toward the buffalo. They turned to run, and a great dust rose in the air.
That day there were many men on fast horses, but my uncle's horse was
faster than all; and because I was little and light, he ran through the big
buffalo, and was soon close to the calves. When he was running through the
buffalo I was frightened, for they seemed so big, and they crowded so on
each other, and their horns rattled as they knocked together, as the herd
parted and pushed away on either side, letting me pass through it.
In only a short time I was running close to a yellow calf. It ran very
fast, and for a little while I could not overtake it; but then it seemed to
go slower, and my horse drew up close to it. I shot an arrow and missed it,
and then another, and did not miss; the arrow went deep into it, just
before the short ribs, and a moment afterward I could see blood coming from
the calf's mouth; and I ran on to get another. I did kill another, and then
stopped and got down. The herd had passed, and I began to butcher the last
calf; and before I had finished my uncle rode up to me and said, "Well,
son, did you kill anything?" I told him that I had killed two calves; and
we went back and looked for the other. He helped me to butcher, and we put
the meat and skins of both calves on my horse and then returned to the
camp.
When we reached there, my uncle stood in front of the lodge, and called out
with a loud voice, saying: "This day my son has chased buffalo, and has
killed two calves. I have given one of my best horses to Red Fox." This he
called out several times, and at the same time he sent a young man to his
lodge, telling him to bring a certain good horse, which he named. Before
very long the young man came with the horse, and about the same time the
old man Red Fox, who was poor and lame, and without relations, was seen
limping toward the lodge, coughing as he came.
In his young days Red Fox had been a brave and had done many good things,
but he had been shot in the thigh, in battle, and his leg had never healed,
so that he could not go to war. After that, his wife and then his children
one by one had died, or been killed in battle, and now he had nothing of
his own, but lived in the lodge with friends--people who were kind to him.
After Red Fox had mounted his horse, and had ridden off about the circle of
the lodges, singing a song, in which he told what I had done, and how my
uncle was proud of my success, and of how good his heart was toward poor
people, so that when he made gifts he gave them to persons who had nothing,
and not to people who were rich and happy, my uncle turned about and went
into the lodge. He told the young man who had brought the horse to go out
and call a number of his friends, and older people, to come that night to
his lodge, to feast with him.
After they had come, and all had eaten, and while the pipe was being
smoked, my uncle said: "Friends, I have called you to eat with me, because
this day my son has killed two calves. He has done well, and I can see that
he will be a good man. His lodge will not be poor for meat nor will his
wife lack skins to tan, or hides for lodge skins. We have had good luck,
and to-day my heart is glad; and it is for this reason that I have asked
you to come and hear what my son has done, in order that you may be
pleased, as I am pleased."
When he had finished speaking, Double Runner, an old man, whose hair was
white, stood up on his feet and spoke, and said that I had done well. He
spoke good words of my uncle because he had a kind heart and was generous,
and liked to make people happy. He spoke also of my father, and said that
it was bad for the tribe when the enemy killed him; but, nevertheless, he
had died fighting, as a brave man would wish to die.
From that time on, so long as the buffalo were seen, I went out with the
men of the camp. Sometimes I went alone, or with companions of my own age,
and we tried to kill calves, but more than once I went with my uncle. The
second time I rode with him he said to me that I had killed calves, and now
I must try to kill big buffalo. I remembered what he had said about riding
close to the buffalo, but I was afraid to do this, and yet I was ashamed to
tell him that I was afraid. When the surround was made, my uncle and I were
soon among the buffalo. I was riding my uncle's fast buffalo horse. My
uncle rode on my right hand, and when we charged down and got among the
buffalo we soon passed through the bulls and then drew up slowly on the
cows, and those younger animals whose horns were yet straight. I thought we
were going to pass on through these, and kill calves, but suddenly my uncle
crowded his horse up close to me, and, pointing to a young bull, signed to
me to shoot it. I did not want to, but my uncle kept crowding his horse
more and more on me, and pushing me close to the bull. I was afraid of it;
I thought that perhaps it would turn its head toward me and frighten my
horse, and my horse could not get away because of my uncle's horse, and
then my horse, and perhaps I, myself, would be killed; but there was not
much time to think about it. I felt that I was not strong enough to kill a
buffalo; I did not want to try; but all the time my uncle was signing to
me, "Shoot, shoot." There was no way for me to escape, and I drew the arrow
and shot into the buffalo. The point hit the animal between the ribs, and
went in deep, yet not to the feathers. When I shot, my uncle sheered off,
and I followed him; and in a moment, looking back, I saw that the blood was
coming from the bull's nose and mouth; and then I knew that I had killed
it. In a few moments it fell, and I went back to it. Then truly I thought
that I had done something great, and I felt glad that I had killed a big
buffalo. I forgot that a little while before I had been frightened, and had
wanted to get away without shooting. I forgot that, except for my uncle, I
should not have made this lucky shot. I felt as if I had done something,
and something that was very smart and great. You see, I was only a boy.
This feeling did not last very long; after a little I remembered that
except for my uncle I should have still been afraid of big buffalo, and
should not have dared to go near enough to kill one, but should have been
content to kill calves. My mind was still big for what I had done, and I
felt thankful to my uncle for making me do it. I wanted to pass my hands
over him--to express my gratitude to him--for all his kindness to me. No
father could have done more for me than he had done, and always did.
That night when we came back to the camp my horse was carrying a great pile
of meat; and when I stopped in front of the lodge, I called out to my
mother to come and take my horse, and take the meat from it; for so my
uncle had told me to do. "Now," he said, "you have become a man; you are
able to hunt, and to kill food, and you must act as a man acts."
When my mother came out of the lodge she was astonished; she could hardly
believe that it was I who had killed this buffalo. Nevertheless, she took
the rope from me, and began to take the meat from the horse; and I went
into the lodge and lay down on the bed by the fire to rest, for this too
was what my uncle had told me to do.
The next time the camp made a surround, I rode alone, and this time I did
not do so well. It is true that I killed a cow, but also I shot another
animal, which carried away three of my arrows. It was afterward killed by a
man a long way off, and the next day he gave me back my arrows, which he
had taken from the cow. I felt ashamed of this, but, nevertheless, I kept
on, and before the hunt was over I killed many buffalo, and my mother
dressed the hides.
[Illustration: I KILLED MANY BUFFALO AND MY MOTHER DRESSED THE HIDES]
_In the Medicine Circle._
Soon after I had killed my big buffalo, my uncle had sent for me and when I
had gone to his lodge, he said, "Come with me"; and we walked out on the
prairie where his horses were feeding. He carried a rope in his hand, and,
throwing it over the fast buffalo horse, that he had told me to ride when I
first hunted buffalo, he put the rope in my hand, and said: "Son, I give
you this horse; he is fast, and he is long-winded. You have seen that he
can overtake buffalo. I tell you now that he is a good horse for war. If
you ride him when you go on the warpath, you can get up close to your
enemy, and strike him; he will not be able to run away from you."
This was the first horse I had, and I was proud to own it. Also, later, my
uncle said to me, "My son, if you need horses for riding, catch some of
those out of my band, and use them." This I did, sometimes. My uncle had
plenty of horses, and was always going to war and getting more.
I was now a big boy, and began to think more and more about going to war.
Ever since I had been little I had talked with my companions, and they with
me, about the time when we should be big enough to do the things that our
fathers and uncles did; and the thing that we most wished to do was to go
to war against the enemy, and to do something brave, so that we should be
looked up to by the people. As we grew older the wish to do this increased.
That summer, when the old men used to come out of their lodges, and sit in
the sun, smoking, or to gather in little groups, and gossip with one
another, I used to listen to their talk of the things that had happened in
past years, when they were young. They told of many strange things that had
happened; of war; journeys that they had made against their enemies, of
fights that they had had, and horses that they had taken. They spoke, too,
of treaties that they had made with other tribes; and told how they had
visited the camps of people who lived far off, whose names I had heard, but
of whom I knew nothing.
Sometimes, too, I was present in my uncle's lodge when he gave a feast to
friends; and often among them were chiefs and older men, who in their day
had done great things, and brought credit to the tribe. At such feasts,
after all had eaten, and my uncle had filled the pipe, and pushed the
tobacco board back under the bed, he gave the pipe to some young man, who
lighted it and handed it back to him; and then he smoked, holding the pipe
to the sky, and to the earth, and to the four directions, and made a prayer
to the spirits, and then passed the pipe along to the end of the circle on
his left; and, beginning there, each man smoked and made a prayer, and the
pipe passed from hand to hand. After this the guests talked and joked, and
laughed, and stories were told, perhaps of war or adventure, perhaps of
hard times when food was scarce and the cold bitter, perhaps of those
mysterious persons who rule the world, and of the kindly or the terrible
things that they have done.
[Illustration: HOLDING THE PIPE TO THE SKY AND TO THE EARTH]
I remember well one such feast, when for the first time my uncle told me to
sit on his right hand, and behind him; and when he had filled it, told me
to light the pipe. I reached over to the fire, and with a tongs made of
willow took up a small coal and lighted the pipe, and after it was going
well, passed it to my uncle. And so I lighted all the pipes that were
smoked that night. It was during the second of these pipes that an old man,
Calf Robe, told a story of a thing that had happened in the tribe long ago,
when he was a young man. He was a little man, thin and dried up, but in his
time he had been a great warrior. Now he was old and poor, his left arm
thin, withered and helpless, and on his side a great scar, much larger than
my two hands, where people said his ribs on that side had all been torn
away. I had heard of his adventures, how once the animals had taken pity on
him, and brought him, after he was sorely wounded on a war journey, safe
back to his people and his village. It was on this night that I first heard
the story of the Medicine Circle. This was what he said:
"It was winter. The people were camped on Lodgepole Creek near the Big Horn
Mountains. Buffalo were close and small game plenty. The snow was deep, and
the people did not watch their horses closely, for they thought no war
parties would be out in such cold and in such deep snow.
"The chief of this camp had strong mysterious power. On the ground at the
right of his bed in his lodge was always a space, where red painted wooden
pegs were set in the ground in a circle. Above this hung the medicine
bundles. No one was allowed to step or sit in this circle. No one might
throw anything on the ground near it. No one might pass between it and the
fire. It was sacred.
"It was a very cold night. The wind blew the snow about so that one could
hardly see. The chief had gone to a feast in a lodge near his own, and his
wives were in bed, but one of them was still awake. The fire had burned
down, and the lodge was almost dark. Suddenly the curtain of the doorway
was thrown back. A person entered, passed around to the back of the lodge,
and sat down in the medicine circle.
"'Now what is this?' the woman thought; 'why does this person sit in the
medicine circle?'
"She said to him: 'You know that is the medicine circle. Quick! get up, and
sit down somewhere else. My husband will be angry if he sees you there.'
"The person did not speak nor move, so the woman got up and put grass on
the fire, and when it made a light, she saw that the man was a stranger,
for his clothing was different from ours; but she could not see his face;
he kept it covered, all but his eyes. The woman went out and ran to the
lodge where her husband was, and said to him: 'Come quickly! A stranger has
entered our lodge. He is sitting in the medicine circle.'
"The chief went to his lodge, and many with him--for chiefs and warriors
had been feasting together--and they carried in more wood and built a big
fire. Then the stranger moved toward the fire, nearer and nearer, and they
saw he was shaking with cold. His moccasins and leggings were torn and
covered with ice, and his robe was thin and worn.
"The chief was greatly troubled to see this person sitting in his medicine
circle, and he asked him in signs, 'Where did you come from?'
"He made no answer.
"Again he asked, 'Who are you?'
"The stranger did not speak. He sat as close to the fire as he could get,
still shivering with cold.
"The chief told a woman to feed him; and she warmed some soup and meat over
the fire, and set it before the stranger. Then he threw off his robe, and
began to eat like a dog that is starved; and all the people sat and looked
at him. He was a young man; his face was good, and his hair very long; but
he looked thin, and his clothes were poor.
"The stranger ate all the soup and meat, and then he spoke, in signs: 'I
came from the north. I was with a large party. We traveled south many days,
and at last saw a big camp by a river. At night we went down to it, to take
horses, but I got none, and my party rode off and left me. They told me to
go with them and they would give me some of the horses that they had taken,
but I was ashamed. I had taken no horses, and I could not go back to my
people without counting a coup. So I came on alone, and it is now many days
since I left my party. I had used up all my arrows, and could kill no food.
I began to starve. To-day I saw your camp. I thought to take some horses
from you, but my arrows are gone; I should have starved on the road. My
clothes are thin and torn; I should have frozen. So I made up my mind to
come to your camp and be killed.
"'Come, I am ready. Kill me! I am a Blackfoot.'
"A pipe was filled, lighted, and passed around. But the chief sat thinking.
Everyone was waiting to hear what he would say.
"At last he spoke: 'An enemy has come into our camp. The Blackfeet are our
enemies. They kill us when they can. We kill them. This man came here to
steal our horses, and he ought to be killed. But, you see, he has come into
my lodge and sat down in the medicine circle. Perhaps his medicine led him
to the place. He must have a powerful helper.
"'There are many lodges in this camp, and in each of these lodges many
seats, but he has come to my lodge, and has sat down in my medicine circle.
I believe my medicine helped him too. So now I am afraid to kill this man,
for if I do, it may break my medicine. I have finished.'
"Everyone said the chief's talk was good. The chief turned to the Blackfoot
and said: 'Do not be afraid; we will not kill you. You are tired. Take off
your leggings and moccasins, and lie down in that bed.'
"The Blackfoot did as he was told, and as soon as he lay down he slept; for
he was very tired.
"Next morning, when he awoke, there by his bed were new leggings for him,
and warm hair moccasins, and a new soft cow's robe; and he put these on,
and his heart was glad. Then they ate, and the chief told him about the
medicine circle, and why they had not killed him.
"In the spring a party of our people went to war against the Crows and the
Blackfoot went with them, and he took many horses. He went to war often,
and soon had a big band of horses. He married two women of our tribe, and
stayed with us. Sometimes they used to ask him if he would ever go back to
his people, and he would say: 'Wait, I want to get more horses, and when I
have a big band--a great many--I will take my lodge, and my women and
children, and we will go north, and I will make peace between your tribe
and the Blackfeet.'
"One summer the people were running buffalo. They were making new lodges.
One day the men went out to hunt. At sundown they came back, but the
Blackfoot did not return. Next day the men went out to look for him, and
they searched all over the country. Many days they hunted for the
Blackfoot, but he was never seen again. Some said he had gone back to his
people. Some said that a bear might have killed him, or he might have
fallen from his horse and been killed, and some said that a war party must
have killed him and taken the horse with them. Neither man nor horse was
seen again."
_Among Enemy Lodges._
It was late in the winter, when I was fifteen years old, that I made my
first trip to war. We were camped on a large river, and not far from our
camp was a village of the Arapahoes.
One day I went to visit their camp, taking with me only my buffalo robe and
my bow and arrows. At the camp I found a number of young men of my tribe,
and I went into the lodge where they were sitting, and sat down near the
door. Soon after I had entered a young man of my tribe proposed that our
young men should gamble against the young men of the Arapahoes, and when
they had agreed, we all left the lodge where we were sitting, and went off
to that owned by Shaved-head. I followed along after the others, and when I
entered the lodge I found that they were making ready to gamble. The
counters were lying between the lines, ten of the sticks lying side by
side, and two lying across the ten.
When all was ready, the leader of the Arapahoes threw down on the ground
the bone they were to gamble with, and the leader of our young men threw
down his bone, and then all the young men of both parties began to sing,
and dance, and yell, each trying to bring luck to his side. Some of them
danced all around the lodge, singing as hard as they could sing. After a
time all sat down, and then one of the Arapahoes chose a man from his side,
and called him out and told him to sit down in front of his line. The
leader took up the bone, and held it up to the sun, and to the four
directions, praying that his side might win, and then handed it to this
man, who let the robe fall back from his shoulders, rose to his knees, and
after rubbing his hands on the ground, began to pass the bone from one hand
to the other. Then the leader of our party stood up, and looked over his
men, to choose someone who was good at guessing. He chose a man, and called
him out in front of the line, to guess in which hand the Arapahoe held the
bone. Then everybody began to sing hard, and four young men pounded with
sticks on a parfleche, in time to the music. Presently our man guessed and
guessed right. Then our people chose a man to pass the bone for them, and
when the Arapahoes guessed, they guessed wrong. So it kept on. The
Arapahoes did not win one point, and our people won the game. Then the
Arapahoes would play no more, and the gambling stopped. Afterward they had
a dance. It was now night. I had heard the young men talking to one
another, and I knew that they were about to start off to war. After the
dance was over, one of them said to the others, "Come, let us go about the
camp to-night, and sing wolf songs." They did so, and I went with them.
Every little while they would stop in front of some lodge and sing; and
perhaps the man who owned the lodge would fill a pipe, and hold it out to
them, and all would smoke; or someone would hand out a bit of tobacco, or a
few arrows, or five or six bullets, or some caps, or a little powder. In
this way they sang for a long time; and then, when they were tired, they
went to the different lodges and slept.
The next morning I saw them making up the packs which they were to carry on
their backs, and packing the dogs which they had with them to carry their
moccasins. I watched them, and as I looked at them I wished that I, too,
might go to war; and the more I thought about it the more I wished to go.
At last I made up my mind that I would go. I had no food, and no extra
moccasins, but I looked about the camp, and found some that had been thrown
away, worn out; and I asked one kind-hearted woman to give me some
moccasins, and she gave me three pairs. By this time the war party had
started, and I followed them.
The snow still lay deep on the ground; and as we marched along, one after
another, each man stepped in the tracks of the man before him. We traveled
a long way, until we came to some hills, from which we could see a river;
and before we got down to the river's valley we stopped on a hill, and took
off our packs, and looked about and rested. After a time someone said,
"Well, let us go down to the river and camp." They all started down the
hill, but I remained where I was, waiting to see what they would do. You
see, I did not belong to the party, and I did not know how the others felt
toward me; so I was shy about doing anything; I wanted to wait and see what
they did.
When the others reached the level ground near the stream they threw down
their packs and began to go to work. Some of the men scraped away the snow
from the ground where they were to sleep; others went off into the timber,
and soon returned with loads of wood on their backs, and started fires;
others brought poles with which to build lodges; others, bark from old
cottonwood trees, and others, still, brush. Everyone worked hard.
Presently I grew tired of sitting alone on the hill, and went down to the
others. When I reached there, I found that they were building three war
lodges, and as I drew near, all the young men began to call out to me, each
one asking me to come over to him. I was the littlest fellow in the party,
and they all wanted me, thinking that I might bring them luck. When they
called to me, they did not speak to me by my name, but called me Bear
Chief, the name of one of the greatest warriors of the tribe. They were
joking with me, to tease me.
When I was near the lodges I stopped, uncertain what to do, or where to go,
and Gray Eyes, a man a little older than the others, walked up to me, and
took me by the arm, saying: "Friend, come to our lodge. If you go to one of
the others, the young men will be making fun of you all the time." I went
to his lodge, and he told me to sit down near the door. This lodge was well
built, warm and comfortable. They had taken many straight poles and set
them up as the poles of a lodge are set up, but much closer together. Then
the poles were covered with bark and brush, so as to keep out the wind; and
within, all about the lodge, were good beds, with bark and brush under
them, so as to keep those who were to sleep there from the snow. A good
fire burned in the middle of the lodge.
When I grew warm I began to wonder what we should have to eat. We had
traveled all day, and I was hungry; yet I had no food, and could see none,
and there was nothing to cook with, not even a kettle. A man sitting by the
fire seemed to know what was in my mind, and said to me, "Take courage,
friend, soon you shall have plenty to eat." A little while after this, a
man called out, saying, "If anyone has food to eat, let him get it out."
When he said that, the young men began to open their packs. While they were
doing this, someone cried, "The hunters are coming"; and when I looked I
saw three or four men coming, each with an antelope on his back. When these
men had come near to the camp, everyone rushed for them, and they threw
their loads on the snow, and each man cut off meat for his lodge. Then they
cut it into pieces and it was set up on green willow twigs, stuck in the
ground near the fire, to roast. One of the men in our lodge said, "Let our
young friend here be the first one to eat," and someone cut a piece of the
short ribs of an antelope, and gave it to me. So we all ate, and were warm
and comfortable. That night we slept well, lying with our feet to the fire,
as people always lie in a war lodge.