INDIANS AT HOME.
When Hugh and Jack went out of the lodge together, the sun was already
touching the sharp peaks of the distant snow-patched mountains. The air
was cool, and the sky still clear and bright, only toward the east it
was beginning to take on the shade of dark blue which foretells the
night. The camp was active. Women were hurrying up from the stream, each
carrying one or two buckets of water. Men were walking here and there;
boys racing to and fro, chasing each other, wrestling and shouting; from
the piles of wood which stood near the door of each, little girls were
carrying sticks into the lodges; boys and women were tethering horses to
pins driven in the ground close in front of the lodges; a few men were
coming into the camp, with red meat piled behind them on their horses.
From different lodges, near and far, came loud voiced callings, while,
riding around the circle of the camp, just within the lodges, passed an
old man, who constantly shouted with powerful voice. From the smoke hole
of every lodge, smoke was rising, and toward some of them, naked men
were directing their steps.
"Oh, Hugh, isn't this great?" said Jack. "Hold on a minute; let's look
and listen. Isn't this wonderful! I feel as if I wanted to stop right
here, and ask you what every one of these things mean."
"Well," said Hugh, "I expect likely you never did see anything like this
before, and maybe you never had no idea of what an Indian camp is.
'Course, it's all a pretty old story to me, but I'd like right well to
tell you all I know about it."
"Well," said Jack, "let's begin right now. What is that old man doing
that's riding around on the white horse, holloaing so?"
"Why that's the camp crier," said Hugh; "he's telling the news, and
maybe giving the chief's orders; telling the people what the camp is to
do to-morrow. Listen a minute, and I'll see if I can tell what he's
saying." He held up his hand for Jack to keep silence, and after
listening for a moment or two, he smiled and said, "Why, son, he's
talking about you, now."
[Illustration: "WHY THAT'S THE CAMP CRIER."--_Page 146_]
"About me!" said Jack.
"Yes, he's telling how you fished Little Plume's girl out of the creek.
You see, he's kind o' like a newspaper to the camp here; he tells them
everything that's happened, and what he was saying then was, that the
white boy that came into the camp with White Bull--that's me--had ridden
into the river and pulled out the child of Little Plume, after she had
fallen off her horse and cut her head."
"Well, that's funny," said Jack; "I never supposed that anything that
I'd do would be worth telling a lot of people about."
"Well," said Hugh, "that's what he was saying then; he's getting so far
off now I can't hear much of what he says. That shouting that you hear
from these different lodges is men inviting their friends to come and
eat and smoke with him. That's a great thing among these people; they
like to have their friends come and see them, and eat with them. It's
just like if I lived somewhere in the east, and asked you and your
uncle, and a lot of my other friends to come and take dinner with me."
"Why," said Jack, "that's just what it must be, a regular dinner party,
only, instead of writing the invitations, they shout them out from the
lodge."
"That's just about the size of it," said Hugh. "Well, come on now; let's
go over to the head chief's lodge, and sort o' report to him; tell him
we've come. He's a good old man, and he'll be glad to see us both, I
expect."
The sun had set, and in the growing dusk they walked across the wide
circle to the head chief's lodge. Just before reaching the door, they
passed an old woman, who, as she saw Hugh, gave an exclamation of
surprise, and spoke to him, shaking hands with him as she did so. Then,
after a moment's talk, she turned and shook hands with Jack, and passed
on. "Now, you notice that, son," said Hugh; "that old woman shook hands
with both of us, but you mustn't expect other women to do that. She's
old, and her husband's a great friend of mine, so she knows me well; but
most women won't look at you nor speak to you, much less shake hands
with you, until they get to be mighty well acquainted with you. They're
shy like."
When they reached the lodge door, Hugh bent down and passed in first,
closely followed by Jack; then turning to the right he advanced a few
steps, and spoke to the old man who was sitting at the back of the
lodge. The Indian placed his right hand over his mouth, as he gave an
exclamation of surprise, and then clapping his hands together, motioned
Hugh to come and sit by his side. Jack followed, and sat down, and in a
moment the old man leaned over and shook hands with him. "Ironshirt says
he's right glad you've come to the camp, son, and that he heard this
afternoon what you had done, and it's good. He hopes you will stop here
for a while; all the people will be glad to have so friendly a person
living with them."
Hugh and the old man talked together for a long time, while Jack sat on
the bed before the flickering fire, and watched what was going on in the
lodge. In that half of it which was to the left of the door, there were
three women, and an uncountable number of little children. Two or three
of the smallest were babies; two of them confined on boards which stood
against the lodge poles, while one, a little older, and absolutely
naked, rolled on the floor, so close to the fire that Jack felt a little
nervous lest it should crawl into it. Two little girls, six or eight
years old sat on the bed between two of the women; each one had a little
robe about her, and above this robe, and looking over the little girl's
shoulder, was the head of a little puppy, which every now and then
squirmed and struggled, seeming to make frantic efforts to get free.
There were two boys, ten or twelve years old, each of whom held in his
hand a bow and some arrows, but soon after Hugh had entered, these two
passed out of the lodge, and were not seen again. The women were
cooking some dried meat which looked to Jack like strips and fragments
of black leather, which one threw into the pot which hung over the fire,
while the other occasionally stirred this pot with a stick, and watched
another which was partly full of a dark bubbling mass, which looked like
jam.
The talk between the two men lasted a long time, but Jack did not grow
weary of watching what was happening in the lodge. Suddenly from
without, and very far off, came a long, shrill, quivering cry, and every
one ceased talking. One of the women swiftly passed out of the lodge,
and, after a moment or two, returned to the door and called out
something to those within. Hugh turned to Jack, and said, "Somebody has
been wounded by enemies. Let's go out and see what it is;" and they rose
and passed out of the lodge into the darkness. There was much excitement
without, and many people were hurrying from all quarters toward the
lodge where Jack and Hugh were to pass the night.
"What do you suppose it is, Hugh?" said Jack.
"I don't know," said Hugh, "no more than you do; only what the woman
said; what I told you." As they walked along, they saw before them a
throng of people on foot crowding around several men on horse-back, who
were riding toward Little Plume's lodge. As Hugh and Jack pushed their
way through the crowd, they saw these men alight, and two of them helped
the third into the lodge. Then, presently, when they had elbowed their
way through the crowd of men, women and children, and had nearly reached
the door, a man stepped out of the lodge, talked for a few moments in a
loud voice, and the crowd dispersed as rapidly as it had gathered.
Hugh and Jack entered the lodge, and saw there, old John Monroe, and a
small, slender, handsome Indian sitting on one of the beds, eating,
while on another bed a third man was stretched out, and an old Indian
knelt by him, washing a wound in his shoulder.
"Why, hallo, Hugh, h' ole man! You was come. My glad my see you. Hallo,
Jack! You come too. That good."
"Yes, John," said Hugh, "son and me made up our minds that we couldn't
get through the summer without coming up to visit with you folks for a
little while, and here we are. But what's the trouble? How did the young
man get hurt? Hallo, Little Plume! How are you? _Ok'yi._" Jack shook
hands with John and Little Plume, and for a few minutes all the men
talked earnestly; then Hugh turned to Jack and said, "Well, I expect you
want to know what this is all about, son, so I'll tell you, but you'll
have to start in and learn Piegan for yourself, if you're going to stop
all summer in this camp, because it's mighty slow work to have to have
everything interpreted to you. It seems that John, Little Plume and
Yellow Wolf--this young fellow here--started out early this morning, up
into the hills, to try to kill some buckskin, for Little Plume's wife
wanted to make some leggings. They had left their horses and were
hunting along on foot, pretty well spread out, John to the north, Yellow
Wolf in the middle, and Little Plume to the South, when suddenly Yellow
Wolf walked into three Crows that were lying hid in the pines. They must
have heard him coming, or anyhow, they saw him before he did them, and
two of them let drive at him with their arrows, and one shot at him with
a gun. The first arrow, he thinks, hit him in the shoulder, striking the
bone, and kind o' turned him around, and he dropped. The other arrow and
the gun missed him. When he fell, the three Indians jumped forward to
strike him, but he raised up and let fly with his old fuke, and killed
the leading man, and then he pulled his bow and arrow and shot at the
second man. This made 'em see that he wasn't dead, and both the Crows
dodged into the brush. When John and Little Plume heard the two shots so
close together, they knew that Yellow Wolf had been attacked, and they
both came down to see what was the matter, and when the two Crows heard
them coming, they got up and skipped out as lively as they knew how.
John got a shot at one of 'em, but he don't think he hit him. The
country there is rough and broken with lots of pines, and they didn't
know but there might be a big party of Crows somewheres near, and the
boy here was wounded, so they struck the enemy and took his scalp, and
got the boy back to the horses and brought him in. Little Plume's going
to take a lot of young men out there in the morning, and see if they can
find them Crows. I expect likely it was just a little party coming down
to steal the Piegans' horses. Likely they'll travel all night and be far
enough away before morning comes. Little Plume says that there may be a
big war party not far off, and thinks that the young men ought to stand
guard over their horses to-night; but I expect they won't do it. An
Indian will take all sorts of precautions to avoid being surprised,
except the precaution of staying awake. They have got to be pretty badly
scared before they'll do that. They're great fellows to take their
natural rest."
"Well, how is the young man, Hugh," said Jack; "is he badly hurt?"
"No," said Hugh, "I reckon not. I haven't looked at him, but from what
these men say, I judge he'll be all right in a few days. I'll ask Red
Bear, there; he's doctoring him." He spoke to the old man, who had
finished attending to Yellow Wolf, and was now gravely smoking a long
pipe that Little Plume had passed to him. He spoke a few words, and Hugh
said to Jack, "The old man says that he's not badly hurt; that before
long he will be quite well."
A little later, Little Plume spoke to Hugh quite earnestly for some
moments, and then stood on his feet, reached over and shook Jack's hand.
"He says," said Hugh, "that his woman told him what you did this
afternoon, and he will always remember it; that you will always be like
a son to him, because you saved the life of his little girl. He cannot
tell you much of what he feels, but his heart is big toward you. He
wants you to stop here in this lodge as long as you can, and if you see
anything of his that you want, you must take it, for it is yours."
"Well," said Jack, "I don't see why they make so much of a fuss over my
getting the girl to shore. If he wants to thank anybody, he ought to
thank Pawnee. I could not have done anything without him. Tell him that
I am glad I could help the little girl, and that it makes me feel good
that he should be friendly toward me."
For a long time they sat there by the fire, the men talking in a
language that Jack could not understand, while he listened to the sounds
without, and watched the sights within. Now and then would be heard the
swift galloping of a horse, as some one rode rapidly across the circle
of the camp. Young men shouted shrilly to each other. From various
points came the sound of drumming and of distant singing. Now and then a
party of four or five would pass by on foot, chanting some plaintive,
melancholy air. There was a distant hum of voices, above which
occasionally rose the sweetly shrill laugh of a woman. Within the lodge,
the fire snapped and flickered. One by one the women and children lay
down upon their beds, and wrapped their brown robes about them, and lay
still. The men talked on and the long-stemmed pipe passed from hand to
hand. As the men talked, their hands flew in the graceful gesticulations
of the sign language, and sometimes Jack imagined that he could tell
what it was that they were talking about. Jack watched and listened, and
listened and watched, but by and by his eyes grew dim, and he began to
nod.
Hugh noticed this after a little, and turning to him, said, "Well, son,
I reckon you're tired. We've had a long day, and I expect you'd like to
go to sleep. There's your bed," he added, pointing, "under where your
clothes hang. You'd better turn in in them buffalo robes, and get a good
night's rest." Jack was glad to do it, and before long had forgotten
where he was.