diff options
Diffstat (limited to '43210-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 43210-0.txt | 3781 |
1 files changed, 3781 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/43210-0.txt b/43210-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d18b856 --- /dev/null +++ b/43210-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3781 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43210 *** + + The War-Trail Fort + + _Further Adventures of Thomas Fox and Pitamakan_ + + BY JAMES WILLARD SCHULTZ + + + WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY + GEORGE VARIAN + + BOSTON AND NEW YORK + HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY + The Riverside Press Cambridge + + COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY PERRY MASON COMPANY + COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY JAMES WILLARD SCHULTZ + + ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + + + + +[Illustration: WE SAW HIM STOOP OVER THE FALLEN MAN, THEN RISE WITH A +BOW AND A SHIELD THAT HE WAVED ALOFT] + + + + +Contents + + + I. A COMPANY DISSOLVES AND A NEW VENTURE STARTS 1 + + II. A HOSTILE TRIBE LEAVES FOOTPRINTS 22 + + III. FAR THUNDER RIDS THE PLAINS OF A RASCAL 41 + + IV. THE STEAMBOAT REFUSES TO STOP 61 + + V. TWO CROWS RAISE THEIR RIGHT HANDS 79 + + VI. ABBOTT FIRES INTO A CLUMP OF SAGEBRUSH 99 + + VII. LAME WOLF PRAYS TO HIS RAVEN 119 + + VIII. THE MANDANS SING THEIR VICTORY SONG 139 + + IX. BIG LAKE CALLS A COUNCIL 158 + + X. THE RIVER TAKES ITS TOLL 174 + + + + +Illustrations + + + WE SAW HIM STOOP OVER THE FALLEN MAN, THEN RISE + WITH A BOW AND A SHIELD THAT HE WAVED ALOFT _Frontispiece_ + + WE FOUND THE TRACKS OF THEIR BARE FEET IN THE MUD 40 + + AT LAST WE HAD ALL THE HORSES IN LEAD AND WITH + FAST-BEATING HEARTS ... STARTED TOWARD THE RIVER 102 + + AWAY WE WENT, LEAVING BEHIND US MORE THAN THREE + HUNDRED FINE HORSES 178 + + + + +The War-Trail Fort + + + + +CHAPTER I + +A COMPANY DISSOLVES AND A NEW VENTURE STARTS + + +One of the most vivid impressions of my youth is of a certain evening in +the spring of 1865. It was the evening of May 21. Just before sundown +the first steamboat of the season, the Yellowstone II, arrived from St. +Louis and brought the astounding news that the American Fur Company was +going out of business and was selling its various trading-posts, forts +and stocks of goods, good-will and all, to private individuals. + +To most of us in Fort Benton, factor, clerks, artisans, voyageurs, +trappers and hunters, it was as if the world were coming to an end. The +company--by which we meant the Chouteaus, father and sons--was the +beginning and the end of our existence. We revered the very name of it; +we were faithful to it and ready to die for it if need be. Now we were +left to shift for ourselves. What were we to do? + +Boylike, I had gone aboard the boat as soon as it landed and had passed +an hour in wandering about it from end to end and from hold to +pilot-house. Up in the pilot-house I found Joe La Barge, the most famous +and trusted of the Missouri River pilots. + +"Well, Master Thomas Fox," he said to me, "it is bad news that we have +brought you, isn't it? What is your Uncle Wesley going to do, I wonder, +now that the company is selling out?" + +"The company is selling out? What do you mean?" I faltered. + +He told me, and I turned from him instantly and ran ashore. I sprang +through the stockade gate of the fort and paused, struck by something +unfamiliar there in the great court: it was the strange silence. The +voyageurs, the trappers and hunters, most voluble of men, were sitting +in the doorways of their quarters and saying never a word; the terrible +news had tongue-tied them. I had been hurrying to my uncle's quarters to +ask the truth of what the pilot had told me; but the dejected attitude +of the employees was proof enough that the news was true. + +A tall, lean voyageur rushed by me to the center of the court and raised +his outstretched hands to the sky. "My frien's," he cried, "dis ees mos' +unjust! Dis ees one terrible calamitee! I call le bon Dieu to weetness +dat eet is but two summer ago, een St. Louis, dat Pierre Chouteau, he +say to me, 'Louis, you are ze bon cordelier! You are serve us mos' +faithful dese many year! W'en de time come dat you can no longer pull +eet de cordelle, de company, he shall give you a pension; een your hold +hage you shall be mos' comfortable!' + +"An' now, my frien's, ze great company, he ees dead! Ze pension pour le +pauvre Louis, eet is not!" he went on in an increasingly frenzied +shriek. "My frien's, I am hask you, w'at am I to do? I am fear ze Pieds +Noirs; ze Gros Ventres; ze Assiniboins! I no can trap ze beav'! I no +can hunt ze buf'! Eet ees zat I mus' die!" + +He turned and with wild gestures fled from the court. His listeners +slumped even more dejectedly into their lowly seats. I went on to my +uncle's quarters and found two of the clerks, George Steell and Matthew +Carroll, sitting with my uncle, and his wife, Tsistsaki,--true mother to +me,--at his shoulder. I sat down upon my cot in a corner of the room and +listened to their conversation and gathered that the Chouteaus had +written to the three men, offering to sell them the fort and its +contents upon most reasonable terms, and that my uncle had declined to +enter into partnership with the two in purchasing the place and carrying +on the business. At that, like poor Louis, the voyageur, I, too, was +dismayed. "What, then, are we to do?" I asked myself. + +The two visitors expressed great regret at my uncle's decision, said +that they feared he would soon find that he had made a mistake, and went +out. As soon as the door closed behind them, my uncle sprang from his +seat, whirled Tsistsaki round three or four times, made a pass at me, +and cried, "Well, my woman, well, Thomas, this is my great day! I am no +longer under obligations to the company--there is no more company. I am +free! Free to be what I have long wanted to be, an independent, lone +Indian trader!" + +Tsistsaki thoroughly understood English but never spoke it for fear that +she would make a mistake and be laughed at. In her own language she +cried, "Oh, my man! Do you mean that? Are we to leave this place and +with my people follow the buffalo?" + +"Something like that," he told her. + +"O good! Good!" I all but shouted. "That means that I shall have no end +of good times riding about and hunting with Pitamakan!" + +He, you know, was my true-and-tried chum. Young though we were, we had +experienced some wild adventures. We two had passed a winter in the +depths of the Rockies; we had been to the shore of the Western Sea and +back; and we had seen the great deserts and the strange peoples of the +always-summer land. It was in my mind, now, that this sudden turn in the +affairs of my uncle was to be the cause of more adventures for us. I +could fairly scent them. + +As to Tsistsaki, she went almost crazy with joy. "The gods are good to +us!" she cried. "They have answered my prayers! Oh, how I have begged +them, my man, to turn your steps to the wide plains and the mountains of +our great hunting-ground! It is not good for us, you know, to live shut +within these walls winter after winter and summer after summer, seeing +no farther than the slopes and the cutbanks of this river bottom. To be +well and happy we must do some roaming now and then and live as Old Man, +our Maker, intended us to live, in airy buffalo-leather lodges, and +close upon the breast of our mother [the earth]. Tell me, now, where we +are going and when, so that I may have all our things packed." + +"I cannot tell you that until I have talked with the chiefs. I am going +now to counsel with them, for the steamboat starts back for St. Louis +very early in the morning, and upon the decision of the chiefs depends +the size of the trade-goods orders that I shall send down with the +captain." + +"We shall go over to camp with you!" Tsistsaki declared. + +My uncle told me to order the stableman, Bissette, to saddle three +horses for us. Within fifteen minutes we were heading for the valley of +the Teton, five miles to the north, where more than ten thousand Indians +were waiting to trade their winter take of robes and furs for the goods +that the steamboats were to bring to us. All the North Blackfeet and the +Bloods and the Gros Ventres were there, and our own people, the Pikuni, +the southern, or Montana, branch, of the great Blackfoot Confederacy. We +called the Pikuni "our people," because nearly all of our company men in +Fort Benton were married to women of that tribe. + +What a thunder of sound struck our ears as we arrived at the edge of the +valley slope and looked down into it! It was all aglow with fires +shining yellow through the buffalo-leather lodge skins. Drums were +booming; people were singing, laughing, and dancing; children were +shouting; horses were impatiently whinnying for their mates; and dogs +were howling defiance to their wild kin of the plains, the deep-voiced +wolves and shrill-yelping coyotes. We paused but a moment, listening to +it all, and hurried on down to the camp of the Pikuni and the lodge of +White Wolf, chief of the Small Robes Clan, brother of Tsistsaki and +father of my chum, Pitamakan--Running Eagle. + +Tethering our horses to some brush, we went inside and were made +welcome, my uncle taking the honor seat at the right of the chief. In as +few words as possible my uncle explained why we had come and the need +for hurry, and White Wolf at once sent messengers up and down the valley +to ask the different tribal head chiefs to come to his lodge for a +council with Pi-oh' Sis-tsi-kum--Far Thunder--as my uncle had been most +honorably renamed at the medicine-lodge ceremonials of the previous +summer. Within an hour they had all arrived, Big Lake of the Pikuni, +Crow Foot of the North Blackfeet, Calf Shirt of the Bloods, and Lone +Bull of the Gros Ventres, and with them came some of their +under-chiefs--clan chiefs and chiefs of the various branches of the All +Friends Society. The lodge became so crowded with them that the women +and children were obliged to retire to other lodges. + +"Well, Far Thunder," Big Lake said to my uncle, when all were seated and +the pipe was going the round of the circle, "we were all busy directing +our women in the packing of our robes and furs for to-morrow's trade, +for we had been told of the arrival of the fire boat; but when you +called we came. Speak; our ears await your words!" + +My uncle had a wonderful command of the Blackfoot language. Briefly in +well-chosen words he told them that the great company was winding up its +affairs. He explained that Steell and Carroll would take over the +company fort and the business, and then said that he himself had decided +to enter into close trade relations with them, especially to keep them +supplied with goods and ammunition during their winter hunts; he asked +them to decide at once where they would pass the coming winter, for upon +their decision depended the size of the order for goods that must be +sent on the fire boat, which was to return down-river in the morning. +Loud clapping of hands and cries of approval answered this last +statement, and then Crow Foot, the greatest chief, perhaps, of the +confederacy, said, "Far Thunder, brother! Your offer to winter-trade +with us is the best news we have ever had. No more will our young men be +obliged to make long and dangerous journeys through winter snows and +killing blizzards to the fort across from here for fresh supplies of +powder and balls, and other things. No longer will our hunters be +obliged to sit idle in their lodges. Brother, I think we may safely +leave the choice of our coming winter-hunting country to you!" + +"Ai! Ai! Far Thunder, brother, the words of Crow Foot are our words!" +cried some of the chiefs. And others said, "Yes, Far Thunder, be yours +the choice!" + +"I thank you for your generosity," my uncle replied. "Brothers, I choose +a part of our country that is black with buffalo; whose wooded valleys +shelter countless elk and deer. In its very center will I build my +trade-house. Brothers, before the Moon of Falling Leaves is ended you +shall see it standing, full of goods, at the mouth of On-the-Other-Side +Bear River!" + +"Ha! At the mouth of the Musselshell, where the steamboats will unload +the trade goods almost at our doors!" I said to myself. + +"No! No! I protest! Not there, brothers!" cried Lone Bull, the Gros +Ventre chief. "That is too dangerous a country! Last winter, during all +its moons, the Assiniboins were encamped in its northern part, the +valley of Little River [Milk River on the maps. So named by Lewis and +Clark], and the Crows were at the same time camping in the valley of +On-the-Other-Side Bear River, where they will doubtless hunt again this +coming winter!" + +"Ha! All the more reason that we should winter there!" cried Big Lake. +"We have too long neglected that part of our country. It is our plain +duty to go down there and clean it of our enemies and keep it clean of +them. If we fail to do so, they will be soon claiming it their very own, +the gift of their gods to them." + +"Right you are, brother," cried Crow Foot, "and wise is Far Thunder! He +could not have made a better choosing. What say you all? Is it decided +that we winter down there?" + +"Yes! Yes!" they all answered--all but Lone Bull and his under-chiefs. + +"You still object to the choice?" said Big Lake to him. + +"I do, though I shall be there with you. My silence now is my warning to +you all that you are making a mistake for which we shall pay dearly with +our blood!" he answered. + +"Ha! Since when were we afraid of our enemies!" Calf Shirt exclaimed. + +So was that matter settled. White Wolf knocked the ashes from the smoke +pipe, and the chiefs filed out of the lodge to go their homeward ways. +As the women returned, I said to my chum, "Pitamakan, almost-brother, we +are certainly going to see some exciting, perhaps dangerous times down +in that On-the-Other-Side Bear River country!" + +"Excitement, danger, they make life," he answered. + +Tsistsaki, coming in, heard my remark. She turned to my uncle. "So, man +mine, we go to the On-the-Other-Side Bear River country, do we? Yes? Oh, +I am glad! Down there grow plenty of plums. I shall gather quantities of +them for our winter use!" + +We went out, mounted our horses, and hurried home and to bed. That is, +Tsistsaki and I did; my uncle worked all night, writing out his +trade-goods orders. The steamboat men worked all night, too, unloading +freight for the fort, and when I awoke in the morning the boat had left +with its load of company furs. + +When we were eating breakfast, my uncle said to us, "Well, woman, well, +youngster, we start upon a new trail now, a trail of my own making, and +I feel that it is going to be a trail easy and worth blazing. All that I +have in the world, about twenty thousand dollars, I am putting into the +venture, and on top of that I am asking for more than ten thousand +dollars' worth of goods on a year's time. Thomas, we have just got to +pay that bill when it comes due, fourteen months from now, or Wesley +Fox's name will become a byword in St. Louis." + +"We shall pay it, sir," I said. + +"Absolutely, we shall pay it, if I have to beg robes and beaver skins +from my people to make up the amount!" Tsistsaki declared. + +Looking back at it after all these years, I see that the dissolution of +the American Fur Company was an historical event. Its founders and its +later owners, the Chouteaus, had been the first to profit by the +discoveries of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and year by year they had +built a string of trading-posts along the Missouri, which did an +enormous business in trading with the various tribes of Indians for +their buffalo robes and beaver and other furs. But little by little the +richness and vastness of the Missouri River country became known to the +outside world; first came various opposition fur-traders, then settlers +upon the rich bottom lands of the river. + +Before the settlers the Indians and the buffaloes fled, and the income +of the company correspondingly decreased. The Chouteaus simply could not +brook opposition, or trade with penny-saving settlers, profitable as +that might have been; so in this year of 1865 they went out of business. +At the time only two of the company posts, Fort Union, at the mouth of +the Yellowstone, and Fort Benton were in what may be termed still virgin +country; that is, country still rich in buffaloes and fur animals and +controlled by various powerful tribes of Indians. It was fear of the +Indians that kept the settlers back. + +We were to embark for the mouth of the Musselshell upon the next +steamboat that arrived, and my uncle was very busy getting together our +necessary equipment and engaging the help that we should need. I helped +him as much as I could, but found time to ride over to the camp on the +Teton and ask Pitamakan to go down-river with us. His father objected to +his going, on the ground that he was needed in camp to herd the large +band of horses that belonged to the family, and in which I had then +about forty head, my very own horses. But finally a youth was found to +take his place, and Pitamakan was free to come with us. On the last day +of May the second steamboat of the season tied up at the river-bank in +front of the fort, and in the afternoon of the following day we went +aboard it with our outfit and were off upon our new adventure. The +outfit comprised ten engagés, all of them with their wives, women of the +Pikuni, several of whom had children; six work-horses and two heavy +wagons; three ordinary saddle-horses, property of the engagés, and three +fast buffalo-runners, one of which was Is-spai-u, the Spaniard, the most +noted, the most valuable buffalo-horse in all the Northwest; eleven +Indian lodges, one to each family; tools of all kinds; some provisions; +a six-pounder cannon with a few balls and plenty of grapeshot; and of +course our own personal weapons. + +The women were tremendously excited over their first ride in a +steamboat; they marveled at the swiftness with which it sped down the +river and cried out in terror every time the boilers let off their +surplus steam with a loud roaring. Soon after passing the mouth of the +Shonkin, a few miles below the fort, we sighted buffaloes, and from +there on to our destination we were never out of sight of them grazing +in the bottom lands, filing down the precipitous sides of the valley to +water and climbing out to graze upon the wide plains. + +Other kinds of game were also constantly in sight, elk, white-tailed +deer and mule deer, antelopes, bighorns upon the cliffs, wolves and +coyotes, and now and then a grizzly. + +All too quickly we sped down the river, which is swift and narrow here, +and at night tied up at the mouth of Cow Creek, where twelve years +later a small party of us from Fort Benton were to fight the Nez Percés, +just before General Miles rounded them up. This was the Middle +Creek--Stahk-tsi-ki-e-tuk-tai--of the Blackfeet, so named because it +rises in the depression between the Bear Paw and the Little Rocky +Mountains. + +Shortly before noon the next day the boat landed us and our outfit at +the mouth of the Musselshell River. There was a fine grove of +cottonwoods bordering the stream, but we had no thought of taking +advantage of its cool, shady shelter. Instead we put up our lodges in +the open bottom on the west side of the Musselshell, about three hundred +yards from it and something like fifty yards back from the shore of the +Missouri. My uncle declared that we had too many of them and made one +lodge suffice for three families. We therefore put up four lodges, as +closely together as possible, and cut and hauled logs for a barrier +round them. We completed the barrier that evening and felt that we were +fairly well protected from the attacks of war parties. As Pitamakan +truly said, we were camped right upon one of the greatest war trails in +the country. Crows, Cheyennes, and Arapahoes going north, and +Assiniboins, Crees, and Yanktonnais going south, here came to cross the +Missouri upon the wide and shallow ford just below the mouth of the +Musselshell. Had my uncle been unable to buy the six-pounder cannon from +Carroll and Steell, I doubt whether he would have ventured to build a +post at this place. We felt that "thunder mouth" would be of as much +service to us in a fight with a war party as fifty experienced plainsmen +would be, could they be obtained. The Indians were terribly afraid of +cannon, not so much because of the execution they did, I have often +thought, as because of the tremendous roar of their discharge. To the +mind of the red man it was too much like the fearful reverberations of +their dread thunder bird, wanton slayer of men and animals, shatterer of +trees and of the very rocks of the mountains. + +Taking no chances with our horses, we picketed them that evening with +long ropes close to our barricade, and at bedtime Pitamakan and I went +out and slept in their midst; but nothing happened to disturb our rest. +At daylight we arose and turned the work-horses loose to graze near by +until we needed them. The day broke clear and warm. Up in the pine-clad +bad-land breaks that formed the east side of the Musselshell Valley we +could see numerous bands of buffaloes, and there were more in the valley +itself and in the bottom of the Missouri directly across from us. +Hundreds of antelopes were with the buffaloes, and elk and deer were +moving about in the edge of the timber bordering the smaller stream. We +went over to the Musselshell and bathed, and then heard Tsistsaki +calling us to come and eat. + +"Now, then, you youngsters," my uncle said to us when we were seated, +"the engagés have their instructions, and here are yours. You are not to +lift a hand toward the building of this fort, for I have three other +uses for you. You are to take good care of the horses, keep the camp +well supplied with meat, and be ever on the lookout for war parties." + +"Easy enough!" Pitamakan exclaimed. "With so little to do, I see us +growing fat, and with fat comes laziness. I see this camp going hungry +before many moons have passed." + +"You needn't joke," said my uncle, very seriously. "This is no joking +matter. Upon the alertness and watchfulness of you two depend our lives +and the success of this undertaking!" + +"I take shame to myself," Pitamakan said. "As you say, this is important +work that you charge us with. If trouble comes, it shall be through no +fault of ours!" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A HOSTILE TRIBE LEAVES FOOTPRINTS + + +By the time Pitamakan and I had finished breakfast the engagés had +hitched up the teams and gone to cut logs, and my uncle was marking out +the site for the fort on level ground just behind our barricade. He had +drawn the plan for it while we were coming down the river. It was to be +in the form of a square. The south, west, and north sides were each to +be formed by the walls of a building eighty feet long, twenty feet wide, +nine feet high. The roof was to be of poles heavily covered with +well-packed earth. At the southwest and northeast corners there were to +be bastions with portholes for the cannon and for rifles. The east side +of the square was to be a high stockade of logs with a strong gate in +it. + +Leaving my uncle at his work, Pitamakan and I watered the saddle-horses +and then, saddling two, rode out after meat. We could, of course, have +gone into the timber just above the log-cutters and killed some deer or +elk, but we wanted first to explore the valley. Here and there were +narrow groves of timber with growths of willows between them; and again +long stretches where the grass grew to the very edge of the banks. + +We carefully examined the dusty game trails and every sandbar and mud +slope of the river for signs of man, but not a single moccasin track did +we see. That was no proof, however, that war parties had not recently +passed up or down the valley. Instead of following the course of the +river, they were far more likely to keep well up in the breaks on the +east side of the valley, from which they could constantly see far up and +down it. + +I was not very keen for hunting that morning, because I was worrying +about my uncle's charge to us. "Almost-brother," I said presently as I +brought my horse to a stand, "the load that Far Thunder has put upon us +is too heavy for our backs. Look, now, at this great country; this brush +and timber-bordered stream; those deep, pine-clad bad-land breaks; the +great plain to the west, seamed with coulees; the heavily timbered +valley of the Big River. We cannot possibly watch it all. We have not +the eyes of the gods to see right through the trees and brush and +discover what they conceal. Watch as we may, a war party can easily come +right down to the mouth of this stream and attack the log-cutters or +charge our barricade, and we never know of their approach until we hear +their shots and yells!" + +"What you say is plain truth!" Pitamakan exclaimed. "But well you know +that Far Thunder is a wise chief. He does not expect us to do the +impossible; his heavy talk was just to make us as watchful and careful +as we possibly can be. But come, we waste time. We have to provide meat +for the middle-of-the-day eating!" + +"All right, we go," I answered, "but I am uneasy. When we return to camp +I shall say a few words to Far Thunder." + +Not far ahead a band of a hundred and more buffaloes were filing down a +sharp, bare ridge of the bad lands to water. Under cover of the brush +we rode to the point they would strike and awaited their coming. They +were thirsty; the big cow in front was stepping faster and faster as she +neared the foot of the slope; then, scenting the water, she broke into a +lope. The whole band came thundering after her, raising a cloud of fine, +light dust. + +We let our eager horses go when the buffaloes were about fifty yards +from us. Pitamakan shot down the old lead cow, and I a fat two-year-old +bull; then what a scattering there was! + +Drawing my six-shooter, I turned my horse after another two-year-old +bull and gained upon it, but just as I was about to fire it sprang +sharply round and dodged back past me. My horse turned, too, with a +suddenness that all but unseated me. He had the bit in his teeth. I +could not have checked him if I would, and he was determined that the +bull should not escape. Nor did it. I overtook and downed it after a +chase of several hundred yards, but was then, of course, out of the run. +Away up the flat Pitamakan was still in the thick of the fleeing band. I +saw him shoot twice, and then he, too, came to a stand. In all we had +shot six fine animals, meat enough to last our camp for some time. We +carefully butchered them all, cutting the carcasses into portions that +could be easily loaded into the wagon that would come for them, and +then, packing upon our horses several sets of the boss ribs for dinner, +we started back. + +The day was now very hot; so we rode in the shade of the timber +bordering the stream and in a short time entered the big grove at the +mouth of it. We could plainly hear the incessant thudding of axes and +the crash of the big cottonwood as it struck the ground. I told +Pitamakan that the men were working like beavers, and then he laughed. +It was a simile quite new to him. + +There was here dense underbrush, much of which was higher than our heads +and penetrable only by the well-worn zigzag trails of game. We were +following what seemed to be the most direct of the trails and were now +so near the choppers that we could plainly hear several of them talking, +but still, owing to the dense, high brush, we were unable to see any of +them. Then suddenly, right in front of us, a shot rang out; and in +answer to it, Pitamakan brought his rifle to his shoulder and fired at +something that I could dimly see tearing away from us through a thick +growth of rosebushes. "Enemies! My horse is hit! Look out!" + +Simultaneously we heard a piercing shriek of pain and fear, the +well-known voice of Louis, the cordelier, he who had bewailed the death +of the company and the loss of his promised pension. "Help! Help! I am +shot! I die! Help, messieurs! Ze enemy, he comes, tousans of heem!" + +I grasped the situation at once and, fearing that others of the choppers +would mistake us for enemies, dashed on past Pitamakan, shouting, "Don't +shoot! It is we! Don't shoot!" I cleared the high brush just as the +roused men were gathering in a circle about Louis, who was still wildly +shrieking for help. + +"Now, what is all this about?" cried my uncle as he came running up to +the group. + +"I am shot! Me, I die!" Louis cried. + +"He thought us enemies. He fired at Pitamakan and got shot himself," I +explained. + +"Let us see the wound," my uncle demanded. + +"No use! I die!" + +"Throw him down, men, throw him down! We'll see how badly he is hurt!" +my uncle ordered; and down he went. + +"Huh! Just as I thought! Nothing but a bullet scratch! Get up, you crazy +scamp! Get up! Go to the river and wash yourself, and then come back to +work!" said my uncle disgustedly. + +"Where is his rifle?" some one asked. + +"Dropped right where he fired it," I hazarded; and there it was found. + +"Wal, now, me, I call Louis's hittin' that hoss a plumb miracle!" +exclaimed an American engagé, Illinois Joe, so called because he was +always talking about the glories of that State. "To my certain knowledge +that there is the fust time Louis ever come nigh hittin' what he aimed +to kill!" + +The men resumed their work, and my uncle went to the camp with us. We +unloaded the boss ribs and picketed our horses, Pitamakan rubbing some +marrow grease into the wound of his animal. I then told my uncle that I +thought that we could not possibly guard the men from sudden surprise by +the enemy. + +"You will do the best you can, and that is all I ask from you," he +answered. "From now on, one of the engagés shall stand guard while the +others work, and I will take a turn at it myself. You have meat up +there? Take a team and wagon and bring it in." + +We had the meat in camp by two o'clock; then my uncle advised us to ride +out upon discovery. As Pitamakan's runner would be of no service for +some time to come, I borrowed Is-spai-u and let him have my fast horse. +We could, of course, have ridden the scrub horses of the engagés, but +did not care to trust our lives to their slow running in case we should +be surprised by a war party. + +Is-spai-u was a horse with a history. Four summers before, in the spring +of 1861, a war party of seven of the Pikuni, led by One Horn, a noted +warrior and medicine man, had gone south on a raid with the avowed +intention never to turn back until they had penetrated far into the +always-summer land and taken fine horses from the Spanish settlers of +that country. That meant a journey southward on foot of all of fifteen +hundred miles and an absence from us of at least a year. They chose to +go on foot because they could thus most surely pass through that long +stretch of hostile country without being discovered by the enemy. + +Fifty--yes, a hundred--warriors begged One Horn to be allowed to join +his party, but he had had a dream in which the Seven Persons, as the +constellation of the Great Bear was called, had appeared and advised him +what to do, and he would take only six men. Each one of the six was a +man of proved valor and intelligence. + +The summer passed and the winter. One Horn and his party were to return +in the Moon of Full-Grown Leaves, but they came not. With the appearance +of the Berries-Ripe Moon they were long overdue, and some said that +without doubt their bones were whitening on the sands of the grassless +plains far to the south. Still, hoping against hope, the old medicine +man prayed on for them at setting of the sun, and all the people prayed +with him. + +It was in the Moon of Falling Leaves--October--that we in Fort Benton +noticed a lone horseman fording the river and wondered who he could be. +Then we saw that it was One Horn. He approached the gate, mournfully +calling over and over the names of his six companions; and we knew that +they were dead, and the women set up a great wailing for them. When he +rode slowly into the court we thought that we had never seen so thin and +careworn a man; he was just bones covered with wrinkled skin, and across +his breast was a tightly drawn bandage of what had evidently been his +buffalo-leather leggings. + +We were so painfully struck with his forlorn appearance that we did not +at first notice the horse he rode; but when he slipped from it and +staggered into the outstretched arms of the crying women, Antoine, the +stableman, stepped up to it to lead it away, and he cried out, "See, my +frien's, dis horse so beautiful!" We almost cried out with him. The +animal was shining black and in good flesh, clean-limbed, of powerful +build, gentle and proud. + +"A thoroughbred, if ever there was one!" said my uncle, who was standing +beside me. "Unquestionably of Andalusian stock!" + +Tsistsaki had One Horn carried into our quarters and a robe couch made +up for him. A woman brought in some soup hot from her hearth, but he +would take only a few sups of it. My uncle cut away the bandage round +his breast and disclosed a jagged wound several inches long, partly +healed, but badly discolored and suppurating at the lower end. + +"It was all healed over, then it got bad again," One Horn whispered. + +My uncle shook his head. "Mortification has set in; I fear there is no +hope for him," he said in English to Tsistsaki and me. + +Then he carefully washed the wound, medicated it, and put a clean, soft +bandage upon it. + +When the wounded man awoke that evening, my uncle asked him to tell us +his adventures on the long south trail. + +We thought that he was never going to answer, so long did he stare +straight up at the roof; but finally he said, so low that it was with +straining ears that we heard him: "Far Thunder, Tsistsaki! My words +shall be few. We went far into the country of the Spanish white men and +came upon a camp of plains people and in their herds of good horses saw +the horse that I rode here to-day. We raided that camp and took many +horses, among them the black, Is-spai-u, as I have named him. We got +safe away from that camp. But then--oh, my friends! through my fault my +companions died. I was in great hurry to get back here. I would not heed +the warnings of my dreams. I took chances. Through a rough country I led +my men in the daytime when I should have traveled at night. We were seen +by the enemy, but saw them not. They made ready for our coming and +suddenly rode out at us. My companions fought bravely, killed many and +were themselves killed. I was wounded, but because I was upon this +black horse I escaped. So swift was he that none of the enemy could +overtake me. At first my wound was very bad; then it got better, and I +took courage. I said to myself that I would return to this south country +with all the warriors of the Pikuni and avenge the death of my +companions. Then my wound got steadily worse. Far Thunder, my wound is +killing me. No, don't deny it; you know it as well as I do. From the +time you and I first met we have been friends. You have been good to me. +Now we part. This night I am going upon the long trail to the Sand +Hills. I give you the black horse. You must promise me always to keep +him. You promise? That is good! North and south, east and west, he is +the swiftest, the most tireless horse on all the plains. I know that you +will be good to him. I can talk no more." + +Nor did he ever speak again. He soon became unconscious and died before +midnight. + +Now, my Uncle Wesley was a great sportsman and loved more than anything +else the excitement of a buffalo run with a good horse under him, a bow +in his hand, and a quiver full of arrows at his back. "You can have your +rifle and your six-shooters for the chase," he would often say, "but the +bow for me. While you are fooling away time reloading your weapons, I +shall be slipping arrows into good, fat cows!" + +Several months after the death of One Horn, a herd of buffaloes drifted +into the upper end of the bottom and gave him a chance to try Is-spai-u. +Word spread that my uncle was going to run the buffaloes, and when he +rode out from the fort all the men followed him who had horses or could +borrow them. I shall not go into the details of that run, but will +simply say that when it ended twenty-seven buffaloes lay strung along +the plain with my uncle's arrows in them! It was the best run ever made +in the whole Northwest, so far as was known, and the success of it was +owing more to the swiftness and endurance of Is-spai-u than to the skill +of my uncle with the bow. The reputation of the black horse was +established. Through visiting Kootenay Indians it spread to all the +west-side tribes, the Kalispels, Nez Percés, and Snakes. When bands from +the Blackfoot tribes came into the fort at different times in order to +trade, the first request of the chiefs and warriors was for a sight of +the wonderful animal. + +In time our engagés took word of him to our different forts along the +river, and thus all the other tribes, Sioux, Assiniboins, Crows, Crees, +and Yanktonnais, came to know about him. Deputations from all the tribes +that were at peace with the Blackfeet came to the fort and made fabulous +offers for the animal. At the risk of their lives, some Snakes brought +in one hundred and ten good ordinary horses that they wanted to trade +for the black runner. A chief of the Yanktonnais, then trading mostly +with the Hudson's Bay Company at their Assiniboin River post, sent word +that he would give two hundred horses for him. My uncle's one answer to +all of the would-be purchasers was that the black was not for sale. We +soon heard that many a warrior of the tribes hostile to the Blackfeet +had vowed to get the horse in one way or another. Within a year three +desperate attempts were made to steal him right out from the fort, and +the last raiders, three Assiniboins, paid for the attempt with their +lives. + +On the evening before we left Fort Benton George Steell had begged my +uncle to leave Is-spai-u in his care. "You know how flies swarm about a +molasses keg. Well, so will the hostiles swarm about you down there when +they learn that the runner is with you. Be sensible for once, Wesley, +and let me have him until your fort is completed." + +"George, I know you mean well," my uncle replied, "but, consarn it, +you're too reckless! You would cripple him in no time. Is-spai-u goes +with me!" + +Half angry at that, Steell shrugged his shoulders and turned away from +us without another word. My uncle had been right in refusing him the use +of the animal; he was the most reckless, hard-riding buffalo hunter in +all the country. + +After this explanation, you can imagine my pride and happiness in +mounting Is-spai-u for the first time. He was eager to go; I let him +have the bit. + +"Well, almost-brother," I said to Pitamakan, "we are off upon discovery. +Which way shall we go?" + +"First, straight to the head of the breaks yonder, from which we can see +far up and down Big River and the plains to the north of it," he +answered. + +We passed through the grove in which the men were working, crossed the +Musselshell and began the steep climb, following a game trail that was +sure to keep us out of trouble in the maze of bad-land breaks ahead. Two +thirds of the way up the breaks we entered the lowermost of the +scrub-pine and juniper growths that concealed the heads of most of the +coulees, from which great numbers of mule deer and occasionally some +fine-looking elk fled at our approach. Within an hour we arrived at the +summit, and there in a dense grove found a war lodge that had been put +up not more than three nights before. By its size, and the signs within, +we judged that it had been the one night's resting-place of a party of +between fifteen and twenty men, and the pattern of the beadwork of a +pair of worn-out moccasins that we found partly charred in the fireplace +proved to us that they were Assiniboins. Circling the place, we found +their trail in the spongy, volcanic ash of which the bad lands are +mainly composed. They were going south, and I said to Pitamakan that +they would doubtless come back the same way from their raid against the +Crows, or whatever tribe they were heading for, and would, of course, +discover our camp. + +"Well, what else can you expect? I should not be astonished if some +enemies already have their eyes upon it," he answered. + +After watching for some time the valley of the Missouri and the great +plains to the north of it we turned south along the heads of the breaks +and traveled at a good pace for an hour or more along a rolling plain. +We then turned westward into the valley of the Musselshell and saw +across it the narrow and sparsely timbered valley of a small stream +putting in from the Moccasin Mountains, the eastern end of which, Black +Butte, seemed very near to us. I had read the journal of the Lewis and +Clark expedition many times, and so recognized that small and generally +dry watercourse by their description of it. + +The sun was near setting when we struck the small grove of timber at the +junction of the two streams, and there in a dusty game trail we found +the moccasined footprints of men--a war party, of course--traveling +north. We could not determine how recently they had passed, but upon +following the trail to the shore of the river we saw where they had sat +down to remove their moccasins and leggings, and we found the tracks of +their bare feet in the mud at the edge of the stream. In several of the +footprints the water was still muddy; in others the mud had settled. + +[Illustration: WE FOUND THE TRACKS OF THEIR BARE FEET IN THE MUD] + +"They have crossed here since we left the head of the breaks!" Pitamakan +exclaimed. + +"Yes!" I said. "We must get to camp with the news as fast as our horses +can carry us!" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +FAR THUNDER RIDS THE PLAINS OF A RASCAL + + +We crossed the river and rode up Sacajawea Creek to the valley. Then we +climbed to the rim of the plain and rode along it to camp. I had +constantly to hold in Is-spai-u so that Pitamakan, riding my fast +buffalo-runner, could keep up with me. It was dusk when we arrived in +camp. The women--some of them, not Tsistsaki, you may be sure--cried out +in alarm at the news that we had found the fresh trail of a war party +traveling down the valley, and Louis wailed, "Pauvre me! Pauvre me! I am +lose my pension; and now I shall be keeled by zese war parties! Oh, wat +a countree terrible ees zis!" + +"Oh, be still, Windy!" Sol Abbott growled at him. "You make us all +tired! Be a man!" + +Solomon Abbott, a lank, red-haired Missourian six feet two inches in +height, a famous plainsman and trapper and a brave and kindly fellow, +was our best man. He was helping in our work only because of his great +liking for my uncle. As soon as our post was built, he would again go +out with his woman upon his lone pursuit of the beaver. The Blackfeet +had affectionately named him Great Hider, because he was so crafty in +escaping from the enemy. He had had many thrilling escapes from the +Assiniboins, the Sioux, and the Crows, and had killed so many of them +that they had come to believe that he was proof against their arrows and +bullets. + +"Well, Sol," said my uncle to him now, "it is best to have the horses +right here in the barricade with us this night, don't you think?" + +"Sure thing! Right in here, and some of us on guard all night!" he +answered. + +Some of the men were sent to bring in the animals that were picketed +near by, and Tsistsaki called Pitamakan and me to eat. Abbott presently +came into our lodge, and my uncle and he decided upon the different +watches for the night. Pitamakan, my uncle, and I were to take our turn +at two o'clock and watch until daylight, about four o'clock, when the +horses were to be taken out to graze. A night in the stockade would be +no hardship to them, for the new grass was so luxuriant that they would +eat all that they could hold. + +Another point of discussion was whether the cannon should be loaded and +made ready for the expected attack. Pitamakan and I were asked how many +we thought there might be in the war party and replied that there were +between fifteen and twenty men, certainly not more than twenty-five. + +"Well, we'll load the cannon, because it should be loaded and kept +loaded and the touch-hole well protected from dampness," said my uncle, +"but we will not fire it at any small war party; our rifles can take +care of them. We will just keep the cannon cached, as a surprise when a +big war party comes." + +The lodge fires did not burn long that night. Pitamakan and I went to +sleep while our elders were still smoking and talking. + +Promptly on time Abbott came into our lodge and awakened us, and my +uncle, Pitamakan, and I were soon in our places at the edge of the +barricade. There was a piece of a moon, the stars were very bright, and +in the north there was a perceptible whitish glow in the sky, as if from +some far distant aurora playing upon the snow and ice of the +always-winter land. Pitamakan, coming and standing at my side, said that +Cold-Maker was dancing up there and making medicine for the attack upon +the sun that he would begin a few moons hence. + +"The old men, our wise ones, say," he went on, "that Cold-Maker may +sometime obtain what he is ever seeking, a medicine so powerful that it +will enable him to drive the sun far, far into the south and keep him +there. Think how terrible it would be! Our beautiful prairies and +mountains would become an always-winter land! The game, the trees and +brush and grasses, would all die off, and we, of course, should perish +with them!" + +"Don't you worry about that!" I told him. "Sun has a certain trail to +follow, and he is all-powerful. Let him make what medicine he may, old +Cold-Maker cannot halt his course!" + +"Ha! That is my thought, too. Wise though our old men are, they +certainly don't know all about what is going on up there in the sky!" + +Off to the south of us I heard my uncle mutter something about youthful +philosophers and then laugh quietly. + +From where we stood, with our shoulders and heads concealed by some +brush stuck into the barricade, we could see the black mass of the grove +and the silvery gleam of the river sweeping by it. The hush and quiet of +the night were almost unbroken; not even an owl was hooting. The only +sound that we could hear at all was the murmur of the river close under +the cutbank on our left. The Missouri is a deceptive river. Though its +heaving, eddying, swift flow is apparently without obstructions, yet it +has a voice--an insistent, deep, plaintive voice that rises and falls +and makes the listener imagine things; that seems to be trying to tell +all the strange scenes and changes it has witnessed down through the +countless ages of its being. + +"Do you hear it, the voice, the singing of the river? Isn't it +beautiful?" I said. + +"It is terrible, heart-chilling. What you hear is not the voice of the +river; it is the singing of the dread Under-Water People who live down +there in its depths and ever watch for a chance to drag us down to our +death!" + +My uncle slipped up behind us so quietly that we were startled. "You +youngsters quit talking; use your eyes instead of your mouths!" he +whispered, and stole back to his stand on the south side of the +enclosure. + +"We were and we are using our eyes, but maybe we were talking too loud; +we will whisper from now on," said Pitamakan. + +"Do you think that the war party discovered our camp last evening?" I +asked. + +"They were coming this way and had plenty of time before dark to arrive +in the grove down there where is all the chopping. No doubt they saw us +ride out of the valley and along its rim. Yes, almost-brother, you may +be sure that they have seen our camp. Will they try to break in here and +take our horses? Hide in the grove and attack the men when they go to +work? Go their way without attempting to trouble us? Ha! I wonder!" + +An hour passed, perhaps more; and then from the direction of the grove +we saw a dark form slowly approaching us; then came more forms, all upon +hands and knees, sneaking through the grass like so many wolves. + +Pitamakan nudged me with his elbow. "Don't shoot until they come quite +close," he whispered. I answered him by pressing his arm. + +Meantime my uncle had also discovered the enemy and now came to us, +crouching low and stepping noiselessly; he got between us and whispered: +"Aim at men at right and at left. I will shoot at a center man. Pull +trigger when I say _now_!" + +I selected my mark, the man at the extreme end of the line nearest the +river, and anxiously awaited the word to fire. I thought that my uncle +would never give it; the longer I aimed at my mark the worse my rifle +seemed to wabble; the bead sight made circles all round the outline of +the creeping man. At last, "Now!" or rather, "Kyi!" my uncle said and +pulled the trigger as he said it. The flash from his gun blinded me for +a moment, and I did not fire. But Pitamakan's rifle cracked, even a +little before my uncle fired, and we heard a groan and a sharp cry of +pain. My vision came back to me. I saw fifteen or twenty men running +from us, making for the grove. I fired at one of them, and missed. After +all my experience in shooting at night at the word of command, I had +been too slow! + +Right after I fired, the aroused men came running with weapons in hand, +and the women, crouching low within the lodges, hushed the children as +best they could. + +"What is up? What did you fire at? Where is the enemy?" the men cried, +crowding close to us. My uncle was hurriedly answering them when, from +down near the grove, ten or twelve guns spit fire at us, and we heard +several balls thud into the logs in front of us, and one ripped through +the leather skin of a lodge. We ducked, and the men returned the enemy +fire. + +"Well, Wesley, I call this downright mean of you!" Sol Abbott said to my +uncle reproachfully. "Why on earth didn't you let us in on this? Why +didn't you call me, anyhow? Pluggin' these here cut-throat night raiders +is my long suit, and you know it! Here you've had all the sport +yourself! 'Twasn't fair, by gum!" + +"Oh, well, they were but few. I knew that they would run as soon as we +fired. I didn't think it worth while to awaken you. I really believe +that I never gave you a thought." + +"You got one of them!" some one exclaimed. + +"Two! Two of them are lying out there in the grass," I said. I had had +my eyes upon them all the time I was reloading my rifle. + +"Perhaps they are not dead; we'll go out and soon finish them off," +Abbott proposed. + +"You shall not!" my uncle exclaimed. But he was too late; Pitamakan was +already over the barricade and running to the enemy that he had shot. We +saw him stoop over the fallen man, then rise with a bow and a shield +that he waved aloft with his free hand. + +"I count coup upon this enemy. I call upon you, Far Thunder, and you, +almost-brother, to witness that I take these weapons from this enemy +that I have killed!" + +"We hear you!" I answered. + +"Far Thunder," he called to my uncle, "come and take the weapons of your +kill!" + +My uncle laughed. "I am past all that," he began, but never finished +what he intended to say. + +"Far Thunder, my man," Tsistsaki interrupted, "think how proud of you I +shall be when those weapons out there are hung with the others that you +have taken upon the walls of the home that we are building here! As you +love me, go out and count your coup!" + +So, to please her, and, I doubt not, with no little pride in what he had +accomplished, my uncle went out to his fallen enemy and leaned over +him; then, with a flintlock gun in his hand, he suddenly straightened up +and cried, in the Blackfoot tongue, of course: + +"I call upon you all to witness that I killed this man! I count coup +upon one of our greatest enemies, a chief of the Assiniboins, Sliding +Beaver!" + +Oh, how we shouted when we heard that name! We could hardly believe our +ears. And Tsistsaki sprang over the barricade and ran toward my uncle, +crying, "Are you sure?" We all followed her and gathered round the +fallen man, forgetting in the excitement of the moment that we were +offering a large and compact mark to the guns of his followers. Day was +beginning to break, and we could see the man's features fairly well--the +massive, big-nosed, cruel-mouthed face, with the broad scar across the +forehead, mark of the lance of our chief, Big Lake. + +"He is Sliding Beaver and no other!" Sol Abbott cried. "Wesley, my old +friend, here's to you! You sure have rid these plains of the most +blood-thirsty rascal, the meanest, low-down murderer, that ever +traipsed across them." + +No fear of the enemy could now hold back the other women of our camp. +They came running to us with their children squawling after them, for +the moment forgotten. Crowding round my uncle, they chanted over and +over: + +"A great chief is Far Thunder! Oho! Aha! Our enemy he has killed! He has +killed Sliding Beaver, the cut-throat chief!" + +"Well, what shall we do with him--and the other one?" I asked. + +"Into the river they go!" Abbott answered. And in they went with big +splashes. As they sank, Pitamakan cried out, "Under-Water People! We +give to you these bodies! If you can injure them still more than we have +done, we pray you to do so!" + +It was now broad daylight. After the enemy had fired their lone, +long-range volley at us we heard no more from them, nor could we see +them; they were doubtless down in the grove. We returned to the +stockade, and my uncle told a couple of the men to take the horses out +to graze; but they did not go far out with them. The women hurried into +the lodges and began preparing breakfast, singing, many of them, the +song of victory. They were happy over the death of the dread Assiniboin +chief. We remained outside, watching the valley and counting up the +record of his terrible deeds, so far as we knew them. Trading entirely +with the Hudson's Bay Company in Canada, he had always been an enemy of +the American Fur Company and at various times had waylaid and killed +eight of its trappers. Pitamakan said that he had killed four men and +seven women of his tribe, and then recounted the well-known tale of his +fight with Big Lake. + +Leading about a hundred mounted warriors, Sliding Beaver had approached +a camp of the Pikuni and signaled that he had come to fight its chief. +The challenge was accepted, and presently Big Lake, armed with only a +lance, rode out to meet him. The Assiniboin was carrying a gun and a bow +and had no lance. + +"You proposed this fight, so you must use the weapons of my choice; go +get a lance from your warriors." + +Sliding Beaver rode back to them, left his gun and bow, borrowed a +lance, and, raising the Assiniboin war song in his terrible voice,--a +thunderous voice it was,--wheeled his horse about and rode straight at +Big Lake, who likewise charged at him. They neared each other at +tremendous speed, and Big Lake tried to force his horse right against +the other animal; but at the last Sliding Beaver turned the animal aside +and they swept past. They lunged out with their lances, and Big Lake +slightly wounded the Assiniboin in his shoulder, getting not even a +scratch in return. Then again they charged, and Big Lake, sure that his +enemy would not meet him fairly, swerved his horse to the right just as +the other was doing likewise, dodged Sliding Beaver's thrust, and with +his spear gave him a glancing blow on the forehead that laid open the +skin, but failed to pierce the bone. But Sliding Beaver reeled in his +saddle from the force of it, and a mighty shout went up from the +Pikuni, for they thought he would fall from his horse. + +He recovered his seat, however, and fled far, far out across the plain. +Big Lake, try as he would, could not overtake him. His followers fled as +soon as they saw that he was running away, and the Pikuni killed a +number of them. The victory was without question with Big Lake; he had +not only wounded Sliding Beaver in fair combat, but in the presence of a +hundred of his warriors had proved him to be a coward. + +"I'll bet he told his warriors he had broken his lance and had to flee, +and that he did break it against a rock before his men overtook him!" my +uncle exclaimed. + +Long afterwards we learned he had done that very thing. + +The women presently called us all to eat. We washed and went inside, and +Tsistsaki said to my uncle, "Chief, and chief-killer, be seated. Eat the +food of chiefs!" Setting before him a huge dish of boiled boss ribs and +a piece of berry pemmican as large as my two fists, she served +Pitamakan and me equally large portions of the rich food, and gave us +cups of strong coffee and slices of sour-dough bread. We ate with +tremendous appetite, having been up so long, but I could see that my +uncle was worried about something; I surmised what it was before he +said: "Well, Thomas, our troubles begin. Without doubt Sliding Beaver's +followers are cached down there in the grove. I dare not take the men to +work this morning." + +"What did he say?" Pitamakan asked Tsistsaki. She told him. + +"I can see no help for it," said my uncle; "the men must remain in camp +to-day, for those cut-throats are doubtless in the grove lying in wait." + +"Yes, and they may remain there more than one day; they may hold up our +work many days," Tsistsaki put in. + +Just then we heard a woman cry, "Oh, look! Look! The cut-throats are +going!" + +We all ran outside and looked where she was pointing. Below the mouth of +the Musselshell, the Missouri bent toward the south and swept the base +of a high, cut bluff. The enemy were ascending it, heading, apparently, +for the next bottom below. We counted seventeen men, about the number +that we thought there should be. + +"Ha! All is well!" my uncle cried. "Men, finish your breakfast and let +us get to work!" + +We went back to our lodge, and when Tsistsaki had poured us fresh coffee +Pitamakan said to my uncle: "Far Thunder, those cut-throats could have +sneaked away without our knowing it. I believe that they wanted us to +see them going. Why? Because they intend to sneak back, perhaps to-day, +maybe to-morrow, and surprise the men when they are working down there +in the timber." + +Abbott had come in. My uncle turned to him and said: "You heard what he +said. What do you think about it? What do you advise?" + +"Well, how would it do for Thomas and Pitamakan to go down and watch +that trail running over the bluff and on down the river, and for me to +watch the breaks of the Musselshell and its valley above the grove? +Then, if the cut-throats should come sneaking back, either the boys or I +would discover them in time to warn you and the men." + +"You have said it!" my uncle exclaimed. "You boys, take some +middle-of-the-day food, saddle your horses, and go watch that trail!" + +"Do I ride Is-spai-u?" I asked. + +"Not to-day. Ride the men's horses, you two. Any old plug is fast enough +to keep out of the way of a war party on foot." + +Pitamakan and I were not long in getting off. We rode down through the +head of the grove, crossed the Musselshell and went on, not upon the +trail that the enemy had followed, but above it along the steep bad-land +slope, until we could see the whole length of the trail from the +junction of the two rivers on down into the next bottom, where there was +a thin fringe of cottonwoods and willows. + +We got down from our horses, tethered them to some juniper-brush, and +scooped out comfortable sitting-places upon the steep slope. From where +we sat the lower end of the grove at the mouth of the Musselshell was in +sight, and well beyond it on the high ground that bordered the Missouri +was our barricaded camp. Looking again into the bottom below, we saw a +small bunch of bighorns, old rams apparently, heading down into its +lower end; going to drink at the river, of course. Bighorns were +plentiful then and for many years afterwards in all the Missouri +bad-land country. A fine early morning breeze was blowing down the +valley. I called Pitamakan's attention to it, and said that, if the +enemy were concealed in the timber, the bighorns would apprise us of the +fact. Bighorns leave their cliffs and steep slopes only when need of +water or of food compels them to do so. Those we were watching traveled +freely enough down the slope, but the moment they stepped out upon the +level bottom land they became timid, advancing but a few steps at a time +and pausing to sniff the air and stare in all directions. In this manner +they crossed the narrow bottom, descended the gravelly shore below the +end of the timber, and drank. We had proof enough that the Assiniboins +were not in the timber. + +"The gods are with us; they make the animals do scout work for us!" +Pitamakan exclaimed. + +"I am wholly of the opinion that the cut-throats are upon their homeward +way," I said, "and that they will return with a couple of hundred +warriors and try to wipe us out!" + +"Yes, sooner or later we are in for a fight with them. But something +tells me we are not yet through with Sliding Beaver's men." + +We sprang to our feet. The west wind brought plainly to our ears the +sound of shots and yells up in the big grove and the frightened cries of +women in our camp above it. + +"There! What did I tell you!" Pitamakan exclaimed. + +"How in the world could they have got back in there without our knowing +it?" I cried. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE STEAMBOAT REFUSES TO STOP + + +We ran to our horses, untethered and mounted them, and rode toward the +grove as fast as we could make them lope along the steep, soft slope. +The firing and yelling had ceased as suddenly as it had begun. I was +almost trembling with anxiety. Was it possible that the enemy by a +surprise attack had killed my uncle and all his men? Pitamakan, whose +horse was the faster of the two, was in the lead. I belabored mine with +heels and rope. When we quartered down to the river trail for the sake +of the better going, the rise of the bluff ahead of us cut off our view +of the grove and our camp. Then, as we neared the foot of the bluff, two +of the enemy appeared on top of it. + +"Our men are pursuing them! We've got them! Come on!" Pitamakan shouted +back to me. + +We were perhaps a hundred yards from the foot of the bluff, and on our +right, about the same distance off, was the cutbank of the river. We +rode on faster than ever and saw the two men crouch, one with ready bow +and the other with pointed gun. Then, as we arrived at the foot of the +slope, they suddenly sprang up and retreated out of our sight, and +Pitamakan yelled again to me, "We've got them! Come on!" + +Our horses panted up the slope, groaning and grunting their protests at +every whack of our ropes. We topped the rise, and Pitamakan's horse +shied at a couple of robes lying close to the trail. Beyond, a couple of +hundred yards away, we saw my uncle and his men running toward us; he +stopped at sight of us and signed, "Go out! They went down off the end +of the bluff!" + +We loped to the end of the bank and looked down. It was not a +perpendicular bluff; it sloped to the river at an angle of about eighty +degrees. Two fresh streaks in the dark and crumbling surface showed +where the cut-throats had slid down into the water. + +We looked out upon the swift-running river, but could not see the men. +Presently they appeared in the center fully three hundred yards +downstream, swimming swiftly and powerfully toward the far shore. We +sprang from our horses in order to take steady aim at them, but both +dived before we could fire. Holding our weapons ready, we watched +eagerly for them to reappear. But, incredible as it may seem, we never +saw them again until they emerged on the shore five hundred yards below. +They turned and waved their arms at us derisively, and then slowly +walked into the willows that lined the edge of the river. + +"Oh, how disappointed I am! When they turned back from us there at the +top of the rise, I was sure that I should soon count another coup," +Pitamakan lamented. + +We turned now to meet the men who were hurrying toward us and who were +almost winded by their steep climb. "Where are they?" my uncle gasped. + +"Across the river!" I answered. + +I happened to look off at our camp. "A rider is at the barricade," I +said. + +"Abbott, no doubt, quieting the women," said my uncle, and added in +Blackfoot so that Pitamakan would understand, "Well, they killed the +Curlew! Shot him in the back of the head, poor fellow!" + +"Poor Louis! His troubles are over," I said. I was sorry that we were +never again to hear him bewailing in his falsetto voice the loss of his +pension and his endless other worries. + +My uncle went on to explain to us just what had happened. The +Assiniboins had climbed out of the valley in plain view of us, leaving +two of their number, who were probably near relatives of Sliding Beaver, +to avenge the chief's death. Those two had lain concealed in the thick +willows at the upper end of the chopping. Arriving in the timber, all of +our men except Louis, who had gone farther up in the grove to trim and +cut into proper lengths a cottonwood that he had previously felled, had +begun loading logs on the wagons. Then a gun had boomed right behind +Louis; he had toppled over, dead, and the two cut-throats had rushed out +to scalp him. The men had fired and had driven them back into the +willows before they had accomplished their purpose, and they had run +toward the river trail with my uncle and some of his men after them. + +It was evident that the two had not seen or heard Pitamakan and me ride +past the head of the grove toward the river trail; we believed that it +had been planned to kill as many of our men in the grove as they could, +and to decoy us down the river, where we might be ambushed by the main +party. + +By the time we got back into the grove the men who had been left with +the teams had dug a grave for poor Louis, and one of them had been to +camp with the news of his passing. We buried him while his woman mourned +for him and the other women cried in sympathy. + +My uncle had the men knock off work early that afternoon so that the +horses should have ample time to eat before we brought them into the +stockade for the night. Then, while waiting for our evening meal, my +uncle, Abbott, Pitamakan, and I held a war council out by the +river-bank, where the men would not overhear our talk. They were a +timid lot, French engagés all of them, and we did not want them to +suspect how serious we thought our situation to be. + +"The older I grow the less sense I have! I should have known better than +to come down here with these few timid engagés to build a fort upon the +most traveled war trail in the country," said my uncle. "I should have +had ten--yes, twenty--more men. I shall send by the next up-river boat +for all the men that can be engaged in Fort Benton." + +"Yes, we are in a risky position," said Abbott. "This war party may be +right back at us to-night; they may keep hanging round until they get +more of us. If they have started home, they will be coming again as fast +as they can get here with a big war party. We do need a lot more men, +but I doubt whether even ten more can be engaged in Fort Benton." + +"Far Thunder! Almost-brother! Listen to me!" Pitamakan exclaimed. "Not +uselessly are we members of the Pikuni; we have but to let our people +know what danger we are in, and a hundred of them will come to help us +as fast as their horses can carry them. They are just two days' ride +from Fort Benton at their camp on Bear River. Send for them, Far +Thunder, and we will do our best to survive the dangers here until they +join us." + +"Ha! That is a life-saving plan you have in that good head of yours! I +will get a letter about it ready right away; a steamboat may turn the +bend down there at any moment! Carroll and Steell will lose no time in +getting a messenger off to camp for us!" + +"One more thing," Abbott interposed as my uncle rose to leave us. "If +those cut-throats are going to sneak back into the grove again to-night +and attack us, we have to know it. I propose that these two boys and I +stand watch down there until morning." + +My uncle agreed to that, and we went in to eat supper. + +At early dusk Abbott, Pitamakan, and I went down into the grove, +accompanied by all the men and women in a compact group. Then all the +others turned back to camp. If the enemy were watching us from the +breaks, they could not possibly count those who went to and from the +grove, and so learn that three of us were remaining in it. + +More than once during the night our hearts went thumpety-thump at the +approach of dim and shadowy objects, but the objects always proved to be +elk or deer. Pitamakan watched the river trail, I the breaks from the +middle edge of the grove; Abbott had his stand at the upper end. Along +toward morning I got a real scare when an animal that I thought was a +stray buffalo proved to be a big grizzly coming straight toward me. I +did not know what to do. If I ran, he would probably chase me; if I +fired at him, I might only wound him--it was too dark to shoot +accurately. I looked about for a tree small enough to climb, saw one, +and was on the point of running to it, when the bear turned off sharply +and I heard him slosh through the river. + +We maintained our watch until my uncle came down with the men in the +morning and stationed some of them to take our places. We thus had only +six men at work; at that rate we should be all summer and winter +building the fort! As we three were starting toward camp, my uncle told +us that Tsistsaki was to stand watch there over the picketed horses and +that we were to sleep as long as we could. + +At about four o'clock in the afternoon, Tsistsaki roused us from our +heavy sleep with the news that the smoke of a steamboat was in sight +down the river. Springing from our couches and running outside, we saw +the black column of smoke about two miles away, and I went down into the +grove to notify my uncle. He hurried back to camp with me and got ready +his letter to Carroll and Steell, and put it into a sack with a stone, +so that he could throw it aboard; then we all went out to the bank of +the river and waited for the boat to come in close at our hail. It +presently rounded the bend a mile or more below and headed up the center +of the broad, straight stretch. How interested I was in watching it, +this freighter from far St. Louis! It had left the city only thirty or +forty days before; what a lot we could learn of the news in the States +if we could have a chat with its crew! I said as much to Abbott, and he +exclaimed, "Oh, shucks! Who wants to know about the hide-bound, +cut-and-dried, two-penny affairs and doings in the States! Here is where +life is real life! Why, a fellow can get more excitement here in a day +than in a lifetime back there!" + +The steamboat came steadily on against the swift current, and as soon as +it had passed the bar below the mouth of the Musselshell we fired +several shots, and Pitamakan waved his blanket to attract the attention +of the captain and the pilot; but the boat never changed its course, and +after a few moments of anxious suspense my uncle exclaimed, "Is it +possible that the captain does not intend to come in to us? Fire a +couple more shots! Pitamakan, wave your blanket again." + +We fired, waved our blanket and arms, and shouted. The crew on the lower +deck and a few passengers on the hurricane deck came to the rail and +waved greeting to us, and the man standing beside the pilot, evidently +the captain, stuck his head out of the side window of the wheelhouse and +looked at us, but still the boat held its course well over toward the +farther shore; the captain intended to pay no attention to our signals. +That he should not do so was almost unbelievable! My uncle turned red +with anger. "The hounds! They are going to pass me! Me! A company man! +That captain shall smart for this! Can you make out the name?" + +I read the name on the wheelhouse. "It is the Pittsburgh," I told him. + +"Ha! That explains it," he said. "It is not a company boat. This is its +first trip up the river. The captain is sure a mean man; he will never +get any of my custom!" + +"But, Wesley, seems to me you've just got to get that letter aboard," +said Abbott. + +"Yes, I have to! It can be done, and it must! Thomas, Pitamakan, saddle +up, you two, chase that boat, and when it ties up for the night--" + +"I had better go with them, don't you think? There's no telling what +they may run up against," Abbott said to him. + +My uncle scratched his chin and frowned as he always did when perplexed, +and after some thought exclaimed, "Well, I can't let the three of you +go! The men down there in the timber are about as timid a set of sheep +as ever was. No, Abbott, you'll have to help me here, and the boys must +do the best they can." + +Pitamakan ran for the horses. I did not ask whether I were to ride +Is-spai-u; I just brought him in and put the saddle on him. Pitamakan +saddled my runner, for, as you know, his fast horse had had his shoulder +gashed by a bullet. My uncle handed me the letter and told us to be very +cautious, but to get it aboard the boat at any cost. Tsistsaki came +running out and handed us some sandwiches, and we were off. + +The Upper Missouri Valley is the worst country in all the West for the +rider. It is fine enough going in the wooded or grassy bottoms of +varying lengths, but between the bottoms are steep slopes and ridges +that break abruptly off into the winding river, and that are so seamed +with coulees, many of them with quicksand beds, that they are well-nigh +impassable. + +I did not intend that we should follow the valley until obliged to do +so. On leaving camp we rode on the plain and followed it from breakhead +to breakhead. Occasionally we got a glimpse of the valley far below and +of the smoke of the steamboat puffing its way up the river. We were soon +in the lead of it, for, while we were making seven or eight miles an +hour on a straight course, it was going no faster than that on a course +as crooked as the body of a writhing snake. From the time we topped the +rise above camp we were continually pushing into great herds of +buffaloes and antelopes. + +On and on we rode until the lowering sun warned us that we must keep +close track of the progress of the steamboat. We turned down a little +way into the breaks, looking for a well-worn game trail to follow, and +soon found one. I never went along one of those bad-land trails without +wondering how far back in the remote past it had been broken by a band +of thirsty buffaloes heading down from the plains to water. Since that +time how many, many thousands of them had traveled it! + +When part way down the long incline, and still all of two miles from the +river, we came to a sharp turn in the ridge, and from it saw the smoke +of the steamboat, not, as we had expected, somewhere down the river, but +all of three or four miles above the point where we should enter the +bottom. + +The sun had set, and the night was already stealing down into the +valley; the boat would soon be tied up. There was not a pilot on the +river that would venture to guide a steamboat up or down it even in the +light of a full moon, and this night there would be no moon until near +morning. + +"Almost-brother, we have some hard traveling to do!" I said. + +"We each have good legs. When our horses fail us, we will use them," +Pitamakan answered. + +The bottom that we were heading into proved to be all of a mile long, +and we traversed it and went over a rather easy point into the next +bottom before real night set in. We had starlight then, just enough +light to enable us to see in a rather uncertain way forty or fifty feet +ahead of our horses. Midway up the bottom we came to the first of our +troubles, a cut coulee that ran across it from the bad lands to the +river. We turned up along it almost to the slope of the valley before +Pitamakan, on foot and leading his horse, found a game trail that +crossed it. Presently we arrived at the point at the head of the bottom, +and could find no trail leading up it, in itself a bad sign. We both +dismounted and began the ascent. Our horses' feet sank deep into the +sun-baked, surface-glazed volcanic ash with a ripping, crunching sound +as if they were breaking through snow crust. Almost before we knew it we +found ourselves on a steep slope with a cut bluff above us and the +murmuring river below us. Our horses began to slip. + +"We shall have to make a quick run for it!" Pitamakan called back to me. + +The horses slipped and frantically pawed upward in a strenuous effort +to avoid plunging down into the river. We made it and, gasping for +breath, found ourselves upon the gently sloping ground of the next +bottom. + +"Almost we went into the river!" Pitamakan exclaimed. + +"Don't talk about it!" I replied. + +"The Under-Water People almost got us!" + +"Oh, do be quiet! Mount and lead on, or let me lead!" I cried. + +We went on up through that bottom, across a point, through another +bottom and over a very rough point seamed with coulees. In the next +bottom I called a halt. "The boat must be somewhere close ahead. We can +no longer travel outside the timber; from here on we have to see both +shores of the river--" + +"It will be impossible for us to see the far shore," Pitamakan broke in. + +"Of course. But the boat has lights burning all night long. We shall see +them," I explained. + +We mounted, and I took the lead into the timber close ahead. I let my +horse pick his way, reining him only sufficiently to keep him close to +the river and guiding myself by its sullen murmur. We groped our way +through the timber of that bottom and of another; then from the next +bare point we saw the lights of the boat some little distance up the +river against the blackness of the north shore. + +We rode through a belt of cottonwoods and some willows to the head of +the bottom and then out upon a sandy shore right opposite the boat. +White though it was, we could see nothing of it except its two lights, +and they were so faint that we knew the river was of great width. We +dismounted, and I told Pitamakan that I would fire my rifle to attract +the attention of the watchman, and then shout to him, as loudly as +possible, to send a small boat across for us. + +I fired the shot; it boomed loudly across the water and echoed sharply +against the other shore. "Ahoy, there! We want to come aboard!" I +shouted, waited for an answer, and got none. Again I shouted, with the +same result. + +"Now you fire your rifle!" I told Pitamakan. + +He fired it, and then we did get an answer. The flash of a dozen guns +for an instant illuminated the white paint of the boat, and with the +dull booming of them we heard several bullets strike in the trees behind +us! + + + + +CHAPTER V + +TWO CROWS RAISE THEIR RIGHT HANDS + + +We got back into the timber in no time. + +"The crazy ones! They think that we are enemies!" + +"Well," I said in answer to this dismayed exclamation of Pitamakan's, +"you know what we have to do now; swim across with our letter." + +"And be shot as soon as we are seen!" + +"Not a shot will be fired at us. I'll see to that. Come, let us picket +the horses outside the timber and hunt for a couple of dry logs for a +raft," I told him. + +Let me tell you that it was no fun blundering along that shore in the +darkness, testing the logs we stumbled against for their dryness and +trying to roll them into the water, always with the fear of feeling +rattlesnake fangs burn into our hands. At last we got two logs of fair +size into the water side by side and lashed them firmly together with +willow withes. Lashing our clothing and weapons on top of a pile of +brush in the center, we pushed out into the current--but not until +Pitamakan had called upon his gods to protect us from the dread +Under-Water People. He clung to the front end of the unwieldy logs with +one hand, pawed the water with the other, and kicked rapidly. I did +likewise at the rear of the raft, but for all our efforts we could make +the raft go toward the other shore little faster than the current would +take it. + +It was absolutely certain that the raft would not waterlog and sink +during the time that we had use for it, yet it was with feelings of +dread and suspense that we worked our way well out into the center of +the stream. Then Pitamakan suddenly yelled to me: "The Under-Water +People! They are after us! Kick hard! Hard!" + +"Oh, no! You are mistaken!" I told him. + +"I am sure that they are after us!" he cried. "I touched one of them +with my hand, and he hit me in my side. O sun, pity us! Help us to +survive this danger!" + +"Take courage! So long as we cling to the logs they can't drag us down," +I told him. + +"Oh, you don't understand about these Under-Water People! They can do +terrible things. They are medicine." + +He said no more, nor did I. It was useless for me to tell him that he +had encountered a big catfish or sturgeon swimming lazily near the +surface. + +From where we pushed out into the river to the point where we landed +must have been all of a mile. We dragged the raft out upon the sand as +far as we could in case we should want to use it again and then put on +our clothes and started off up the shore. In a little while, looking out +through the brush and timber, we saw the ghostly outline of the +steamboat close upon our left. Silently we stole to the edge of the +sloping bank and looked down upon it. A reflector lantern lighted the +lower deck and the boilers, flanked with cordwood, and there was a light +shining through the windows of the engine-room; but no one was in sight, +not even the watchman. I believed that a number of men were on guard +and did not intend to take any chances with them. I whispered to +Pitamakan that the time had not come for us to make our presence known, +and we sat down right where we were in the brush. + +Presently a big clock somewhere abaft the boilers struck the hour of +three, and a tall, lank, black-whiskered man came out into the light of +the lower deck and began to arouse men sitting or lying behind the rows +of cordwood. "It is three o'clock," I heard him snarl. "Git a move on +you! Light the fires under them boilers!" + +Three or four men sprang to obey the command, and another went up to the +hurricane deck to arouse the cook and his helpers. + +"Hi, there, mate, throw out the gangplank and let us aboard!" I shouted. + +Black whiskers jumped as if he had been shot and dodged behind a boiler; +the men crouched in the shelter of the cordwood. + +"Don't be afraid and don't shoot at us again. Let us aboard!" I said. + +"Who be you?" the mate shouted from his shelter. "Git down there into +the light and show yourself!" + +I told Pitamakan to remain where he was, and, going down to the edge of +the shore where the light streamed upon me, I explained that I was +Thomas Fox, that I had an Indian with me, and that I had a letter to +deliver into the captain's care. + +"Sounds fishy to me," the mate began; then from the upper deck a deep +voice called, "Slim, you let that boy and his friend on board! I know +him!" And to me, "Hello, Thomas, my boy! I'm dressing. Come up to my +room as soon as you get aboard and tell me all about it!" + +"That I will, Mr. Page," I answered. I knew as soon as he spoke that it +was Henry Page, long a pilot for the American Fur Company, and now, of +course, piloting boats for the independents. + +Out came the gangplank. I called to Pitamakan, and we went aboard and +straight up to Mr. Page, while the mate and his men stared after us. In +a few words I explained why we were there. + +"I knew," he said, "it was your Uncle Wesley and his outfit there at +the mouth of the Musselshell. I learned at Fort Union that he is +starting a fort there, but the captain wouldn't let me turn in when you +signaled. I'll bet you had a rough time coming up here and getting +across the river." Then he lowered his voice. "This captain--Wiggins is +his name--is the meanest steamboat man that ever headed up this river!" + +"Maybe he will not set us across the river, nor even deliver the +letter," I hazarded. + +"Give me the letter. I'll deliver it, and I'll put you across right +now," he replied, and led the way down to the lower deck and ordered a +boat put into the water. + +On our way across I explained to our good friend the danger we were in +from a grand attack upon us by the Assiniboins and how urgent it was +that the Pikuni should get our call for help without delay. + +"Well, I believe I have good news for you and your uncle," he said. "I +happened to hear in Fort Union that the Assiniboins are encamped over on +the Assiniboin River in Canada; so they are farther from the mouth of +the Musselshell than your Pikuni over on the Marias River are. I feel +sure that your friends will be with you in good time for the big battle, +if there is to be one." + +"In that letter to Carroll and Steell that you have my uncle also asks +them to send him any loose men that can be engaged in Fort Benton. I +hope that your captain will give them passage and land them at our +place." + +"He has to land passengers wherever they wish to go. I'll try, myself, +to engage some men for you," he replied. + +Then we struck the shore and with a few last words parted from our good +friend. + +"It wouldn't do any harm to have a short sleep before we start back," +said Pitamakan. + +"No sleep for me until I strike my couch in our lodge," I told him. + +By that time day was breaking. We went out through the timber to our +horses and found that we had picketed them upon really good grass and +plenty of it. We saddled them and watered them at the river, and as we +rode away from it the steamboat slipped her moorings and went on +upstream. + +Without adventure upon the way we arrived in camp at noon just as the +men were returning to it for their dinner. + +"Did you deliver the letter?" my uncle shouted eagerly. + +"We did!" I shouted. + +Later, while we were eating, I told the adventures of the night while +Pitamakan held Tsistsaki and the other women spellbound with his +description of the dangers that we had encountered. They made no comment +other than a casual "Kyai-yo!" when he told of the steamboat men's +firing at us, but his description of our swim and his encounter with the +Under-Water Person brought forth cries of horror. + +My listeners were loud in their denunciation of the steamboat captain. +My uncle vowed that the Pittsburgh should never carry a bale of his furs +to St. Louis or bring up freight for him. + +"Well, boys," my uncle said to the men as they were starting back to +work, "there's this much about it: help is sure coming to us. We'll just +peg along the best we can and trust to luck that all will be well with +us." + +Abbott was asleep, having been on guard all night. Pitamakan and I soon +lay down and slept. At supper-time we got up and had a refreshing bath +in the river, where Abbott joined us, and toward dusk we three went to +guard the grove during the night. My uncle arranged with the engagés to +stand watch in the barricade by turns, for he was completely worn out by +his day-and-night work and had to have one night of complete rest. + +The night passed quietly; when morning came we were all convinced that +Sliding Beaver's followers and survivors had gone on to their camp. +Nevertheless, we did not intend to relax our vigilance. + +According to my uncle's plan of the fort, three hundred and ten logs, +twenty feet long and a foot in diameter, were required for the walls and +the roof supports, and for the two bastions ninety logs twelve feet +long were required. Of that large number only a few more than a hundred +had been hauled out. With our present force we could not possibly build +the fort in less than three months. At Abbott's suggestion that he build +upon a much smaller scale, my uncle had replied, "No, sir! This place +calls for a real fort, a commodious fort. I am going to have it or none +at all." + +On that day Pitamakan and I slept until noon and after dinner saddled +Is-spai-u and my runner and rode out for meat, I, of course, upon the +black. + +There were plenty of buffaloes in the valley not more than a mile above +camp. Pitamakan and I rode down into the grove to notify my uncle to +have a man follow us with a team and wagon, for we intended to make a +quick killing. Sneaking through the timber close to a herd of buffaloes +and chasing them across the flat, we killed four fat ones. We hurriedly +butchered them and helped the engagés to load the meat upon the wagon; +then we remounted our horses. + +Off to the south lay country unknown to me. "Come! Let us ride out upon +discovery," I said to Pitamakan. + +"I knew that was in your mind by the way you used your knife on our +kills," he replied. + +We rode out upon the west rim of the valley, following it to the mouth +of the Sacajawea Creek, which we crossed, then again along the rim for +perhaps five miles to the top of a flat butte from which we had a +wonderful view of the country. Pitamakan pointed out to me where Flat +Willow Creek and Box Elder Creek, at the nearest point about forty miles +to the south of us, broke into the Musselshell from the Snowy Mountains. +Both streams, he said, were from their mouths to their heads just one +beaver pond after another. + +We had, of course, disturbed numerous bands of buffaloes and antelopes +along our way up the rim, and now, turning down into the valley of the +Musselshell on our homeward course, we alarmed more of them. + +"If any war parties are cached along here in the timber," said +Pitamakan, "these running herds are putting them upon their guard!" + +"Let us keep well out from the timber," I proposed. + +I had no more than spoken when two men came walking slowly out from a +grove about two hundred yards ahead of us, each with his right hand +raised above his head, the sign for peace. + +"Ha! Maybe they mean that, and maybe they are setting a trap for us; we +must be cautious," said Pitamakan. + +We advanced slowly until we were about a hundred yards from the +signalers and brought our horses to a stand. + +"Who are you?" I signed to them. + +One of them, dropping his bow and arrows, extended his arms and rapidly +raised and lowered them several times in imitation of the wings of a +bird, the sign for the Crow tribe. Then he waved his right hand above +his shoulder, the query sign that I had made. + +"We want nothing to do with them," Pitamakan said to me hurriedly. + +I signed that I was white. + +"The rider with you, who is he? Where are you camped? Let us be friends +and go together to your camp," the Crow signed. Then his companion +added, "Come, let us meet and sit and smoke a peace pipe. We are two, +you are two. It will be good for the four of us to be friends and +smoke." + +"What a lie! Now I am sure they want to trap us! Signing to us that they +are but two! Close behind them the timber is full of Crows!" Pitamakan +muttered. + +"What shall we do?" I asked him. "Cross the river, ride off beyond the +breaks, where they can't see us, and then turn homeward?" + +"It would be useless to do that. They are bound north and will see our +camp; we may as well make a straight ride to it." + +"Well, then, we go," I said and pressed a heel against Is-spai-u's side. + +Away we went, circling out from the grove; and our horses had not made +four jumps when a number of Crows--at least twenty, we thought--sprang +from the timber and discharged their few guns at us while the +bow-and-arrow men raised the Crow war cry and uselessly flourished their +weapons. Several of the bullets whizzed uncomfortably close to us. + +Pitamakan was about to return their fire when I checked him. "Don't +fire! We have enough trouble to face!" I cried. + +Our swift horses carried us out of their range before they could load +and fire their guns again. + +"More trouble for us, I'm sure!" my uncle exclaimed, as we halted our +sweating horses in front of the barricade just before sunset. + +"Yes, a war party of twenty or twenty-five Crows fired at us. They seem +to be heading this way," I replied, and told him and the men all about +our meeting them, while Pitamakan answered the women's questions. + +When I had finished, the engagés, Abbott excepted, of course, wore +pretty long faces. They all went into Henri Robarre's lodge as we, with +Abbott, answered Tsistsaki's call to supper. + +We had barely finished eating, when Robarre came to the door of our +lodge and asked my uncle to step outside. We all went out and found the +men lined up near the passageway in the barricade. + +"Huh! Still more trouble!" my uncle muttered. Then to them he said, +"Well, my men, what is it?" + +They looked at one another and at us hesitatingly, and several of them +nudged Henri Robarre. After much urging he stepped forward and said to +my uncle: + +"Sare, M'sieu' Reynard! We hare mos' respec' hask dat we have hour +discharge. Dat we hembark for Fort Benton on ze firs' boat dat weel take +hus." + +"Ha! You want to quit, do you? What is the trouble? Am I not treating +you well?" + +"Wait! They are to have a big surprise," said Tsistsaki and turned from +us back to the lodges. + +"Sare, M'sieu' Reynard," Henry continued, "eet ees no you. You hare one +fine mans. Les sauvages, Assiniboins, Crows, many more zat wee' come, he +are ze troub', m'sieu'." + +"But you can't go back on your contracts!" my uncle exclaimed. "You all +agreed to come down here and work for me a year; you signed contracts to +that effect." + +"Sare, honneur, we hare no sign eet ze pap' for fight heem, les +sauvages. We no sign eet ze pap' for work all days and watch for les +sacrés sauvages hall ze nights. Pretty soon we hall gets keel, m'sieu'. +We hare no pour le combat; we hare jus' pauvre cordeliers, engagés in ze +forts. M'sieu', you weel let hus go?" + +I knew by the set expression of my uncle's face what his answer was to +be, but he never gave it. Out came the women; their eyes were blazing, +long braids were streaming, and they carried lodge-fire sticks in their +hands. They charged upon their men, crying, "Cowards! You shall not +desert our chief! Stay in the lodge and do our work; we'll build the +fort! Give us your clothing; you shall wear our gowns!" + +Never shall I forget that scene! The poor engagés shrank from the +attack. Wild-eyed, they begged the women to desist, all the while +getting painful whacks from their sticks and the most terrible +tongue-lashing that could be given in the Blackfoot language! My uncle +and Abbott laughed at their plight, and Pitamakan and I actually rolled +upon the ground in a perfect frenzy of joy. When, at last, we sat up and +wiped our eyes, there were the engagés heading for their lodges, and +each one was followed by his woman, still shrieking out her candid +opinion of him. + +"Well, I guess that settles it!" Abbott exclaimed. + +It did! When my uncle called the men together and gave out the detail of +the night watch, not one of them made objection, and never again did +they ask for their discharge. + +With the setting of the sun, Abbott, Pitamakan, and I went down into the +grove to our accustomed place, Abbott at the head of the grove and we +at its east side. We fully expected that the Crow war party, repeating +the tactics of the Assiniboins, would sneak into the grove during the +night with the intention of making a surprise attack upon the men when +they resumed work in it in the morning. It was agreed that, if they did +come, we were to withdraw without letting them know, if possible, that +we had seen them. That would mean, as my uncle remarked with a heavy +sigh, that the grove would be given over to the enemy for an indefinite +time, during which work on the fort would, of course, be suspended. +Pitamakan said that, in his opinion, the war party, having had a good +view of Is-spai-u and doubtless believing him to be the wonderful +buffalo-runner they had heard about, would be far more likely to try to +sneak him out of our camp than they would be to ambush us in the grove. + +To our great astonishment the night passed without the Crows appearing +either at the grove or at the barricade. We did not know what to think. +Was it possible, Abbott asked, that the party was homeward bound to the +Crow country across the Yellowstone after an unsuccessful raid north of +the Missouri? + +"War parties seldom go home on foot," Pitamakan well replied. + +As soon as my uncle came into the timber with the men and placed his +guards and set the six to work we three watchers returned to the +barricade, had breakfast, and turned in for the sleep we so much needed. +The day and the following night passed quietly; and when the next day +and night passed without our detecting any signs of the Crow war party, +we said to one another that it had gone its way without discovering our +camp. + +The third day after our meeting the Crows came. After watering and +picketing the saddle-horses close to the barricade, the men hitched up +the teams as usual and came into the grove, and Pitamakan, Abbott, and I +went to camp, had our morning meal, and as usual took to our couches. We +had not been asleep more than three hours, when Tsistsaki came into the +lodge and shook us by turns until we were wide-awake. "Take your gun and +hurry out!" she said with suppressed excitement. "Several clumps of +sagebrush are moving upon us!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +ABBOTT FIRES INTO A CLUMP OF SAGEBRUSH + + +"What do you mean? Sagebrush can't move," I said to her. + +"Oh, yes, it can when enemies are behind it, pushing it along!" she +cried. "Hurry! Follow me and stoop low so that you cannot be seen over +the top of the barricade." + +Tsistsaki led us to the south side of the barricade, and, lining us up +beside her to look through the narrow space between the top log and the +one next it, told us to watch the sagebrush beyond the picketed +saddle-horses. + +They were upon smooth grass. A hundred yards or so farther on were +scattering growths of sage and of greasewood, the outer border of a +growth that two hundred yards beyond became a solid tract of brush from +three to four feet high, which extended a long way up the valley. I +noticed at once that here and there with the near growth of short +bushes were taller, thicker clumps that seemed to be out of place; and +as I looked one of them advanced a foot or two with a gentle quivering +of its top. + +At the same time Pitamakan exclaimed: "She is right! Sagebrush can move. +Behind every one of those tall bushes is an enemy!" + +"Sneaking in after Is-spai-u!" I said. + +"There are twenty or more of them. If they knew that we are but three +guns here, they would rush in upon us in no time!" said Abbott. + +"Oh, you talk, talk! Quick! Do something! Save Is-spai-u!" Tsistsaki +hoarsely whispered. + +"If we rush out there," said Pitamakan, "the enemy will know that they +are discovered and will charge in and fight us for the horses. +Almost-brother, you and I will wander out there, just as if we were +going to water the horses. The enemy will surely think that is our +intention, but we will lead them toward the river, then bring them round +the north side of the barricade and into it." + +"Now, that is a sure wise plan. Go ahead, you two, and meanwhile +Tsistsaki and I will get the loud-mouthed gun across to this south-side +firing-place," said Abbott. + +There was here, as in a number of places round the barricade, a +brush-covered space through which the six-pounder could be pointed. The +women of the engagés were in their lodges, and Tsistsaki whispered to us +that she had not told them of her discovery for fear some of them would +make an outcry. + +Pitamakan and I sneaked back into the lodge for our blankets and put +them on, first, however, sticking our rifles under our belts and +pressing them close along the left side and leg; then we walked +carelessly out through the passageway of the barricade. We were talking +and laughing, but you may be sure our laughter was forced. When we were +twenty or thirty feet from the barricade he said to me, "Let us pause +here and have a look at the country." + +We halted and looked first to the north, then down to the grove, from +which both teams were emerging with wagons loaded with logs. There were +three engagés with the outfit. I pointed to them. "What would they do if +they knew what is ahead of them?" + +"They would fly! Their fear would be so great that it would give them +power to grow wings instantly!" Pitamakan grimly answered. + +Fear! Well, I was afraid, and so was my almost-brother. Who would not be +afraid in such a situation--just three of us against twenty or more +enemies watching and planning how to get away with our horses and our +scalps, too? + +We turned to face the south and scrutinized the tall, thick clumps of +sagebrush standing among the shorter, scattered growth. They never +moved, not so much as a quiver of their slender, pale-green tops. + +Pitamakan broke out with a quick-time dance-song of his people and +danced a few steps to it as we neared the horses. I sauntered up to +Is-spai-u, he to his fast runner, and we unfastened and coiled their +ropes. Leading them, we moved on to one after another of the other +four horses, ever with watchful eyes upon those clumps of sage, the +nearest of which was not more than a hundred yards away. We feared every +moment to see them thrown down and the enemy come charging upon us; but +at last we had all the horses in lead and with fast-beating hearts and +rising hopes started toward the river, never once looking back, much +though we wanted to. Pitamakan seemed to know my thought, for he said +cheerily: "Never mind; you don't need to look back. If they make a rush, +Great Hider and Tsistsaki will shout before they can make two jumps +toward us." + +[Illustration: AT LAST WE HAD ALL THE HORSES IN LEAD AND WITH +FAST-BEATING HEARTS ... STARTED TOWARD THE RIVER] + +Ha! What a long, long way those few yards were to the shelter of the +stockade. At last we rounded it. Breathing freer, we passed along the +north side, led the horses in through the passageway, turned them loose, +and put up the bars across it. Then we pretended to go into our lodge, +but crouched away from the doorway and sneaked over to the two watchers +kneeling at either side of the cannon and looking out across the flat. + +"You made it! My! That little song and dance of Pitamakan's, that sure +fooled 'em! He is some actor, that boy," Abbott said. + +"Well, what are we to do now--fire the cannon at them? Give them a big +scare?" I asked. + +"I don't know what to say. If only Far Thunder were here--" Abbott +began. + +"He is coming. Look!" said Tsistsaki. + +Sure enough, he was on his way to dinner with three men, leaving three +to guard the grove, as usual. The teams were almost to the site of the +fort. I went out to meet them and told the men to take the horses into +the barricade. + +"But the horses, they should be heat ze grass. Yes?" one of them said, +and all looked at me questioningly. + +"Well, maybe we shall have a fight before we eat. A war party is cached +out there in the sagebrush," I replied; and they shrank back as if I had +struck them. At the same time I heard some slight commotion within the +barricade. At Abbott's suggestion Tsistsaki was warning the women of +our impending trouble and commanding them to make no outcry. + +"Shut your mouth!" I hissed to one of the teamsters, who with upflung +arms was beginning to make great outcry. "Not a word from any of you +now. Just get those horses inside; then pretend to go to your lodges, +but sneak across to the south side and remain there." + +I stood by the passageway until the others arrived, and when I had told +them, too, what to do, my uncle said to me as we went crouching in +across the barricade, "The war party is undoubtedly the Crow outfit that +you met the other day." + +We joined the others, and Abbott said to him, "We've had a pretty close +call, Wesley." + +"Just where are the rascals? Let me see them!" my uncle demanded. He +laughed grimly when we had pointed out to him the tall brush here and +there concealing them. "I'll bet that they are some tired, lying there +in the hot sun and straining themselves to keep the brush upright and +motionless!" After a moment of thought he added, "Tsistsaki, bring me a +couple of firers for this loud-mouth gun." + +"I have them already," she answered and handed him a fuse. He stuck it +into the touch-hole of the cannon and poured some fine powder from his +horn in round it. "I will attend to this," he said to us then. "Now, +you, Henri Robarre! You being about as poor a shot as ever cordelled up +this river, you fire at the foot of one of those bunches of tall sage, +just to start this surprise party. You others then do the best you can." + +He waited until Tsistsaki had interpreted his words to Pitamakan and +then told Henri to fire. Henri did so. None of us saw where the ball +struck, and I doubt whether he himself knew where he aimed. The loud +boom of the gun echoed across the valley and died away; the smoke from +it lifted, but none of the enemy made a move; not one of their shelters +even quivered. + +"Just what I expected! Abbott, let us see what you can do," said my +uncle. + +Abbott stood up, head and shoulders above the barricade, took quick aim +and fired at a bunch of the brush; down it fell as the man behind it let +go his hold upon it and with loud yells of warning or command to his +companions ran straight away from us. At that all the others sprang from +their places of concealment like so many jumping-jacks, and those with +guns fired at us before they turned to run. When we fired at them three +went down at once, and two more staggered on a little way before they +fell. At that our engagés took heart and yelled defiance at the enemy as +they hastily began reloading their guns. I heard Abbott calling himself +names for having failed to kill the man behind the brush that he had +fired into. + +The enemy, twenty or more of them, were drawing together as they went +leaping through the sagebrush, straight up the valley; and presently +they halted and faced about and with yells of hatred and defiance fired +several more desultory shots at us. That was the opportunity for which +my uncle was waiting. He hastily sighted the cannon at them and lighted +the fuse. The old gun went off with a tremendous roar, and with wild +shrieks of fear the enemy ran on faster than ever, if that were +possible--all but two whom the grapeshot had struck. + +"Help, here! Powder and a solid shot!" my uncle yelled. + +Those, too, Tsistsaki had ready for us. Abbott and I rammed the charges +in; Tsistsaki inserted a fresh fuse. We wheeled the gun round into +place, and my uncle again sighted it and touched it off. We waited and +waited, and at last saw a cloud of dust and bits of sagebrush puff into +the air close to the left of the fleeing enemy. As one man they leaped +affrightedly to the right and headed for the mouth of a coulee that +entered the valley from the west. Before we could load the cannon again +they had turned up into the coulee and were gone from our sight. + +"Well," my uncle exclaimed, "I guess that settles our trouble with that +outfit!" Almost at the same moment a heated argument arose among our +engagés, every one of whom asserted that he had killed an enemy. "Here, +you, the way for you all to settle your claims is to go out there and +show which one of the enemy you each downed!" + +Not one of them made answer to that; not one of them wanted to go out +there, perhaps to face a wounded and desperate man. Pitamakan stared at +them, muttered something about cowardly dog-faces, and leaped over the +barricade. Abbott, my uncle, Tsistsaki, and I followed his move, but we +had gone out some distance before the engagés began to follow, moving +slowly well in our rear. + +We, of course, did not proceed without due caution. The very first one +of the dead that we approached was one of the two Crows who had tried to +entice Pitamakan and me into a peace smoke with them, which would have +been our last. We were glad enough that he was one of the dead. + +"I killed him," said Pitamakan as we passed on. "I killed him; he +dropped when I fired, but I cannot count coup upon him." + +"Why not?" Tsistsaki asked. + +"Because of that!" he replied, turning and pointing to the engagés. +They had come to the body of the Crow and three were pretending to have +fired the bullet that laid the enemy low. "I cannot prove that I killed +him," he added sorrowfully. + +Now the three engagés who had been left on guard in the grove came to +us, out of breath and excited, and my uncle promptly ordered them back +to their places. We made the round of the dead, the engagés taking their +weapons and various belongings; then we went back to the barricade for +dinner, first, however, watering and picketing the hungry horses. Later +on, when the teams were again hitched, the engagés drove about and +gathered up the dead and consigned them to the depths of the big river. + +That evening as Pitamakan, Abbott, and I were preparing to go down into +the grove for our nightly watch the engagés were celebrating our victory +of the day. They had all assembled in Henri Robarre's lodge, singing +quaint songs, boasting of their bravery and accurate shooting, and +calling loudly for the women to prepare a little feast, for they were +going to dance. The women! They were gathered in another lodge, laughing +at their men. Otter Woman, Henri Robarre's wife, who was a wonderful +mimic, was making the others ache from laughing as she repeated her +man's futile protests and his gait when she had driven him home from the +gathering of the men who requested their discharge. + +"Those women have a whole lot more sense than their men," Abbott +remarked. + +The night passed quietly. Late in the following afternoon, just after we +three had ended our daily sleep, the women cried out that they could see +the smoke from a down-river steamboat, and Tsistsaki ran to the grove to +let my uncle know of its coming. + +He hurried up to the barricade and eagerly watched the approaching +smoke. "We shall have help now; you boys will not have to stand night +watch much longer. That old tub is bringing plenty of men!" + +The boat soon rounded the bend above and drew in to our landing. Two men +leaped ashore, and the roustabouts threw their rolls of bedding after +them. From the pilot-house Henry Page tossed out to us a weighted sack. +"I'm sorry, Wesley, that we couldn't get more men for you. There's a +letter that explains it all!" he called. "Well, keep up a good heart; +your Blackfeet will soon be with you. So long!" Then the surly captain, +standing beside him, rang some bells, Page whirled his big wheel, and +the boat went on. The two men came up the bank and greeted us. I had +been so intent upon our few words with the pilot that I had not noticed +who they were. + +Now I was glad when I saw the rugged, smooth-shaven faces of the +Tennessee Twins, as they were called all up and down the river. The +Baxters, Lem and Josh, were independent bachelor trappers who roamed +where they willed, despite the hostile war parties of various tribes +that were ever trying to get their scalps. They seemed to bear charmed +lives. As a rule the American Fur Company had not been friendly toward +independent trappers, but those two men were so big-hearted and had +done us so many favors that we all thought highly of them; and Pierre +Chouteau himself had given orders to all the factors up and down the +river that they were to be treated with every consideration. + +"Well, Wesley, here we are," said Lem Baxter after we had shaken hands +all round. + +"You don't mean that you have come to work for me?" my uncle exclaimed. + +"That's about the size of it," Josh put in. + +"You see, 't was this way," Lem went on. "When we heard of the trouble +you were in, and Carroll and Steell couldn't engage any men for you, we +saw it were our plain duty to come down and lend you a hand." + +"Who said that we were in trouble?" + +"Why, that there steamboat captain, Wiggins," Lem answered. "You see, 't +was this way: Henry Page bawled the captain out fer not allowin' him to +put in here in answer to your hail. So to kind of play even the low-down +sneak begins to blow about the battle you are expectin' to have with the +Assiniboins. Yes, sir, makes a regular holler about it as soon as his +boat ties up in front of the fort. Well, I guess you know them French +engagés. The minute they hear about the Assiniboins Carroll and Steell +can't hire nary a one of 'em for you." + +"Well, now, that Wiggins man is a real friendly kind of chap, isn't he?" +my uncle exclaimed. By the tone of his voice I knew that that captain +was in for trouble when the two should meet. + +"Still, Wesley, you're in luck," Lem went on. "Who but your own +brother-in-law, White Wolf, should happen to be in the fort when Page +delivered your letter to Steell. As soon as he was told what was up he +said to us, 'You tell Far Thunder that we shall all be with him for that +battle with the cut-throats! Tell him to look for us to come chargin' +down by the Crooked Creek Trail!' Then he lit out for his camp as fast +as he could go." + +"Ha! Down Sacajawea Creek. They will cross the river at Fort Benton. +Down the north side would have been the shorter way," said my uncle. + +"We mentioned that to him, and he answered that better time could be +made on the south-side trail," said Josh. + +"And there you be! Don't worry!" cried Lem. "Now, Wesley, is it sartin +sure that you plunked that there Slidin' Beaver?" + +"His body is somewhere down there in the river!" I replied. + +"You bet! Wesley finished him!" Abbott exclaimed. + +"Glory be! Look how near that there cut-throat got me!" cried Lem, and +pointed to a bullet crease in the side of his neck. + +"Hurry! Tell me the news they brought!" Pitamakan demanded of me as we +all turned toward the barricade. He fairly danced round me when he +learned that his own father had taken word of our need to the Pikuni and +that the warriors would come to us as soon as possible by the south-side +trail. + +Presently Tsistsaki called us to supper. During the meal we told the +Twins all that had happened to us since we landed there at the mouth of +the Musselshell. Then, having learned the details of our day-and-night +watch, they declared that they wanted to stand watch in the grove that +night and laughed when we said that we thought three men were needed to +guard it. + +We three were only too glad to let them have their way. However, we +relieved the engagés from watch duty in the barricade, dividing the +night between us, and they were therefore in good shape the next morning +for a day of real work. Beginning that day, they were all ordered to cut +and haul logs while the rest of us performed what guard duty had been +their share. In consequence the heaps of logs round the site of the fort +grew rapidly, and we began to look forward to the day when we should +begin work upon the walls. My uncle said that at least one side of the +fort must soon be put up, in which to store the trade goods that would +surely be landed for us within six weeks. + +A day came soon, but not too soon for Pitamakan and me, when the camp +required more meat. I asked to be allowed to ride Is-spai-u, but my +uncle shook his head. + +As we were saddling our horses, the men started for the grove and Henri +Robarre called out to us: "Eet is halways ze buf' dat you keel! Why not +sometames ze helk, ze deer, ze hantelopes?" + +"Kyai-yo!" Tsistsaki exclaimed. "He knows that real meat is the best; it +is only that he must be continually making objections that he talks that +way. Pay no attention to him; kill real meat for us as usual." + +"Oh, kill elk or deer along with the buffalo! Kill some badgers if they +want them! Anything for peace in camp!" my uncle exclaimed. + +It was easy enough to get the buffalo; they were always in the valley +within sight of camp. That morning we found a herd within a mile of it, +killed five fat animals and had the meat all loaded upon the following +wagon by nine o'clock. The teamster then headed for camp, and we went on +to kill what our horses could pack of some other kind of meat. + +Now, we did not want to ride into the brush-filled groves along the +river in quest of elk and deer, for as likely as not we should be +ambushed by some wandering war party. We therefore turned back through +the grove in which the men were at work and thence went on down the big +game trail running from the mouth of the Musselshell down the Missouri +Valley. Where it entered the first of the narrow bottoms we turned off. +We had gone no more than a couple of hundred yards when four bull elk +rose out of a patch of junipers on the hill to our right and +inquisitively stared at us. I slipped from my horse, took careful aim, +and shot one of them. + +We tethered our horses close to my kill and were butchering it when we +were startled by a loud but distant hail and sprang for our rifles, +which were leaning against some brush several steps away. We looked down +into the bottom under us and there, just outside the narrow grove that +fringed the river, we saw five Indians standing all in a row. + +"Ha! Another war party, and no doubt another invitation to a smoke that +would be the end of us!" Pitamakan exclaimed indignantly. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +LAME WOLF PRAYS TO HIS RAVEN + + +That morning I had not forgotten to sling on my telescope before leaving +camp. I got it out, then took a good look at the men, and said to +Pitamakan, "They don't appear to be a war party; they are all old men, +and some have large packs upon their backs!" + +"Ha! It is well-planned deception, but I shall take no chances with +them. I am sure that the brush behind them is full of warriors!" +Pitamakan replied. + +I somehow believed that for once he was mistaken, and when a moment +later the five men started toward us, all making the peace sign and +singing a strange, quaint, melancholy song, so weird, so strangely +affecting, that it almost brought tears to my eyes, Pitamakan himself +said, "I was mistaken! They are men of peace! I believe that they are +men of the Earth-Houses People." + +We met the strangers at the foot of the slope. They continued their +quaint song until we were face to face with them; then their leader, +first making the sign that he was one of the Earth-Houses People, as the +Blackfeet call the Mandans, embraced me and Pitamakan, and so did the +others, each in his turn. + +"We are glad to meet you this good day," said the leader to me in the +sign language. "We have often heard about you. We know that you are the +Fox, the young relative of Far Thunder. We know that your companion is +the young Pikuni, Running Eagle. We have come a long way to see and talk +with Far Thunder. His camp is close by, there where the two rivers meet, +is it not? Yes? We are glad!" + +"Our hearts are the same as yours," I replied. "We are glad to meet you +this good day. Just up there we have killed an elk. Wait for us until we +have butchered it and loaded the meat upon our horses; then we will go +with you to Far Thunder." + +The old leader signed his assent to the proposal, and Pitamakan and I +hurried back up the hill to our work. We were not long at it, taking +only the best of the meat; then I told Pitamakan to hurry on ahead and +notify my uncle of the Mandans' coming, so that he could meet them with +fitting ceremony at the barricade. I then rejoined the visitors, leading +my horse and walking with them, and in the course of an hour we were +greeted by my uncle at the passageway into camp. One after another they +embraced him; then he signed to them that his lodge was their lodge, and +he led them into it, where Tsistsaki greeted them with smiles and turned +to the big kettles of meat and coffee that she was cooking for them and +broke out a fresh box of hard bread. + +With due formality my uncle got out his huge pipe, filled it with a +mixture of l'herbe and tobacco and passed it to the old leader of the +party to light. The old man capped it with a coal from the fire, +muttered a short prayer, and, blowing great mouthfuls of smoke to the +four points of the compass, started it upon its journey round the +circle. The Mandans made no mention of the object of the visit to us, +but said that, having heard from the men of the first down-river fire +boat that my uncle was building a fort on the great war trail where it +crossed Big River, they had thought that a visit of peace should be paid +to him. In turn, my uncle asked how the Mandans were faring and told of +our troubles with the Crows and Assiniboins. The news of the passing of +Sliding Beaver was good news to them; they greeted it with loud clapping +of hands and with broad smiles. "Far Thunder," their leader signed, "you +must surely have strong medicine. The gods have been very good to you to +give you the power to wipe out that terrible, bad man, worst of all the +men of the cut-throat tribe. Far Thunder, for what you have done the +Earth-Houses People owe you much!" + +"I wish that they were all here, all your warriors, for I am expecting +to have a big fight with the cut-throats!" my uncle signed. + +"We have sent for the warriors of my people to hurry down here and help +us, but fear that they will not arrive before the cut-throats appear," +Pitamakan put in. + +After some inquiries about just what we had done toward getting the help +of the Pikuni, the old leader turned to my uncle. "Far Thunder," he +signed, "you see us, five old men and almost useless; our weapons, five +old north stone sparkers [Hudson's Bay Company flintlock guns] and four +bows. But such as we are, Far Thunder, we are yours in this fight with +the cut-throats, if you want us!" + +"You are very generous. We will talk about that later. Just now you are +to eat. I see that the food is ready for you," my uncle replied; and +Tsistsaki passed to them plates piled with boiled meat, hard bread and +dried-apple sauce, and huge bowls of sweetened coffee. + +The men now came up from the grove for their dinner. In the afternoon +our guests rested, and it was not until evening that we learned the real +object of their visit to us. "Far Thunder," the old leader then signed, +when we were all gathered in our lodge, "no doubt you wonder why we +five old men have come the long way through dangerous country to enter +your lodge. It is because we are old and are soon to die that we chose +to take the place of young and useful men on a mission to you from our +people, to bring you gifts and to ask a gift from you." + +"Ha! Now I know what is coming; they are after Is-spai-u!" Pitamakan +whispered. + +"Far Thunder," the old man continued, "no doubt you know that the +Spotted-Horses People [the Cheyennes] visit us every summer with their +robes and furs and tanned leathers to buy some of the corn that we raise +and the pots of clay that we make. Also they come to race their fastest +horses against our fastest horses. Know, chief, that for the last five +summers they have won every race they made with us, and have gone their +way with great winnings, laughing at us and saying, 'Poor Earth-Houses +People! Your horses are of little account; even the best of them are +only travois horses for our women!' Thus we are made poor and greatly +shamed. Recently we counseled together about this. 'We do not,' said one +of the chiefs, 'much need the things that the Spotted-Horses People +bring here. Let us send them word that they need not come again to trade +with us; thus will we be saved from again losing all that we have in +racing our horses against theirs and being told that our best animals +are of no account.' + +"We all agreed that this plan should be followed. Messengers were +selected to take our decision to the Spotted-Horses People. And +then--but wait, Far Thunder--" + +The old man turned and spoke to his companions. They began to unwrap the +bundles that they had carried and soon displayed to our admiring eyes a +cream-white cow buffalo robe beautifully embroidered with porcupine +quillwork of gorgeous colors upon its flesh side; a war suit of fine +buckskin, quill embroidered and hung with white weasel skins; a fine +shield fringed with eagle tail feathers; and a handsomely carved red +stone pipe with feather and fur ornaments on its long stem. One by one +the old leader took them as they were opened to view and impressively +laid them upon the end of my uncle's couch. Then, straightening up in +his seat, he continued: + +"Those, Far Thunder, are gifts to you from your friends, the +Earth-Houses People! + +"The messengers were about to start to the camp of the Spotted-Horses +People," he said, resuming his story. "Then the first fire boat of the +summer came back down the river, and we learned from its men that you +and yours were coming down to the mouth of this little river, to this +great war-trail crossing of Big River, where you were to build a fort, +and that you had with you your fast, black buffalo-runner. Again we +counseled together. This is what we said: 'Far Thunder is a man of +generous heart. We will go to him with our trouble; we will ask him to +give the one thing that will enable us to wipe out the shame that the +Spotted-Horses People have put upon us.' Far Thunder, pity us! Give us +your black buffalo-runner!" + +The eyes of all five of the old men were now upon my uncle, eyes full +of wistful anxiety, and he hesitated not a moment to give his reply to +their request, the one reply that he could make. + +"My friends," he signed, "I must tell you about my black horse. A dying +man gave him to me, the man who seized him in the far south country. +With his last breath that man--you knew him, One Horn--asked me to +promise that I would always keep the horse. I promised. I called upon +the sun to witness that I would keep my promise!" + +The old men slumped down in their seats in utter dejection, and oh, how +sorry we were for them! Their long and dangerous journey, their gifts of +their most valued possessions, were all for nothing! + +Finally, the old leader spoke a few words to the others; one by one they +answered, and several of them spoke at some length and with increasing +animation. We wondered what they were saying, in that strange, +soft-sounding language. At last the old leader turned again to my uncle. + +"Far Thunder!" he signed, "when you told us of your promise to the +dying man, and that it was a sun promise you gave him, not to be +broken--when you told us that--our hearts died. But now, chief, our +hearts rise up. Failing one thing, we gain another. We now see that the +gods themselves sent us to you, that in our old age we should have one +last fight with the cut-throats. Chief, we will remain with you and help +you fight them with all the strength that we have left in our poor old +arms. If we die, how much better to die fighting than in sickness and +pain in our lodges!" + +"I am glad that you will stay with us and help fight the cut-throats. +These valuable things that you have laid here, you will take them back," +my uncle replied. + +"No! We give, but do not take back!" + +It was all very affecting. There was a lump in my throat as I looked at +those old men, simple-minded, kind-hearted, still eager in their old, +old age to face once more their bitter enemies and, if need be, to die. +Tsistsaki threw her shawl over her head and cried a little in sympathy +with them. They presently broke out in a cheerful song of war. + +Pitamakan and I took up our rifles and went out to our guard duty. +"Those ancient ones, what real men they are!" he said to me. + +The night passed quietly. In the morning when the Tennessee Twins came +from guard duty in the grove and learned about our evening talk with the +old men, they shook hands with them one by one. "You are the strong +hearts! We shall be glad to fight alongside with you," Josh signed to +them. + +Cramped as we were for space within the barricade, Tsistsaki insisted +that the old men should have a lodge of their own. The women set up one +of the lodges of the engagés, and all contributed to its furnishings of +robes and blankets and to its little pile of firewood beside the door; +then the widow of poor Louis volunteered to cook their meals. Thus were +the ancient ones made perfectly comfortable. At noon of that day, when +the men came in for their dinner, our guests went to my uncle and told +him that they wanted to help him not only in the coming fight with the +cut-throats, but in other ways as well. Old though they were, their +eyesight was still good; therefore they would do all the daytime guard +duty, three of them in the grove and two in camp. We were glad enough to +accept their offer, for, as the engagés were now entirely relieved from +all share in our constant watch for approaching enemies, the work on the +fort progressed rapidly. + +The leader of the old men, Lame Wolf, was a medicine man and had with +him his complete medicine outfit, the main symbol of which was a stuffed +raven, to the legs of which were attached bits of human scalp-locks of +varying lengths. To Pitamakan, who became a great favorite with him, the +old man said that the raven was his dream, his sacred vision, and very +powerful. It had by its great power brought him safe through many a +battle with the enemy and had four times in his dreams warned him of the +approach of enemies, so that he and his warriors had been able to +surprise them and count many coups upon them. Every evening now he +prayed the raven to give him a revealing vision of the cut-throats and +any other enemies who might be approaching us, and his companions joined +him in singing the songs to his medicine. + +"Far Thunder, my man," said Tsistsaki, the first evening that we heard +the old men praying and singing, "I feel that the gods are with us in +this matter of our fort-building upon this hostile war trail. As fast as +our troubles have come we have conquered them, and now come these five +old men, whose leader is favored of the gods, to help us. I have great +faith in his raven medicine." + +"All right. You put your faith in that raven skin. I put mine in our +watchfulness and in our rifles," my uncle laughed. + +"Ah, well," she answered, "the day will come when your eyes will be +opened to these sacred things." + +During the next few days three different steamboats passed up the river +en route to Fort Benton, and when the first of them came down it +answered our hail and put in to shore. The captain had intended to put +in, anyhow, for he had a letter to us from Carroll and Steell. My uncle +handed him a letter for the Fort Union traders, asking them to tell the +Mandans that their five old men were staying with us to help fight the +Assiniboins, and that they were unable to get Far Thunder's fast runner +because of his vow to the sun that he would never part with it. He had +prepared the letter at the request of Lame Wolf, and the old man heaved +a sigh of satisfaction when he saw it pass into the captain's hands. + +Our letter apprised us that the Pikuni, the whole tribe, warriors and +all, had forded the river at Fort Benton, on their way to us, only four +days before. That news made us low-hearted, for, if the warriors +continued on with the tribe at the slow rate it was obliged to travel, +we feared that they would never arrive in time to help us in the big +fight that every rising sun brought nearer to us. + +My uncle declared that, short of logs as we still were, a beginning must +be made at once upon the walls of the fort; and after dinner Pitamakan, +Abbott, and I went out to assist him in laying the first four logs of +what was to be the southwest corner building of the fort, the one that +was to be my uncle's quarters, and Pitamakan's and mine as well. We +rolled the two bottom logs into place and made them level by putting +flat stones under the ends; and then Abbott, with quick and skillful +axe, saddled the ends; that is, cut deep notches in them. We then rolled +on them two end logs and cut notches in the ends to match the saddles in +the others. The first fitted snugly down into place; the second did not +fit well and was notched deeper at one end; and then, when it fitted +into place and we rested, Tsistsaki, who had come to watch, raised her +hands to the sky and cried out: "O sun! this home that we are starting +to build, let it be a home of peace and plenty; a home of happy days and +nights. Have pity upon us all, O sun. Give us, we pray you, long life +upon these, your rich and beautiful plains!" + +Our team horses, working all day and corralled in the barricade the +greater part of the night, were rapidly losing their flesh and spirits +and no longer minded the flick of the whip. It was plain enough, said my +uncle at our evening meal, that they must be put upon good feed at +night, or else we must soon stop work. He looked at Pitamakan and me. + +"Well, say it!" I cried. "What do you want us to do about it?" + +"Night-herd them. Night-herd the whole outfit, saddle-horses and all, up +west on the high plains where the feed is good. Leave here after dark so +that any wandering war party hanging about will not know just what way +you are going or be able to follow you." + +"Oh, my man!" Tsistsaki exclaimed, "I do not like them to do that. +Think! Just they two against all the travelers upon this great war +trail!" + +"Many are the hunters of the fox; he eludes them all," said Pitamakan. + +"We shall strike out with the outfit as soon as it is dark," I said to +my uncle, and that settled the matter. + +Of course I rode Is-spai-u when we started out, driving the loose stock +ahead of us. We headed southwest--almost south up along the gentle +slope, then, when well out from the valley, northwest--and finally +brought the animals to a stand at the head of the breaks of the +Missouri, about two miles due west from camp. We then hobbled all but +two, Is-spai-u and Pitamakan's buffalo horse, which we picketed with +long ropes. By turns we watched our little band during the short night +and at sunrise drove them back to the barricade. + +"Boys," Tsistsaki said to us after we had finished breakfast, "I have +something to say to you before you sleep." + +"Say it! We are all but asleep now," Pitamakan answered from his couch. + +"It is this: you must not take your horses to-night to feed where you +had them last night; every night you must drive them to a different +place." + +"As if we didn't know enough to do that! We decided upon to-night's +grazing-ground when we were coming in this morning!" Pitamakan +exclaimed. + +"Wise almost-mother. What good care you have for us!" I told her. + +And what a loving, cheerful smile she gave me! Ah, that was a woman, let +me tell you! + +There was too much going on in our lodge for us to sleep well; so we +took a robe and a blanket apiece and sneaked quietly into the lodge of +the old Mandans, who were sleeping after their night watch in the +barricade. + +At about four o'clock the old men aroused us, and Lame Wolf signed that +they were going to bathe; would we go with them? We did, and were +refreshed. Then, after we were back in the lodge and dressed, old Lame +Wolf painted our faces with red-earth paint, the sacred color, and +prayed for us. We could not, of course, understand what he said, for he +did not accompany the prayer with signs, but Pitamakan said that made no +difference; it was, of course, good and powerful prayer. + +At supper that evening we talked about the big fight we were expecting +to have with the Assiniboins, and wondered whether our people would +arrive in time for it. It was possible that the warriors were coming on +ahead, and if they were they might come riding down at any moment. + +"If we could only figure the probable time of the coming of the +cut-throats as well as we can that of our people!" my uncle exclaimed. + +"Wal, now, Wesley, you're goin' to know what I've had in my think-box +for some time; I can't keep it shut any longer," Abbott said. "We've +heard that the Assiniboin camp is away off on the Assiniboin River. But +you can hear a lot that ain't so. Maybe it is nowhere like that far off. +Ag'in, that there war party that we routed don't have to go clear home +to get help to try to wipe us out; the Assiniboins and the Yanktonnais +are about the same breed of pups--both Sioux stock. All those pals of +Slidin' Beaver's have to do is to let the Yanktonnais know that we have +that there Is-spai-u horse with us, and they'll come a-runnin' after +him, even if they don't care shucks about avengin' the death of Slidin' +Beaver. I'll lay four bits that the Yanktonnais camp is a long way this +side of the Assiniboin River. Let's look the thing in the face. It's +possible, fellers, that the ball may open this very night!" + +"Let her come; we're here first!" Josh exclaimed. + +"You bet you! I'm jest a-achin' for a scrap with those cut-throats!" his +twin chimed in. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE MANDANS SING THEIR VICTORY SONG + + +My uncle was not anxious for a fight with our enemies. I had never seen +him so worried. When Abbott and the Twins had gone out of the lodge, he +said to us: "I was too eager for this undertaking. Carroll and Steell +warned me of its dangers, but I wouldn't listen. I shouldn't have come +down here until I had engaged thirty or forty men to build the fort. We +may all be wiped out! What would become of you, my woman, and of you, +Thomas, if I were to go under now with the load of debt that I have +incurred in St. Louis? And after all my years of endeavor, what a bad +name would be mine!" + +"Now, Far Thunder, just you quit that worrying, for everything is going +to come out right for us. I know it! I just know that the gods are with +us," said my almost-mother. + +I could think of nothing to say. As I nodded to Pitamakan and we went +out to drive the horses to their night-grazing I wished that I were not +so tongue-tied. + +"What was he saying?" Pitamakan asked me. I told him, and back to the +lodge he went, thrust his head inside the doorway and said: "Far +Thunder, you have overlooked our main helper. That loud-mouthed gun of +ours can defeat the cut-throats and all their brother tribes, too." + +"Maybe so, if they give us time to point and fire it at them," my uncle +answered; and my almost-brother came back to me lightly humming his +favorite war song. + +A cloudy sky made the night very dark. We mounted and drove the loose +stock straight west out of the valley, then went southwest for a couple +of miles and hobbled them. We picketed Is-spai-u and my runner, which +Pitamakan had saddled that evening. We then drew back outside of the +sweep of the long ropes, and were about to spread our buffalo robe and +lie down when we heard the whir of a rattlesnake close in front of us +and another at our right. "Ha! This is worse than facing a war party!" +Pitamakan exclaimed. At the sound of his voice the snakes rattled again, +and a third somewhere close on our left answered them. We were afraid to +move lest we step upon one of the rattlers and get a jab in our +moccasined feet from its poisonous fangs. + +"We must get back upon our horses and move on," I said. + +"Well, you have matches. Begin lighting them and we will do that," said +Pitamakan. + +I felt in the pocket of my buckskin shirt where I usually carried a few +matches wrapped in paper and waterproof bladder skin. The pocket was +empty. I felt in my ball pouch and in my trousers pockets, although I +knew it was useless to do so, and Pitamakan groaned, "You have lost +them?" + +"Yes!" + +"We just have to pray the gods to guide us," he said. + +As we turned, it seemed to our straining ears that snakes rattled upon +all sides of us. + +"Go slowly!" Pitamakan cautioned. "Stamp the ground hard, and keep +swinging your rifle out in front of you." + +Thus step by step we drew away from the rattlers, fearing all the time +that we should encounter one that would strike before warning us of its +presence. + +At last we came to Is-spai-u, a dim shadow in the darkness, and took up +his rope and led him on to the other picketed animal. Our scare was +still with us as we went among the horses and removed their hobbles, +but, getting into our saddles, we drove the stock on for fully a mile. +Before hobbling them again, we circled round and round and made sure +that we were not occupying another patch of snake-infested plain. + +"Well, we survived that danger! I believe it is a sign that we are not +to be bitten by the two-legged snakes that will soon attack us," said +Pitamakan after we had spread our robe and were resting comfortably upon +it. + +Since I was no believer in signs, I did not say anything on the +subject. + +"You sleep; I'll take the first watch," I told him. + +The heavy clouds soon disappeared, the moon came up, and I could see our +surroundings very well. The horses were ripping off great mouthfuls of +rich bunch-grass and lustily chewing it. Their deep, satisfied breathing +gave me a glad feeling. All round us wolves were howling and coyotes +were yelping in high falsetto voices. How different were these two +branches of the great wolf family, I thought. The wolves were of a +serious, dignified nature; they seemed never to howl except to +communicate with one another. The coyotes gathered in bands and wandered +aimlessly from ridge to ridge, stopping frequently and raising their +sharp, pointed noses to the sky and yelping. + +My thoughts were not long upon the wolves. I remembered how worried my +uncle was when I had left our lodge; how serious was the expression of +Abbott's eyes when he predicted that the attack by the cut-throats was +about to take place. + +I stared at the faint, moonlit outlines of the Moccasin Mountains, away +off to the southwest. Somewhere along the trail at the foot of them the +Pikuni were doubtless camping that night. Unwittingly I cried out in +Blackfoot, "Oh, hurry! Hurry to us, you men of the Pikuni, else you will +come too late!" + +"What? What did you say? Do you see enemies?" Pitamakan whispered as he +sat up suddenly at my side. + +"Oh, nothing. I was just calling to our people to hurry to us. I am so +afraid that they may not get here in time to help us," I answered. + +"You forget that the loud-mouthed gun is of great strength. It can shoot +one of those big, hard metal balls a long way. And at short range just +think what it can do with a sackful of our small, soft balls!" + +"Yes, true enough. But think how long it takes to move and sight and +fire it! Loud-mouth is now pointing out the south side of the barricade. +Should the cut-throats suddenly attack us from the north side, we should +never even get a chance to fire it!" + +"Ha! What a crazy head I am, never to have thought about that! +Loud-mouths are of sure help only when there are two of them, each in a +little outsetting house of its own, at opposite corners of a fort. +Almost-brother, Far Thunder should send us at once to meet our people +and get the warriors here as fast as their horses can carry them." + +"You have spoken my thought, too. We will tell him about it in the +morning," I answered. + +"Yes, we will do that. Let us drive the horses in very early." + +After a time we detected off to the west a dark, wide, cloud-like mass +slowly moving over the plain. It was composed of buffaloes, of course, a +large herd of them grazing straight toward the horses. It would not do +to let them come on, for in the stampede that was sure to occur the +frightened horses might go with them. We went slowly and silently toward +them and suddenly sprang forward, waving our blankets. They paused, +stared at us for a moment, then turned and went thundering off to the +south. There must have been a thousand of them, judging by the noise +that they made. + +We returned to our watching-place, and I lay down and soon was asleep. +When I awoke, I knew by the position of the Seven Persons, as the +Blackfeet name the constellation of Ursa Major, that day was not far +off. I said that I would take the remainder of the watch, but Pitamakan +had no more than lain down when the faint, far-off boom of a gun brought +us both to our feet. + +"Where was it?" he asked. + +"Off to the north," I answered. + +Again we heard shots, four or five of them, faint and low, like distant +thunder, then one that was sharper, like the crack of a whip. + +"That last one was from Far Thunder's rifle!" Pitamakan exclaimed. + +"Yes. Great Rider's words have come true: the cut-throats are attacking +camp!" + +We ran to the horses and fumbled at their hobbles; then we coiled the +ropes of our picketed saddle-animals, mounted and drove the little band +on the run for camp. + +"There is no more shooting!" I exclaimed. + +"Not another shot! It looks bad to me! Maybe our people are wiped out!" +Pitamakan answered. + +He expressed my own fear. We forced the horses to their utmost speed. It +was all of three miles to the mouth of the Musselshell, and never were +there such long miles. Day was breaking as we neared the valley rim +overlooking camp. A hundred yards or so away from the edge we slowed up, +dropped the loose stock, and with ready rifles rode slowly on. + +When at last we looked down upon the camp, I could have yelled my +relief. I saw smoke peacefully rising from the lodges and a couple of +women going from the barricade to the river for water. Then we heard the +old Mandans singing a song that we had not heard before, a triumphant +song in quick, strongly marked time. + +"All is well!" I exclaimed. + +"Yes, something pleasant has happened. What can it be?" + +With light hearts we turned back to our loose stock, drove them down +near the barricade, and let them go to graze as they would until it was +time for the work of the day to begin. I was in the lead as we drove +into the barricade to unsaddle, and as I passed through the entrance +Is-spai-u gave a sudden turning leap that nearly unseated me, and then +stood staring and snorting at a huge grizzly that lay at one side of the +path. My uncle and Abbott came out of our lodge and grinned broadly at +us. + +"Well, boys," said my uncle, "that's a real bear, isn't it!" + +"We've had some excitement here, and 't isn't all over yet. Listen to +the old boys in there, singin'!" said Abbott. + +"We heard the shots and thought that you were all wiped out, they ceased +so suddenly," I said. + +We unsaddled and followed the men into the lodge, where Tsistsaki, who +was preparing breakfast, gave us cheerful greeting. + +"This is what happened, as near as we can make out from the old Mandans +and from what we saw of it," my uncle said to us. + +"It was about an hour back when old Lame Wolf, who was on guard at the +north side of the barricade, saw a big bear close in front of him. It +was a chance to count a coup that he couldn't resist. Taking good aim +with his old fuke, he fired and let out a yell. But his yell wasn't so +loud as the roar of the bear when the bullet spatted into his side. We +all waked and rushed outside, but the other old watchers were ahead of +us. They ran to Lame Wolf, and the first of them fired at the bear, +which was growling and biting at its wound. At that, the bear came with +a rush over the logs right in among them. He was badly hurt, but would +surely have mauled and killed some of them had it not been for the +powder smoke from their fukes, which blinded him and made him cough. The +old men were running away in all directions, but he couldn't see them. +He sat up to get his bearings, and just then the smoke lifted; and there +he was, a mountain of a bear close in front of me. I took quick sight at +him and broke his neck. It all happened so quickly, and the old men were +so intent upon getting out of reach of the bear, that they never knew +that I gave him the finishing shot. One of them, looking back, shouted +something to the others, and all turned and ran to the bear; and old +Lame Wolf tapped him on the head with the barrel of his fuke and counted +coup on him. He claimed it, no doubt, because he had fired the first +shot into his carcass." + +"And what did the engagés do?" Pitamakan asked. + +"What did they do! You should have heard Henri Robarre praying to be +saved. The others joined in and ran about among the lodges, carrying +their guns as though they were so many sticks!" Abbott exclaimed. + +"They did better than that in our Sliding Beaver fight," I said. + +"So they did, and they probably will be of some help when another real +fight takes place. I have just given them my opinion of their actions in +a way they will not soon forget," said my uncle. + +We washed and had breakfast while the old men still sang their quaint +song of victory. Afterwards, when we went out, old Lame Wolf was cutting +the claws from his coup. He did not want the hide, nor did we; the hair +was the old, sunburned, and ragged winter coat. So the engagés hitched +an unwilling team to the carcass, dragged it to the edge of the +river-bank, and rolled it into the water. They all then went down into +the grove, and the Tennessee Twins came up from it for their breakfast +and their sleep. The night had been quiet down there. One of them had +come to learn the cause of the firing in camp and had gone back, my +uncle said, almost bursting with anger at the cowardly and disgraceful +exhibition the engagés had made of themselves. + +That day Pitamakan and I had Tsistsaki waken us shortly before noon, and +when my uncle and Abbott returned to the lodge for dinner we proposed +that we be allowed to go to meet the Pikuni and bring them on--a part of +the warriors, at any rate--with all haste. + +Abbott said he thought we should do that, but my uncle decided against +it. If we did not night-herd the horses, he said, they could not work. +He thought that the Pikuni would arrive in time to fight the +cut-throats. + +"I think you are making a mistake, Wesley; you had better let them go +for help; we'll probably be needing it sooner than you think," Abbott +told him. + +If my uncle had a fault, it was that he relied too much upon his own +judgment. In reply to Abbott he merely said: "No, we'll take a chance on +another day of good, hard work. Then if the Pikuni don't show up, the +boys can go look for them." + +Pitamakan and I had not much enthusiasm for the afternoon work, and +when, about two o'clock, the old Mandans came to us and told us that +they were going to scatter out upon discovery we so longed to go with +them that we fairly hated our log-laying. Tsistsaki stood by, watching +us with pitying eyes, but my uncle, never noticing our dissatisfaction, +whistled as he skillfully swung his axe. + +"Thomas, boy," he said, "this log-laying reminds me of a church-raising +that I attended long ago, 'way back in the States. It was a little log +meeting-house that they were putting up, and your father and I lent a +hand with the chinking. Your grandfather was the preacher of that sparse +congregation, and a mighty man with the axe as well as with the Word." + +"How did you happen to leave the States?" I asked. + +"Your father and I were different," he answered. "Somehow, the farm life +there did not appeal to us. We made a break for the West. Your father, +poor fellow, never got beyond St. Louis. If he had only come on with me! +How he would have enjoyed this life!" + +"You know well why he didn't come," I said. + +"Of course. It was your mother, dear soul! He promised her that he would +never engage in the Far West trade, and he was a man of his word." + +During the afternoon we brought the walls of the building up to a height +of five logs,--about the height of my shoulder,--and as we knocked off +work my uncle said, "Two more rounds of logs, well chinked, and we'll +have a pretty respectable defense against the enemy." + +Returning to the barricade, we found that three of the Mandans had come +back, unnoticed by us. They reported that they had been some distance up +the Musselshell Valley and had seen no signs of enemies. Later, while we +were eating supper, old Lame Wolf and his companion came in, and the +moment they passed through the doorway I knew from the expression of +their faces that they had something important to tell. They hurriedly +took seats upon my couch, and Lame Wolf signed to my uncle: "Far +Thunder, chief, enemies are here! We climbed to the top of the point +between the two valleys, the point there across from the grove, and upon +the very top of it found where enemies have been lying, looking down and +watching us!" + +"Probably a small war party, too small to attack us and gone upon their +way," my uncle answered. + +"Not so! Decidedly not so!" the old man signed on. "They have watched +there for several days--at least five men. They sneaked away when they +saw us coming. Why did they do that when they could easily have +surprised and killed us? Because they are the scouts of a multitude +coming to attack us, and are to tell the chiefs just how to do it." + +"I believe that the old man is right!" Abbott exclaimed. + +"He may be, but I doubt it," said my uncle. "Up there is the lookout +place for all the war parties passing along this great trail. I doubt +not that one was recently there. I can't believe, however, that five or +six enemies withdrew from the point upon the approach of these two old +men. Had they been there at that time, they would certainly never have +overlooked such an easy opportunity to count two coups." + +"Well, whether you believe they are right or not, I advise you to keep a +good guard round the barricade to-night and to keep the horses in, too," +said Abbott. + +"The horses must go out to feed as usual. In any event, they will be +safe off there upon the dark plain." + +Abbott threw out his hands with a gesture of despair. "All right, you +for it! I've said my say." + +Old Lame Wolf, of course, understood nothing of what was being said. He +waited until the talk apparently was ended, got my uncle's attention +once more and signed, "What shall you do?" + +"We shall some of us stand watch with you to-night," my uncle answered. + +"That is good. Be sure that the loud-mouthed gun is well loaded and +ready to fire," the old man concluded, and the two went out to their +evening meal. + +When supper was over, my uncle called the engagés together, told them +the old Mandans believed that the enemy might attack us during the +night, and ordered them to look well to their guns. He then called the +names of those he wanted for extra guard duty, and of those who were to +help him with the cannon. But to this plan Tsistsaki made strong +objection. + +"No," she said; "let each man use his rifle. We will help with the gun." +And my uncle promised that she should have her way. + +As Pitamakan and I were preparing to take the horses out, I had a last +word with my uncle. + +"If you are attacked to-night, what shall we do?" I asked. + +"I would not be sending you out if I believed that was to happen. +However, if it does happen, you must do the best you can; your own +judgment must guide you," he answered. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +BIG LAKE CALLS A COUNCIL + + +It was quite dark when Pitamakan and I drove the horses out from the +barricade for their night-grazing. We flicked them into a lope up the +rise to the plain, but when we were nearly to the top they suddenly +shied at something ahead and dashed sharply off to the left. I was +riding Is-spai-u as usual, and he was so frightened that it was all I +could do to keep him from running ahead of the loose stock. Pitamakan +and I went some distance before we managed to head the horses up the +slope; and as soon as we were well out on the plain I asked Pitamakan +what he thought had frightened our animals. + +"I will tell you my real belief," he answered. "It was the enemy, maybe +a number of them, lying there to see in what direction we would drive +the horses, so that they could trail on and take them from us." + +"It may have been a bear." + +"If a bear had been there, we should have seen him; there is starlight +enough for that. The low, sweet sage growth along the slope could not +have hidden a bear from us, but it is high enough to conceal men lying +flat in it. Almost-brother, I believe with old Lame Wolf that trouble is +about to break upon us!" + +"Well, they shall not get these horses," I declared. + +When, at last, we hobbled the loose animals and picketed Is-spai-u and +Pitamakan's runner we felt sure that no enemy could find us. But there +was to be no sleep for us that night; we settled down to listen for the +far-off boom of the cannon, which would tell us that the cut-throats had +attacked our camp. + +About midnight we nearly started for the west and southwest and the +Pikuni, but we decided to wait a little longer and listen for the boom +of the cannon. We watched the Seven Persons swinging round in the +northern sky, and at last they warned us that day was not far off. The +attack upon camp had not opened; so we decided to urge my uncle to allow +us to go at once in search of the Pikuni. We unhobbled the loose stock +and drove them in with a rush. There was only a faint lightening of the +eastern horizon when we arrived at the barricade, and Abbott, standing +on watch at the passageway, let down the bars for us. + +"You are in plenty early this mornin'," he said as we drove past him. + +"We have reason for it. We want to persuade my uncle to let us start +right now after the Pikuni," I answered. + +"You said it! That is just what he should have you do!" he exclaimed. + +As we got down from our horses we saw dimly here and there the other +watchers approaching to learn whether we had anything to tell of the +night. Then in the direction of the grove we all heard the patter of +feet striking harshly upon the stony ground. + +"It's the Twins!" Abbott exclaimed. + +"Behind them the cut-throats!" said Pitamakan, and at the same time our +ears caught the faint thudding of many moccasined feet. + +Then the Twins loomed up hugely in the dusk. They dashed in through the +passageway, and Josh gasped out, "They're right at our tails! Run that +cannon out!" + +The cannon was in the center of the barricade, loaded with trade balls, +fused, and covered with a piece of canvas to protect it from the +weather. As Abbott, the Twins, and I ran to it, Pitamakan hurried on to +our lodge to rouse my uncle; and the engagés, who had been on watch with +the Mandans, quietly slipped round awakening the inmates of the other +lodges. I flipped the cover on the cannon, and, just as we got it into +the passageway, the fight opened with shots and yells on the west side +of the barricade. The thought flashed into my mind that Pitamakan had +been right. It had been some of the enemy, lying concealed upon the +slope, that our horses had shied from when we were driving them out to +graze. + +"Never mind the racket back there; our job is right here! Now! Swing her +round!" Abbott shouted to us, and he had to shout in order to make +himself heard. + +We swung the gun round. I kept hold on the tailpiece while Abbott +sighted and called, "To the right a little! Left a trifle! There!" + +As he lighted the fuse I sprang out of the way of the recoil and for the +first time looked ahead. Out of the dusk of the morning, less than a +hundred yards away, a horde of warriors were coming toward us swiftly +yet with cautious, catlike steps. There was something terribly sinister +in their approach, far more so than if they had come with the usual war +songs and shouts of an Indian attack. _Boom!_ went the cannon. The flash +of it blinded us; the smoke drifted into our faces. Lem, who was +carrying our rifles in his arms, shouted to us to take them. + +"No! Lay 'em down! Help load! Where's the powder for this gun?" Abbott +yelled. + +"Right here!" cried my uncle as he and Tsistsaki and a couple of other +women joined us. "Use your rifles!" + +We snatched them from Lem, and, lo! as the smoke drifted away we could +see no one to shoot at, nor could we hear anything but the hollow murmur +of the river, as if it were mocking us. + +"By gum! They've just flew away!" Lem exclaimed. + +"Not they!" said my uncle, proceeding to thrust a charge powder into the +cannon and ram it home. "Just step over to the river-bank and look down, +and you'll see them." + +"Ha! So that's their scheme, is it? Goin' to shut us off from water! I +might have knowed it! What beats me is, why didn't they come on? If they +had, 't would have been all over with us in about two minutes!" said +Lem. + +"What say they?" Pitamakan asked me, and I told him. + +The Mandans and the engagés now came to us from the other side of the +stockade, with the women and children trailing after them. + +"The cut-throats ran down over the river-bank," old Lame Wolf signed to +my uncle. + +"Sare, M'sieu' Reynard," Henri Robarre said to him, "hon our side ze +cut-throats were but few. Zey holler much, zey fire deir guns no at us. +Zey shoot hup at ze stars, an' zen run hide behin' ze bank of ze riv' +M'sieu', what hit means, dat strange conducts?" + +"I don't understand it myself, except that when the Twins discovered +them their plan of attack went all wrong," my uncle answered in a +puzzled voice. + +"I know all about it," Pitamakan said in the sign language so that the +Mandans should understand. + +"Well, let us hear," said my uncle. + +"This is it," he went on. "The cut-throats want our scalps, but they +want also Is-spai-u. A few of them laid in wait for my almost-brother +and me, hoping to seize the runner when we drove the herd out last +night; but they failed. The chiefs then planned to wait until we should +bring the horses back into the barricade and kill us in a surprise +attack as we all stood fighting their few men on the west side. Thus +they would take no chances of shooting the black runner. They would have +wiped us out, had not the Twins discovered them down there in the +timber. Now they plan to make us go mad from want of water and then wipe +us out." + +"You women, how much water have you?" Tsistsaki asked. + +One by one they answered; there was not a bucketful in any lodge! + +"Far Thunder, it is now time for my almost-brother and me to go after +our people," Pitamakan said to my uncle impressively. + +"It is! Go--as fast as you can!" he replied. + +"I ride Is-spai-u," I said. + +"You do not! He is our shield, it seems. You ride your own runner!" + +We had saddled up and were ready to start within five minutes. Day had +come. To the west and east there was not a single body of the enemy. +Abbott could hardly believe his eyes. + +Tsistsaki, ever thoughtful of us, had tied little sacks of food to our +saddles, and now we mounted our runners. Nowhere along the bank of the +river was there the least sign of the enemy, but we were certain that +many a pair of eyes was watching the barricade from clumps of rye grass +and sweet sage. + +"You'll better lie low on yer horses an' go out flyin'; they'll prob'ly +shoot at you," Abbott warned us. + +My uncle came and grasped my hand. "It is a terrible risk you are +taking. I wish I could take it for you, but my place seems to be here. +I've got you all in a bad fix, my boy, but I hope you and Pitamakan will +pull us out of it." His voice was unsteady. + +"We'll do our best," I answered. + +"Go, I am praying for you both!" Tsistsaki called out to us. + +We took a running start, hanging low upon the right side of our animals, +and went out through the passageway with a rush. We turned sharply to +the right, and in no time had the barricade between us and the river. +Not a shot was fired at us. We rode straight up the valley for fully a +mile before we turned out on the plain. There we halted for a last look +at camp. How peaceful it seemed! But how terrible was the situation! +There were at least two hundred enemies between our few people and +water. + +As we rode on we kept looking for the trail of dust raised by thousands +of dragging, sharp-pointed lodge poles and travois and horses' hoofs, +that would mark the advance of the Pikuni. We were not long in reaching +Crooked Creek, and there at the rim of the valley we parted, Pitamakan +to go due west toward the buttes of It-Crushed-Them Creek, I to follow +up the stream. At the head of it, close to the foot of the mountains, he +said, I should find the deep, well-worn trail of the Pikuni, which ran +straight east past the foot of Black Butte to the Musselshell. If I +should fail to meet the Pikuni along Crooked Creek I was to go west +along the trail until I found them or the place where they had turned +northeast in the direction of the buttes toward which he was heading. + +It was about four o'clock in the afternoon when I struck the big +east-and-west trail at the head of the creek, not more than a mile from +the foot of the Moccasin Mountains. My horse went on more easily in one +of the broad, smooth tracks, and I was more expectant. The Pikuni could +not be far from me now, I thought. + +Toward sundown I topped a long, wide, sloping ridge and looked back +along the way I had come--more than forty miles. My horse was showing +the strain of the long, hot ride. My throat was burning hot from want of +water; my lips were cracking. + +A mile or two ahead were low, pine-capped hills, and between two of them +I saw a patch of the bright green foliage of cottonwoods, a sure sign of +water. It was growing dusk when I arrived at the place. I slid from my +horse and held his rope as he stepped into the narrow stream. He all but +fought me when I pulled him away from it and picketed him near by. Then +I drank and had a hard fight with myself to stop long before I had had +enough. + +From the description of the country that Pitamakan had given me I knew +that I was at the head of the east fork of It-Crushed-Them Creek. I did +not know how far it was to the other fork, but, near or far, it was +impossible for me to go on until my horse had had a good rest, with +plenty of grass and water. In the gathering night I found a good +grazing-place a little way below the crossing, picketed him upon it and +sat down beside the small clump of buck-brush round which I had fastened +the end of his rope. An hour or so later I took him again to water and +that time I drank all that I wanted. Then back at the grazing-place I +ate the meat and hard bread that Tsistsaki had tied to my saddle while +my runner greedily cropped the short, rich grass. Long and hard though +my ride had been, I was too worried to sleep. As plain as if it were +right in front of me, I could see our little camp at the mouth of the +Musselshell and its weary watchers staring out at the river-bank, +expecting every moment that the enemy would swarm up and attack them. + +I fell asleep, and my dream was worse than my waking vision. I saw our +camp within the barricade a wreck, with smouldering heaps of lodges, and +scalped bodies strewn among them. The dream was so real, so terrible +that the force of it woke me and I came to myself standing and tensely +gripping my rifle. + +I looked up to the north and was astonished. The Seven Persons had +nearly completed their nightly course; morning was at hand. How could I +have slept so long? I sprang up and saddled my horse, watered him, and, +mounting in the light of the half-moon, again took up the trail to the +west. + +When I had gone two or three miles from my camping-place my horse raised +his head and neighed loudly. I angrily checked his attempt to neigh +again and probably betray my presence to some enemy near by. When he +pulled on his bit and pranced sidewise, eager to go on, I fought his +attempts and looked up and down the rise in front of me as far as I +could see in the moonlight. I listened and heard the far-off but +unmistakable howling of dogs. How my heart rose at the sound of it! +Ahead was the camp of the Pikuni, I was sure. Crows or other enemies +would not dare bring their women and children so far into Blackfoot +country. I let my eager horse go. We fairly flew up over the next rise +and then over another, and there at the foot of it, in the light of +breaking day, scattered up and down a willow-fringed streamlet, were the +lodges of my people and their herds of horses blackening the valley. + +Smoke was rising from several of the lodges as I rushed into the camp, +sprang from my horse in front of White Wolf's lodge, and dived into it. + +"Hurry! Hurry! Call the warriors! The cut-throats are at our camp! Oh, +why were you so slow in coming?" I all but shouted. + +"Now, calm yourself! Excited ones can't talk straight--" White Wolf +began. + +But his head wife interrupted him by springing to my side, grabbing my +arm, and fiercely crying, "My son--Pitamakan! What of him?" + +"Somewhere near here, looking for you," I answered; and with a queer, +choking croon of relief she sank back upon her couch. + +"If we are too late, it is Far Thunder's fault," White Wolf said to me +sternly. "His message was that the cut-throats were encamped upon their +own river in the north. Why should we hurry, then, when they were more +than twice as far from you as we were? Well, tell us how it is!" + +I explained our situation in a few words, but, few as they were, they +set White Wolf afire. "There is no time to lose! Come! Quick to Big +Lake's lodge!" + +We ran and burst in upon the head chief, who was still lying under his +robes. I had not half finished telling why I had come when he had one of +his women running for the camp-crier. Five minutes later the crier and +several volunteers were hurrying up and down the long camp calling out +the warriors and ordering the clan chiefs and the chiefs of the bands of +the All Friends Society to hurry to a council in Big Lake's lodge. + +They came, running and eager, and in a very short time it was decided +what bands of the society should hurry on to fight the cut-throats and +what ones should guard the following camp. About six hundred men were +ordered to be ready to start as soon as possible, each one with his two +best horses. + +The boys and the old men were running in the herds as White Wolf and I +returned to his lodge. I told one of the women to catch for me two +certain horses in our band and fell upon the food that was set before +me. Then, just as we began eating, we heard a great outcry near by, and +Pitamakan came in and sat beside his father, who fondly patted him on +the shoulder. His horse had played out at the It-Crushed-Them Creek +buttes, and he had remained there all night. + +Now the warriors were beginning to gather out in front of the center of +the camp, each band round its chief. We soon joined them with our fresh +mounts. Raising the war song, and followed by the cries of the women +calling upon us to be of good courage and win, we set out upon our ride +to the Musselshell. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE RIVER TAKES ITS TOLL + + +Pitamakan and I rode in the lead with the chiefs, because in a way we +were the guides of the relief party. Behind us came the different bands +of the I-kun-uh-kah-tsi, or All Friends Society, each one herding its +extra horses. Our pace was so fast that there was little opportunity for +talk; and Pitamakan and I had no desire to do so. Our thoughts were with +our little camp of besieged people. + +At noon we halted for a short rest. The chiefs at once gathered in a +circle and began to plan just what should be done at the mouth of the +Musselshell; that is, if Far Thunder and his engagés still held the +barricade. Pitamakan and I told how they would be suffering from want of +water and urged that we ride as straight as we could to their relief. + +Then up spoke Heavy Runner, chief of the Braves, and the war chief of +the Pikuni: + +"It is true," he said, "that Far Thunder and his people, if still alive, +must be choking from need of water, but for their own good and the good +of all the Blackfoot tribes they must choke a little longer. Should we +go charging straight to their barricade, the enemy would see us from far +off and have plenty of time to retreat from the bank of the river into +the grove, and there make a good fight, kill many of us, perhaps, and +escape in the darkness. What we must try to do is to give the +cut-throats a lesson that they and their children and their children's +children will remember as long as the sun makes the days. I therefore +propose that we ride down Crooked Creek into Upon-the-Other-Side Bear +River, right into the stream bed, and follow it to the edge of the big +grove. There half of us will leave our horses and go on and surprise the +enemy under the edge of the bank of Big River and drive them out upon +the open flat away from the grove. There we afoot and the other half of +us on horseback and Far Thunder with his loud-mouth gun will just let +one or two of the cut-throats escape to tell his people what the Pikuni +did to their warriors." + +Without exception the chiefs approved this plan, but Pitamakan and I +made objections. "It is a roundabout way," said Pitamakan, "to go clear +to the mouth of this creek and then down the winding bed of the other +stream. We haven't the time to do it." + +"If Far Thunder and those with him are still alive, their sufferings +from need of water are something terrible," I said. "Chiefs, let us +leave Crooked Creek right here and strike straight across the plain as +soon as possible!" + +"I shall say a few words about this!" White Wolf exclaimed. "I have a +big interest in that little party down there in the barricade; my own +sister is there. And yet I say that as she is suffering, so must she +suffer a little longer for the good of the Pikuni. But not much longer. +In a time like this what is one horse to any of us? Nothing! We will +leave our tired horses right here, and if a Crow or other war party +comes along and takes them--well, we shall probably recover them some +day. Upon our fresh horses we can go this roundabout way and certainly +arrive at the head of the big grove before sundown. Then we will wipe +out those cut-throats, every last one of them, before it becomes too +dark for us to shoot straight. Come! let us hurry on!" + +"Yes! We will do that! There's nothing the matter with the bird's head!" +cried Heavy Runner as he sprang up, and all laughed and cheered as we +mounted our fresh horses. The chief's slang expression was a favorite +one of the Blackfeet, and equivalent to our saying, "I don't care; +everything goes with me!" + +Away we went, leaving behind us more than three hundred fine horses, +fast buffalo-runners every one of them. Occasionally during the +afternoon we cut bends, but for the most part we followed the straight +northeast course of the valley and at about five o'clock entered the +valley of the Musselshell. + +[Illustration: AWAY WE WENT, LEAVING BEHIND US MORE THAN THREE HUNDRED +FINE HORSES] + +Now we had to proceed more slowly, but even when fording, we never went +at a pace slower than a trot; and so toward sundown we approached the +grove. Heavy Runner brought us to a halt about three hundred yards from +it and told Pitamakan to dismount and sneak out to see whether our +little camp was still standing. He went, climbing the bank with flying +leaps, and then upon hands and knees disappeared from our view into the +tall, thick-growing sagebrush. At last he returned, and, as soon as he +came in sight, thrust his right hand above the point of his shoulder, +with the index finger extended and the others closed. "They survive!" + +I almost yelled out my relief when I saw him make that sign! + +During his absence the chiefs had decided which of our bands were to go +on foot into the grove and which were to remain upon their horses where +we were until the battle opened. I was more than glad that the band of +which Pitamakan and I were members, the Kit-Foxes, was one of those +chosen to go into the grove. Only the Doves, Tails, and Mosquitoes were +to form the follow-up party on horseback. + +"Not all the cut-throats are under the river-bank in front of the +barricade," said Heavy Runner to us as we were starting. "Probably most +of them are resting in this grove. As soon as they discover our +approach, we must charge and do our very best to drive them from the +timber toward the barricade. When the first shot is fired, we charge!" + +We soon entered the grove by way of the stream bed. On and on we went, +hearing nothing of the enemy until we were almost at the mouth of the +stream. There we smelled smoke, and Heavy Runner brought us to a stand, +then signed us to move out into the timber to the west. We climbed the +bank and, looking through the willows, saw several small groups of the +enemy sitting and lying about small fires that they had built. They were +all unconscious of our approach, and the nearest were not more than +fifty yards from us. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Pitamakan on my +left raising his rifle, and I raised mine and quickly sighted it at one +of the reclining figures. Of pity there was not an atom in my heart; as +the cut-throats would do to that little band of sufferers in the +barricade, so must we do to them, I thought. + +I believe that Pitamakan was the first to fire and I second; and then +all up and down our line guns boomed and bowstrings twanged. With wild +yells of, "Now, Kit-Foxes!" "Now, Crazy Dogs!" "Now, Soldiers!" we +rushed out into the open timber after the fleeing enemy. I noticed +several of them dead as we passed their camp-fires. If shots had been +fired at us I had not heard them. We had stampeded the cut-throats by +our sudden attack, and they were running in the one direction that they +could go, straight for the bank of the Missouri at the upper edge of the +grove. There, for several moments, they made a stand and killed one of +our men and wounded three. But we kept pressing closer, and the right of +our line gained the edge of the grove at the river, from which they +obtained a clear view of the bank and the shore. Numbers of the enemy +still under the bank came running down the shore toward the grove to +join their comrades who were in the point of it. Some of them fell as +our right fired into them. The river-bank was no longer a shelter for +them; they had not the courage to attempt to force us back, although, +had they known it, they far outnumbered us and could have broken through +our line. There seemed to remain but one thing for them to do, and they +did it: they broke out from the point of the grove and headed up the +valley, intending no doubt to gain the shelter of the tall sagebrush, in +which they might stand us off until nightfall and then in the darkness +make their escape. + +We all halted at the edge of the timber and let them go, well knowing +what was about to take place. Hurriedly we reloaded our weapons. As I +rammed home a ball on top of a charge of powder poured in by guess I +looked out at our barricade and saw the lodges standing in it intact. + +"Pitamakan, our relatives survive!" I cried. + +"Of course! I so signed to you! See, they are wheeling the loud-mouth +out from the passageway!" + +But I had no time to look. Our mounted party had followed on after us +pretty closely and now broke out from the timber and charged at the +enemy. How we yelled when the enemy came to an abrupt stand and then +turned and headed back toward the river, shedding their robes, pouches, +ropes, everything they carried except their weapons! Right then was my +uncle's one chance to fire into them without our being in the line of +his aim, and he seized the opportunity. _Boom!_ went the old cannon, and +_Bang! Bang! Bang!_ sounded the rifles of his men. Though the enemy were +far from him, several of them went down. + +On sped the others toward the river while we fired into them. Meanwhile +our riders were rapidly gaining on them, but not rapidly enough to +overtake them before they went leaping down the bank and into the water +with furious pawings and kickings and cries of terror and despair. Our +whole force soon lined the bank and fired at them, but the treacherous, +sand-laden, swirling current of the river took more toll of their number +than our shots did. + +I could not shoot at the defenseless swimmers; so I called to Pitamakan +and we left the bank and ran toward the barricade. + +There at the passageway a strange sight met our eyes. My uncle, with +parched lips and bloodshot eyes, stood guard with his rifle over +Tsistsaki, who doled out a cupful of water to one after another of the +engagés, while they, crazed from want of it, alternately called him bad +names and cried and begged for more. Now and then one of them ran to +scale the barricade and go to the river, only to be forced back by +Abbott and the Twins. + +"Look at 'em! Look at the pigs!" Josh was exclaiming. "They'd just +natcherly drink 'emselves to death if we'd let 'em!" + +My uncle turned and saw us at his side. + +"Ha! Here are my faithful boys!" he exclaimed in a hoarse, cracked +voice. + +"Through you we survive!" Tsistsaki said to us, and we could barely hear +her strangely pitched voice. + +Behind the engagés were their women and children; they, it seemed, had +been served first from the two buckets of water that Abbott had brought +from the river as soon as the bank was clear of the enemy. I looked over +the little crowd, missed the Mandans and asked for them. + +"They are down at the river; they will not kill themselves drinking, as +these worthless rascals would if they could git to it!" said Abbott. + +"There! They have all drunk," said Tsistsaki, taking the cup from Henri +Robarre, who was begging wildly for just a little more of the water. +Turning, she held a cupful up to my uncle. + +"No! You first," he signed. She drank and then he did. Then his voice +came back to him and he hoarsely roared to the engagés: "Now, then, you +all get back out of my sight until you are called to drink again! I am +mighty sick of you and your contemptible whinings!" + +"Leave 'em to us, Wesley; we'll herd 'em for you!" Lem called; and with +a sigh of relief my uncle turned away from them. + +Some of the women were leading the half-dead horses toward us. + +"Look at that! They've got a whole lot more heart than their men, those +women have!" Abbott exclaimed. + +My uncle took Tsistsaki by the hand, and we all four went out to the +river-bank. The fight was over, and the Pikuni on horseback and on foot +were going about counting the dead cut-throats and counting coup upon +them, too. Whereupon Pitamakan cried, "How could I have forgotten? I +have a coup to count down there in the timber." + +He went from us as fast as he could run. + +Abbott and the women came to the head of the water trail with the horses +and began relieving their torment with a bucketful all round. Back in +the barricade we could hear the engagés begging the Twins to turn them +loose. The five old Mandans came up from the water and one by one +gravely shook my hand. + +"We survive!" Lame Wolf signed to me. "I knew that you would bring the +Pikuni in time; my medicine told me that you would be here before the +setting of this sun. And here you are! The sun is good to us!" + +"Yes. Good to us!" I answered. + +I had no more than told my uncle and Tsistsaki briefly of our ride in +quest of the Pikuni and listened to a short account of their trials with +the thirst-crazed engagés when in the gathering dusk White Wolf and +Heavy Runner and the other chiefs came up to us. They all knew the old +Mandans and affectionately greeted them. Tsistsaki ran to her brother, +White Wolf, and embraced him and cried a little with joy at seeing him +again. We then all turned to the stockade, and my uncle called out to +the Twins, "Josh, Lem, let those rascals go now! If they waterlog +themselves it will not be my funeral!" + +They made a wild onset upon the bucket of water that the Twins were +guarding, upset it, and with strange, wild cries leaped the barricade +and rushed to the river. They were just animals, those old-time French +Creole engagés! Perhaps it would be better and a little nearer the truth +to say that they were just irresponsible children of man's size. + +Tsistsaki started a little fire in our lodge; then we all gathered in +it. Outside the women were employing every pot in camp to cook meat and +boil coffee for our guests. We had to provide for the chiefs and a few +of the head warriors only; the others were gathering about fires of +their own in the grove, and would have no food until they could kill +some meat in the morning. My uncle regretted that we had nothing except +coffee to send down to them. + +"It doesn't matter," Heavy Runner told him. "They are so happy over what +they have done to the cut-throats that they are not thinking about +food." + +Presently Pitamakan came in, much excited. "Here is news for you, +chiefs!" he said. "We have counted forty-one dead, and of that number +only seven are cut-throats; the rest are Parted Hairs!" (Kai-spa: Parted +Hair: the Yanktonnais Sioux.) + +"Ha! That accounts for it!" White Wolf exclaimed. "Your message, Far +Thunder, was that we were to help you fight the cut-throats who would +come from their far north river; therefore we did not hurry, since we +had only half as long a trail to travel." + +"That was the word I sent you. I could not know that instead of going +back to their people for help to wipe us out, Sliding Beaver's war party +would turn to the nearest Parted Hairs," my uncle answered. + +Heavy Runner laughed. "All they had to do was to tell the Parted Hairs +that you had your Is-spai-u horse here, and they came running." + +"And their shadows, ha! How many of them are now on the dreary trail to +shadow land!" some one exclaimed. + +"There must be a hundred, perhaps two hundred, dead in the river; and of +us but two are dead and three wounded!" said Pitamakan. + +Pitamakan's estimate of the loss of the enemy proved to be not far from +correct. The following spring we learned in a roundabout way from the +Hudson's Bay Company post on the Assiniboin River that the total loss of +the enemy was one hundred and eighty-two out of the four hundred and +more men who had so confidently started south to wipe us out and take +our black racer. Of that number one hundred and forty-one had been shot +or drowned in the river, and not one of the survivors had reached the +shore with his weapons. + +Pitamakan and I were so utterly worn-out that we could not take part in +the talk and the rejoicings over the defeat of the enemy. As soon as we +had finished eating, we took some bedding and went some distance west of +the barricade, where we lay down and fell asleep listening to the +thunderous triumphant singing of the warriors round their camp-fires +down in the grove. We had not recovered our saddle-horses, but well knew +that some of our friends were caring for them. + +On the following morning every member of our little party of +fort-builders awoke with the feeling that our troubles were ended. In +honor of the occasion my uncle gave the engagés a holiday and turned +the horses out to graze wherever they would. The chiefs remained with +us; some of the warriors went back to meet the oncoming caravan of the +Pikuni; others scattered to hunt, and still others remained in the +grove, resting, singing, talking over with one another every detail of +the battle. + +In the afternoon Pitamakan and I saddled the three engagés' horses and +rode with Tsistsaki to meet the Pikuni, which we did about three miles +out on the plain. Long before we met the long caravan we could hear the +people singing, laughing, rejoicing over the great news that had been +brought to them. They greeted us with smiles and jests as they passed +along. Tsistsaki fell into line with White Wolf's family. Then Pitamakan +and I sheered off to the heads of the Missouri breaks, killed a couple +of mule buck deer, and took home all the meat that our horses could +carry with us on top of the loads. That evening, as we looked up the +valley from the barricade, how pleasant it was to see the lodges of the +Pikuni strung for a mile or more along the course of the river! +"Thomas," said my uncle as he stood with me looking at them and +listening to the cheerful hum of the great camp, "Thomas, I was rash; I +took too great chances in this enterprise. But all is well with us now. +We cannot fail to make a big trade here. I can hardly wait for the +morrow to resume work upon the fort. You must bear a hand at it when you +and Pitamakan are not getting meat for camp." + +I did "bear a hand." The engagés, relieved of all fear of the enemy and +anxious to move into snug, log-walled quarters, worked as I had never +seen them work before. When in due time the Yellowstone II arrived with +our large shipment of goods, we had a long stock-room and a trade-room +ready to receive it; and in the early part of October the fort was +completed, bastions and all, and the engagés were told to get in the +winter firewood. At about that time the other tribes of the Blackfeet +and our allies, the Gros Ventres, arrived and went into camp at various +points along the Musselshell and the Missouri. Crow Foot, chief of the +Blackfoot tribe, brought us a letter from Carroll and Steell. I +remember word for word a sentence or two in it: "Well, Wesley, by this +time you have completed your War-Trail Fort, and you have done it by the +merest scratch. Had the Pikuni been a day or two longer in arriving at +the mouth of the Musselshell, your scalp would now be hanging in a +Yanktonnais lodge. Aren't you the lucky man!" + +"I certainly am! And thankful, too, to the good God for all his +mercies!" exclaimed my uncle when he had read it. From that remark you +will see that he had not altogether forgotten his early religious +training. + +Perhaps you can imagine how Pitamakan and I kicked up our heels when, +one fine October morning, my uncle announced that we were free to roam +wherever we pleased. The Pikuni were going to hunt and trap along the +foot of the Snowy Mountains and the upper reaches of the Musselshell and +its tributaries, and we went with them and had great adventures. At +Christmas-time we returned to the fort with more than our full share of +beaver pelts. + +From then until spring I was kept busy in the fort day after day helping +in the trade for the furs and robes that came to us in a perfect stream. +In the following June our shipment totaled seven thousand fine +head-and-tail buffalo robes; twenty-one hundred beaver pelts; four +thousand elk, deer, and antelope skins; and about three thousand wolf +pelts. After receiving the statement of the sale of them in St. Louis my +uncle clapped his hands and laughed and cried out: "Tsistsaki, Thomas, +this is how we stand: all our bills are paid, and we are ahead one good +fort and forty-two thousand dollars in cash!" + +"Ha! What happiness is ours!" my almost-mother exclaimed. + +"And," said I, "we are not asking for goods on credit for next winter's +trade, are we?" + + +THE END + + + The Riverside Press + CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS + U. S. A. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The War-Trail Fort, by James Willard Schultz + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43210 *** |