Spring came early in that latitude, and Curtis was profoundly thankful
that his first winter had proven unusually short and mild, for it
enabled him to provide for his people far better than he had dared to
hope. The rations were insufficient at best, and for several days of
each alternate week the grown people were hungry as well as cold, though
no one actually perished from lack of food. Beyond the wood contract and
the hauling of hides each month there was very little work to be done
during the winter, not enough to buy the tobacco the men longed for.
They believed in Swift Eagle, however, for he visited every cluster of
huts each month, and became acquainted with nearly every family during
the winter. No agent had ever taken the like pains to shake the old
women by the hand, or to speak as kindly to the old men who sat beside
the fire, feeble and bent with rheumatism. The little children all ran
to him when he came near, as if he were a friend, and that was a good
sign, too. Some of the old chiefs complained, of course--there was so
little else for them to do; but they did not blame the Little Father.
They were assured of his willingness to do whatever lay within his
power to mitigate their poverty. Jennie, who was often at the beds of
those who suffered, had won wide acceptance of her lotions by an amused
tolerance of the medicine-men, whose mystic paraphernalia interested her
exceedingly. The men of magic came at last to sing their curious songs
and perform their feats of healing in her presence. "Together we will
defeat the evil spirits," they said, and the health of the tribe
continued to be very good, in spite of unsanitary housing and the evil
influence of the medicine-men. When the missionaries came to have the
native doctors suppressed Curtis said: "My policy is to supplant, not to
suppress."
The bill which called for the removal of the Tetongs to another
reservation was reported killed. The compromise measure for buying out
the settlers was "hung up" in the committee-room, and this delay on the
part of Congress exasperated the settlers beyond reason, and at a
convention held early in April at Pinon City, Joseph Streeter brazenly
shouted, "If the government does not remove these Injuns before the
first of July we'll make it hot for all concerned," and his threat was
wildly cheered and largely quoted thereafter as the utterance of a man
not afraid of Congress or anybody else.
Seed-time came without any promise of change, and the white settlers on
the reservation went sullenly to their planting, and the cattlemen drove
their herds across the boundaries upon the Tetong range as they had been
doing for many years. "We are in for another season of it," they said,
with the air of being martyrs in the cause of civilization.
Curtis immediately sent warning commands to all the outside ranchers to
keep clear of the reservation, and also notified Streeter, Johnson, and
others of the settlers on the Elk and the Willow that their cattle must
not be allowed to stray beyond certain lines, which he indicated. These
orders, according to Calvin, made the settlers "red-headed as
wood-peckers. They think you're drawin' the lines down pretty fine."
"I mean to," replied Curtis. "You original settlers are here by right
and shall have full opportunity to graze your stock, but those on the
outside must keep out. I will seize and impound all stock that does not
belong on this land."
Calvin reported this statement to the outside men, and its audacity
provoked the most violent threats against the agent, but he rode about
unaccompanied and unarmed; but not without defence, for Calvin said to
one of the loudest of the boasters, "The man who jerks a gun on Curtis
runs a good chance of losing a lung or two," and the remark took effect,
for Calvin had somehow acquired a reputation for being "plumb sassy when
attack-ted."
Curtis had the army officer's contempt of personal injury, and, in
pursuance of his campaign against the invading stockmen, did not
hesitate to ride into their round-up camps alone, or accompanied only by
Crow Wing, and no blusterer could sustain his reputation in the face of
the agent's calm sense of command.
"I am not speaking personally," he said once, to an angry camp of a
dozen armed men. "I am here as an officer of the United States army,
detailed to special duty as an Indian agent, and I am in command of
this reservation. It is of no use to bluster. Your cattle _must_ be kept
from the Tetong range."
"The grass is going to waste there," the boss argued.
"That does not concern you. It is not the fault of the Tetongs that they
have not cattle enough to fill the range."
In the end he had his way, and though the settlers and ranchers hated
him, they also respected him. No one thought of attempting to bribe or
scare him, and political "pull" had no value in his eyes.
Jennie, meanwhile, had acquired almost mythic fame as a marvellously
beautiful and haughty "queen." Calvin was singularly close-mouthed about
her, but one or two of the cowboys who had chanced to meet her with the
agent spread the most appreciative reports of her beauty and of the
garments she wore. She was said to be a singer of opera tunes, and that
she played the piano "to beat the Jews." One fellow who had business
with the agent reported having met her at the door. "By mighty! she's
purty enough to eat," he said to his chum. "Her cheeks are as pink as
peaches, and her eyes are jest the brown I like. She's a 'glad rag,' all
right."
"Made good use o' your time, didn't ye?" remarked his friend.
"You bet your life! I weren't lettin' nothin' git by me endurin' that
minute or two."
"I bet you dursn't go there again."
"I take ye--I'll go to-morrow."
"Without any business, this time? No excuse but jest to see her? You
'ain't got the nerve."
"You'll see. I'm the boy. There ain't no 'rag' gay enough to scare me."
It became a common joke for some lank, brown chap to say carelessly, as
he rose from supper, "Well, I guess I'll throw a saddle onto my
bald-faced sorrel and ride over and see the agent's sister." In reality,
not one of them ever dared to even knock at the door, and when they came
to the yards with a consignment of cattle they were as self-conscious as
school-boys in a parlor and uneasy as wolves in a trap, till they were
once more riding down the trail; then they "broke loose," whooping
shrilly and racing like mad, in order to show that they had never been
afraid. Calvin continued to call, and his defence of the agent had led
to several sharp altercations with his father.
The red people expanded and took on cheer under the coming of the
summer, like some larger form of insect life. They were profoundly glad
of the warmth. The old men, climbing to some rounded hill-top at dawn,
sat reverently to smoke and offer incense to the Great Spirit, which the
sun was, and the little children, seeing the sages thus in deep
meditation, passed quietly by with a touch of awe.
As the soft winds began to blow, the dingy huts were deserted for the
sweeter and wholesomer life of the tepee, which is always ventilated,
and which has also a thousand memories of battle and the chase
associated with its ribbed walls, its yellowed peak, and its smouldering
fires. The sick grew well and the weak became strong as they passed once
more from the foul air of their cabins to the inspiriting breath of the
mountains, uncontaminated by any smoke of white man's fire. The little
girls went forth on the hills to gather flowers for the teachers, and
the medicine-men, taking great credit to themselves, said: "See! our
incantations again prevailed. The sun is coming back, the grass is
green, and the warm winds are breathing upon the hills."
"Ay, but you cannot bring back the buffalo," said those who doubted, for
there are sceptics among the redmen as elsewhere. "When you do that,
then we will believe that you are really men of magic."
But the people did not respond cheerfully to Curtis when he urged them
to plant gardens. They said: "We will do it, Little Father, but it is of
no use. For two years we tried it, and each year the hot sun dried our
little plants. Our corn withered and our potatoes came to nothing. Do
not ask us to again plough the hard earth. It is all a weariness to no
result."
To Jennie, Curtis said: "I haven't the heart to push them into doing a
useless thing. They are right. I must wait until we have the water of
the streams for our own use."
The elder Streeter was very bitter, Calvin reported. "But he ain't no
idyot. He won't make no move that the law don't back him up in; but some
o' these other yaps are talkin' all kinds of gun-play. But don't you
lose any flesh. They got to git by me before they reach you."
Curtis smiled. "Calvin, you're a loyal friend, but I am not a bit
nervous."
"That's all right, Captain, but you can't tell what a mob o' these
lahees will do. I've seen 'em make some crazy plays--I sure have; but
I'll keep one ear lapped back for signs of war."