ceased their mad career. The sweat streamed from their -brows and down their cheeks as they sat beneath the shade trees in -repose. Still the tom-tom beat and the chant continued: - -"_Come, O! ye people! Come and dance!_" - -They needed no urging now. What did they care for vespers and sermons -when the ghostly voices of warrior-ancestors, of forest dwellers and -huntsmen came echoing from the lips of the past? Their spirit was -aroused and the festival would last until the passion was quenched and -their veins were cooled. - -The next dance was started by a squaw. It was called the "choosing -dance," from the fact that either a man or a woman chose a partner for -the figure. The ceremony of invitation was simple. The one who desired -to invite another, grasped the individual's arm and said briefly: - -"Dance!" - -The couples formed two circles around the tom-tom, one within the other, -then slowly the two rings moved 'round and 'round, with a kind of short, -springing step, droning the never-varying chant. At the end of the -dance the one who had chosen his partner presented him with a gift. In -some cases a horse or a cow was bestowed and not infrequently blankets -and the most cherished bead-work belts and hat-bands. Custom makes the -acceptance of these favours compulsory. Even the alien visitors were -asked to take part and the Indians laughed like pleased children to -welcome them to the dance. One very old squaw, Mrs. "Nine Pipes," took -her blanket from her body and her 'kerchief from her head to give -to her white partner, and a brave, having chosen a pale-faced lady -for the figure, and being depleted in fortune by his generosity at a -former festival, borrowed fifty cents from a richer companion to bestow -upon her. It was all done in the best of faith and friendliness, with -child-like good will and pleasure in the doing. - -When the next number was called, those who had been honoured with -invitations and gifts returned the compliment. After this was done, -the Master of the Dance, Michel Kaiser, stepped into the center of the -circle, saying in the deep gutturals of the Selish tongue, with all the -pomp of one who makes a proclamation, something which may be broadly -rendered into these English words: - -"This brave, Jerome, chose for his partner, Mary, and gave to her a belt -of beads, and Mary chose for her partner, Jerome, and gave to him a -silken scarf." - -Around the circumference of the great ring he moved, crying aloud the -names of the braves and maids who had joined together in the dance, and -holding up to view the presents they had exchanged. - -The next in order was a dance of the chase by the four young men who had -performed the war dance. In this the hunter and the beast he pursued -were impersonated and the pantomime carried out every detail of the -fleeing prey and the crafty huntsmen who relentlessly drove him to earth. - -The fourth measure was the scalp dance given by the squaws, a rite -anciently practiced by the female members of families whose lords had -returned victorious from battle, bearing as trophies the scalps of -enemies they had slain. It was considered an indignity and a matter of -just reproach to her husband or brother, if a squaw were unable to take -part in this dance. The scalps captured in war were first displayed -outside the lodges of the warriors whose spoil they were, and after a -time, when they began to mortify or "break down," as the Indians say, -the triumphant squaws gathered them together, threw them into the dust -and stamped on them, heaping upon them every insult and in the weird -ceremony of that ghoulish dance, consigning them to eternal darkness, -for no brave without his scalp could enter the Happy Hunting Ground. The -chant changed in this figure. The voices of the women rose in a piercing -falsetto, broken by a rapid utterance of the single syllable "la, la" -repeated an incredible length of time. The effect was singularly savage -and strange, emphasizing the barbarous joy of the vengeful women. As the -war dance was the call to battle, this was the aftermath. - -In pleasing contrast to this cruel rite was the marriage dance, -celebrated by both belles and braves. The young squaws, in their gayest -attire, ornamented with the best samples of their bead work and painted -bright vermillion about the lips and cheeks, formed a chain around -the tom-tom, singing shrilly. Then a brave with a party of his friends -stepped within the circle, bearing in his hand a stick, generally a -small branch of pine or other native tree. He approached the object -of his love and laid the branch on her shoulder. If she rejected his -suit she pushed the branch aside and he, with his followers, retired -in humiliation and chagrin. It often happened that more than one youth -desired the hand of the same maiden, and the place of the rejected lover -was taken immediately by a rival who made his prayer. If the maid looked -with favor upon him she inclined her head, laying her cheek upon the -branch. This was at once the betrothal and the marriage. At the close of -the festivities the lover bore her to his lodge and they were considered -man and wife. - - * * * * * - -The sun set mellow rose behind the hills which swam in seas of -deepening blue. Twilight unfolded shadows that climbed from the valleys -to the peaks and touched them with deadening gray chill, until the warm -glow died in the bosom of the night. Still the tom-tom beat, the chant -rose and fell, the dancers wheeled on madly, singing as they danced. The -darkness thickened. The stars wrote midnight in the sky. Papooses had -fallen asleep and women sat mute and tired with watching. By the flare -of a camp fire, running in uneven lights over the hurrying figures, -one might see four braves leaping and swaying in the war dance. The -night wore on. A heavy silence was upon the hills which echoed back the -war cry, the tom-tom's throb and the chant. One, then another, then a -third dropped out. Still the quivering, sweat-burnished bronze body of -Michel writhed and twisted, bent and sprang. The lines of his face had -hardened, the vermillion ran down his cheeks in rivulets, as of blood, -and the corners of his mouth were drawn like the curves of a bow. The -camp fire glowed low. The gray of the dawn came up out of the East with -a little shuddering wind and the faint stars burned out. The tom-tom -pulsed slower, the chant was broken. Suddenly a wild cry thrilled -through the pallid morn. The figure of Michel darted upward like a -rocket in a final brilliant gush of life, then fell senseless upon the -ground. - -The embers grayed to ashes. The last spark was dead. The dance was done. -The mists of morning rolled up from the valleys and unfurled their pale -shrouds along the peaks, and the Indians, mere shadow-shapes, like -phantoms in a dream, stole silently away and vanished with the night. - - - - -_ENCHANTED WATERS_ - - - - -CHAPTER II - -ENCHANTED WATERS - - -I - -There is a lake in the cloistered fastnesses of Sin-yal-min, named by -the Jesuit priests St. Mary's, but called by the Indians the Waters -of the Forgiven. It is a small body of water overshadowed by abrupt -mountains, fed by a beautiful fall and for some reason, impossible -to explain, it is haunted by an atmosphere at once ghostly and sad. -So potent is this intangible dread, this fear of something unseen, -this melancholy begotten of a cause unknown, that every visitor is -conscious of it. Most of all, the Indians, impressionable and fanciful -as children, feel the weird spell and cherish a legend of it as nebulous -as the mists that flutter in pale wraith-shapes across its enchanted -depths. - -The story goes that once, long ago, someone was killed upon the lake and -the troubled spirit returns to haunt the scene of its mortal passing, -but the murderer, smitten with remorse and repenting of his crime was -finally forgiven by the Great Spirit, and the lake became known as the -Waters of the Forgiven. The shadow of that crime has never lifted and -it broods forever over the lake's dark face and upon the mountains that -hold it in their cup of stone. There the echo is multiplied. If one -calls aloud, a chorus of fantastic, mocking voices takes up the sound -and it goes crying through the solitude like lost souls in Purgatory. -The Waters of the Forgiven exhale their eternal sigh, their pensive -gloom, even when the sun rides high in the blue, but to feel the -fullness of its spectral melancholy, one must seek it out in the secrecy -of night. Then, as the mellow moon rises over the mountain tops laying -the pale fingers of its rays suggestively on rock and tree, touching -them with magical illusion and transforming them to goblin shapes, one -palpitates with strange fear, is impressed with impending disaster. -As the moonlight flows in misty streams, sealing ravine and lake-deep -in shadow the more intense for the contrast of white, discriminating -light that runs quicksilver-like upon the ripples of the water and the -quivering needles of the pine, the silence is broken by dismal howls. It -is the lean, gray timber wolves. Their mournful cry is flung back again -by the ghostly pack that no eye sees and no foot can track. Mountain -lions yell shrilly and are answered by distant ones of their kind and -inevitably that other lesser cry comes back again and again as though -the phantom chorus could never forget nor leave off the burden of that -lament. Out of the pregnant darkness into the spectral moonlight shadowy -creatures come to the shore to drink. The deer, the bear, sometimes the -mountain lion and the elk stalk forth and quench their thirst. These -things are strange enough, savage enough to inspire fear, but it is -not they, nor the grisly mountains that create the terror which is a -phantasm, the dread which is not of flesh nor earth. - -No Indian, however brave, pitches his tipi by this lake nor crosses its -waters, for among the tangle of weeds in its black, mysterious bosom, -water sirens are believed to dwell. Ever watchful of human prey they -gaze upward from their mossy couches and if a boatman venture out in -his frail canoe, they rise, entwining their strangling, white arms -about him, pressing him with kisses poisonous as the serpent's sting, -breathing upon him their blighting, deadly-sweet breath that dulls his -senses into the oblivion of eternal sleep. - - -II - -The Jocko or Spotted Lakes are enchanted waters also. They lie high up -in the crown of the continent--the main range of the Rocky Mountains. -To reach them the traveller needs patience and strength of body and -soul, for the trail is long and tortuous, winding along the rim of -sickening-steep ravines, across treacherous swamps, amid mighty forests -to great altitudes. There are three lakes in this group, one above the -other, the last being sometimes called the Clearwater Lake because it is -within the borders of that terrible wilderness whose savage fastnesses -have claimed their prey of lost wanderers. - -The first lake is inexpressibly ghostly. The flanks of the mountains -rise sheer and frown down on murky waters, leaving scarcely any shore, -and around their margin, gray-white drift-wood lies scattered like -unburied bones. It is a spectral spot, unearthly, colourless as a -moth, preyed upon by a lamentable sadness which broods unbroken in the -solitude. There the fox-fire kindles in the darkness, the owl wheels in -his midnight flight and pale shades of mist unwind their shroud-like -scarfs. It is a pool of the dead, a region of lost hopes and throttling -despair. - -From this lake the trail bears upward through dense jungles and -morasses, venomously beautiful with huge, brilliantly coloured flowers -growing to the height of a man. Their scarlet and yellow disks exhale -an overpowering fragrance, insidious, almost narcotic in its strength. -Beneath rank stalk and leaf, rearing blossom and entangling vine, -creeping things with mortal sting dwell in the dank, sultry-sweet -shadow. One is dazzled with the colour and the scent; charmed and -repelled; tempted on into treacherous sinkholes by a wild extravagance -of beauty too wanton to be good. - -At length the second lake unfolds itself from the living screen of tree -and wooded steep. A point of land, stained blood-red, juts out into the -water and over it tumbles and cascades a foam-whitened fall. This stain -of crimson is a thick-spun carpet of Indian Paint Brush interwoven with -lush grass. The mountains show traces of orange and green, apparently a -mineral wash hinting of undiscovered treasure. - -Looking into the depths of the lake one is impressed with its freckled -appearance. A blotch of milky white, then one of dull yellow mottles -the water and even as one watches, a shadow darkens the surface, -concentrating, scattering in kaleidoscopic variety, then disappearing as -mysteriously as it came. There is no cloud in the sky, nor overhanging -tree, nor passing bird to cause that shade without substance. At first -it seems inexplicable and the Indians, finding no natural reason for its -being, believe it to be the forms of water sirens gliding to and fro. -On this account, here as at the Waters of the Forgiven no Indian dares -to come alone and even with human company he fears the sirens' spell. -For as the victim sleeps they come, drawing closer and breathing his -breath until he dies. If one watches patiently he may see that the dark -shadows are made by shoals of fish, gathering and dispersing, and in so -doing, accentuating and lessening the sable spots. The lake is as uneven -in temperature as it is in colour. It has hot pools and icy shallows, -so it is probably fed by springs as well as by the torrent which falls -from the peaks. A strong, sulphurous odour taints the air; the water is -unpleasant to the taste and the sedgy weeds which grow about the shores -are stained. And as the waters recede during the summer heat, along -the banks, in uneven streaks a mineral deposit traces their retreat. -Towards the end of July or August a curious thing may be seen in this -Lake of the Jocko. A current eddies around and around in a gigantic -whirlpool, transforming it into a mighty funnel with an underground -vent. At a considerable distance below a stream bursts forth from the -mountain side with terrific energy of pressure and plunges downward in a -foaming torrent. It is the Jocko River,--the gentle, merry-voiced Jocko -of the prairie which winds its course among lines of friendly trees and -blossoms. Who would guess that it drew its nurture from the Lake of the -Jocko, siren-haunted, poison-breathed, which careful Indians avoid as a -region of the accursed? Still it is so and the menace of that mysterious -lake becomes the blessing of the plains. - - * * * * * - -Such are the Waters of the Forgiven and the Jocko, secure in their -solitude, guarded more potently by their spell of evil than by wall of -stone or armed hosts, holding within their deep, dark bosoms the charm -of the water sirens whose sad, sweet song quavers in the music of fall -and stream, whose pallid, white faces flash lily-like from the depths, -whose entangling tresses spread in flowing masses of sedgy green. - -And of the strange things which have happened on those shores, of the -braves lured to the death-sleep on couches of moss and pillows of lily -pad, scarcely an echo shrills down from the white-shrouded peaks to give -warning to the adventurers who would seek out the awful beauty of those -Enchanted Waters. - - - - -_LAKE ANGUS McDONALD_ - - - - -CHAPTER III - -LAKE ANGUS McDONALD AND THE MAN FOR WHOM IT WAS NAMED - - -Within the range of Sin-yal-min, which rises abruptly from the valley of -the Flathead to altitudes of perpetual snow, in a ravine sunk deep into -the heart of the mountains, is Lake Angus McDonald. Though but a few -miles distant the bells of Saint Ignatius Mission gather the children of -the soil to prayer, no hand has marred the untamed beauty of this lake -and its surrounding mountain steeps where the eagle builds his nest in -security and the mountain goat and bighorn sheep play unmolested and -unafraid. - -The prospect is a magnificent one as the roadway uncoils its irregular, -tawny length from rolling hills into the level sea of green where only -a year or two ago the buffalo grazed in peace. Beyond, the jagged -summits of Sin-yal-min toss their crests against the sky, their own -impalpable blue a shade more intense than the summer heavens, their -silvered pinnacles one with the drifting cloud. A delicate, shimmering -thread like the gossamer tissue of a spider's web spins its length from -the ethereal brow of the mountains to the lifted arms of the foothills -below. The yellow road runs through the valley, passes the emerald patch -around the Mission and thence onward to blue shadows of peaks where -gorges flow like purple seas and distant trees are points of azure. The -swelling foothills bear one up, the valley melts away far beneath and -sweet-breathed woods sigh their balsam on the breeze. The pass becomes -more difficult, the growth thickens. Among the trees broad-leafed -thimble berry, brew berry and goose berry blossom and bear; wild -clematis builds pyramids of green and white over the bushes; syringa -bursts into pale-starred flower, and a shrub, feathery, delicate, sends -forth long, tender stems which break into an intangible mist of bloom. - -Suddenly out of the tangled forests, a sheet of water, smooth and clear, -appears, spreading its quicksilver depths among peaks that still bear -their burden of the glacial age. And in the polished mirror of those -waters is reflected the perfect image of its mountain crown. First, the -purplish green of timbered slopes, then the naked, beetling crags and -deep crevasse with its heart of ice. A heavy silence broods here, broken -only by the wildly lonesome cry of the raven quavering in lessening -undulations of tone through the recesses of the crags. Two Indians near -the shore flit away among the leaves, timid as deer in their native -haunts. Such is Lake Angus McDonald, and yonder, presiding over all, -shouldering its perpetual burden of ice, is McDonald's Peak. Strangely -beautiful are these living monuments to the name and fame of a man, and -one naturally asks who was this Angus McDonald that his memory should -endure in the eternal mountains within the crystal cup of this snow-fed -lake? - -The question is worth the answering. Angus McDonald was a Highland -Scotchman, sent out into the western wilderness by the Hudson Bay -Company. There must have lurked in his robust blood the mastering love -of freedom and adventure which led the scions of the House of McDonald -to such strange and varied destinies; which made such characters in the -Scottish hills as Rob Roy and clothed the kilted clans with a romantic -colour totally wanting in their stolid brethren of the Lowlands. In any -event, it is certain that Angus McDonald, once within the magic of the -wild, flung aside the ties that bound him to the outer world and became -in dress, in manner of life and in heart, an Indian. He took unto -himself an Indian wife, begot sons who were Indians in colour and form -and like his adopted people, he hunted upon the heights, moved his tipi -from valley to mountain as capricious notion prompted, and finally made -for himself and his family a home in the valley of Sin-yal-min not far -below that lake and peak which do honor to his memory. Physically he was -a man of towering stature, standing over six feet in his moccasins; his -shoulders were broad and he was very erect. His leonine head was clad -with a heavy shock of hair, and his beard, during his later years, snow -white, hung to his waist. His complexion was ruddy, his eyes, clear, -blue and penetrating. A picturesque figure he must have been, clad in -full buckskin leggins and shirt with a blanket wrapped around him. He -was known among the Indians and whites through the length and breadth of -the country about, and no more strange or striking character quickened -the adventure-bearing epoch which we call the Early Days. - -As he was free to the point of lightness in his nature, trampling down -and discarding every shackle of conventionality, he was likewise bound -but nominally by the Christian creed. He believed in reincarnation and -his one desire was that in the hereafter, when his soul should be sent -to tenant the new body, he might be re-born in the form of a wild, -white horse, with proud, arched neck and earth-scorning hoofs, dashing -wind-swift over the broad prairies into the sheltering hills. - -So it seems fitting that McDonald's Peak and Lake should remain untamed -even as their namesake; that the eddying whirlpool of life should pass -them by and that in their embrace the native creatures should live and -range as of yore. And may it be that within those shadowy gorges, remote -from the sight and hearing of man, a wild, white horse goes bounding -through the night? - - - - -_SOME INDIAN MISSIONS_ - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -SOME INDIAN MISSIONS OF THE NORTHWEST - - -More than a century after the Spanish Francescans planted the Cross upon -the Pacific shores, the French, Belgian and Italian Jesuits or _robes -noires_, took their way into the Northwestern wilderness in response -to a cry from the people who lived within its solitudes. Civilization -follows the highways of intercourse with the outer world, so the Western -coast had passed through the struggle of its beginnings and entered -into a period of prosperity and peace, while that territory with the -Rocky Mountains as its general center, was still as primeval as when the -galleons of Juan de Fuca sailed into Puget Sound. - -The mellowness of old romance, the warmth of Latin colour, hang over -the Missions of California. The pilgrim lingers reverently in their -cloistered recesses, breathing the scent of orange blossoms, reposing -in the shade of palm and pepper trees. With the song of the sea in his -ears and its sapphire glint in his eye he re-lives the olden days, -weaves for himself out of imagination's threads, a picture as harmonious -in its tones of faded rose and gray as an ancient tapestry. How much -the architectural beauty of these Missions has brought them within the -affectionate regard of the people it is hard to say, but undoubtedly it -has had an influence. The graceful lines of arch and pillar, the low, -broad sweep of roof and corridor, the delicate, yellowish-white of the -adobe outlined against a sky of royal blue, stir the sleeping sense -of beauty in our hearts and make us pause to worship at such favoured -shrines. - -It is for precisely the opposite reason that we are drawn to the -Missions of the Northwest. Austere, ascetic in form, they make their -appeal because of their unadorned simplicity. They were originally the -plainest structures of logs, added to as occasion demanded and always -constructed of such homely materials as the surrounding country could -yield. Hands unaccustomed to other labours than telling the rosary or -making the sign of the Cross, hewed forest trees and wrought in wood -the symbol of their teaching. No wonder, then, that the buildings were -small and crude, but their lack of grandeur was the best testimony -to the sacrifice and noble purpose of which they were the emblems. -Overlooked, isolated they stand, passed by and all but unknown. Yet they -are monuments of heroic achievement and devotion; brave men risked their -lives willingly to lay these foundation stones of the faith; bitter -struggles were fought and won in their consecrated shadows and upon them -is the glamour of thrilling episode. - -During the seventeenth century a little band of French missionaries of -the order of St. Ignatius journeyed from their native France to Canadian -territory with the purpose of spreading the word of God amongst the -savages of that benighted land. One of them, Father Ignace Jogues, -became the apostle of the Iroquois and died at their hands, a martyr. -Strangely enough, his teachings lived after him and were preserved in a -measure, at least, by those who had murdered him because of the message -he brought. - -Years afterwards, about 1815, a small party of Iroquois took their -way from the Mission of Caughnawaga, in the neighbourhood of Sault -St. Louis, on the banks of the Saint Lawrence River, and proceeded, -probably in quest of furs, into the little known and perilous ascents -of the Rocky Mountains. This party was headed by one Ignace La Mousse, -his given name being by a curious coincidence, the same as that of the -martyred disciple of the Gospel. He was a man of lordly stature and -puissance indomitable. Upon their wanderings they came to _Spetlemen_, -"the place of the Bitter Root," a mild, fair valley where dwelt a folk -kindly in their natures, who called themselves the Selish. These people -welcomed the Iroquois, made them at home in their lodges and shared with -them the sports of the chase until the visiting Indians were visitors no -more and claimed no other land than this. - -From the lips of Old Ignace, as he was known, the Selish heard of a -mysterious faith symbolized by a Cross, a greater medicine than that of -any of the tribes, and of pale-faced, sable-robed priests, who, in the -olden time, taught that faith and died happily in the teaching. - -The Selish practiced a simple, spontaneous kind of paganism. They -believed in a Good and Evil Spirit who were constantly at war. These two -powers were symbolized by light and darkness and their heroic battle -was pictured in the alternate triumph of day and night. If buffalo came -in plenty, if elk and moose were slain and the season's yield were rich, -then, according to their notion, the Good Spirit was in the ascendency; -but if, on the other hand, Winter rode down from the mountains while -their larder was low, if fish would not bite and game could not be -caught, the influence of the Evil Spirit prevailed. They believed also, -in a future existence, happy or miserable according to the merit or -demerit of the soul during its mortal life. The worthy shade passed -into eternal Summer time, to a land watered by fair streams and green -with meadows; in these streams were countless fishes and in the meadows -bands of wild horses and endless herds of the beloved buffalo. There the -spirit, united with its family, would ride through all eternity, hunting -amongst the ghostly flocks in the Summer sun of happy souls. But those -who had violated the tenets of the tribe, who had been liars, cowards -or otherwise dishonourable, and those negative offenders who had been -lacking in love for their wives, husbands and children, had sealed for -themselves a bitter fate. These outcasts went to an arctic region of -everlasting snow where false fires were kindled to torment their frozen -limbs with the mocking promise of warmth. Phantom streams offered their -parched lips drink, but as they hastened to the banks to quench their -thirst, the elusive waters were ever farther and farther away. So ever -and anon, through the years that never seemed to die, the shades were -doomed to hurry onward through the night and cold of Winter that knows -no Spring, in misery as dark as the shadow engulfing them. The Lands -of Good and Evil were separated by savage woods, inhabited by hungry -wolves, lithe wild cats and serpents coiled to strike. The wretched -sinner in his prison of ice, might after a period of penance, short or -long, according to the measure of his offense, expiate his sins and join -his brethren in the Happy Hunting Ground. - -Besides this general belief held in common by the tribe, they cherished -countless myths such as those of the creation and many lesser fanciful -legends which formed a part of their religion. - -Although these Indians were sincere in this simple, half-poetical -mythology, they listened very willingly, like eager children, to Old -Ignace, and from him learned to make the sacred sign and repeat the -white man's prayer. After knowing something of their mysticism it is -not surprising that the greater mysticism of the Catholic Church should -appeal to them; that once having heard the story of a faith much in -accord with many of their elementary, pre-conceived ideas, they should -pursue it tirelessly until they gained that which they most desired. - -Time upon time at the councils, the chiefs discussed a means of -getting a Black Robe to come to them. At last, in a mighty assembly, -Old Ignace arose and proposed that a delegation be sent to St. Louis -to pray that an apostle of the church might come to shed the light -of the new faith upon the darkness of the Western Woods. A stir of -approval ran through the attentive people, for it was a great and daring -thing to think of. But who would go? The journey of about two thousand -miles lay over barriers of mountains, rushing torrents, virgin forests -where the sun never shone, and worst of all, penetrated the country of -their hereditary enemies, the Sioux. In spite of these perils, in the -breathless quiet of expectation that had hushed the tribe, four braves -came forward and volunteered to undertake the quest. - -The knights of the olden days, who went forth sheathed in armour, in -goodly cavalcades, to the land of the Saracen in search of the Holy -Grail, have gathered about their memory the white light of heroism, -but if their daring and that of these four were weighed impartially, -the Indians would rise higher in the scale of glory. Alone, afoot, -armed only with such weapons as their skill could contrive, they -started out in the Spring of 1831, and in spite of the death that -lurked around them, reached their journey's end with the Autumn. The -tragical aftermath of that heroic adventure followed quickly. The -dangers overcome, the goal won, they failed. Not one among them could -speak a word of French or English. They sought out General Clark who had -penetrated into their lands, but what brought them from across the Rocky -Mountains, through the teeth of perdition to St. Louis, not even he -could guess. Picture the tragedy of being within reach of the treasure -and unable to point it out! Through General Clark the four emissaries -were conducted to the Catholic Church. Monseigneur, the Bishop, -was absent--he whom they had travelled six moons to see. Very soon -thereafter, two of the number fell ill as a result of exposure. In their -sickness, doomed to die in a strange land far, far from the pleasant -glades of their native valley, they made the sign of the Cross and other -feeble gestures which some priests who visited them interpreted rightly -to be an appeal for baptism and the last rites of the church. The -priests accordingly gave them the consolation they prayed for and placed -in the hands of each a little crucifix. So rigidly did they press these -symbols to their breasts, that they retained them even in death. Still -in their final agonies not one word could they tell of that mission for -which they were even then yielding up their lives. They died christened -Narcisse and Paul and were buried in a Catholic cemetery in the City of -St. Louis. - -The two survivors, nameless shadows, flitted back into the wild and -were lost forever in the darkness. No tidings of them ever reached the -waiting tribe, so they, too, sacrificed themselves to a fruitless cause. - -After these things had happened a Canadian, familiar with the Indians, -informed the good fathers who these children of the forest were and of -their devotion to a Faith, the merest glimmering of which had penetrated -to their remote and isolated valley. Then a priest of the Cathedral -offered to go with one companion to these zealous Indians when the -Spring should make possible the desperate trip. - -Meantime, the Selish waited long and anxiously for word from their -delegation. Michel Insula, or Red Feather, "Little Chief and Great -Warrior," small of stature but mighty of spirit, always distinguished -by the red feather he wore, hearing that some missionaries were -travelling westward, fought his way through the hostile country and -arrived at the Green River Rendezvous where Indians, trappers and some -Protestant ministers were assembled. Insula was dissatisfied with the -ministers because they had wives, wore no black gowns such as Old Ignace -described, and carried no crucifix. The symbolism of the Catholic Church -had impressed him deeply and he would have no other faith, so he and his -band returned to their people to tell them that the _robes noires_ were -not yet come and their brave messengers had perished with their mission -unfulfilled. - -They were resolute men, these Indians, and never faltering, they -determined to send another party upon the same sacred quest. This time -Old Ignace, he who had first broached the adventure to the council, -arose among the chiefs and warriors and offered to go. He took with him -his two young sons. The Summer was already well spent, but he and the -lads started out undaunted, and after a terrible period of ceaseless -travelling, smitten with cold and hunger, they reached St. Louis, and -Ignace more favoured than the preceding delegation, made known the wants -of his adopted tribe to the Bishop, who listened to him kindly and -promised to send a priest among his people. - -Ignace and his sons returned safely to the Bitter Root Valley and -brought the glad tidings to the Selish. But eighteen moons waxed and -waned and though the watchful eyes of the Indians scanned the East, -never a pale-faced father in robes of black came out of the land of the -sunrise. - -The chiefs took counsel again. A third time they determined to make -their appeal. Once more Ignace La Mousse led the way and in his charge -were three Selish and one Nez Perce brave. They fell in with a little -party of white people near Fort Laramie, and uniting forces for greater -safety, took up the march together. They journeyed onward unmolested -until they came to Ash Hollow in the land of the warlike Sioux. In that -fateful place three hundred of the hostile tribe surrounded them. The -Sioux, wishing only the scalps of the Selish and Nez Perce, ordered the -white men and Old Ignace who was dressed in the garb of civilization, to -stand apart. The whites obeyed, but Ignace La Mousse, scorning favour -or mercy at the enemy's hands, joined his adopted tribal brethren and -fought with them until they all lay dead upon the plains. So ended the -third expedition. - -Once more news of the bloody death of their heroes reached the Selish. -A fourth and last party volunteered to undertake that which now seemed -a hopeless charge. Two Iroquois, Young Ignace La Mousse, so called -to distinguish him from the elder of the name, whose memory was held -honourable by the tribe, and Pierre Gaucher, "Left Handed Peter," set -out, joining a party of the Hudson Bay Fur Company's men and making the -trip in canoes. They finished the journey in safety and obtained from -Monseigneur, the Bishop, the pledge that in the Spring he would send a -missionary to the Valley of the Bitter Root. Young Ignace waited at the -mouth of Bear River through the Winter in order to be ready to guide -the priest to the Selish with the coming of the Spring. Pierre Gaucher -returned hot-footed, in triumph, conveying to the tribe the glad tidings -that their prayer had been answered; that the Great Black Robe was -sending them a disciple to preach the Holy Word. At last, after eight -years of waiting, the Selish were to have granted them their hearts' -desire. From out of the East the pale-faced, black robed father would -come bearing with him the Cross illuminated by the rising sun, casting -the benediction of its shadow upon the people and their land. - -When the Selish learned from Pierre Gaucher that the _robe noire_ was -in reality travelling towards their country even then, the Great Chief -assembled his braves and it was decided that the tribe should march -forward to meet and welcome their missionary. Accordingly they started -in good season and on their way met groups of Kalispehlms, Nez Perces -and Pend d'Oreilles, who joined them, swelling their number to about -sixteen hundred souls. The ever increasing cavalcade moved on over pass -and valley, peak and ford, clad in rich furs, war-eagle feathers and -buckskins bright with beads--a gaily coloured column filing through the -woods. Finally, in the Pierre Hole Valley they came upon him who was -henceforth to be their teacher and guide, Father de Smet, whose memory -is held in reverence by the Indians of the present generation. - -There was great rejoicing among the Selish, the Nez Perces, the Pend -d'Oreilles and the Kalispehlms. They burst into wild shouts of delight, -swarming around the pale priest, shaking his hand and bowing down -before him. They conducted him to the lodge of the Great Chief, called -the "Big Face," whom Father de Smet has described as one "who had the -appearance of a patriarch." The Chief made Father de Smet welcome in -these words: - -"'This day the Great Spirit has accomplished our wishes and our hearts -are swelled with joy. Our desire to be instructed was so great that four -times had we deputed our people to the Great Black Robe in St. Louis to -obtain priests. Now, Father, speak and we will comply with all that you -will tell us. Show us the way we have to take to go to the home of the -Great Spirit.'" - -Thus spake the Big Face, Chief of all the Selish, and there before the -assembled peoples of the kindred tribes, he offered to the priest his -hereditary honours as ruler. His renunciation was sincere, but Father de -Smet replied that he had come merely to teach, not to govern them. - -That night in the deepening shadow, the children of the forest gathered -together around their new leader and chanted a song of praise. Strange -music swelling from untutored lips and awakening hearts into the wild -silence which had echoed only the howl of native beasts and the war cry -of battle and death! Yet even in that hymn of thanksgiving there was an -undertone of unconscious sadness. It was the beginning of a new epoch. -The old, poetical wood-myth and paganism were gone; the free range -over mountain and plain in the exhilarating chase would slowly give -place to the pursuits of husbandry. And this new, shapeless compound of -civilization and religion was bringing with its blessings, a burden of -obligation and pain. The Indians did not know, the priest himself could -not understand, that he was the channel through which these simple, -happy folk should embark upon dangerous, devouring seas. - - * * * * * - -[Illustration: LAKE McDONALD FROM McDONALD CREEK] - -Father De Smet was a Belgian and he had spent some time with the -Pottowatamies, in Kansas. He understood the Indians well and what was -most important, he loved them. He remained among the Selish long enough -to be assured of their docile nature and sincerity of purpose, then -returned to St. Louis to urge the establishment of a permanent mission -and to ask for assistance to carry on his work. Monseigneur, the Bishop, -listened favourably to his appeal and consequently, in the Spring of -1841, Father De Smet, reinforced with two Italian priests, three lay -brothers and some other man, started for the Rocky Mountains. The Selish -had promised to meet the party at a given place at the base of the Wind -River Mountains, on the first day of July. The Indians waited until -they were driven by hunger to hunt in more likely fields. The Fathers, -learning of this, sent a messenger to recall them, and they hastened -back to greet their apostle and his followers. And of that little band -there were Charles and Francois, the sons of Old Ignace, the Iroquois, -Simon, the oldest of the tribe, and Young Ignace of great fame, who, we -are told, journeyed for four long days and nights having neither food -nor drink, in his haste to make good his promise to meet the _robes -noires_. - -So far was the season advanced that the Selish had started on their -buffalo hunt. Therefore, the priests whose supplies were exhausted, -with their Indian friends, went on to Fort Hall, procured provisions -there, and then proceeded to the Beaverhead River to join the tribe. -The priests stayed only a few days among the Indians who were absorbed -in the chase, and again took up their journey with the Bitter Root -valley as the chosen place of permanent rest. There they had determined -to build the Mission, "the house of the Great Spirit," and there the -Selish promised to join them after the hunt was over in the Fall. Along -the course of the Hell Gate River they took their way and at last came -safely within the green refuge of the valley to lay down their burden -and build their church. They selected a fair spot near the present site -of Stevensville and laboured long to fashion the pioneer home of the -Faith which they called The Mission of St. Mary's. The good priests -went farther still and re-named the valley, the river watering it and -the highest peak, St. Mary's, so anxious were they in their zeal to -eradicate every trace of the old, pagan beliefs of their converts, even -to the names of the valleys, lakes and hills! - -The element of incongruity and pity in this, the zealous fathers did -not appreciate. That a jagged, beetling crest, the home of the thunder -cloud, the womb whence issues glacier and roaring stream, fit to be -Jove's dwelling, should bear the mild title of St. Mary's, did not -shock their notions of the eternal fitness of things. Happily, the -valley with its rose-starred brocade of flowers, is still the Bitter -Root and a re-awakening interest is calling the old names from their -long oblivion to take their places once again, vesting peak and stream -and grassy vale with a significance of meaning totally wanting in the -artificial foreign titles forced on them by those who neither knew nor -cared for their tradition and sentiment. And even the ancient gods and -spirits are no longer despised as evils antagonistic to the salvation -of the soul. Lafcadio Hearn expressed pity for the cast-off Shinto -gods whose places were usurped by the deities of the Buddhist creed. -Likewise, the best Christian amongst us, if he looks beneath the surface -into the heart of things, must be conscious of a vague regret for the -quaint, mythical lore which cast its glamour over the wilderness; for -the poor, vanished phantoms of the wood and the gods who have fallen -from their thrones. Sometimes in the remotest mountain solitudes we -dare to acknowledge thoughts we would not harbour elsewhere. Under the -pensive appeal of the still forests, the heaven-reaching peaks and -stream-songs, we wonder if upon the heights, in deep-bosomed caverns, -those sad exiles dwell, casting over the cloistered groves a subtle -melancholy, evasive as the shadow of a cloud, fleeting as the sigh of -the Summer wind. - -But the good fathers of St. Mary's had no such thought for the ancient -paganism and its symbols. They were busy planting the Cross, building a -chapel, the best that their strength and skill could erect, and other -structures necessary for their protection and comfort. It was a labour -of love, as much a religious rite as the saying of the Mass, and verily, -the ring of the hammers must have seemed in the ears of those devoted -men, endless _aves_ and _pater nosters_. Finally the work was done. A -comfortable log cabin, large enough to hold nearly the assembled tribe, -stood in the valley, and when the Indians returned from the hunt, they -were joyful in this, their reward, for all those brave attempts to bring -the Light into the Wilderness. - -The Mission completed, Father De Smet travelled to Fort Colville in -Washington, a journey of more than three hundred miles, to procure -seeds and roots, and on his way he stopped among the Kalispehlms, the -Pend d'Oreilles and the Coeur d'Alenes, all of whom welcomed him and -listened attentively to the message he brought. He took back to his -Selish charges at St. Mary's "a few bushels of oats, wheat and potatoes" -which he and his brethren sowed. The Indians, like children, watched -with wonder, the planting, sprouting, ripening and reaping of the crop, -a thing hitherto unknown to them, though husbandry on a small scale had -been practiced at an earlier date by some of the Eastern tribes. - -But however truly the Indians loved their new teachers, the _robes -noires_, and however sincerely they accepted the tenets of their -faith, they still persisted in buffalo hunts, which twice a year took -them into the contested country, and upon these expeditions, fired -with excitement, alive with all the heritage of passion inspired by -the chase, the war path and the intoxication of glory handed down -to them through an ancestry so ancient as to be lost in the dimness -of beginnings, they forgot for a time, at least, the life of order, -industry and religion they had pledged themselves to lead. Therefore, -one of the new priests, Father Point, accompanied them on the hunt, but -in the abandon of those days when every sense was strained to find the -prey, and every nerve was as tense as the bow-string 'ere it speeds the -arrow to its mark, it was impossible to preach to them the gentle word -of Christianity, so the Fathers gave up these attempts and remained at -the Mission awaiting the return of their straying converts, a situation -which was to result sadly for St. Mary's. Meantime the work was growing. -The Pend d'Oreilles and Coeur d'Alenes had asked for missionary -priests and Father De Smet needed more helpers in the new land. - -From St. Mary's, the Mother Mission, Father Point and Brother Huet -went forth to minister to the Coeur d'Alenes, where they established -the Mission of the Sacred Heart. A third Mission, St. Ignatius, was -founded amongst the Kalispehlms on the Pend d'Oreille River. With these -two offshoots from the parent stem of St. Mary's, it was necessary for -Father De Smet to seek re-inforcement abroad, but before he sailed he -started westward three new recruits from St. Louis. - -It must have been an inspiring sight when this humble priest, fresh -from the western woods, the scent of the pines exhaling from him, the -breadth of vast distances in his vision, the simplicity of the Indians' -racial childhood reflected in his own nature, stood before his August -Holiness, Pope Gregory XVI., in the grandeur of the Vatican at Rome, -and there, amidst the pomp and ostentation, the wealth and luxury of -the headwaters of that Church which sends its streams to the utmost -corners of the earth, pled the cause of the lowly Indian. More imposing -still, it must have been, when His Holiness arose from his throne and -embraced this apostle from the great, New World. The Pope sought to -make the priest a bishop, but Father De Smet chose to remain as he was, -and certainly in the eyes of unprejudiced laymen, he gained in simple -dignity more than he foreswore in ecclesiastical honors. - -This trip of Father De Smet to Europe has a peculiar interest in that -it was the means of bringing into the West, besides numbers of pioneer -Sisters, and clergy, a man so beloved, so revered that his name--Father -Ravalli--is known by Catholic and Protestant, Indian and White alike, -through the whole of the Rocky Mountain region. Those who knew the -gentle old man loved him not only for his spirituality, but for his -human sweetness. He possessed that breadth of sympathy which sheds mercy -on good and bad equally, commiserating the fallen, pitying the weak. -He was a native of Ferrara, Italy, and at a very early age decided to -become a missionary priest. That he might be most useful materially -as well as religiously, he fitted himself for his work. He graduated -in _belles lettres_, philosophy, the natural sciences, and became a -teacher in these branches of learning, in several cities of Italy. -Under a skilled physician of Rome he studied medicine; in a mechanic's -shop he learned the use of tools; finally, in a studio, he practiced -the rudiments of art which he always loved. So he came to the Indians -bringing with him great human kindliness, and the knowledge of crafts -and homely pursuits that made their lives more easy and independent. -It was he who devised the first crude mill, the means of giving the -people flour and bread, he who by a hundred ingenious devices lightened -the burden of their toil. But most of all was his practice of medicine -a mercy. To stricken infancy or old age he was alike attentive; to -dying Christians he bent with ready ear and alleviating touch, or -as compassionately eased the last throes of highwaymen, heretic or -murderer. Over the bleak, snowy passes of the mountains, heedless of -hardship or danger, he hurried in answer to the appeal of the sick, -no matter who they were or where they dwelt. And though often those -who went before or came after him were robbed, he was never molested. -The most desperate of the "road agents" respected him and suffered -him to pass in peace on his way. Gently brave, like the good bishop in -_Les Miserables_, his very trustfulness was his safeguard. Perhaps as -striking an example of his forethought as we can find is the fact that -he trained a squaw to give intelligent care to women in the throes of -childbirth. There is no record of the mothers and babes spared thus, but -there were many, and even the letter of the monkish law never stayed his -helping hand or curbed his humane devotion. The more ascetic brethren -who lived in colder spiritual altitudes, looked doubtfully upon Father -Ravalli's impartial ministry; the more astute financiers who held the -keys to the Church's coffers, frowned upon his unrewarded toil, and -there comes a whisper through the years that there were times when he -was an object of charity because he never asked reward for the surcease -of suffering his patient vigils brought. - -He travelled from one to another of the Northwestern missions and even -to Santa Clara, California, but he is known best and loved most as the -Apostle of the Selish at St. Mary's. Indeed, looking back through the -perspective of time at the plain, little Mission crowned as with an -aureole, one figure stands out clearly among the pious priests, who, in -turn, presided at its altar, and this figure is Father Ravalli. - -His grave, marked by a shaft of stone, is within the shadow of the -church in the valley of the Bitter Root, and it was fitting he should -lie down to rest where he had laboured so long and lovingly. A -generation hence, when the hallowed places of the West become shrines -about which pilgrims shall gather reverently, this mountain-tomb of -the gentle old priest will be visited and written of. Meantime, he -sleeps as sweetly for the solitude, and those whose lives he made more -beautiful by his presence think of him at peace as they turn their eyes -heavenward to the infinite rosary of the stars. - -In spite of the progress of the beneficent work and the fresh blood that -had infused new strength into the cause, dark days were to cast their -shadow upon the little Mission of St. Mary's. No power could restrain -the Selish from the chase, and during their absence twice a year, the -colony left behind, consisting only of the priest and those too aged -or sick to follow the tribe, were menaced by the Blackfeet and Bannock -Indians. The old feud was fanned red hot by the Selish killing two -Blackfeet warriors who invaded the very boundaries of the Mission with -hostile intent. The threats from the Blackfeet became more terrible. -They lurked in the thick timber and brush around the stockade which -enclosed the Mission, and, finally, while the tribe was absent on a -buffalo hunt, a rumour reached the anxious watchers that the hostiles -would descend in a great war party upon the defenseless community. And -indeed, they were roused by war whoop and savage yell to see swarming -around their weak barricade, the dreaded enemy. Father Ravalli was in -charge of the Mission at that time and he and his companions prepared -themselves for the death which seemed inevitable. But the Blackfeet, -probably seeing that only a man stricken with years, two young boys and -a few aged women and little children were all of their hated foe who -remained at St. Mary's, retreated to the brush. One of the two boys -ventured to the gate to make sure the Blackfeet were gone and was shot -dead. This tragical incident and the more awful menace it carried with -it to those who were left at the mercy of the invading tribes, and -another reason we shall now consider, led to the temporary abandonment -of St. Mary's. - -In those early days, the missions being the only habitations within many -hundreds of miles, became the refuge and abiding place during bitter -weather, of French-Canadian and mixed breed trappers, who in milder -seasons ranged over the mountains and plains in pursuit of furs. These -half-savage men were undoubtedly a picturesque part of the old, woodland -life and their uncouth figures lent animation and colour to the quiet -monotone of the religious communities. In the first quarter of the last -century we find mention of French-Canadians employed by the Missouri Fur -Company, appearing on New Year's Eve, clad in bison robes, painted like -Indians, dancing _La Gignolee_ to the music of tinkling bells fastened -to their dress, for gifts of meat and drink. These trappers were, in -the day of St. Mary's Mission, a licentious, roistering band with easy -morals, consciences long since gone to sleep, who did not hesitate to -debauch the Indians, and who feared neither man nor devil. They went -to St. Mary's as to other shrines, and under the pretext of practicing -their religion, lived on the missionaries' scanty stores and filled -the idle hours with illicit pastimes. It is said that they became -revengeful because of the coolness of their reception by the priests, -and maliciously set about to poison the Selish against the beloved -_robes noires_. However this may be, whether the wayward, capricious -children strayed or not, it is certain that they would not sacrifice the -buffalo hunt for priest nor promise of salvation, so the Mission was -dismantled and leased; its poor effects packed and the Apostles of the -Faith started out again to seek refuge in new fields. At Hell's Gate, -the inferno of the Blackfeet, they parted; Father Ravalli to wend his -way to the Mission of the Sacred Heart among the Coeur d'Alenes; the -rest, under the escort and protection of Victor, the Lodge Pole, Great -Chief of the Selish and father of Charlot, followed the Coriacan defile -to the Jocko River and finally arrived at St. Ignatius, the Mission of -the Kalispehlms. - -For a time we leave St. Mary's in the sad oblivion of desertion, while -those who had tended its altar, poor pilgrims, toiled over diverse -trails toward different destinations. - -It is not necessary to follow the varying fortunes of the few, small -missions in the Northwestern wilderness, included then within the vast -territory called Oregon. Each has its pathetic story of privation and -danger, which may be found complete and detailed in ecclesiastical -histories written by priests of the order. - -We shall pass on to the Mission of St. Ignatius, whither the party from -St. Mary's sought refuge, which, in the course of time absorbed some -of the lesser institutions and became, as we shall see, the religious -center of several tribes. The Mission of St. Ignatius was the same -founded by Father Point on the banks of the Pend d'Oreille River -among the Kalispehlms in the year 1844. The original location proved -undesirable, so ten years later the Mission was moved to a site chosen -by the advice of Alexander, Chief of the tribe. A wonderful revelation -it must have been when the Indian guide, leading the priests through a -pass in the mountains, the secret of his people, showed them the vast -sea of flowing green--the valley of Sin-yal-min--barred to the East -by the range of the same name. There ever-changing shades of violet -and lights of gold altered the mien of these mountains whose jagged -peaks showed white with snow, from whose deep bosoms burst a water-fall -plunging from mighty altitudes into the emerald bowl of the valley. -This was veritably a kingdom in itself, and no white man had trodden -the thick embroidery of wild flowers and grass. It had been a gathering -place for many tribes. Within its luxuriantly fruitful limits, berries -and roots grew in plenty and game abounded in the neighbouring hills. - -In the very palm of Sin-yal-min the new Mission of St. Ignatius was -builded. There could scarcely have been a more ideal spot for church -and school, forming the nucleus of an agricultural community. There -gathered parties of the upper and lower Kalisphelms, upper Kootenais, -Flat Bowes, Pend d'Oreilles and Selish, to pitch their tipis in the -shadow of the Mission Cross. Many of these Indians made for themselves -little farms where they laboured and lived. Entire families of Selish -moved from the Bitter Root valley to be near the _robes noires_ they -loved. St. Ignatius possessed an advantage that bound the Indians to -it by permanent ties and that was its schools. Four pioneer Sisters -travelling into the Rocky Mountain region under the guidance of two -priests and two laymen, from their home mission in Montreal, founded -at St. Ignatius the first girls' school among the Indians of the -territory. Not long thereafter the priests established a similar school -for boys, where they taught not only the French and English languages -and the rudiments of a simple education, but also such handicrafts as -seemed most necessary to the development of industry. In saddle-making -particularly, the boys excelled, and wonderful specimens of leather -work have gone forth from the Mission shops. Thus, largely through -its practical industry St. Ignatius grew into a powerful institution. -Building after building was added to the group until a beautiful village -sprang up, half hidden among clumps of trees and generous vines. On -the outskirts of this community rows of tiny, low, thatch-roofed log -cabins were built by the Indians to shelter them when they assembled -to celebrate such feasts as Christmas, Good Friday and that of St. -Ignatius, their patron Saint. - -The fates favoured St. Ignatius. In the year of its removal the -Hell's Gate treaty was signed wherein the bounds of the reservation -were re-adjusted, making the new mission the center of that rich -dominion. The treaty of the Hell Gate, participated in by the Selish, -the Pend d'Oreilles and some of the Kootenais, was the same, it may -be remembered, wherein Victor, the father of Charlot, insisted upon -retaining possession of the Bitter Root Valley "above the LoLo Fork" for -himself and his people, unless after a fair survey by the United States, -the President should deem it best to move the tribe to the Jocko. This -agreement was entered into in 1855. Seventeen years went by. The Indians -declare that no survey was ever made during that time nor were they -furnished with school teachers, skilled artisans and agriculturalists -to instruct them, as had been promised on the part of the government. -Summarily the Selish were called upon to sign a second agreement, the -Garfield treaty, which deprived them of their ancestral home and drove -them forth to share the Jocko Reservation in common with the allied -tribes. This was at once an impetus to the fortunes of St. Ignatius and -a mortal blow to St. Mary's. - -That pioneer shrine, abandoned on account of the depredations of the -Blackfeet, remained dark and silent for sixteen years. The Selish -mourned the loss of their friends and teachers, the _robes noires_. In -spite of the absence of the church's influence, save such intermittent -inspiration as the occasional visit of a priest, the Selish prayed and -waited. And surely, poor, impulsive children that they were, if they -had been misled by tale-bearing, mixed breed trappers, their digression -was dearly expiated. During those sixteen years they remained faithful -to the cause which four delegations of their number had braved danger, -privation and death to win. - -In the meantime the West was changing. The first stern, ascetic days -were passing when the best of men's characters was called into active -existence to cope with immediate hardship; when every nerve rang true, -tuned to the highest bravery and that magnificent indifference to death -which makes heroes. The cry of gold ran through the length and breadth -of the land and the headlong rush of adventurers, good and bad, from the -four corners of the earth, all bent on wealth, changed the spirit of the -western world. In that mad stampede, men, spurred by the lust of gain, -pushed and crowded each other, and with such competition, who thought -of or cared for the Indian? His day was done; the accomplishment of his -ruin was merely a matter of years. Moreover, the lower element of the -reckless, pillaging crew of gold seekers brought with it the vices of -civilization--drink and the game. - -Change the ideal which inspires a deed and the deed itself is changed. -That first, stern West which taught men not to fear by surrounding them -with danger, made heroes of them because they had braved the unknown -for some noble purpose, religion, the simple love of Nature or another -reason as good; but in these altered conditions where debauching gain -was the one object of their quest, though they spurned death as the -pathfinders had done, their bravery sank to bravado and dare-deviltry -because their purpose was sordid. - -With this invasion of the wilderness the whole aspect of the mission -work underwent a change. The masked man on horseback stalked the trails; -the bizarre glamour of the dance hall flaunted its coarse gaiety in the -mushroom camps' thronged streets; the saloon and gaming house brought -temptation to the Indian, and generally he fell. It was also true that -in more than one instance the precedent of bloodshed was set by brigand -whites, sowing the seeds which were later to bear a red harvest of war. - -So, when St. Mary's opened her doors in 1869, it was upon a period of -transition. If the placid image of Our Lady, looking through half -closed eyelids, could have seen and understood the metamorphosis what -a shock would have smitten her sainted soul! The painted, war-bent -Blackfeet were gone far back into their fastnesses, but here and there, -thick and fast, came the white settler, peaceful, cold, inevitable, -overwhelming, bringing ruin to the old life and its people--the -beginning of the end. And that calm, just Mother of Mankind would have -seen the timid shadow-shapes of the Selish melting into the gathering -twilight, at once welcoming the stranger to the land and relinquishing -it to him, retiring step by step before the great, white inundation. It -is useless to prolong the story. The climax had to come, and come it -did, swiftly, cruelly, with a dark hint of treachery that we, of the -superior race are too willing to excuse and condone. By the Garfield -Treaty, which, by a curious anomaly, never very lucidly explained, -bears the sign of Charlot, son of Victor, hereditary chief of the -Selish, that he, a man in his sane senses swears he never signed, the -tribe renounced all claim to the land of their fathers and consented to -betake themselves to the Jocko reservation. During the twenty-two years -of the existence of St. Mary's as an Indian Mission, after its second -opening, the fathers, among them Father Ravalli, watched over and tended -their decreasing charge. The numbers of the red hosts dwindled; the -falling off of the people through new and unnatural conditions thinned -their ranks, but surer still, was the admixture of the white strain, so -corrupting in most cases to the unfortunate in whom the two race strains -commingle. But in spite of the Garfield Treaty, notwithstanding the -exodus of the main body of the Selish, St. Mary's faithful to the end, -drew to her little altar the last, failing remnant of the tribe--the -splendidly defiant Charlot and his band. At last, in 1891, they accepted -the inevitable and rode away to the land of their exile resigning to -the conquering race their blood-right to the Bitter Root. This was the -death of St. Mary's. It remained standing, a church of the whites, but -an Indian mission no more. In looking back through the years, their -mercies and their cruelties, it is a sorrowfully sweet thing to remember -that Father Ravalli, guardian spirit of the Selish, lay down to rest -before the ultimate change, the final expulsion, while the first light -of the wilderness from the altar of St. Mary's still shone, however -faintly, to show the way. - -The sequel of St. Ignatius is, happily, less pathetic in its unfolding. -The life that ebbed from St. Mary's flowed amply into the newer -Mission's growing strength and to-day it stands, substantial and -prosperous in the valley of Sin-yal-min. Though the same tragedy is -about to be enacted, the expulsion, less summary, leaving to the -individual Indian his garden patch, St. Ignatius remains a beacon to -the dusky hosts, poor frightened children who cling to this last hope, -promising as it does a happiness born of suffering, an ultimate reward -which not even the white man can take away. A handsome new church, -frescoed by an Italian brother, does service instead of the old chapel, -venerable with age that hides behind the sheltering trees. In front of -the modern church stands the great, wooden Cross erected by the early -fathers, which the Indians kneel to kiss before they go to Mass. And -to the right, covered with wild grass, and that neglect of which such -vagrant growths are the emblem, is the old cemetery where so many weary -pilgrims who travelled long and painfully over difficult trails, have -sought peace past the power of dreams to disturb. - -Here, as we have seen, upon feast days the Indians come, the scattered -bands gathering from mountain and valley, clad in gala attire. Their -ranks are thinning fast. The once populous nation of the Selish is -shrunk to between three and four hundred souls, still the little village -often holds a thousand Indians all told, from the different neighbouring -tribes. And sometimes, bands from far away, distinguished by diversified -language, curious basketry and articles of handicraft, come as -spectators to the feasts. - -Until a few years ago these religious festivals were preceded by solemn -rites of expiation. A kind of open air court was held, the chiefs -sitting in judgment upon all offenders and acting in the capacity of -judges. The whole tribe assembled to watch with impassive gravity the -austere spectacle of the accusation, sentence and chastisement of those -who had broken the law. All malefactors were either brought before -the chiefs, or spurred by conscience, they came forward voluntarily, -confessed their guilt and prayed to be expurgated of sin through the -sting of the lash. When the accusations and confessions were finished, -the multitude dropped upon their knees and prayed. Then those arraigned -were examined and such of them as the chiefs decreed guilty, were -sentenced and immediately suffered the penalty. A blanket was spread -upon the earth and the offender lay on this, his back exposed to the -raw-hide lash which marked in welt-raising strokes the degree of his -transgression. Even while he smarted, never wincing under this ordeal, -the spectators at the bidding of the chiefs, prayed once again for -the culprit's reformation and forgiveness. Such was the practice of -the Selish handed down from the earliest days. The time and place of -the chastisement were regulated in these later years by the Catholic -festivals, but public punishment with the lash was a custom of the -tribe before the missionaries penetrated the West. The confession, the -judgment and the whipping they believed to be a complete expiation; -having suffered, the sin-soiled were made clean, and thus purified, they -met and mingled with the best of their brethren on equal terms, without -further reproach. This was a simple and summary form of justice, suited -to the people whom it controlled,--was in fact the natural outgrowth of -their moral and ethical code--and it is a pity that the ancient law, -together with much besides that was desirable in the pristine life of -the Indian, has been stamped out beneath the master's iron heel. - -One cannot take leave of the missions of the Northwest without looking -back upon Father De Smet, their founder, and the work which he began. -Through his devotion missions were established among many different -nations, even the unyielding Blackfeet falling under the spell of -gentleness. And he who lived most of his life either in the wilderness -or labouring elsewhere for what he believed to be the salvation of its -benighted children, died at last at St. Louis in 1873, after meditative -and reminiscent years spent in recording his travels and his triumphs. - -There are some subtle questions crying out of the silence which are not -to be pushed back unspoken, even though we can find no answer to their -riddle. How far have the missionaries succeeded? If completely, why does -the Christian Indian still dance to the Sun? And did those Fathers in -their errand of mercy blindly pass to the people they would fain have -saved from annihilation the fate they strove to spare them from? Who can -say? - -The Indians were probably in their racial infancy when the maturer ranks -marched in and absorbed, or otherwise destroyed them. It would seem that -with them it is a case of arrested development. If left to themselves, -through centuries they might have brought forth a civilization -diametrically opposite to our own. That they never could nor can -assimilate or profit by our social and educational methods has been -sufficiently proved. Their race instincts are essentially as foreign to -ours as those of the Hindu, and their evolution must have necessarily -proceeded along totally different lines. The Indians were decreed to -work out their own salvation or die, and the latter thing has come to -pass. One might go on painting mental pictures of what would have been -the result if the free, forest-born red race had thrived and grown into -maturity. Certainly in their decadence, their spirit-broken second -childhood, we find the germ of an original moral sense, of tradition and -poetry, even of religion, which might have borne rich fruit. - -The Oriental is to us an enigma, and we recognize in his makeup psychic -qualities but slightly hinted of in ourselves. So in the Indian we -must acknowledge a race of distinct and separate values that we can -never wholly know or understand. The races are products of countless -centuries begotten of habit and environment; we cannot put aside these -growth-accumulations builded like the rings of the pine, nor can we take -that which the Creator made and re-create it to suit our finite ends. -Therefore, instead of helping the Indian we are merely killing him, -kindly perhaps, with comforts, colleges and sacraments, but none the -less surely striking at his life. - -And though they are still amongst us, picturesque figures which we value -chiefly as relics of a gaily-coloured past, the Indians are the mystery -of our continent. They speak to us, they smile at us, they sit within -our churches and use our tongue, but for all that they remain forever -strangers. What pagan beliefs vibrating through the chain of unrecorded -ancestry, what hates, loves, aspirations and bitter griefs, separate -from our comprehension as the poles, thrill out of the darkness of -yesterday and die unspoken, unformed, beneath those calm, bronze brows? -They are a problem to be studied, never solved; a riddle one with the -Sphinx, the Cliff Dwellers and the Aztec ruins. For, after all is said, -what do even the good Fathers, with candle, crucifix and creed, know of -their primal souls, of the unsounded depths of their hearts? - - - - -_THE PEOPLE OF THE LEAVES_ - - -[Illustration: FRANCOIS] - - - - -CHAPTER V - -THE PEOPLE OF THE LEAVES - - -Among the early Canadian French the Sioux were known as the _Gens des -Feuilles_, or People of the Leaves. This poetical title seems very -obscure in its meaning, at first, but it may have originated in a legend -of the Creation which is as follows: - -In the ultimate Beginning, the Great Spirit made the world. Under his -potent, life-giving heat the seeds within the soil burst into bloom -and the earth was peopled with trees--trees of many kinds and forms, -the regal pine and cedar in evergreen beauty and the other hosts whose -leaves bud with the Spring, change with the Autumn and die with the -Winter's snow. These trees were all possessed of souls and some of them -yearned to be free. The Great Spirit, from his throne in the blue -skies, penetrating the slightest shadow of a leaf, divining the least -unfolding of a bud with his all-seeing, omnipotently sensitive beams -radiating like nerves from his golden heart, perceived the sorrow of the -sighing forests and mourned with tears of rain at their discontent. Then -he knew that a world of trees, however beautiful, was not complete and -he loosed the souls from their prisons of bark and limb and re-created -them in the form of Indians, who lived in the shelter of the woods, knit -to them by the eternal kinship of primal soul-source--verily the People -of the Leaves. - - * * * * * - -It is not strange that among a nation which adored the sun, the chief -ceremony should have been the Sun Dance, at once a propitiatory offering -to the Great Spirit and a public test of metal before a young man could -become a brave. The custom was an ancient one, as ancient, perhaps, as -the legend of the leaves, and in the accounts of the earliest explorers -and missionaries we read of this dance to the sun; of the physical -heroism which was the fruit of the torture and filled the ranks of -soldiery with men Spartan in fine scorn of pain and contempt of death. -It is interesting to trace similar practices in races widely separate -in origin, habits and beliefs, and it seems curious that this rite of -initiation into the honourable host of the braves, however dissimilar in -outer form, was not totally unlike in spirit the test of knighthood for -the hallowed circle of the Table Round. - -The festival of the Sun Dance was celebrated every year in the month -of July, when the omnipotent orb reached his greatest strength, is, -indeed, still celebrated, but without the torture which was its reason -for being. A pole was driven deep and solid in the ground and from -the top, somewhat after the manner of a May-pole, long, stout thongs -depended. After incantations by the Medicine Men, the youths desiring -to distinguish themselves came forward in the presence of the assembled -multitude, to receive the torture which should condemn them as squaw men -or entitle them to fold their blankets as braves. - -With a scalping knife the skin was slit over each breast and raised so -a thong from the pole could pass beneath and be fastened to the strip -of flesh. When all were bound thus, the dance began to the time of a -tom-tom and the chant. Goaded by pride into a kind of frenzy the novices -danced faster, more wildly, leaping higher, bending lower, until they -tore the cords loose from their bleeding bosoms and were free. If, -during the ordeal, one fainted or yielded in any way to the agony, he -was disgraced before his tribe, cast out as a white-hearted squaw man -until the next year's festival, when he might try to wipe out the stain -and enter the band of the brave. If, on the other hand, all the young -men bore the torture without flinching, their spirits rising superior to -all bodily pain, they were received as warriors and earned the right to -wear the medicine bag. Often one of greater puissance than his fellows -wished further to distinguish himself by a test extraordinary and -submitted to a second torture more heroic than the first. He suffered -the skin over his shoulder blades to be slit as his breast had been and -through these gashes thongs were drawn and fastened as before, but this -time the ends were attached to a sacred bison's skull, kept for the -purpose, which the brave dragged over rough, rocky ground and through -underbrush, until his strained flesh gave way and freed him of his -burden. This feat entitled him to additional honors and he was respected -and held worthy by the great men of the tribe. - -After the torture, when a youth was declared a brave he retired to the -wilderness, there in solitude to await the message of the Great Spirit -which would reveal to him his medicine, or charm. - -This "making medicine" as it was called, was a rite of most solemn -sacredness and secrecy and therefore shrouded in mystery. From the -lips of one who, in days past, when the ancient customs were rigidly -preserved, followed and watched a newly made brave, the ensuing -narrative was gleaned. - -After dark the young Indian took his way cautiously far off into silent, -unpeopled places where sharp escarpments cut like cameos against the -sky. There, poised upon the cliffs, his slim figure silhouetted against -the moonlit clouds, he remained rigid as a statue through long hours, -waiting for the Voice from Above by whose revelation he should learn -wherein his power lay. Then lifting his arms towards the heavens he made -strange signs to the watchful stars. So he remained 'till dawn paled -from the East, when, having received his message, he went forth to seek -the animal which should hereafter be his manitou, or guardian spirit. -Sometimes it was the bison, the elk, the beaver, the weasel or other -beast of his native wild. Into his bag he put a tooth or claw and some -fur of the chosen creature, with herbs which might be propitious. Such -was his charm, his medicine-bag, the source of his valour and safety, to -be worn sleeping and waking, in peace and in war; to be guarded with his -life and to go with him in death back to the Great Spirit by whom it was -ordained. - -If a warrior lost his medicine-bag in battle, he became an outcast among -his people and his disgrace was not to be wiped out until he slew and -took from an enemy's body the medicine-bag which replaced his own and -thus retrieved his honour. - -Of all the quaint ceremonies connected with the old wood-worship and -sun-worship, combining the idea of Beginning and End, of pre-existence -and after-existence, none are more interesting than the rites attending -the burial of the dead. As the Indians sprang from the forest trees, -according to the myth of the leaves, lived in the shadow of the pleasant -woods, so at last, they were received into the strong, embracing -branches that tossed over them in wild gestures when the Great Spirit -spoke in anger from the sky; that tempered the Summer's heat into -cooling shadow for their repose; that shed their gift of crimson leaves -upon the Indians' devoted heads even as they, themselves, must shed the -garb of flesh before the blast of death. Or, sometimes, the dead were -exalted upon a naked rock, rising above earth's levels toward the sun. -Wherever his resting place might be, the dead man sat upright, if a -brave, dressed in his full war regalia, surrounded by his most prized -possessions and if he owned a horse, it was shot so its shade might -bear his spirit on the long, dark, devious way to the Happy Hunting -Ground. No mournful ghost who met his death in darkness could ever bask -in the celestial light of endless Summer-time; he was doomed to become -a phantom living in perpetual night. That is the reason none but forced -battles were fought after dark; the bravest of the braves feared the -curse of everlasting shadow. They believed, too, that no warrior who -lost his scalp could enter the fields of the glorious; hence the taking -of an enemy's scalp at once killed and damned him. The suicide was -likewise barred from Paradise. - - * * * * * - -Years ago, when the feuds of the hostile tribes still broke into the red -vengeance of the war-path, the Sioux and Cheyennes did battle with the -Gros Ventres at Squaw Butte, and by some mischance a medicine man of the -Sioux, not engaged in the combat, whose generalship lay in marshalling -the manitous to the aid of his people, was killed. A traveller, -journeying alone in the mountains, found him high upon a cliff with -his blanket and war dress tumbling about his bleaching bones, his -medicine-bag and all the emblems of his magic preserved intact. In the -bag was a grizzly bear's claw, an elk's tooth, and among other trinkets, -a small, smooth brass button of the kind worn by the rivermen trading -up and down the Missouri River between the East and the savage West. -It would be interesting to trace the migrations and transfiguration of -that little button from its existence as an humble article of dress to -the dignity of a charm in the medicine-bag of the old magician on that -isolated cliff. And the Master of Magic himself; he of prophetic powers -and knowledge born of intercourse with the gods; there he sat, an arrow -through his skull, his blind, eyeless sockets uplifted to the sun, his -necromancy unavailing, his wisdom but a dream! In that remote home which -his devoted tribesmen chose for him, no irreverent hand had disturbed -his watch, and he is probably still sitting, sitting with blind eyes -toward the sun while eagles circle overhead and gray wolves howl to the -moon. The years pass on unheeded, the face of the land has changed, -is changing, will change, and the rustling, swirling leaves of Autumn -fall thick and fast. Mayhap, after all, the old Magic Master, keeping -his eternal vigil, may see from beyond the flesh the thinning woods and -the dead leaves dropping from the trees; hear their weary rustle--poor -ghosts, as they flutter before the wintry wind. And among the lessening -trees, also driven by the Northern blast, does he see also, a gaunt and -silent troop of phantoms--mere Autumn leaves--whirling away before the -Storm? - - - - -_THE PASSING BUFFALO_ - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE PASSING BUFFALO - - -I - -It was summertime in the mountains--that short, passionate burst of -warm life between the long seasons of the snow. The world lay panting -in the white light of the sun, over gorge and pine-clad hill floated -streamers of haze, and along the ground slanted thin, blue shadows. -The sky pulsed in ether waves and the distant peaks, azure also, with -traceries of silver, were as dim as the memory of a dream. In this -untrodden wilderness the passing years have left no record save in the -gradual growth of forest trees, and in its rugged beauty it is the -same as a century ago. Therefore time itself seems arrested, and it is -scarcely strange to come upon a buffalo skull naked and bleached by sun -and rain, and close by, half hidden in the loose rocks, an arrow head of -pure, black obsidian. - -This, then, was once the scene of a brave chase when wind-swift Indians -pursued mad, hurtling herds over mountain slope and plain. These empty -fastnesses thrilled to the shock of thousands of beating hoofs, these -hills flung back the echo to the brooding silence as the black tide -flowed on, pressed by deadly huntsmen armed with barb and bow. And even -then, far over the horizon, unseen by hunted and hunters, silent as the -shadow of a cloud, inevitable as destiny, came the White Race, moving -swifter than either one, driving them unawares toward the great abyss -where they should vanish forever into the Happy Hunting Ground, lighted -by perpetual Summer and peopled by immortal herds and tribes. - - -II - -In such a remote and deserted place as this, no great effort of the -imagination is needed to call up the shades of those who once inhabited -it, to react their part in the tragedy of progress. Let us fancy that a -riper, richer glow is upon the mountains, that the white light of the -sun has deepened into an amber flood which quivers between the arch of -lapis-lazuli sky and the warm, balsam-scented earth that sighs forth -the life of the woods. Already the trees not of the evergreen kind are -hung with bewilderingly gorgeous leaves of scarlet, russet-brown and -yellowing green; the haze has grown denser and its ghostly presence -insinuates itself among the very needles of the pines. It is Autumn. -The gush of life has reached its climax and is ebbing. High on the -steepled mountains is a wreath of filmy white that trails low in the -ravines. It seems as fragile as a bridal veil, but it is the foreword -of Winter which will soon descend with driving blast and piping gale, -lancing sleet and enshrouding snow to chill the last red ember-glow of -the brilliant autumnal days. It was at this time that the Indian's blood -ran hot with longing for the hunt. Lodges were abandoned and only those -too weak to stand the hardship of the march were left behind. Chiefs -and braves, women and children struck out for the haunts of the buffalo -where the fat herds grazed before the impending cold. - -These children of the forest sought their prey with the woodcraft handed -down from old to young through unnumbered generations. Indeed, it was -necessary for them to outwit the game by strategy in the early days -before the wealthy and progressive Nez Perce Kayuses, who were first to -break the wild horses of the western plains, brought the domesticated -pony among them. In passing, it is interesting to know that the term -"cayuse" applied to all Indian horses, had its origin with this tribe, -since the chief article of trade of the Kayuses was the horse, the -horse of Indian commerce became known as a "cayuse." The Selish used -the method of the stockade. After the march into the buffalo country, -they camped in a spot where they could easily fashion an enclosed park -by means of barricades built among the trees. A great council of the -chiefs and warriors was held and this august body appointed a company -of braves to guard the camp and prevent any person from leaving its -boundaries lest in so doing the wily buffalo should become alarmed and -quit the neighbouring hills. The council proclaimed anew the ancient -laws of the chase, and then began the building of the pen. This was a -kind of communal work in which the entire tribe engaged, and as all -contributed labor so all should benefit alike from its fruits. There -within the mock park, whose pleasant green fringe of trees was in -reality a prison wall, would be trapped and killed the food for the -sterile winter months, when, but for that bounty, starvation would stalk -gaunt among them and lay the strongest warrior as low as a new born -babe or the feebly old who totter on the threshold of death. The place -chosen for the pen was a level glade and the enclosure was built with -a single opening facing a cleft in the surrounding hills. From this -opening, an avenue also cunningly fenced and gradually widening towards -the hills, was constructed, so that the animals driven thither, could -escape neither to the right nor the left, but must needs plunge into the -imprisoning park. - -Next came the election of the Master of Ceremonies, the Lord of the -Pen. He was a man seasoned with experience, mighty with the knowledge -of occult things--one of the _Wah-Kon_, Medicine Men or jugglers, who -possessed the power of communicating with the Great Spirit. This high -functionary determined the crucial moment when the hunt should begin, -and when the buffalo, roused from the inertia of grazing, should be -driven into the snare. In the center of the clearing he posted the -"medicine-mast," made potent by three charms, "a streamer of scarlet -cloth two or three yards long, a piece of tobacco and a buffalo horn," -which were supposed to entice the animals to their doom. It was he who, -in the early dawn, aroused the sleeping camp with the beating of his -drum and the chanting of incantations; who conferred with the great -Manitous of the buffalo to divine when the time for the chase had come. - -Under the Grand Master were four swift runners who penetrated into the -surrounding country to find where the buffalo were browsing and to -assist by material observation the promptings of the spirits of the -hunt. They were provided by the Grand Master with a _Wah-Kon_ ball of -skin stuffed with hair, and when the herds were found in a favourable -spot and the wind blew from the direction of the animals to the pen, one -of the runners, breathless with haste, bearing in his hand the magic -ball, appeared before the Grand Master and proclaimed the joyful news. -There was a mighty beating of the Grand Master's drum, and out of the -lodges ran the excited people, all bent with concentrated energy upon -the approaching sport. Every horseman mounted, and those less fortunate -armed themselves and took their positions in two lines extending from -the entrance to the enclosure toward the open, separating more widely as -the distance from the pen increased, thus forming a V shape with but a -narrow gateway where the lines converged. - -Then through the silent, human barricade rode the bravest of the braves, -astride the fleetest horse and he went unarmed, always against the wind, -enveloped in a buffalo skin which hung down over his mount. All was -quiet. Only the light Autumn wind flowing through the trees carried the -curious, crisp, cropping noise of thousands of iron-strong jaws tearing -the lush, green grass. And as the rider came upon the crest of the hill -and looked at the panorama of waving verdure peopled by multitudes of -bison stretching far away across the meadows and over the rolling ground -beyond, it must have been a sight to quicken the pulses and stir the -blood. Suddenly there sounded a prolonged and distressing cry--the cry -of a buffalo calf which wailed shrilly for a moment, then ceased. It -came from the brave alone in the open, shrouded in the buffalo hide. - -There was a movement in the herd. Every heavily maned head rose, and -quivering nostrils snuffed the running wind. At first the buffalo -advanced slowly, as if in doubt; gradually their pace quickened to a -trot, a gallop, then lo! the whole vast band came hurtling and lurching -in its furious career like the swells of a tempestuous, black sea, -breaking into angry waves at every shock. And from those deep throats -came a mighty roar, ponderous and resonant as the thunder of the surf. - -Still the cry of the calf reverberated and re-echoed, and the single -horseman crouching beneath his masquerade, led the herd on and on, -eluding their onslaught, luring them forward between the lines of his -companions who stood silent, trembling with eagerness for the sport. -Then pell-mell the mounted hunters rushed out from cover and the wide -extremes of the V shaped line closed in so that the horsemen were behind -the herd. This done, the wind blowing toward the corral, took the scent -of the Indians to the buffalo. Pandemonium reigned. Men, women and -children on foot, leaped out from their hiding places with demoniac -yells, brandishing spears, hurling stones and shooting arrows from -their bows. The stampeded animals, surrounded save for the one loophole -ahead, plunged into the pen. The chase was over and the slaughter began. -The tribe would live well that Winter-time! - - * * * * * - -Among the Omawhaws of the first part of the last century, the hunt -was preceded by much preparation and ceremony. Generally by the month -of June their stores of jerked buffalo meat were well-nigh exhausted, -and the little crops of maize, pumpkins, beans and water-melons, with -the yield of the small hunting parties pursuing beaver, otter, elk, -deer and other game, were scarcely sufficient to fill the wants of -the tribe. So, after the harvesting and trading were done, the chiefs -called a council and ordered a feast to be held in the lodge of one of -the most distinguished of their number, to which all hunters, warriors -and chiefs should be invited. Accordingly the squaws of the chosen host -were commanded by him to make ready the choicest maize and the plumpest -dog for the ceremonial board. When all was in readiness the host called -two or three venerable criers to his lodge. He smoked the calumet with -them, then whispered that they should go through the village proclaiming -the feast and bidding the guests whom he named. He instructed the -criers to "speak in a loud voice and tell them to bring their bowls and -spoons." They sallied forth singing among the lodges, calling to the -distinguished personages to come to the banquet. After these summons -the criers went back to the lodge of the host, quickly followed by the -guests who were seated according to their rank. The ceremony of smoking -was performed first, then the Head Chief arose, thanked his braves for -coming and explained to them the object of the assembly, which was the -selection of a hunting ground and the appointment of a time to start. -After him the others spoke, each giving his opinion frankly, but always -careful to be respectful of the opinions of others. - -Neither squaws nor children were suffered to be present. The criers -tended the kettle and when the speech-making was done, one dipped out -a ladle of soup, held it toward the North, South, East and West, and -cast it into the ashes of the fire. He also flung a bit of the best -part of the meat into the flame as a sacrifice to _Wahconda_, the Great -Spirit. The guests then received their portions, the excellence of which -depended upon their rank. The feast closed as it began, with the smoking -of the calumet and at its conclusion the criers went forth again, -chanting loud songs in praise of the generosity of the host, enumerating -the chiefs and warriors who partook of his bounty, finally proclaiming -the decision of the council and announcing the time and place of the -hunt. This was an occasion of great rejoicing. The squaws at once began -to mend the clothing and the weapons of their lords and pack their -goods; and the young braves, gay with paint and bright raiment, beguiled -the hours with gaming and dancing in the presence of the chiefs. - -When the day of the journey arrived the whole community departed, -the chiefs and wealthy warriors on horseback, the poorer folk afoot. -Sometimes the quest of the buffalo was prolonged over weary weeks, and a -meager diet of _Pomme blanche_ or ground-apple, was insufficient to stay -the pangs of hunger that assailed the tribe. The hunters preceded the -main body, carefully reconnoitering the country for bison or foes. When -at length herds were discovered, the hunters threw up their robes as a -signal, the tribe halted and the advance party returned to report. They -were received with pomp and dignity by the chiefs and medicine men who -sat before the people solemnly smoking and offering articulate thanks to -_Wahconda_. In a low voice the hunters informed the dignitaries of the -presence of buffalo. These mighty personages, in turn, questioned the -huntsmen as to the numbers and respective distances of the herds, and -they replied by illustrating with small sticks the relative positions of -the bands. - -An old man of high standing then addressed the people, telling them that -the coveted game at length was nigh, and that on the morrow they would -be rewarded for the long fast and fatigue. - -That night a council was held and a corps of stout warriors elected to -keep order. These officers painted themselves black, wore the _crow_ and -were armed with war-clubs in order that they might enforce the mandates -of the council and preserve due decorum among the excited tribe folk. - -Early in the morning the hunters on horseback, carrying only bows and -arrows and the warriors provided with war-clubs, led by the pipe-bearer -who bore the sacred calumet, advanced on foot. Once in view of the -splendid, living masses covering the green plains as with a giant sable -robe, they halted for the pipe-bearer, the representative of the Magi, -to perform the propitiatory rite of smoking. He lighted his calumet of -red, baked clay, bowed his head in silence, then held the stem in the -direction of the herds. After this he smoked, exhaling the aromatic -clouds towards the buffalo, the heavens, the earth and the four points -of the compass, called by them the "sunrise, sunset, cold country and -warm country," or by the collective term of the "four winds." At the -completion of this ceremony the head chief gave the signal and the -huntsmen charged upon their prey. - -From this point their methods were somewhat the same as those of the -Selish, except that instead of building a stockade, they, themselves, -enclosed the herd in a living circle, pressing closer and closer upon -it until the killing was complete. This surrounding hunt was called -_Ta-wan-a-sa_. - -The chase was the grand event, the test of horsemanship, of archery, of -fine game-craft and often the opportunity for glory on the war-path as -well--for where the buffalo abounded there lurked the hidden enemy, also -seeking the coveted herds, and an encounter meant battle to the death. -Both ponies and hunters were trained to the ultimate perfection of skill -and the favoured buffalo horse served no other purpose than to bear -his master in the chase. As the cavalcade descended upon the startled -game, the rider caressed his faithful steed, called him "father," -"brother," "uncle," conjured him not to fear the angry beasts yet not -to be too bold lest he be hurt by goring horns and stamping hoofs, and -urged him with honeyed speech to the full fruit of his strength and -cunning. And the horse, responding, flew with winged stride, unguided -by reins to the edge of the compact, fleeing band, never hesitating, -never halting until the shoulder of the animal pursued, was exposed to -the death-dealing shot. It was just behind the shoulder blade that the -huntsman sought to strike. The inclination of his body in one direction -or another was sufficient to send the horse speeding after fresh prey. - -The hunters, themselves, scorned danger and knew not fear. If they were -uncertain how deep the arrow had penetrated they rode close to the -infuriated brute to examine the nature of the shot, and if necessary -to shoot again. And even though in the grand _melee_, a single animal -was often pierced with many arrows, there were seldom quarrels as to -whom the quarry belonged, so nicely could they reckon the value of the -different shots and determine which had dealt the most speedy death. - -Onward and onward they sped, circling and advancing at once, like a -whirlwind on the face of the prairie. At length, the darting riders -were seen more and more vividly as they compressed their line about the -routed band, until finally, only a heap of carcasses lay where the herd -had been. Then the tribe came upon the scene. The squaws cut and packed -the meat. If a hunter were unfortunate and killed no game, he helped -dissect the buffalo of a lucky rival. On completion of his task he stuck -his knife in the portion of the meat he desired and it was given to him -as compensation for his labor. - -Someone, either by order of the chief or of his own free will, presented -his kill to the Medicine for a feast. There was great revelry and joy, -dancing and eating of marrow bones, to celebrate the aftermath of the -royal sport. - - -III - -Although the meat of the buffalo was the Indians' chief article of -food, this was by no means the only bond between the red man and -the aboriginal herds of the plains. Besides the almost innumerable -utilitarian purposes for which the different parts of the animals were -used, there was scarcely a phase of life or a ceremony in which they -did not figure. In the dance, a rite of the first importance, in the -practice of the _Wah-Kon_, or medicine, in the legends of the creation -and the after-death, the buffalo had his place. Such lore might make a -quaint and curious volume, but we shall consider only the more striking -uses and traditions of the bison in their relation to the life of the -early West. - -The buffalo was, in truth, the great political factor among the tribes; -nearly all of the bitter warfare between nation and nation was for no -other purpose than to maintain or gain the right to hunt in favourable -fields. Thus the Judith Basin, the region of the Musselshell and many -other haunts of the herds, became also battle fields of bloodshed and -death. Not only did the bison cause hostilities among the nations, but -they were likewise the reason of internal strife. It is said that the -Assiniboines, or Sioux of the Mountains, separated from the main body of -the tribe on account of a dispute between the wives of two rival chiefs, -each of whom persisted in having for her portion the entire heart of a -fine bison slain in the chase. This was the beginning of a feud which -split the nation into independent, antagonistic tribes. - -The utmost economy was generally observed by the early Indians in the -use of the buffalo. Each part of the animal served some particular -purpose. The tongue, the hump and the marrow bones of the thighs were -considered the greatest delicacies. The animals killed for meat were -almost always cows, for the flesh of buffalo bulls could be eaten only -during the months of May and June. - -Among the Omawhaws of nearly two centuries ago, all the meat save the -hump and chosen parts reserved for immediate use, was cut into "large, -thin slices" and either dried by the heat of the sun or "jerked over -a slow fire on a low scaffold." After being thoroughly cured it was -compressed into "quadrangular packages" of a convenient size to carry on -a pack saddle. The small intestines were carefully cleaned and turned -inside out to preserve the outer coating of fat, then dried and woven -into a kind of mat. These mats were packed into parcels of the same -shape and size as the meat. Even the muscular coating of the stomach was -preserved. The large intestines were stuffed with flesh and used without -delay. The vertebrae were pulverized with a stone axe after which the -crushed bone was boiled. The very rich grease that arose to the surface -was skimmed and preserved in bladders for future use. The stomach and -bladder were filled with this and other sorts of fat, or converted into -water bottles. All of the cured meat was _cached_, in French-Canadian -phrase, until hunger drove the Indians to draw upon these stores. - -The pemmican of song and history was a kind of hash made by toasting -buffalo meat, then pulverizing it to a fine consistency with a stone -hammer. Mr. James Mooney in the _Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau -of Ethnology_, describes the process as follows; "In the old times a -hole was dug in the ground and a buffalo hide was staked over so as to -form a skin dish, into which the meat was thrown to be pounded. The hide -was that from the neck of the buffalo, the toughest part of the skin, -the same used for shields, and the only part which would stand the wear -and tear of the hammers. In the meantime the marrow bones are split -up and boiled in water until all the grease and oil comes to the top, -when it is skimmed off and poured over the pounded beef. As soon as the -mixture cools, it is sewed up into skin bags (not the ordinary painted -parfleche cases) and laid away until needed. It was sometimes buried or -otherwise cached. Pemmican thus prepared will keep indefinitely. When -prepared for immediate use, it is usually sweetened with sugar, mesquite -pods, or some wild fruit mixed and beaten up with it in the pounding. -It is extremely nourishing, and has a very agreeable taste to one -accustomed to it. On the march it was to the prairie Indian what parched -corn was to the hunter of the timber tribes, and has been found so -valuable as a condensed nutriment that it is extensively used by arctic -travellers and explorers. A similar preparation is used upon the pampas -of South America and in the desert region of South Africa, while the -canned beef of commerce is an adaptation from the Indian idea. The name -comes from the Cree language, and indicates something mixed with grease -or fat. (Lacombe.)" - -Among the Sioux at Pine Ridge and Rosebud, in the ceremony of the Ghost -Dance, pemmican was celebrated in the sacred songs. Mr. Mooney gives the -translation of one of them: - - _"Give me my knife,_ - _Give me my knife,_ - _I shall hang up the meat to dry--Ye'ye'!_ - _I shall hang up the meat to dry--Ye'ye'!_ - _Says grandmother--Yo'yo'!_ - _Says grandmother--Yo'yo'!_ - _When it is dry I shall make pemmican,_ - _When it is dry I shall make pemmican,_ - _Says grandmother--Yo'yo'!_ - _Says grandmother--Yo'yo'!"_ - - * * * * * - -Though at first the main object for which the buffalo was hunted was the -flesh, next in importance and afterwards foremost, was the hide made -into the buffalo robe of commerce. Since these robes played such an -important part in the early traffic and were partly responsible for the -annihilation of the bison, it is worth while to consider how they were -procured and treated. The skins to be dressed were taken in the early -Spring while the fur was long, thick and luxuriant. Those obtained in -the Autumn called "Summer skins" were used only in the making of lodges, -clothing, and for other domestic purposes. To the squaws was assigned -the preparation of the hides as well as the cutting and curing of the -meat. Immediately after the hunt while in the "green" state the skins -were stretched and dried. After this, they were taken to the village and -subjected to a process of curing which was carried on during the leisure -of the women. The hide was nearly always cut down the center of the back -so that it could be more easily manipulated. The two parts were then -spread upon the ground and scraped with a tool like an adze until every -particle of flesh was removed. In this way all unnecessary thickness was -obviated and the hide was made light and pliable. When the skin had been -reduced to the proper thinness a dressing made of the liver and brains -of the animal were spread over it. This mixture was allowed to dry and -the same process was repeated save that in the second instance while the -hide was wet it was stretched in a frame, carefully scraped with pumice -stone, sharp-edged rocks or a kind of hoe, until it was dry. To make it -as flexible as possible, it was then drawn back and forth over twisted -sinew. The parts were sewed together with sinew and the buffalo robe was -ready for the trader's hands. - -As early as 1819 these robes were in great demand and one trader -reported that in a single year he shipped fifteen thousand to St. Louis. - -In the everyday life of the Indians the products of the buffalo yielded -nearly every comfort and necessity. The hides were used not only for -robes and portable lodges which furnished shelter on the march, but they -were made into battle shields; upon their tanned surface the primitive -artist traced his painted record of the chase, the fray, or the mystic -medicine. They were laid upon the earth for the young braves to play -their endless games of chance upon, and the wounded were taken from the -field on stretchers of buffalo hides swung between a pair of ponies. -From them two kinds of boats were made. One, described by James in his -account of the journey of his party in 1819-20 is as follows: - -"Our heavy baggage was ferried across in a portable canoe, consisting -of a single bison hide, which we carried constantly with us. Its -construction was extremely simple; the margin of the hide being pierced -with several small holes, admits a cord, by which it is drawn into the -form of a shallow basin. This is placed upon the water, and is kept -sufficiently distended by the baggage which it receives; it is then -towed or pushed across. A canoe of this kind will carry from four to -five hundred pounds." - -The second variety, known as a "bull-boat," was made of willows woven -into a round basket and lined with buffalo hide. - -The grease of these beasts was used to anoint the Indians' bodies and to -season the maize or corn. - -From the horns were made spoons, sometimes holding half a pint, and -often ornamented upon the handles with curious carving. - -The shoulder blade fastened to a stick served for a hoe or a plow. - -From the hide of unborn buffalo calves bags were made to contain the -war-paint of braves. - -It would be at once possible and profitable to continue enumerating the -practical uses of the buffalo, but far more interesting than these facts -were the ceremonies, superstitions and traditions in which they were -bound up. - -Perhaps, first among the rites in sacred significance and solemn dignity -was the smoking of the calumet. This was supposed to be not only an -expression of peace among men and nations, but a propitiatory offering -to the Manitous, or guardian spirits, and to the Master of Life. - -According to Colonel Mallory in the _Tenth Annual Report of the Bureau -of Ethnology_, the Sioux believed that this supreme emblem of good will -was brought to them by a white buffalo cow, in the old days when the -different bands of the nation were torn with internal strife. During -this period of hostility a beautiful white buffalo cow appeared, bearing -a pipe and four grains of corn, each of a different colour. From the -milk which dripped from her body, sprang the living corn, so from the -beginning the grain and the buffalo meat were decreed to be the food -of the Indians. She gave to the rival factions, the pipe which was the -sacred calumet, instructing them that it was the symbol of peace among -men and he who smoked it with his fellows, by that act sealed the bond -of brotherhood. After staying for awhile among the grateful people, and -teaching them to call her "Grandmother," which is a term of affectionate -reverence among the Indians, she led them to plentiful herds of her own -kind and vanished into the spiritland whence she came. - -The odour of the buffalo was believed to be agreeable to the Great -Spirit so that the tobacco or kinnikinick of the calumet was flavoured -with animal's excrement in order that the aroma wafted upward might be -most pleasing. This custom of flavouring the pipe with the scent of the -buffalo was carefully observed by the Pawnee Loups of the olden time, -a tribe which claimed descent from the ancient Mexicans, in the awful -ceremonies preceding a human sacrifice to Venus, the "Great Star." Upon -this austere occasion four great buffalo skulls were placed within the -lodge where the celebration was held and they were offered the sacred -_nawishkaro_ or calumet. The bodies of their chiefs or those who died -gloriously in war were robed in buffalo skins, furnished with food and -weapons, and placed sitting upright, in a little lodge near a route -of travel or a camp in order that the passers by might see that they -had met their death with honour. The Pawnees also used bison skulls as -signals, and we find in James' _Travels_ this interesting account: - -"At a little distance in front of the entrance of this breastwork, was -a semi-circular row of sixteen bison skulls, with their noses pointing -down the river. Near the center of the circle which this row would -describe if continued, was another skull marked with a number of red -lines. - -"Our interpreter informed us that this arrangement of skulls and other -marks here discovered, were designed to communicate the following -information, namely, that the camp had been occupied by a war party of -the Pawnee Loup Indians, who had lately come from an excursion against -the Cumancias, Tetans or some of the Western tribes. The number of red -lines traced on the painted skull indicated the number of the party to -have been thirty-six; the position in which the skulls were placed, that -they were on their return to their own country. Two small rods stuck -in the ground, with a few hairs tied in two parcels to the end of each -signified that four scalps had been taken." - -There are many other similar instances recorded by different adventurers -who braved the early West, yet this was but one of numerous uses of -buffalo skulls and heads. Among the Aricaras upon each lodge was a -trophy of the war path or the chase composed of strangely painted -buffalo heads topped with all kinds of weapons. - -There was a curious belief among the Minitarees that the bones of the -buffalo killed in the chase became rehabilitated with flesh and lived -again, to be hunted the following year. In support of this superstition -they had a legend that once upon a time on a great hunt a boy of the -tribe was lost. His people gave him up for dead but the succeeding -season a huge bison was slain and when the body was opened the boy -stepped out alive and well. He related to his dumbfounded companions, -how the year before, he had become separated from them as he pursued a -splendid bull. He felled his game with an arrow, but so far had he gone -that it was too late to overtake and rejoin the tribe before nightfall. -Therefore, he cut into the bison's body, removed a portion of the -intestines and feeling the keen frost of evening upon his unsheltered -body, sought warmth within the carcass. But, lo! when the boy awakened -the buffalo was whole again and he was a prisoner within his whilom prey! - -The Gros Ventres, in the day of Lewis and Clark, thought that if the -head of the slain buffalo were treated well, the living herd would come -in plentiful numbers to yield an abundance of meat. - -Of the many bands into which the Omawhaw nation was divided there were -two, the _Ta-pa-eta-je_ and the _Ta-sin-da_, bison tail, which had the -buffalo for their medicine. The first of these were sworn to abstain -from touching buffalo heads, and the second were forbidden the flesh -of the calves until the young animals were more than one year old. If -these vows were broken by a member of the band and the sacred pledge -so violated, a judgment such as blindness, white hair or disease was -believed to be sent upon the offender. Even should one innocently -transgress the law, a visitation of sickness was accounted his condign -portion and not only he but his family were included in the wrath and -punishment of the outraged Manitous. - -The Crow Indians, Up-sa-ro-ka, or Absaroka, used the buffalo as a part -of their great medicine. An early traveller, Dougherty, describes an -extraordinary "arrangement of the magi." In his own words, "the upper -portion of a cottonwood tree was emplanted with its base in the earth, -and around it was a sweat house, the upper part of the top of the tree -arising through the roof. A _gray_ bison skin, extended with oziers on -the inside so as to exhibit a natural appearance, was suspended above -the house, and on the branches were attached several pairs of children's -moccasins and leggings, and from one limb of the tree, a very large fan -made of war-eagles' feathers was dependent." - -This leads to an interesting superstition of the Indians, which was -that any variation in the usual colour of the buffalo was caused by the -special interference of the Master of Life, and a beast so distinguished -from his kind was venerated religiously, much as the ancient Egyptians -worshipped the sacred bull. Once a "grayish-white" bison was seen and -upon another occasion a calf with white forefeet and a white frontal -mark. An early traveller once saw in an Indian lodge, the head of a -buffalo perfectly preserved, which was marked by a white star. The man -to whom it belonged treasured it as his medicine, nor would he part with -it at any price. - -"'The herds come every season,' he said, 'into the vicinity to seek -their white-faced companion!'" - -Maximilian, in his _Travels in North America_, gives an interesting -description of the martial and sacred significance of the robes of white -buffalo cows among the Mandans and Minitarees. He says that the brave -who has never possessed this emblem is without honour, and the merest -youth who has obtained it ranks above the most venerable patriarch who -has never owned the precious hide. Indeed, "of all the distinctions -of any man the white buffalo hide" was supreme. As the white buffalo -were extremely rare it was seldom a hunter killed one for himself. The -robes were brought by other tribes, often from far distant parts of the -country, to the Mandans who traded from ten to fifteen horses for a -perfect specimen. It was necessary for the hide to be that of a young -cow not more than two years old, and it had to be cured "with the horns, -nose, hoofs and tail" complete, In Maximilian's words: "The Mandans -have peculiar ceremonies at the dedication of the hide. As soon as they -have obtained it they engage an eminent medicine man, who must throw it -over him; he then walks around the village in the apparent direction -of the sun's course, and sings a medicine song. When the owner, after -collecting articles of value for three or four years, desires to offer -his treasure to the lord of life, or to the first man, he rolls it up, -after adding some wormwood or a head of maize, and the skin then remains -suspended on a high pole till it rots away. At the time of my visit -there was such an offering at _Mih-Tutta-Hang-Kush_, near the stages for -the dead without the village. Sometimes, when the ceremony of dedication -is finished, the hide is cut into small strips, and the members of the -family wear parts of it tied over the head, or across the forehead, -when they are in full dress. If a Mandan kills a young white buffalo -cow it is accounted to him as more than an exploit, or having killed an -enemy. He does not cut up the animal himself, but employs another man, -to whom he gives a horse for his trouble. He alone who has killed such -an animal is allowed to wear a narrow strip of the skin in his ears. -The whole robe is not ornamented, being esteemed superior to any other -dress, however fine. The traders have, sometimes, sold such hides to the -Indians, who gave them as many as sixty other robes in exchange. Buffalo -skins with white spots are likewise highly valued by the Mandans; but -there is a race of these animals with very soft, silky hair, which has a -beautiful gold lustre when in the sunshine; these are, likewise, highly -prized." - -There are numerous myths of a white buffalo cow, who at will, assumed -the form of a beautiful maiden. - -The Sioux in common with the Aricaras and the Minitarees observed the -custom of fasting before going to war or upon the hunt. They had a -"medicine lodge," where a buffalo robe was spread and a red painted post -was planted. Upon the top of the lodge was tied a buffalo calf skin -holding various sacred objects. After preliminary rites they tortured -themselves, one favorite method being to make a gash under their -shoulder blades, run cords through the wounds and drag two large bison -heads to a hill about a mile distant from their village, where they -danced until they fell fainting with exhaustion. - -Some of the tribes performed the _Ta-nuguh-wat-che_, or bison dance. -The participants were painted black, wore a head dress made of the skin -of a buffalo head which was cut after the fashion of a cap. It was -adjusted in a manner to resemble a live animal, and extending from this -head dress, over the half-naked and blackened bodies of the dancers, -depended a long strip of hide from the back of the buffalo which hung -down like a tail. - -The Omawhaws believed that the Great Wahconda appeared sometimes in the -shape of a bison bull and they, like other tribes, cherished legends of -a fabulous age when animals spoke together, did battle and possessed -intelligence equal to that of men. The following myth of the bison bull, -the ant and the tortoise, related by James, is an interesting example of -these fables: - -Once upon a time an ant, a tortoise and a buffalo bull formed themselves -into a war party and determined to attack the village of an enemy in -the vicinity. They decided in council that the tortoise being sluggish -and slow of movement, should start in advance and the ant and bull -should time their departure so as to overtake him on the way. This plan -was adopted and the awkward tortoise floundered forth on his hostile -mission alone. In due time the bison bull took the ant upon his back, -lest on account of his minuteness he be lost, and together they set out -for the enemy's country. At length they came to a treacherous bog where -they found the poor tortoise struggling vainly to free himself. This -caused the ant and the bull much merriment as they crossed safely to -solid ground. But the tortoise, scorning to ask the aid of his brothers -in war, replied cheerfully to their taunts and insisted that he would -meet them at the hostile village. - -The ant and the bison advanced with noise and bravado and the watchful -enemy perceiving them, issued from their lodges and wounded both, -driving them to headlong, inglorious retreat. - -Finally the tortoise with sore travail, reached his destination to find -his companions flown, and because he could not flee also, he fell into -the hands of the foe--a prisoner. These cruel people decided to put him -to death at once. They threatened him with slow roasting in red coals -of fire, with boiling and many awful tortures, but the astute tortoise -expressed his willingness to suffer any of these penalties. Therefore -the enemy consulted together again and held over his head the fate of -drowning. Against this he protested with such frenzied vehemence that -his captors immediately executed the sentence, and bearing him to a deep -part of the river which flowed through their country, flung him in. Thus -restored to his native element he plunged to the bottom of the stream, -then arose to the surface to see his enemies gaping from the bank in -expectation of his agony. He grabbed several of them, dragged them -down and killed them, and appeared once more triumphantly displaying -their scalps to the bewildered multitude of thwarted warriors who were -helpless to avenge their brethren. The tortoise, satisfied with his -achievement, returned to his home where he found the ant and the bull -prone upon the floor of the lodge, wounded, humbled and fordone. - - * * * * * - -Finally, the Minitarees and other tribes had a curious legend of their -origin. They believed that their forefathers once dwelt in dark, -subterranean caverns, beyond a great, swift-running river. Two youths -disappeared from amongst them and after a short absence returned to -proclaim that they had found a land lighted by an orb which warmed -the earth to fecundity, where deep waters shimmered crystal white and -countless herds of bison covered grass and flower-decked plains. So the -youths led the people up out of the primal darkness into the pleasant -valleys where they dwelt evermore. And as the bison were celebrated in -this child-like tradition of the Beginning, so likewise, did they figure -in the primitive conception of the hereafter. That region of Summer -where the good Indian should find repose, was pictured as an ideal -country, fair with verdure and rich with herds of buffalo which the good -spirits would go seeking through the golden vistas of eternity. - - -IV - -When the first explorers penetrated the fastnesses of the New World the -buffalo was lord of the continent. Coronado on his march northward from -Mexico saw hordes of these unknown beasts which a chronicler of 1600 -described naively as "crooked-backed oxen." The mighty herds roamed -through the blue grass of Kentucky, the Carolinas, that region now -the state of New York, and probably every favorable portion of North -America. Very gradually they were pushed farther and farther westward -to the vicinity of the Rocky Mountains, which was for many years their -refuge and retreat. In 1819 the official expedition sent by John C. -Calhoun to examine the Rocky Mountains, their tribes, animal and plant -life, found the buffalo reduced in numbers, though in the wild stretches -of country lying South along the Arkansas, they were seen in countless -hordes. The report says: - -"During these few days past, the bisons have occurred in vast and almost -continuous herds, and in such infinite numbers as seemed to indicate the -great bend of the Arkansas as their chief and general rendezvous." - -The account continues to narrate how the scent of the white men borne -to the farthest animal, a distance of two miles, started the multitudes -speeding away, and yet so limitless were those millions, that, day -after day, they flowed past like a sea until their presence became as -a part of the landscape, and by night their thunderous bellow echoed -through the savage wastes. - -In Bradbury's _Travels_ there is a description of a fight among buffalo -bulls. He says: - -"On my return to the boats, as the wind had in some degree abated, we -proceeded and had not gone more than five or six miles before we were -surprised by a dull, hollow sound, the cause of which we could not -possibly imagine. It seemed to be one or two miles below us; but as our -descent was rapid, it increased every moment in loudness, and before we -had proceeded far, our ears were able to catch some distinct tones, like -the bellowing of buffaloes. When opposite to the place from whence it -proceeded, we landed, ascended the bank, and entered a small skirting -of trees and shrubs, that separated the river from an extensive plain. -On gaining a view of it, such a scene opened to us as will fall to the -lot of few travellers to witness. This plain was literally covered -with buffaloes as far as we could see, and we soon discovered that -it consisted in part of females. The males were fighting in every -direction, with a fury which I have never seen paralleled, each having -singled out his antagonist. We judged that the number must have amounted -to some thousands, and that there were many hundreds of these battles -going on at the same time, some not eighty yards from us. The noise -occasioned by the trampling and bellowing was far beyond description." - -At that time the bison paths were like well trodden roadways and served -as such to the explorers. These paths always led by most direct routes -to fresh water, and therefore were of the greatest assistance to -travellers unacquainted with the undiscovered lands. - -Such were the legions of the plains even when the East had refused them -shelter. And although it was roughly estimated that the tribes dwelling -along the Missouri River killed yearly 100,000 for food, saddle covers -and clothes, this did not appreciably lessen their hosts. Not until the -white tide flowed faster and faster over the wilds was the doom of the -buffalo sounded, together with that of the forests which sheltered them, -and the Indians who were at once their foes and their friends. - -Then the destruction was swift beyond belief. The royal game which -Coronado saw in 1585, which Lewis and Clark in their adventurous journey -into the unknown West encountered at every turn, was nearly gone. They -endured in such numbers that as late as 1840 Father De Smet said: - -"The scene realized in some sort the ancient tradition of the holy -scriptures, speaking of the vast pastoral countries of the Orient, and -of the cattle upon a thousand hills." - -It was inconceivable to the Indians that civilization should wreak -such utter desolation. They could not comprehend the passing of the -mighty herds any more than they could appreciate the destruction of -the forests or their own decline. They did not know that the railroad -which traversed the highway of the plains between the East and West ran -through miles upon miles of country whitened with buffalo bones; that -veritably the prairies which had been the pasture of the herds were -now become their graveyard--a graveyard of unburied dead. They did not -know that armies of workingmen and settlers had drawn upon the buffalo -for food and warmth, that the beasts had been harried and hunted North, -South, East and West, sometimes legitimately, but too often in cruel, -wanton sport, until, at last, it became an evident fact that they were -visibly nearing their end. A kind of stampede possessed the terrified -beasts. Their old haunts were usurped. Where the fostering forests had -given them shelter, towns arose. Baffled and dismayed they fled, hither -and thither, only to crash headlong within the range of the huntsman's -gun. So they charged at random, ever pressed closer and closer to bay by -the encroaching life which was their death. - -About the year of 1883 it was known that the last thinned and vagrant -remnant of the buffalo was virtually gone. Maddened into desperate -bewilderment they had done an unprecedented thing. Instead of going -northward as their habit had been since man first observed their kind, -they turned and fled South. This was their end. The half-breeds of the -Red River, the Sioux of the Missouri, and most relentless of all, the -white hide-hunter, beset the wild, retreating band. Their greed spared -neither beast that tottered with age, nor calf fresh from its mother's -womb. All fell prey to the mastering greed of the lords of the great -free land. - -Upon the shores of the Cannonball River, so-called from the heaps of -round stones upon its banks, on the edge of the Dakotas, the buffalo -made their last stand. Driven to bay they stood and fell together, the -latest offspring of a vanished race. - -But the poor Indian, he who had shared the freedom of the continent -with his horned friend, could not yet understand that the buffalo were -gone--gone as the sheltering woods were going, even as he, himself, must -go. Evolution is cruel as well as beneficent and there is a pang for -each poor, lesser existence crushed out in the race, as there is joy -in the survival of the strongest and best. And those who are superior -to-day must themselves be superseded to-morrow and fall into the abysmal -yesterday, mere stepping stones toward the Infinite. The Indians, -knowing none of these things, became troubled and perplexed. In vain -they sought the herds on their old-time hunting grounds, but only stark, -bleached bones were there and they went back to their lodges, hungry, -gaunt and wan. - -In years past the buffalo had disappeared at intervals to unknown -pastures, then returned multiplied and reinforced. Was it not possible -that they had gone upon such a journey, perhaps to the ultimate North -where the Old Man dwelt, to seek refuge in a mighty polar cave under -his benign protection? So from their meager stores the Indians offered -sacrifices of horses and other of their most valued possessions, to the -Old Man, that he might drive the buffalo back to the deserted pasture -lands near the Rocky Mountains. - -"They are tired," said Long Tree of the Sioux, "with much running. They -have had no rest. They have been chased and chased over the rocks and -gravel of the prairie and their feet are sore, worn down, like those of -a tender-footed horse. When the buffalo have rested and their feet have -grown out again, they will return to us in larger numbers, stronger, -with better robes and fatter than they ever were." - -Still the years passed and the buffalo came not, and some there were -who said that if the Old Man, the Great Spirit of the North, loved -his children of the forest, he would not have left them to suffer so -painfully and long. - -Then out of dumb despair came sudden hope; out of the bitter silence -sounded a Voice and a prophet came "preaching through the wilderness," -even as John the Baptist had come, centuries ago, bringing a message of -peace and the promise of salvation. This prophet was _Wovoka_, founder -of the Ghost Dance religion, who arose in "the land of the setting sun," -in the shadow of the Sierras. He told the wrapt people that when "the -sun died" he went to heaven where he saw God, the spirits of those long -dead and vast herds of revivified buffalo feeding in the pastures of the -skies. Heaven would not be perfect to the Indian without the buffalo, -and the red man, less jealous than ourselves of his paradise, was -willing to share the bliss of immortality with his old-time companions -of the plains. The tenets of the new creed were gentle, teaching peace, -truth, honesty and universal brotherhood. Under the thrall of the Ghost -Dance, devotees dropped to earth insensible and had visions of the -spirit-world. Wovoka prophesied that at the appointed time the ghostly -legions, led by a spirit captain, would descend from heaven, striking -down the unbelievers and restoring to the Indians and the buffalo -dominion over the earth. - -With the awful desperation of a last hope the Indians leaped high into -the Night surrounding them to grasp at a star--a star, alas! which -proved to be but a will-o'-the-wisp set over a quagmire of death. -Nothing seemed impossible to their excited fancy. Had not the white race -killed the Christ upon a Cross of torture, and would he not come to -earth again as an Indian, to gather his children together in everlasting -happiness when the grass should be green with the Spring? Meantime they -must dance, dance through the weary days and nights in order that the -prophesy might be fulfilled. - -An alarm spread through the country. What meant this frenzied dance of -circling, whirling mystics who strained with wide eyes to look beyond -the skies? An order came that the dance must cease. This decree was but -human, the one which bade them dance they believed to be divine. And -dance they did, wildly, madly, to the sharp time of musketry until the -hurrying feet were stilled and the dancers lay cold and stark on the -field of Wounded Knee. - -In all the annals of the Indians' tragic tale there is nothing more -pitiful than this Dance of Death. The poor victims, together with the -last hope of a despairing race, were buried at Wounded Knee, and the -white man wrought his will. - -Slowly and steadily the woods were laid low, inevitably the Indians -retreated farther and farther back, closer pressed, routed as the -buffalo had been. All hope of the return of the beloved herds left their -hearts and they knew at last that they would find them only in those -Elysian fields of perpetual summertime--the Happy Hunting Ground. - - -V - -The sun set red behind the mountains. The shadows stole down, gray -and mystical as ghosts. From afar the coyote's dolorous cry plained -through the silence and the owl hooted dismally as he awakened at the -approach of night. There in the pallid dusk lay the bleached skull -and the arrowhead of black obsidian, mute reliques of the past. The -royal buffalo is no more, the hunter that hurled the bolt is gone. We -may find the inferior offspring of the one in city parks, of the other -on ever-lessening reservations, but degeneracy is more pitiful than -death, and the old, free herds that ranged the continent are past as the -fleet-footed, strong-hearted tribes have vanished from the plains. - -So the story of the two fallen races is told eloquently by this whitened -skull on the hillside and the jet-black arrow head flung by the stilled -red hand. - - - - -_LAKE McDONALD & ITS TRAIL_ - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -LAKE McDONALD AND ITS TRAIL - - -In the northern part of Montana, towards the Canadian border, the Main -Range of the Rocky Mountains has been rent and carved by glacial action -during ages gone by, until the peaks, like tusks, stand separate and -distinct in a mighty, serrated line. No one of these reaches so great a -height as Shasta, Rainier or Hood, but here the huge, horned spine rises -almost sheer from the sweep of tawny prairie, and not one, but hosts of -pinnacles, sharp as lances, stand clean cut against the sky. Approaching -the range from the East, in the saffron glow of sunset, one might fancy -it was wrought of amethyst, so intense and pure is the colour, so clear -and true the minutest detail of the grandly sculptured outline. Within -the ice-locked barriers of those heights live glaciers still grind -their passages through channels of stone; down in shadowy ravines, -voiceful with silver-tongued falls, lie fair lakes in the embrace of -over-shadowing altitudes. The largest of these lakes, McDonald, is the -heart of a vast and marvelous country, the center of many trails. - -The road to Lake McDonald winds along the shores of the Flathead River -for half a mile or more, skirting the swift current now churned into -white foam by rapids, then calm and transparent, revealing the least -stone and tress of moss in its bed, in shades of limpid emerald. Leaving -the river, the way lies through dense forests of pine and tamarack, -cedar and spruce, and so closely do the spreading boughs interlace that -the sun falls but slightly, in quivering, pale gold splashes upon the -pads of moss and the fragrant damp mold which bursts into brilliant -orange-coloured fungus and viciously bright toadstools. Each fallen -log, each boulder wrested from its place and hurled down by glacier -or avalanche, is dressed in a faery garb of moss and tiny, fragrant -shell-pink bells called twinflowers, because two blossoms, perfect -twins, always hang pendent from a single stem as slender as spun -glass, and these small bells scent the air with an odour as sweet as -heliotrope. Within the forest dim with perpetual twilight, one feels the -vastness of great spaces, the silence of great solitudes. - -Suddenly there bursts upon one, with all the up-bearing exhilaration of -a first sight of the sea, a scene which, once engraved upon the heart, -will remain forever. The trees part like a curtain drawn aside and the -distance opens magnificently. The intense blue of the cloudless sky -arches overhead, the royal waters of the lake flow blue and green with -the colours of a peacock's tail or the variegated beauty of an abalone -shell; sweeping upward from the shores are tall, timbered hills, so -thickly sown with pine that each tree seems but a spear of grass and the -whole forest but a lawn, and towering beyond, yet seeming very near in -the pure, white light, is a host of peaks silvered with the benediction -of the clouds--the deathless snow. The haze that tints their base is of -a shade one sometimes finds in violets, in amethysts, in dreams. Indeed, -these mountains seem to descend from heaven to earth rather than to soar -from earth towards heaven, so great is their sublimity. - -As one floats away on the lake the view changes. New vistas open and -close, new peaks appear above and beyond as though their legion would -never come to an end. Straight ahead two irregular, rugged mountains -with roots of stone emplanted in the water, rise like a mighty portal, -and between the two, seeming to bridge them, is a ridge called the -"Garden Wall." The detail of the more immediate steeps grows distinct -and we see from their naked crests down their timbered sides, deep -furrows, the tracks of avalanches which have rushed from the snow fields -of Winter, uprooting trees and crushing them in the fury of the mad -descent. A long, comparatively level stretch, not unlike a gun sight -set among the bristling, craggy summits, is the "Gunsight Pass," the -difficult way to the Great St. Mary's Lakes, the Blackfeet Glacier and -the wonderful, remote region on the Eastern slope of the range. Huge, -white patches mark glaciers and snow fields, for it is within these same -mountains that the Piegan (Sperry) and many others lie. And as we drift -on and on across the smooth expanse of water, the magic of it steals -upon our souls. For there is about the lake a charm apart from the -beauty of the waters and the glory of the peaks; of spirit rather than -substance; of soul-essence rather than earthly form. That mysterious -force, whatever it may be, rising from the water and the forest -solitudes and descending from the mountain tops, flows into our veins -with the amber sunshine and we feel the sweeping uplift of altitudes -heaven-aspiring that take us back through infinite ages to the Source -which is Nature and God. - -[Illustration: GLACIER CAMP] - -The good old captain of the little craft weaves fact and fancy into -wonderful yarns as he steers his launch straight for the long, -purplish-green point which is the landing. To him no ocean greyhound is -more seaworthy than his boat, and he likes to tell of timid tender-feet -entreating him to keep to shore when the lake was tumultuous with storm, -and how he, spurning danger, guided them all safely through the trough -of the waves. He keeps a little log wherein each passenger is asked to -write his name. The poor old man has a maimed hand, his eyes are filmy -with years and his gums are all but toothless, but it would seem that -nature has compensated him for his afflictions by concentrating his -whole strength in his tongue. He knows each landmark well, and gravely -points out to the credulous traveller, the highest mountain in the -world; calls attention to the 18,000 fathoms of lake depth whence no -drowned man ever rises, and other marvels, each the greatest of its kind -upon the circumference of the globe. There came a day soon after when -the lake chafed beneath a lashing gale and the little craft and her -gallant captain were dumped ingloriously upon the beach. But accidents -happen to the best of seamen, and the launch, after a furious expulsion -of steam, and much hiccoughing, was dragged once more into her place -upon the wave. - -Although there is evidence that Lake McDonald was long ago frequented -by some of the Indian tribes, it was not known to the world until -comparatively recent times. There are two stories of its discovery and -naming, both of which have a foundation of truth. The first is that Sir -John McDonald, the famous Canadian politician, riding across the border -with a party, cut a trail through the pathless woods and happening to -penetrate to the lake, blazed his name upon a tree to commemorate the -event, thus linking his fame with the newly found natural treasure. The -old trail remains--probably the virgin way into the wilderness. The -second story--which is from the lips of Duncan McDonald, son of Angus, -runs thus: He and a little band of Selish were crossing from their own -land of the Jocko into the country of the Blackfeet which lies East -of the Main Range, to recover some ponies stolen by the latter tribe, -when they came in view of this lake hitherto unknown to them. Duncan -McDonald, who was the leader or _partizan_, as the French-Canadians say, -blazed the name "McDonald" upon some pines along the shore. It matters -little who was actually the first to set foot on these unpeopled banks, -but it is a strange coincidence that the two pathfinders should have -borne the same name. - -The purplish-green point draws nearer, log cabins appear among the -trees, each one decorated with a bear skin hung near its door. This -is a fur trading center as well as a resort of nature lovers, and -upon the broad porch of the club house is a heap of pelts of silver -tip, black and brown bear, mountain lion and lynx, and from the walls -within, bighorn sheep and mountain goats' heads peer down. The trappers -themselves, quaint, old hunters of the wilderness, come out of their -retreats to trade. But even now their day is passing. With the advent -of outside life these characters, scarcely less shy than the game they -seek, move farther back into uncontaminated solitudes. They are the -last, lingering fragment of that old West which is so nearly a sad, -sweet memory, a loving regret. - -Each hour of the day traces its lapse in light and shadow on the lake, -until the sunset flowing in a copper tide, draws aureoles of golden -cloud over the white-browed peaks, transforming their huge and rugged -bulk into luminous light-giving bodies of faded roses and lavender. -As the evening wanes the mountains burn out in ashes of roses, still -lightened here and there upon their ultimate heights, with a glow as -faint as the memory of a dead love, and the living halo of the clouds -deepens into coral crowns. Then the lake becomes a vast opal, kindling -with fires that flash and die in the growing dusk. - -The dark forests that cloak the lake shores, are threaded with trails -each leading to some treasure store of Nature far off in the secrecy -of the hills. One of great beauty starts from the head of the lake, -beneath the shadow of the mountains, and overhangs the boisterous, -rock-rent torrent of McDonald's Creek. The narrow way is padded thick -with pine needles ground into sweet, brown powder which deadens the -least intrusive footfall, as though the whole wood were harkening to -the singing of the waters through the silence of the trees. Along the -trail are mosses of multitudinous kinds. The delicate star moss unfolds -its feathery points of green; a strange variety with thick, mottled -leaves grows like a full blown rose around decayed trees, and a small, -pale, gray-green trumpet-shaped moss rears hosts of elfin horns. Only -a skilled botanist could classify these rich carpets which Nature has -spread over the dead royalty of her forests, so that even in their death -there is resurrection; even in their decay, new life. Bluebells and -twinflowers, those delicate faery-bells of pink, sweet grass, pigeon -berry and many another blossom beautiful in its strangeness, weave their -colour into gay patterns on the green; blend their fragrance with the -balsam sweetness of the woods. And all around, the stately pine trees -grow bearded with long, gray moss which marks their antiquity and -foretells their doom. The stream below, flowing between steep banks -that it has cut during centuries of ceaseless washing, raises its song -to a roar as it flings its swift current over a parapet of stone in a -banner of shimmering, white foam. Above, the water breaks in whirling -rapids and farther still is another fall. Towering in the distance is an -exalted peak, the father of this stream, whose snowy gift pours down its -perennial blessing into the clear tide of the lake. - -So it is, the streams that issue from the glaciers yield their pure -tribute to Lake McDonald, and all the trails, uncoiling their devious -and dizzy ways over the mountains, bring us back to these shores. And -every time that we return it breaks upon us with renewed freshness of -mood. It may be ridden by a wind that lashes it into running waves -of purple and wine colour, marked with the white foot-prints of the -gale. It may be still as the first thought of love, holding in its -broad mirror the bending sky and mountains peering into its secrecy. It -may be ephemeral with mist that dims the mountains into pale, shadowy -ghosts; or it may be like a voluptuous beauty glittering with jewels -and clad in robes of silken sheen; again, it may be Quakerish in its -pallid monotone. The changing cycle of the day and night each brings its -different gift of beauty, and likewise, the passing seasons deck the -mountains and the waters with a glory all their own, until, with martial -hosts of cloud, with banners streaming silver and emblazoned with -lightning-gleam, Winter spreads its garment of white upon the mystery of -the wild. Perhaps the lake is never so exquisite as then. At least it -seems so, as with closed eyes and passive soul, a memory undimmed arises -out of the past. - -It is night in the dead of Winter. The silence of deep sleep and -isolation is on the world. The snow has fallen like a flock of white -birds and the air has cleared to the degree of scintillating brilliance -that mocks the diamond's flash. The full moon is beneath a cloud and -its veiled light, filtering through the vapor, shows dimly the shadowy -waters and the wan peaks fainting far away. Then the cloud passes. The -moon leaps into the heavens and a flood of white light illumines the -water, the sky and the mountains, transforming the whole into a faery -scene of arctic splendour. It is as though the last breath of life had -vanished in that chaste frozen atmosphere, and the earth had become a -Palace of Dreams. - -And though that Palace of Dreams vanishes as dreams must, like a melting -snow crystal or a frosty sigh upon the night, there remains in our -hearts a yearning which shall bear us back to the reality of beauty -that rewards each pilgrim who returns to the deathless glory of the -mountain-married lake. - - - - -_ABOVE THE CLOUDS_ - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -ABOVE THE CLOUDS - - -Of all the trails in the McDonald country, there is none more travelled, -or more worthy of the toil than that which leads to the Piegan glacier. -From the moment we stand in expectant readiness in the little clearing -behind the log cabins comprising the hotel, a new phase of existence has -begun for us. So strange are the place and the conditions that it seems -we must have stepped back fifty years or more, into that West whose -glamour lives in story and song. Strong, tanned, sinewy guides who wear -cartridge belts and six-shooters, load grunting pack-horses and "throw" -diamond-hitches in businesslike silence. When at last all is ready, the -riders mount the Indian ponies or "cayuses"--Allie Sand, the yellow cow -pony; Babe, the slumbrous; Bunchie, but recently subdued, and Baldy, -nicknamed "Foolish" because of the musical pack of kettles, camp stoves -and sundries that jingle and jump up and down upon his back, lightening -the way with merriment for those who follow. With a quickened beating -of the heart, the good cheer and Godspeed of friendly voices ringing in -our ears, we take leave of the last haunt of civilization and strike out -into the virgin solitude of heaven-aspiring peaks. - -As the feeling of remoteness smites the spirit when we pass beyond -the railway station of Belton and follow in creaking wagons the -shadow-curtained road to the lake, so now it returns with stronger -impulse, calling to life new emotions begotten of the Wild. The -world-rush calms into the great stillness of untrodden places, the -world-voices sigh out in the murmuring breeze, the petty traffic of the -cities is forgotten in the soulful silence of the trees. And out of -this newly found affinity with the Nature forces, the love of adventure -thrills into being, together with the fine scorn of danger and the -resolve to do that which we set out to do no matter what the cost or the -peril. Here the "white feather" is the greatest badge of dishonour, and -he who fails through cowardice to win his goal is a man among men no -more. This spirit is the faint, far-off echo of the hero-bearing days of -the early West. - -Our guide is a stocky, little man of soldierly bearing, clad in khaki -suit and cow-boy hat, whom his fellows call "Scotty." He is brown -with exposure, smoothly shaven, and his keen, blue eyes are slightly -contracted at the corners from the strain of peering through vast -distances--a characteristic of men who follow woodcraft and hunting. -He rides ahead silently but for a rebuke to the slumbrous "Babe," such -as, "Go on, you lazy coyote," or a familiar, half-caressing remark to -Bunchie, the ex-outlaw, who is his favourite. Indeed, he, like most men -who have ridden the range, has the habit of talking to the ponies as -though they knew and understood. And who can be sure they do not? - -The forests begin as soon as the bit of clearing is passed, then -single file the little cavalcade moves on through huckleberry fields, -purplish-black with luscious, ripe berries, where bears come to feed -and fatten, where, also, thirsty wayfarers stop to eat the juicy fruit. -The pines clasp branches overhead in a lacy, broken roof whose pattern -of needle and burr shows in dark traceries against patches of blue sky -remote and far beyond. A thick, sweet shadow dappled now and again with -splashes of yellow sun tempers the air which presses its cool touch upon -our brows. On either hand a dense, even lawn of tender green fern and -mist-maiden covers the earth and through the silence sounds the merry -clamour of a stream. It ripples gaily along between wooded banks, -breaking into little crests of foam upon the rocks, showing through the -glassy medium of its waters, every stone and pebble of its speckled bed -polished and rounded by ceaseless flowing. The horses splash through -the creek and upon the opposite side begins anew the delicate lawn of -mist-maiden and fern, so freshly, tenderly green with the pale greenness -of things that live away from the sun, so ephemerally exquisite as to -embarrass coarse, mortal presence. It is a spot fit for fairies to dance -upon; fit for wood-nymphs and white hinds to make merry in; fit for the -flute-like melody of Pan to awake to dancing echoes as he calls the -forest sprites unto high revelry. - -A forest ranger joins us. He is tramping to the Gunsight Pass with his -axe upon his shoulder and his kit upon his back, to repair the trail to -the Great St. Mary's Lakes. - -The shades of brown and green, the shadow threaded with an occasional -strand of gold, are livened by crimson patches of Indian Paint Brush, -bluebells, white starry lilies called Queen's Cups, trembling feathers -of coral pink, sun-yellow and white syringa. Beneath the overhanging -verdure, around and upon the mossy rocks, the ever-present twinflowers -open their delicate petals and sweeten the air, and from clumps of -coarse grass rise cones of minute white blossoms, the bear-grass, one -of the most curious of the mountain flowers. This ranger knows the -common names of nearly all the plants, and at every turn new varieties -spring up. He stops to gather each kind of bloom until we have a great -bouquet--a _potpourri_ of all the floral beauty of the multitudes that -people our path. - -The way is very fair, ministering to the senses; troops of new, -forest forms and colours pass before the eye, the mingled sweets of -the flowers, the pungent mould and balsam of spruce and pine breathe -sensuously into the nostrils, and the fingers of the wind caress and -soothe as they pass. Through the voiceful silence, sounds that are on -the borderland between fancy and reality, thrill for a moment, then are -lost in the grand chorus of trees and rushing rivers. A stream of volume -and velocity flowing through a deep gorge falls twice in its downward -rush. These two falls, the Wynona and Minneopa, flash great, white -plumes among steeps of green forest. - -With sharp descent and stubborn climb, the trail, that seems the merest -thread, untangles its skein and leads, at length, into a small basin -partly enclosed within sheer, naked rock-walls, whence three delicate -silver streams trickle down and join the creek that waters a little -park. Beyond, the peaks loom up masterfully, sheathing their icy lances -in the clouds. High over the lip of the mighty rock-wall, rising like -the giant counterpart of an ancient battlement, lies the glacier. Up -that precipitous, overhanging parapet we must make our way, but where -the footing or how the ascent is to be won, fancy cannot fathom, for -it would seem no living thing save a mountain goat, a bighorn sheep -or an eagle could scale this stronghold of Nature. Across the basin, -where there is a gentler slope, the mountain side is dotted with groups -of tall, spire-like pines. The level meadow is grassy and shaded with -small spruce of the size of Christmas trees. And in this peaceful spot, -girt with grim, challenging steeps, the tinkle of the stream sounds -pastorally sweet, while the more distant and powerful roar of the three -tumbling streams chants a solemn undertone to the merry lilt. - -Here the camp is made. A fire crackles gaily and our tents are -pitched beneath the trees. Suddenly a shadow falls,--dimly, almost -imperceptibly. The sun has gone. It is only six o'clock in mid-summer, -but so lofty are the barrier-heights that even now we are in a world of -shade,--shade of a strangely luminous kind, hinting of ruddy lights that -are obscured but not quenched. Through the quiet, echo the whistle of -the marmot, the metallic whirr of contentious squirrels going off like -small alarm clocks, and the mellow, drowsy note of bells ringing to the -rhythmic crop of browsing ponies. So the long beautiful twilight settles -over the mountains until the sounds are stilled save the tinkling bells -and the water-voices singing their ceaseless song. The forest sleeps. -Long, mystical fancy-bearing moments and tens of moments pass, and -something of awe closes down with the gloaming. Then through the dim, -monkish grey shadow pulses a red-gold stream of light that runs in long, -uneven streamers across the face of the grim, dark walls, transfiguring -them into radiant shapes of living golden-rose. In that effulgence -of glory, lost peaks gleam for a second out of the dusk and vanish -into nothingness again, snowy diadems flash into being and fade like -a dream. The life-blood of the day ebbs and flows, sending out long, -slender fingers to trace its fleeting message on the rocks, then with a -deepening, crimson glow it flickers and is fled. Night settles fast and -the flare of the camp fire, shedding its spark-spangles in brilliant -showers, reclaims one little spot from the devouring blackness. It is -a magical thing--this campfire, and the living ring around it is an -enchanted circle. Perhaps its warmth penetrates even to the heart, -or perhaps the bond of human fellowship asserts itself more strongly -when only the precarious, flamboyant fire-light, leaping and waning, -throwing forth a rain of sparks, or searing grey with sudden decline, -separates our little group from utter desolation. Whatever the charm may -be, it falls upon us all, and with eyes fixed on the ember-pictures or -raised to the starry skies, we listen to tales of the long ago and of -a present as unfamiliar as the past. The reserve of our guide is quite -broken and he tells in a low, reminiscent voice, of wonder-spots in the -range,--for he knows its every peak and gorge,--of the animals that -dwell in its solitary recesses and of how the Piegan Glacier got its -name. - -The Piegan Indians are a branch of the Blackfeet tribe, and in the -early days they were almost as noted horse raiders as the Absarokes who -flourished near the Three Tetons, in the country of the Yellowstone. -Back and forth across the passes they came and went in their nefarious -traffic, secure from pursuit among the horns of these lonely heights. -The vicinity of the eternal ice-fields, probably this little basin -itself, sheltered the shadowy bands, and thus the glacier became known -by their name. Still, you may look in vain on the maps for Piegan -Glacier; you will find it called Sperry instead. The old name was -discarded for that of a Professor who spent some weeks exploring its -crevasses and under whose supervision a corps of college students spent -a part of one summer's vacation, building the glacier trail. Yet there -are those who love the old names as they love the traditions for which -they stand, and to them the glacier will forever bear the time-honoured -title of these Indians who have long since disappeared from its -solitudes. - -As the hours pass we draw from our guide and story-teller something -of himself. Little by little, in fragmentary allusions and always -incidentally, during that even-tide and the days following, we learn -thus much of his life. He was born in those troublous days of Indian -fighting on the frontier, shortly after his father, an army officer, -was ordered out on campaign against the Sioux. When he was but a few -weeks old word came to his mother that her husband had been killed, -and she, sick and heart-broken, died, leaving besides this infant one -other boy. The two children were left to the care of the officers at -Fort Kehoe, but they were separated while both were so young that they -did not realize the parting nor remember each other. Our guide became -the ward of a lieutenant who had been a friend of his father. He played -among the soldiers and Indian scouts at the Fort until he came to the -age when he felt the desire to learn, then he went East to school, -afterwards to college, always returning in the summer to ride the range -or to lose himself in the mountains. And when the college days were done -that old cry of the West, that old craving for the life that knows no -restraint nor hindering bonds, beckoned him back inevitably as Fate. -Again and again he had gone forth on the world's highway, once to serve -in Cuba in the war with Spain, where in a yellow-fever hospital he met -for the first time his older brother, who even then was dying of the -pestilence, but always he returned to the freedom of the wilderness. -He is a type in himself, who belongs to the time of Lewis and Clark, -rather than to this century--a man who lives too late. And there is -about him, for all his carefree indifference to the world, something -of indefinable pathos. He is quite alone--he has no kinsfolk and few -friends. He is a man without a home but the forests, who has renounced -human companionship for the solitudes, without a love but the mountains, -to whom the greatest sorrow would be the knowledge that he might never -look upon them again. - - * * * * * - -A cloud, heavy with rain, drifts across the sky, and big, cool drops -splash with a hissing noise in the fire, upon our upturned faces, upon -the warm, flower-sown earth which exhales, like incense, the odours -of sun-heated soil and summer shower. The bright flames deepen to a -blood-red glow and ashes gather like hoar frost on the cooling logs and -boughs. The circle around the fire disperses to seek the narcotic gift -breathed by the pines, sung as a lullaby by the voices of trees and -streams. - -The start for the glacier is made while the day is young. Pack horses -and camp are left behind and with the guide leading the way, the -tortuous climb is begun. Sheer as those rock-walls seemed to be, there -is a footing for the careful ponies, as from narrow ledge to ledge -they turn and zigzag up the mountain-face; and naked as those steeps -appeared, they are animated with frisking conies and marmots, and hidden -among the stones are rarely exquisite flowers. Here the mountain lilies -grow, blossoms with brown eyes in each of their three white petals, -covered with soft, silvery fur which makes them seem of the texture -of velvet. These lilies are somewhat similar to the Mariposa lily of -the California Sierras. The ground-cedar, a minute and delicate plant; -strange varieties of fern and moss, and everchanging, unfamiliar -flowers appear as we ascend, until, wheeling dizzily hundreds of -feet above the basin upon the slight and slippery trail, with things -beneath dwarfed by distance into a pigmy world and things above looming -formidably, the increasing altitude shears the rocks and leaves them -bare and grim. The air grows sharp with icy chill, great billowy, -low-trailing clouds drag over the mountain-tops, down the ravines and -float in detached banners in free spaces below. Broad stretches of snow -lie ahead. The painstaking ponies pick their way across them, for it is -fifteen feet down to solid ground. Sluggish streams creep between banks -crusty with old ice, and pretty falls, broken into lacy meshes of foam, -cascade down a parapet of rock and baptize us as we pass. In this spot -the stone wall has been worn into a grotto where the water plays as in a -fountain. From every little fissure ferns dart their long green lances -and feathery fronds, and the rocks are grown over with moss. - -From our eyrie we look down into a small lake called Peary's, sunk -within dark and desolate cliffs, shattered and ground down into -fantastic forms. It is but partly thawed and its cold, blue-green centre -is enclosed in opaque, greenish-white ice and drifts of snow. Indeed -snow is everywhere in broken drifts--in the furrowed mountain-combs -and along the level in smooth white stretches. Close to the margin of -the ice-sealed shores is a grotesque, sapless, scrubby vegetation, -as strange in its way as the brilliant-hued waters or the rocks that -impress us with huge antiquity and elemental crudeness, as though we -stood face to face with Earth's infancy, close in the wake of ebbing, -primeval seas. But for all the savage roughness and arctic chill this is -a scene to cherish and remember--the blue cup of heaven, flecked with a -thistledown of clouds, the black menace of shivered rock-crests, the -dazzle of the snow and the darkly beautiful waters that are neither blue -nor green yet seemingly of both colours, held fast in the circle of -cold, pale ice. - -Above this lake, down an overhanging wall, are more little falls, indeed -the whole country is interlaced with them as though the life-blood of -the mountains flowed in silver veins upon the surface. Within the hollow -over the stone barrier lies Nansen's Lake, even more frigid in its -ice-sheath, more palely green in the little patch of water which the -sun has laid bare. And although the mountains soar tremendously, yet -ever and anon the course lies upward over the frowning brows, over the -very crowns of the Range, until the high peaks, stripped of atmospheric -illusion, stand stark and naked to the gaze. There is in this sudden -intimacy with the fellows of the clouds, the veiled lords of upper air, -an awe which we feel before powers incomprehensible. - -At last the trail ceases; overhead are cliffs no horse could climb. -The guide ties the ponies, and with a stout rope clambers ahead up a -smoothly sculptured parapet. We follow him and find ourselves on a -bleak waste which leads to a small basin, strewn with great boulders -and lesser rocks, dark and of the colour of slate. Growing upon these -rock-heaps are masses of flowering moss starred by tiny pink buds and -blossoms, or white spattered with the crimson of heart's blood. And now -the guide begins to whistle--a long, plaintive note which is answered -presently by a similar sound and a shrill, infantile treble, cheeping, -cheeping among the stones. Then from the security of her home a -Ptarmigan, or Arctic Grouse, hops into the open with her family of five -chicks jumping on her patient back, and tumbling, the merest puff-balls, -at her feet. She chirps softly to them, proud and dignified in her -maternity, ever watchful of her pretty little brood. She is dressed in -Quakerish summer-garb of mottled grey, the feathers covering her to the -utmost extremity of her toes. Once the winter snows descend, these birds -become as white as the frigid regions which they inhabit. Ordinarily -they are very wild, but this little mother, knowing only friendliness -from human visitors, comes forth trustfully with her beloved young, -suffers them to be handled and caressed and she, herself, with wings -dropped in the semblance of a pretty courtesy, jumps into the hand of -the guide, and from that perch feeds daintily on the pink and white buds -of the moss, as fragilely lovely as the snowflakes to which they appear -strangely akin. Indeed, the bird, the flowers and the environing snow -all seem more of the cloud-land than of the earth. - -But there is a sequel to the story of this little grouse, which is, -unhappily, a tragedy. Not long after she greeted us, giving an air of -friendliness to the forbidding, wind-swept rocks, a Tyrolese came -hunting through the mountains. He made his camp near the home of the -Ptarmigan and her little ones, and one day when the guide came calling -to her there was no answer but the empty whistling of the wind. He -called again and again; he searched among the crags and the rock-heaps, -then he came upon the ashes of a camp-fire and the mottled feathers -and silken down of the Ptarmigan and her chicks. She had been betrayed -at last by her trustfulness, and she and her brood had been cruelly -sacrificed to the blood-lust and appetite of that enemy of poor dumb -things--the man with the gun. - - * * * * * - -From the mossy basin of the Ptarmigan we climb with ropes up a broken -escarpment and there upon the very lip of the glacier are blossoms so -unearthly in form and colour as to seem the merest ghosts of flowers. -One is a dark, ocean-blue bell and another an ashen-green thing furred -over with a beard as soft and colorless as a moth's wing. From -this eminence a stormy, wind-tossed little lake, the Gem, flashes -angrily-bright waters beneath snow splashed, wonderfully stratified -peaks, and there, through a gateway in the mountains, spreading out in -a vast plateau of white, lies the glacier, undulating in frozen waves -like a polar sea. Even under its shroud of snow one can trace its course -by the seams and wrinkles of a congealed current. It is flanked on all -sides by the savage, beetling peaks marshalled in endless ranks like -the spears and unsheathed lances of war-gods in their domain midway -between earth and heaven. Out across the death-white pallor of snow, in -the death-chill of the ice-fields, we strike out slowly, cautiously, -for the surface of the ice, now hidden by snow, is cleft by crevasses -even to the mountain's core, and a misstep, a fall into their depths -would be doom. Far away over the white stretches, a gaunt, spectral -coyote watches our painful progress. On and on we go by a tusk-like -peak, the "Little Matterhorn," and ever on to a point where the giant -panorama unfolds its mountain-multitudes, its barricaded lakes, and the -echo breaks into a chorus that peals out as though each separate crest -were possessed of a brazen tongue. These grimly naked heights, split and -rent with elemental shocks and the resistance to huge forces, are the -cradle of the lightning and the thunder-bolt, the citadel whence the -storm-hosts ride down on blackwinged clouds upon the world. And even now -phantom troops of clouds come gliding up out of the moist laps of the -valleys, out of lakes and streams, passing in shifting wraith-shapes -over the mountains, spreading their filmy scarfs across the sky until -the livid expanse of snow, showing colourlessly in the grey light, -brings to one a vivid picture of the ice-age, of a frozen world and the -cold, pitiless illumination of a burnt-out sun. - -[Illustration: GEM LAKE] - -Fine, pricking points of snow cut with the sharpness of needle-thrusts; -the wind whips through the bleak gaps in the Range and over the glacier, -gathering cold and speed as it comes. A chilling numbness deadens our -feet and hands. So, wind-buffeted, storm-driven, with the trumpeting -gale in our ears, we turn back from the kingdom where Winter is -unbroken, and descend through alternate shadow and sun into the blooming -beauty, into the golden Summer that swims in the world below, whence -snow and cold are only hinted of in a white-breasted, mountain-kissing -cloud. - - - - -_THE LITTLE SAINT MARY'S_ - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -THE LITTLE SAINT MARY'S - - -Perhaps the most sublime sweep of view within the entire Range is -gained from the summit of Mount Lincoln. To accomplish this ascent it -is necessary to leave the tortuous "switch-back" trail in full view of -Gunsight Pass and strike out over a trackless mass of shattered rock, -upward toward the peak. The way is steep and difficult, the footing -slippery and insecure. The muscles strain to quivering tension, the -breath comes in gusty sighs and still the mighty heap of dull rose and -green rock rears its jagged crest against the throbbing sky. But even -if the climb were tenfold longer and the goal tenfold harder to win, it -would be a faint-hearted seeker after the beautiful who would hesitate -to make the sacrifice of toil for the magnificent reward that awaits him. - -The rugged pedestal of stone that crowns the peak, drops almost -precipitately three thousand six hundred feet, and directly below, -in a gorge formed by this and a second chain of lofty mountains, lie -two jade-green lakes, the Little Saint Mary's, joined by a slender, -far-leaping waterfall. So immense is the distance, that this fall, -spanning the seventeen hundred feet between the upper and lower lakes, -does not break the brooding quiet with the whisper of an echo. The -slim, white column parts upon the rocks into a diamond shape, and when, -happily, the sunshine catches in its spray, it becomes a tangle of -rainbows. But now, it unfolds its silver scarf silently, colourlessly -as a ghost, and the green lake, so far below, receives the pouring tide -with never a ripple to mar its smooth surface. The shadow gathers in the -gorge and along the mountains, the pines are darkly green and in sharp -contrast, the unmelted snow fields lie pale and gray-white to the very -rim of the lakes forming a setting as of old silver. After the first -shock of that sublimity has left the senses free of its thrall, a vast -panorama unfolds, dominated by the majesty of mountain-lords flanked and -crowded by range upon range of others, rising in lessening undulations -to the horizon's rim, as though a sea whose giant billows strove to -smite the sky in the throes of an awful storm, were suddenly transformed -to stone. - -In the crushing might of these great spaces, peering over the brink -of the mountain top into the bosom of the smooth, still lakes as -coldly beautiful as an emerald's heart, that half-mad idea of -self-annihilation clutches at the mind. Perhaps it is the exhilarating -leap of the waterfall that tempts one, or perhaps the hypnotic charm -of the deep-set, jewel-bright pools, or perhaps some unguessed -secret of gravity which impels the tottering atom into the depths of -life-absorbing space. It is the same terrible, savage joy, the magnetism -of elemental force which we feel as we stand on the brink of the Grand -Canyon of the Yellowstone, with the glorious, brave call to death crying -from the water voices, while the whisper of life sounds sweetly from the -vocal winds of heaven. - -And even as we gaze, the sun's light dies and the world is ashen pale. -Suddenly over the distant ranges, storm clouds come trooping in black -hosts. A heavy silence falls, broken now and again by the boom of -thunder and the frightened cry of shelter-seeking birds. Perched upon a -point of rock, silhouetted against the sky, a bighorn sheep watches the -gathering tempest, unmindful of the muttering thunder and the ominous -glow of lightning kindling in the sable-winged array. There is something -noble about him as he turns his crest upward to bear the onslaught of -the blast. The purple of the mountains overhanging the lake deepens -to black--the blue-black of a clear, night sky--and the snow filling -the ravines lies passionless and white as death. Beneath the driving -storm-banners, a luridly vivid light casts its reflection upon the earth -in a gilded path, revealing the smallest detail of valley and height -before the darkness wraps them in its mantle. The Kootenais for one -brief instant shine like towers of brass and a pallid mist overhanging -an arm of the remote Flathead Lake becomes a golden fleece, then the -garish glare passes and mystery and shadow settle down. Violet tongues -of lightning dart from the trailing clouds, the martial fifing of the -wind makes shrill music through the bleak cairns and empty wastes, and -great, splashes of rain fall fragrantly, refreshingly upon the warm -ground. But in all the tumult, the cold, jade-green lakes lie unshaken, -calm. So truly are they the mountains' brides, held securely in their -embrace of stone, that not even the wild riding of the gale nor the -shivering thunderbolt disturbs their untroubled depths, while their -champions, the peaks, in helmets of pale ice do battle with the elements. - -The deafening cannonade becomes fainter, the sword-thrust of lightning -strikes at other quarry, and the storm, with torn banners dragging low -down the mountain sides, like routed hosts in retreat, follow the wake -of the thunder, the lightning and the tempest-ridden wind. And as the -sun shines forth from the heavens a transformation beams like a blessing -from every crag and rock. Still wet with the summer rain, they take on -strangely beautiful hues of sparkling rose colour, and green like that -of the mother ocean, and the naked, glacier-ground escarpments reveal -the exquisite illuminations wrought in flowing, multi-colored bands, in -subtle shade and wordless rune, of the record book wherein is writ the -history of aeons. - -Through the dazzle of the sun the sea of mountains re-appears, a flowing -tide of purple billows growing more ethereally blue in the distance -until they seem but the azure shadow of heaven. And far beneath in the -deep, dark gorge, cool with perpetual shade, flanked by mighty mountain -walls, are the polished jade-green lakes and the fall, spinning its -endless silver skein into the untroubled waters below. - - - - -_TRACK OF THE AVALANCHE_ - - - - -CHAPTER X - -THE TRACK OF THE AVALANCHE - - -The trail to Avalanche Basin starts from the shores of Lake McDonald -and plunges almost immediately into forests mysterious with primeval -grandeur. Perhaps their denseness is the reason for the wealth of -rank-growing weed and shrub that forms one vast screen beneath the -spreading branches of pine, tamarack and kingly cedar trees. Whether -this is the cause or not, the trail is richer in vegetation than -any other that lays open the secrets of the forest's heart. Tall, -juicy-stalked bear-weed, devil's walking cane, prickly with venomous -thorns, slim, graceful stems of wild hollyhock crowned with pale, -lavender blossoms, and broad-leafed thimble berry, bearing fragile, -crapy-petalled flowers, weave their verdure into a tangled mass. An -occasional path crushed down freshly shows where a bear has lately been, -for these lavish brakes are a haunt of the three varieties that dwell -in the surrounding mountains--the black, the brown and the silver tip, -or grizzly. Strange sounds come up out of the silence, borne through -dim, dark vistas where shy things peep and dry twigs snap under careful, -stealthy tread. A woodpecker drums resonantly on the bole of a tree; -shrill, elfin music quavers with reedy sweetness from the security of -dense thickets. A haunting spell steals over the heart and turns the -mind to thoughts of sirens, water sprites, and Piping Pan, for in spite -of generations of culture, somewhat of that ancient worship of the Wild -is revived in us when we are in the virgin woods. The hypnotic charm of -the great silence and solitude possesses us and there comes a feeling -as of memory of half-forgotten things lived in a dream,--or was it -reality? The inarticulate voices of the past come calling in sylvan -melody out of the closed lips of the centuries, re-awakening the life of -our forebears and revealing to us a fleeting glimpse of something which -we cannot define or understand. In this spell of the wilderness we not -only feel the emotion of young world-life and race-childhood, but that -of our own more personal childhood when the pursuit of a butterfly or a -flower winged our feet and warmed our hearts. It may be the scent of a -familiar shrub, the flight of a bird, or even the shimmer of dew that -brings us afresh, for a moment, that gaily painted memory which the -years may dim but never quite obliterate. - -The trail is dark with shadow,--the awe of the woods,--roofed with -boughs and so still that we seem to hear the breathing of the trees. -A sudden turn unfolds a little lake, bright with a living pattern of -lily-pads, bursting buds and golden water-lilies. Through a rift in -the pines the distant mountains appear; then the green tide of branches -flows together and there is nothing but silence and shadow and the -forest. The woods deepen. Low, bushy maples grow among the pines, -Colorado spruce sheds its silver sheen amidst the more somber foliage, -and towering high above the loftiest pines and tamaracks, of magnificent -circumference and sweep of limb, are the cedars, the Lords of the -Forest. Off to one side of the trail, among the thick-sown trees, is a -giant boulder completely covered with moss, a throne fit for Pan. The -pines around it are of goodly size, yet they sprang and grew, perhaps -centuries after that huge stone came hurtling downward in a great -avalanche, or was borne from the mountain tops by the slow progress of a -glacier. - -Again the forest pageant changes. There are groves of pine stricken -with hoary age, bearded like patriarchs with long, pendent streamers -of colourless moss; then comes a young growth of pine, fore-doomed to -early death which already shows in the bronze of premature decay. It is -a beautiful spot, nevertheless, balsam-sweet and strewn with needles -that nurture violets of yellow and purple, twin flowers and Queen's Cups. - -There is a sound like wind among the trees though not a branch stirs, -and presently there bursts into view a sight of wild, exhilarating -grandeur. A swift, tumultuous stream rushing down a steep, narrow -channel, clean-cut as a sabre stroke, dashes headlong into a -rainbow-ridden fall. The volume of water is churned into a passion of -swirling foam that flings its light mist heavenward to descend again in -rain. Ferny, mist-fed, moss-grown banks slope gently to the declivity -and over smooth, emerald cushions, lacy leaf and trailing boughs, tiny, -crystal drops, glinting prismatic hues, tremble and pass away. The air -is very sweet with a new and unfamiliar fragrance, and amidst the moss, -half hidden beneath grosser leaf and protruding root, is a flower, the -loveliest of all the lovely woodland host. It is a small, snowy blossom -of five petals and a golden heart, growing on a slender stem from a -cluster of glossy, earth-clinging leaves, and as though to hide its -chaste, shy beauty, the modest flower turns its face downward towards -the ground. Its scent is strong and heavy like that of the magnolia. The -guide, who travels the mountains over from the earliest budding to the -ultimate passing of the flowers, has never seen this stranger blossom -before, and we find it on no other trail. It was unknown, unnamed, so we -call it the Star of the Mountains and leave it blooming in the secrecy -of that elfin dell. - -Above the thunder of the fall sounds a slight, shrill bird note and -through the clouds of spray darts a little brown bird, dipping almost -into the boiling current, rising upward with a graceful swell and a -wild, free lilt, perching finally on a tiny point of rock just over the -shock and roar of the flood. This strange little winged sprite is a -water-ouzel who makes her home and raises her young upon these insecure, -spray-drenched walls, with the water-challenge pealing its menace and -breathing its chill on her nest. She and her kind haunt the lonely -mountain creeks and rivers, seeking some fall or cataract that flings -its spray and sings its song to the silent, ice-imprisoned world. Once -the mating season is over and the young are fledged, each bird takes its -solitary flight and becomes a veritable spirit of the woodland streams. - -The dense forests become broken and sheer cliffs rise to stupendous -heights. Upon their sharp and slender pinnacles wild goat and bighorn -sheep dwell, and in passing we see a goat so far away on those dizzy -steeps that he seems the merest patch of white. Through this gorge, -between the mountains, are deep hewn furrows where year after year, -century after century, the burden of ice from the peaks descends in -avalanches. In the Spring when the first thaw begins, a deafening roar -like a cannonade heralds the furious onslaught of ice and snow. At such -times the Avalanche Trail is a dangerous way to travel, and even now a -distant booming reminds us that the mountain forces are never idle, that -in their serenity there is force, in their mystery there is still the -energy of creation. - -Through this narrow passage between overhanging crags, the trail -continues until, bearing upward, it suddenly crosses a pretty, -milky-hued stream, and thence to a hill-side overlooking a sheet of -water opaque and pearly white, in a setting of dark-browed woods. It -is Avalanche Lake. The water is perfectly calm, not a breath of air -rustles the slightest leaf, but there is no reflection of throbbing, -blue sky, of green woods or purple mountains--it does not thrill to the -passion of the Summer, flash back azure and gold and picture in its -responsive heart the glories of earth and heaven. Because of this, it is -different from all the other lakes of these mountains and the shell-like -whiteness of its surface, pallidly beautiful as a great pearl, has a -peculiar beauty none the less striking for its strangeness. The cause -of the milkiness of these waters seems at first without satisfactory -explanation, but as we examine them more closely we see that they are -charged with infinite multitudes of tiny air bubbles, and every stream -that feeds the lake, having fallen from enormous heights, is likewise -full of infinitesimal air beads. On the other hand, some contend that -the water, pouring down from the glacier is white with particles of -finely pulverized rock. - -Pushing straight past the lake, through almost impenetrable thickets -of whipping willows that fight like live things to guard from vandal -footsteps what lies beyond, the journey reaches its climax in Avalanche -Basin. There, in that vast amphitheatre sculptured from the living rock -by glaciers, carved and scarred by innumerable avalanches descending -through the ages, overhung by the Piegan ice fields, six silver streams -leap the full height of the great rock walls. The falls seem to melt -away before they touch the reality of earth, veritable spirits, born of -the snowdrift and the sun; white ghosts spending themselves in spray to -reascend into the clouds. - -[Illustration: ON THE TRAIL TO MT. LINCOLN] - -A rich growth of green grass, coloured with broad splashes of Indian -Paint Brush, covers the sloping floor of the basin. Standing on its -extreme elevation upon a platform of rock, and thence overlooking the -country that lies ahead, the scene is one of uplifting majesty. Below, -within the sombre circle of the pines, is the lake, palely fair as a -white sea shell or a milk opal whose latent colours never quite shine -forth from its cloudy depths. Farther still, is the gorge, opening -like a gateway into the region of the avalanche, and farther still, -is Heaven's Peak, mingling with the cloudless sky. The strata on these -mountains laid bare as though but yesterday they were rent asunder, flow -in undulating ribbons of colour varying from red-violet to dull, antique -gold. But between the quivering sky of Summer and the warm, flower-sown -earth, is a ghostly tide of purple haze, an amethystine shadow which -touches every rock and tree and peak with magical illusion. And through -that veil, as through enchantment, each rock, each tree, each peak is -transfigured and for a brief hour is given a semblance of the divine. -The gorge is filled with flowing purple, the glorified gateway might be -Heaven's Gate, even as the dominant mountain, royal in the thickening -blue distance, is Heaven's Peak. - -Here the sordid world seems to melt away; the sunshine has got into our -blood and the transfiguring haze has penetrated even to our hearts. -We seem so intimately a part of this mighty, primeval place where the -infinity of the past and the infinity of the future are married in one -great mystery, that we dare to listen for secrets of the one from the -chant of the falls; to lift the veil of circumventing blue and peer into -the other. So, standing upon that rock platform, from the reality of the -present we speed our souls into the ideality of Time's poles. Though the -song of the water-voices that have sung aeons, rings in our ears, and the -living letter of the world-book is shown in the mountain's open page, -we may not know the portent of either message. And though we gaze with -seeking vision through the shadow into the ultimate blue above, the haze -draws its protecting garment thicker, closer about the treasure-house of -Nature, and the sun darts amber lances earthward to blind aspiring eyes. -So we pass humbly upon our way, the water-voices singing in our ears, -the arch of Heaven trailing its garment over earth, still guarding the -riddle of the future in its azure keep. - - - - -_INDIAN SUMMER_ - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -INDIAN SUMMER - - -After the Summer's ripe maturity has vanished with the first autumnal -storm, there steals over the world a magical Presence. It has no place -in the almanac; it comes with a flooding of amber light and a deepening -of amethyst haze; it plays like a passing smile on the face of the -universe and like one, vanishes with the stern rebuff of the wintry -blast. What jugglery the sun and earth and the four winds of heaven have -wrought no mortal man can tell, but certainly by some divine alchemy -the deadening blight is turned into gold, and upon the lap of the -world there lies, instead of the appointed Fall, a changeling season, -the faery-child of Nature, illusive, fleeting as a flock of yellow -butterflies, a shimmer of radiant wings--the Indian Summer! - -The whole earth is under the spell of the mad, sweet witchery. The -forests are decked in a gay masquerade, too glorious to be real, and -our own sober senses are half-mastered by the delusion that the dead -Summer is come to life again. In open places where the fingers of the -sun still warm the moist ground, absent-minded bluebells, strawberries -and yellow violets bloom on forgetful that they should already be taking -their winter's rest. And it is strange with what pleasure we seize upon -these fragile blossom-friends; with what childish joy we caress their -pale petals so soon to be laid low. Yet in the warm air lurks a hidden -sting, the bittersweet of sun and frost; in the very effulgence of life -is the foreshadowing of death. Already on the heights streamers of cloud -gather, leaving in their wake the dazzle of fresh snow. And beneath -these low-streaming clouds, slanting earthward in broad, down-pouring -rays, is a pure white light upon the mountains. The light on the -mountains! What a revelation it is! The windows of heaven are flung open -and the celestial beams of Paradise illumine God's Cathedral Domes, the -peaks, for a brief space before sky-wrought vestments of snow cover the -altar of His Sanctuaries. - -The trails of yesterday are barred. For prudence sake we must keep to -the low country or risk the fate of being "snowed in." Therefore we -choose the Kintla Road and Camas Creek, where a large band of moose -roams in the forest solitudes, hoping to reach Quartz Lakes near the -Canadian line before we shall be driven back by the cold. The pine-sweet -air fills us with the very spirit of the woods as we strike out over -the gilded trail through forests transfigured into a welter of gorgeous -hues, past deep-cleft ravines purple as the heart of a violet, to dim -lilac mountains that melt into the blue. What is it that is mystical, -spiritual, if you will, in this colour of violet? It is not like the -robust, tangible green of the trees, the definite reality of the -flowers' multi-coloured petals. We cannot lay our hands upon it any more -than we can grasp a sunbeam, for like hope deferred, it lies forever -beyond our reach. We see it unwind its royal haze through gorge and -forest; we watch it fade into pale lavender on the ultimate pinnacles -of the range, but if we follow it what do we find? Mere yawning cleft -or greenwood grove or jagged strata of dull rock. Where is the subtle -violet, the dim dream lavender? Fled as subtly as the shadow of a wing! -Perhaps it _is_ a shadow of the divine, the soul-essence common to man -and the flower at his feet, the dumb, stone mountains, the living air -and the heaven that embraces all in its enduring keep. - -We pass into the deep, unbroken shadow of virgin woods where bushes burn -with crimson rosehips, the thimbleberry shines in its autumn garb of -yellow, the tamarack gleams golden among its somber brethren, the pines, -and strange, bright shrubs set us forever guessing. We emerge into a -billowing field of wild hay, fringed with trees, above which we can see -the metallic sharpness of the mountains. Shining over all impartially, -shedding its glory upon our souls, is the dominant sun whose broad rays -break into a mist of ruddy gold. Again we dip into eternal shadow, the -horses' hoofs sound with a dull cluck as they sink in and are lifted -from the soft mold. Often we are startled by the sudden whirr of wings -as frightened grouse fly to shelter. Fungus thrusts evil, flame-coloured -tongues from the damp, sweet soil and a marvelous variety of moss -and lichen trace their patterns on logs, tree stumps and upon the -wind-thrown forest trees that toss their gnarled roots high above our -heads in an agony of everlasting despair. We splash through Dutch Creek, -Camas Creek and many another, and as we pause to eat a frugal midday -meal on the banks of one of these, we find upon a trailing limb, a dying -butterfly. Poor little sprite of yesterday! Its bright wings palpitate -feebly and it suffers us to take it in our hands without making an -effort to escape. The last of its gay brethren, the blossom-lovers, -its hour is come and with its final strength it has fluttered to this -friendly leaf to die. So, very gently we put it back upon its chosen -resting place, leaving it to join ghostly bright winged flocks in the -sunshine of some immortal Arcady. - -From a high ridge which falls away abruptly into a water-hewn declivity, -we look through broad, open vistas far below at the North Fork of -the Flathead River. The stream takes its way between banks of fine -gray pebbles, parting now over a sandy bar in slender green ribbons, -then uniting in one broad current, again separating to curl in white -foam-frills around a boulder or little island. Mild and limpid as the -river now appears there is evidence of its flood-tide fury in uprooted -trees and livid scars along its banks. Working silently and secretly -near the water's edge is a beaver. We can scarcely distinguish him as -he toils patiently, bringing to our minds the old Selish legend that -the beavers are a fallen tribe of Indians, doomed by the Great Spirit -to expiate an ancient wrong by constant labor in their present shape. -But some day after the appointed penance, the Indians believe that the -beavers will resume the form of men and come into their own again. - -For two days we ride farther and farther into the wilderness, camping -by night and taking up the trail with the early dawn. And as we -penetrate deeper into the wild the pageant changes only to become -more sublime. Clumps of slenderly graceful silver poplars with gray, -satin-smooth boles and branches that burst into a shower of golden -leaves, shed glory upon our way. Dense woods of yellow pine whose giant -trunks hold all the shades of faded rose, and silvery-green Colorado -spruce overshadow us and once we find ourselves in a grove of yellow -tamarack hung with streamers of black moss. Years upon years ago a -forest fire whose fury was nearly spent had scorched these trees with -its hot breath, changing the feathery moss into flowing streamers of -black--veritable mourning weeds--which contrast sharply with the golden -foliage. Even now it is easy to fancy that the fire still burns and each -tall tamarack is a pillar of living flame. - -The nights are no less wonderful than the days. The melon-coloured -harvest moon floats high in the blue-black heavens, touching the -priestly trees with its white rays. We sit beside our camp fire -listening to the crackle of dry twigs beneath a cautious tread, the -occasional whistle of a stag and the ominous note of an owl hooting -among the pines. Sometimes we fancy that green and amber eyes burn the -darkness, and we cling close, close to the primal birthright of the -race--the flaming brand--which raises its bright barrier now as in the -age of stone, between mankind and the predatory beasts of the wild. The -wooded hosts seem to press down with stifling persistence upon us and an -indefinable terror creeps into our hearts, the inherent fear of man, the -atom, of Nature, the fathomless, the unknown. - -As these nights wear on and we lie upon our couches of fragrant cedar -boughs, up out of the gulf of silence the lean-flanked coyotes howl to -the moon, and later still, when the pale disc dips beneath the horizon -and the shrouded secrecy of before-dawn steals, like a timid ghost, -out of the Infinite, the trees find tongue and murmur together though -there is no wind and the stream sings with a music as of hidden bells. -Strange, elfin sounds, the merest echo of a whisper thrill out of the -quiet and sigh into silence again. A faint patter-patter as of falling -thistledown is heard constantly, insistently, inevitably. Can it be the -beat of gossamer wings, the trip of faery feet as the woodland sprites -hang the grass, the leaves, the finest-spun thread of cobweb with beads -of dew, and trim the dark pines, like Christmas trees, with tinsel frost? - -Truly the pale morning light breaks upon a transformed and enchanted -world. Silver filigree adorns the most commonplace limb and twig. Each -pine needle twinkles with a gem giving forth rainbow-hued rays beneath -the first steel-cold beams of the sun. The thorn-apple, whose wine-red -branches are furred with a white beard, is etherealized into delicate -pastel shades of lavender and mauve by a film of hoar frost. Ragged -streamers of fantastic mist-shapes rise and float heavily through the -moist air, obscuring, then revealing stretches of stream-laced woods -and finally rolling away in lessening vapour into the lingering dusk -of ravines. There is a mighty scene-shifting of Nature in progress. The -night phantoms, the colourless dawn-shapes are hurried off, while the -sun, riding high in the deepening blue, touches stream and tree and peak -with the illumination of the new day. - -As we wander about breathing the balsam sweetness of the pine-breath -of the new dawn, we make curiously interesting discoveries. By an -unfortunate accident we roll a hollow log over and uncover a squirrel's -winter larder of small pine cones, and at the same time we hear above -our heads, in trees so lofty that we cannot penetrate the dense -canopy of interlocked limb, the domestic troubles of a pair of these -contentious little forest folk. In high treble voices they quarrel and -dispute in a perfect hysteria of rage. Upon the damp trail near camp we -find large, cloven hoof prints too big for those of a deer, so probably -our mysterious visitor of the evening before was no less a personage -than a lordly moose. - -We linger on heedlessly, much the same as the absent-minded flowers, -clinging as desperately to the woodland as the dying butterfly, -deceiving ourselves into the half-belief that Winter is far away. The -air is still warm and the light shines on the mountains. And that light -lures us on by its thrall to higher altitudes. Down the gorges the snow -gathers in deepening drifts and the utmost peaks are white as carven -ivory. Still we resolve to make one brave dash for the Quartz Lakes, -set one above the other in a chain among sheltering canyons and flanking -cliffs. Under the inspiration of the camp fire we discuss the morrow's -journey. How splendid it will be to race with the sun; to dare the -sudden blizzard that might cut off our retreat, for one brief glimpse of -that Upper World we have grown to love with a passion akin to madness. -But even as we speak a shadow falls, and looking upward we see that a -gray moth-wing of cloud hides the moon. Surely it is a passing vapour, -the merest mist-breath exhaled by the languid night. But no! darker and -heavier it unrolls. Wraith shapes glide out from the black mass until -the stars are dead and the deep blue dome of heaven is shrouded by an -impenetrable pall. That night the heavy rain drops beat a tattoo on the -tent and the mournful pines weep the sorrow of ages. - -Undaunted we take up the trail, assuring ourselves that soon the fickle -weather will be fair again. Occasionally a patch of clear blue shows -through the broken flock of hurrying clouds and a wan sun ray steals -down for a moment to kiss the woods goodbye. The forests are already -drenched and each bough that strikes us pours upon us a little flood of -rain. The trees line up in somber walls and as the storm settles into a -steady downpour, between their dark fringes flows a narrow, ashen stream -of sky. Through the brooding shadow tamaracks kindle, silver poplars -huddle together with quivering aureoles of gold, and the austere dusk -beneath their boughs is lighted with yellow-leafed thimbleberry, glowing -like sunbeams. It seems as though the foliage of those receptive trees -and shrubs has absorbed the summer sun to give it forth again when the -world should be cloaked in shadow. So complete is the illusion that -oftentimes, as a shaft of light gleams through the tree tops, we cry -exultantly: - -"The sun is shining!" - -In another second we see that it is but the tamaracks burning like tall, -yellow candles through the autumnal gloom, shedding their blessed gift -of light to cheer us on our way. - -When we gain the lower Quartz Lake, a deep green sheet of water bordered -by wooded shores, the heavy clouds drag low and a rainbow arches the -lake. We halt, uncertain, raising our eyes questioningly to the heights -beyond that frown blackly through the tattered tapestry of the clouds. -The mountains are angry! Very reluctantly, sorrowfully, we turn to -retrace our steps, thinking of future seasons of sun and warmth and -other quests of the sublime that shall end in triumph. At each gust the -shearing wind despoils the silver poplars of their crowns until the -naked branches leap wildly in a fantastic dance of death. - -The changeling season, the faery-child of Nature has fled as -mysteriously as it came--fled like a flock of yellow butterflies into -some ethereal region to await its perennial resurrection. Dull Autumn -settles drab as a moth upon the saddened world and the light has died -from the mountains. - - - - -Transcriber's Notes: - -Simple typographical errors were corrected. - -Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant -preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed. - -This book uses both "leggins" and "leggings". - -Reference to page 90 in the List of Illustrations should be to page 116. - -Page 206: "complete, In Maximilian's" is printed with a comma in the -book and unchanged here. - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Trails Through Western Woods, by -Helen Fitzgerald Sanders - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRAILS THROUGH WESTERN WOODS *** - -***** This file should be named 42527.txt or 42527.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/5/2/42527/ - -Produced by Greg Bergquist, Charlie Howard, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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