hill, it stumbled among the stones, and fell down, rolling over, and I was
thrown far; and, as I fell to the ground, my knee struck against a large
stone. When I got up my leg was useless, and I could not walk, but I
managed to catch my horse, and crawling on it I reached the camp. After a
little my knee got better, and then again worse, and then better again.
Still I could not walk, and for two years I stayed in the camp, crippled,
and unable to go from place to place, except when I was helped on my horse.
I grew thin and weak, and thought that I should die.
Many of the young men of my age, my friends, were sorry for me. They used
to come to my lodge and eat and talk, telling me the news. Sometimes, when
I was sitting out in the shade of the lodge, looking over the camp, and
feeling the pleasant breeze blow on my face, or the warm sun shine on my
body, I saw the young men and boys walking about, and running, and
wrestling, and kicking, and jumping on their horses and galloping off, and
it made me feel badly to think that I could no longer do the things that I
used to do; could no longer hunt, and help to support my relations; could
no longer go off on the warpath with my fellows, to fight the enemy, or to
take plunder from them. I was useless.
Often during this time, older men--my uncle's friends--used to come to the
lodge, and stop there and talk with me for a little time, to cheer me up,
for I think they too felt sorry for me. The doctors tried hard to cure my
leg, but though they did many things, and I and my uncle paid them many
horses, and saddles and blankets, they could not help me. Once in a while,
in the morning, after all the men had gone out to chase buffalo, or to hunt
for smaller animals, deer or elk or antelope, Standing Alone would come to
my mother's lodge, perhaps bringing some little present for her, and would
sit and talk with her, and sometimes look at me, and I could see that her
eyes were full of tears, and that she too felt sorry. Sometimes she spoke
to me, but not often; but it always made me glad to see her, and made me
feel more than ever that she had a good heart.
At the end of two years I sent word to my uncle, asking him to come to see
me; and when he had come and sat down, I asked my mother and my sisters to
leave the lodge, and when they had gone I spoke to my uncle. "Father, you
have seen how it has been with me for two years; that I am no longer able
to go about; that I am a cripple, lying here day after day, useless to my
relations, and very unhappy. Now, I have thought of this for a long time,
and I have made up my mind what I shall do. It is time for me to go off
with some of the young men on the warpath, and when we meet the enemy, I
will ride straight into the midst of them, and will strike one, and he
shall kill me. I am no longer glad to live, and it will be well for me to
die bravely."
For a long time my uncle said nothing, but sat there looking at the ground.
After he had thought, he raised his head and spoke to me, saying: "Son, you
can remember how it has been with us since you were a little boy. You have
been my son, and I have loved you. I have been glad when you went to war,
and glad when you returned with credit; yet I should not have mourned if
you had been killed in battle, for that is the way a man ought to die. I
have seen your sufferings now for two years, and I know how you feel. I
think that it will be well for you to do as you have said, and for you to
give your body to the enemy, and to be killed on the open prairie, where
the birds and the beasts may feed on your flesh, and may scatter it over
the plain. Now, when you are ready to do this, tell me, so that I may see
that you go to war as becomes a warrior who is about to die."
It was not very long after this that a party of young men set out to war,
all mounted, to go south to look for the Utes. Among them was the one who
had been my close friend, and to him I had told what was in my mind; and
when I spoke to the leader of the party, he was glad to have me go with
him, as were all of them.
I told my uncle, and he gave me his best war horse to ride, and gave me
also a sacred headdress that he wore, which had in it some of the feathers
of the thunder bird. I took with me no arms, except a stone axe that my
father had had from his father, and he from his father, and which had come
down in our family through many generations.
The party started, and we traveled fast and far to the south. At first I
was very weak, and got very tired during the long marches, but after a time
I grew stronger, and could eat better, and felt better; but my leg was as
bad as ever.
We had been out many days and were still traveling south, east of the
mountains, when, one day our scouts came upon the carcasses of buffalo that
had been killed only a little time before, and the meat cut from the bones.
From this we knew that enemies were close by, and we went carefully. Not
far beyond these carcasses, as we rode up on a hill, we saw before us in
the valley two persons butchering a buffalo, and as we watched them at
their work, we could see that they were Utes--enemies. All the young men
jumped on their horses, and we charged down on them. Before we were near
them they had seen us, and had run to their horses, and jumped on them and
ridden away. By this time I was far ahead of my friends, for my horse was
the fastest of all; and soon I was getting close to these enemies. They
rode almost side by side, but one a little ahead of the other.
The one who was on the left and a little behind carried a bow and arrows,
while the man on the right had a gun. I said to myself: "I will ride
between these two persons, and the man with the bow will then have to shoot
toward his right hand, and will very likely miss me, while I may be able to
knock him off his horse with my axe." I was not afraid, for I had made up
my mind to die.
Before long I had overtaken the Utes, and, riding between them, made ready
to strike them. The man with the arrows turned on his horse, and shot at
me, but I bent to one side, and the arrow passed by without hitting me, and
I struck him with my axe and knocked him off his horse. Then the man with
the gun turned and was aiming at me, but when he pulled the trigger his gun
snapped and did not go off. I was close to him and caught the barrel in my
hand, and struck him with my axe, and knocked him off his horse. Then I
rode on, holding his gun in my hand. Before the two men whom I had struck
could get on their horses again, my friends had overtaken and killed them.
We traveled on further, but found no more enemies, and at last we gave up,
and returned to our village. All the time, as we were journeying about, and
going back, I kept feeling better and better. I grew stronger slowly. The
swelling on my knee began to go down, so that before we reached the village
I could rest my weight on that foot a little. At last we arrived, and when
we came in sight of the camp, we could see people looking from the lodges
to see who were coming.
As we rode down the hill to charge upon the village, the leader told me to
ride far in front, "For," he said, "you are the bravest of all." When we
came into the village the men and the women and the children came out to
meet us. All of them shouted out my name, and my heart grew big in my
breast, for I felt that all the people thought that I had done well. Among
the women who came out to meet us, I saw Standing Alone, running along by
my mother, and both were singing a glad song. And when I saw this, I came
near to crying.
At last I reached my lodge, and before it stood my uncle; and as I rode
toward him he called out in a loud voice, and asked a certain man named
Brave Wolf to come to his lodge and see his son who had given his body to
the enemy, desiring to be killed, but who had done great things and had
survived. And when Brave Wolf came to the lodge, my uncle gave to him the
best horse that he had, a spotted war pony, handsome and long-winded and
fleet.
All that day I sat in the lodge and rested, and talked to my uncle. I told
him about our journey to war, and while he did not say much I could see
that his heart was glad. Before he got up to leave the lodge, he said to
me, "Friend, you have done well; I am glad to have such a son." This made
me feel glad and proud--more proud, I think, than I felt when I heard the
people shout out my name. I loved my uncle and it seemed good that I had
done something that pleased him.
All day long people were coming to our lodge and talking about what had
happened to us while on our journey. Those who came were my relations and
friends, but, besides these, older men, good warriors, people to whose
words all the tribe listened, came and sat and talked with me for a little
while. My mother and one or two of her relations were busy all day cooking
food for the visitors. It was a happy time.
The leader of our war party sent word to me that this night there would be
a war dance over the scalps that had been taken. Although I could walk a
little, I could not dance, yet I wished to go to the dance and watch the
others. All through the afternoon boys and young men were bringing wood to
a level place in the circle of the camp, and there they built what we call
a "skunk," piling up long poles together in a shape somewhat like a lodge,
so that when finished the "skunk" looked like a war lodge.
Late in the night the people gathered near the "skunk," called together by
the sound of the singing and the drumming. Leaning on a stick, I walked
down there, and before long the "skunk" was lighted, and the members of our
war party and the young women began to dance. Although I could not dance,
my face was painted black like those of other men of the war party, and I
sat there and watched the young people dance and saw the old men and women
carry about the scalps. That was one of the last of the old-fashioned war
dances that I ever saw held.
The days went by, and before the birds had flown over on their way to the
south, and the weather became cold, I could walk pretty well, and could
ride easily. One day about this time a doctor whom I had given many
presents a year or two before to cure my sickness came to my lodge and
asked me if I did not think I ought to give him a present because he had
cured me of the swollen knee that I had had so long. I said to him that I
believed that not he but the Great Power, to whom I had prayed and to whom
I had offered my body as a sacrifice, had cured me. The doctor said that
this was a mistake; that really he had cured me, but that his power had not
had time to work until after I had started on my warpath.
I did not think that this was true, but I remembered that this man
possessed mysterious power, and I felt that perhaps it would not be wise to
refuse what he asked. I told him I must have time to think about this, and
that in seven days he should return and I would talk further with him about
it. Not long after this I told my uncle what the doctor had said. At first
he was angry and said that I would do well to refuse what had been asked of
me, but after we had talked about it, he came to think as I thought, that
perhaps it would be better to make the doctor a present, rather than to
have his ill will, for it was possible that he might be able to harm us. My
uncle, therefore, told me to give the doctor a certain horse, and a day or
two after that he sent me the horse, to be put with my band and later to be
given to the doctor. When he received the horse, the doctor was glad, and
he told me that after this he would protect me in case any danger
threatened me.
The winter passed, the snow melted, the birds went north in spring, and the
buffalo began to get poor. It seemed to me now that I was as strong and
well as ever I had been. I walked alike on both legs, and was as active as
any of the young men. During this summer I joined one of the soldier
societies of the tribe, and in this I followed the advice of my uncle, who
had belonged to this same society.
_A Lie That Came True._
Soon after this something strange happened.
I had a friend named Sun's Road. He was a little younger than I, perhaps
eighteen or twenty years old, big enough to have a sweetheart, and there
was a girl in the camp that he wished to please. He had been more than once
to war and had done well, but he wanted to do still better. He was eager to
do great things, to make the people talk about him and say that he was
brave and always lucky. Like most other young men, he wished to become a
great man.
Our camp was on the South Platte River, a big village of near two hundred
lodges. All these had been made during the summer, and were new, white and
clean. The camp looked nice, but now the buffalo had all gone away. None
were to be found and the people were hungry. They had eaten all the food
they had saved and now they were eating their dogs, and most of these were
already gone.
One day two boys, each the son of a chief, were out on the prairie hunting,
and each killed an antelope and took it to his father's lodge. After these
had been cooked the chiefs were called together to feast. There was not
enough food to allow them to call any others except the chiefs.
I heard of all this at the time, but it was a good deal later that Sun's
Road told me what he had done and what happened to him about this time. He
did not wish me to tell anyone about it, but it is a long time ago and
those who were important people at that time are now dead, so I think no
harm can be done by telling of it.
After these chiefs had eaten, they talked of the suffering of the people
and tried to think what could be done to help them. After a time one of the
chiefs came out of the lodge and walked through the camp crying aloud to
the people, saying, "Listen, listen, you people; we will all stay in this
camp." This he called out again and again as he walked around the circle,
so that all might hear him.
After a time Sun's Road heard his name called, and the old man shouted:
"Sun's Road, Sun's Road; the chief wishes you to go to his lodge. He wishes
you to go out to look for buffalo."
Sun's Road went to the chief's lodge and when he had entered they told him
where he should sit, by the door, and gave him a little piece of antelope
meat to eat. After he had finished eating, the chief said to him: "We want
you to-night to go across the river to the other side, and you shall go to
where the pile of bones is, where we had the fight with the Pawnees. On the
other side of that hill for a long distance the country is level. Look over
that country and see if you can see any buffalo and come back and let us
know what you have seen. If you see no buffalo do not go farther; come back
from there."
The pile of bones was a breastwork of buffalo bones built on the top of a
very high hill by some Pawnees who many years before had been surrounded
there by men of our tribe.
Sun's Road started on his journey. When he came to the river he took off
his leggings and moccasins and waded across. It was cold, for by this time
it was late in the night. On the other side of the river he put on his
leggings and moccasins again and walked on north, sometimes walking, and
sometimes trotting for a little way. After he had walked a long distance
and it was beginning to get toward morning he felt tired and thought that
he would rest for a little while. He looked about for a place to lie down,
and found a little bunch of brush behind a small bank, and there unbelted
his robe and lay down to sleep for a little while. He had not slept long
when his feet became cold and this woke him, and when he raised his head he
saw that day was beginning to break. He said to himself: "I must not stay
here longer. I am out looking for buffalo for people who are starving. I
must not lie here," so he rose and tied up his waist and started on.
He walked on and on and at length he saw the high hill and on it the pile
of bones. As he went on he came nearer and nearer, and he walked up the
hill until he was close by the pile of bones. Then he stopped, for he was
afraid. He was afraid that when he looked over the hill he would see
nothing. He wanted to make a great man of himself, and to take back the
news that he had seen buffalo, so that the people would call his name and
all would say that Sun's Road was smart and was lucky. He was so afraid
that he would see nothing when he looked over the hill that he stopped and
stood there and thought. He said to himself: "If I shall not see anything
and go back, they will all hear of it and my girl will hear of it. They
will not think much of me. If I could only see plenty of buffalo, what a
great man I should be!"
He went on and when he came to the top of the hill and peeped over, there
down below him he saw and counted thirty bulls and a calf. He looked at
them and said, "Those are bulls; they are not much, but something." He
looked another way, and presently he saw one bull, and then two, and then
others far off, scattered--in all five or six. He said again, "These are
not many, but they will be some help to the people." A little to his right
and down the hill a point of the bluff ran out a little way and this point
hid a part of the country beyond, and Sun's Road walked down there just a
few steps to see what was over that way. When he got there he looked out
into a very pretty, level basin with a stream running through it, and said
to himself: "This is a pretty place, a good place for buffalo. There ought
to be a great many of them here."
At first he could see none, but he kept on looking and at last far off,
just specks, he saw a few--a very few, perhaps ten or fifteen--cows.
For a long time he stood there trying to think what he should tell the
chiefs when he went back to the camp. He said to himself: "If I go back and
tell them just what I have seen it will be nothing to tell. Now, I want
people to think that I am a great man, and I am going to tell them a lie.
Yes, I shall have to tell them a lie. I shall tell them that when I looked
over the hill I saw those thirty bulls with one calf, but beyond I saw many
buffalo--hundreds. I know it is a lie, but I shall have to tell it." Then
he turned about and went back.
He traveled fast, walking and trotting, and sometimes running, for he
wished to reach the camp before night. It was late in the afternoon when he
came to the river, waded across and reached the camp. He went into his
father's lodge and sat down. His father was at work making a whetstone. He
looked up at his son, and said, "Ha, you have returned," and he turned to
his wife and said, "Give our son something to eat." His mother was cooking
a little dog, the last one they had, and she gave Sun's Road a piece of it
and he ate. Then he took off his moccasins, went over to his bed and lay
down, covered himself, and went to sleep. He did not speak, and he made no
report to the chiefs. Some children were playing in the lodge, and making a
little noise, and his father spoke to them, saying, "Go out, you will wake
my son; he is tired and has gone to sleep." Sun's Road slept only for a
short time, for the lie that he was going to tell troubled him. Pretty soon
he heard one of the old chiefs coming--old Double Head. He could hear him
coming, coughing and groaning and clearing his throat, and he knew who it
was by the sound. The chief entered the lodge and sat down, and said to
Sun's Road's father, "Has your son returned?" The father replied, "Yes, he
is asleep." He filled the pipe and Double Head smoked. Sun's Road lay
still. In a few moments he heard another old man coming towards the lodge
grunting. He knew who it was--White Cow. He came in, sat down, asked the
same question that Double Head had asked, and smoked.
White Cow called to Sun's Road, "Nephew, get up now and tell us what you
saw; we are starving."
Sun's Road rolled over, pulled the robe from his head, raised himself on
his elbow and said: "I went to the hill of the pile of bones, and on the
other side of the hill right over beyond the bones I saw thirty bulls and a
calf. Just beyond them, as I looked over, I saw many buffalo."
The old men stood up and went out. Soon he heard them crying out through
the camp so that all the people should hear: "Sun's Road has come in. On
the other side of the pile of bones he saw thirty bulls and a calf, and
just below this he saw many buffalo. Gather in your horses. Get them up.
Women, sharpen your knives. Men, whet your arrow points. Tie up your
horses, and early in the morning we will go after buffalo. The camp will
stay here. All will go on horseback."
Sun's Road was frightened when he heard this, but it was now too late to be
sorry for what he had done. Next morning just at break of day, before it
was light, all the people were out. The old crier was still shouting out,
"Saddle your horses; make ready to start, men, women and all."
Soon all were saddled, and they crossed the river and went on. The chiefs
rode first and everyone was behind them. No one rode ahead of them. They
went pretty fast, for all were eager to get to the buffalo.
Pretty soon they came in sight of the pile of bones. Sun's Road could hear
the old chiefs talking and saying to each other, "There are the bones; soon
we will be there at the buffalo." All the time he kept thinking of the lie
that he had told, and remembering that there were only a few buffalo, while
he had said that there were many. He did not know what he should do.
When they reached the foot of the hill close to the bones, the chiefs
stopped and everyone behind them stopped. All the chiefs got off their
horses and sat down in a row and filled the pipe and began to smoke. Soon
Sun's Road heard one of them call out: "Sun's Road, Sun's Road, go up to
the pile of bones and see if you can see your buffalo now. Let us know if
they are there." Then Sun's Road was still more frightened. When he first
heard his name called, his heart seemed to stop and then it began to beat
so fast that it almost choked him. He did not know what to do. He did not
move.
Soon old Standing Water, another chief, called out sharply, "Sun's Road, go
to the pile of bones and see if you can see those buffalo; come back and
tell us what you see."
Then Sun's Road started and rode up towards the pile of bones. Just as he
did so a raven flew over him and began to call "Ca, Ca, Ca." He kept riding
on, his heart beating fast, but as he rode he held up his hands to the
raven and prayed, "Ah, raven, take pity on me and fetch the buffalo." He
held his hands up higher and prayed to the Great Power, "O He amma wihio,
you are the one who made the buffalo; take pity on me; you know what I
need." Then he rode up to the top of the hill.
The moment his head got to where he could see over the hill, he looked and
there he saw thirty bulls and the calf. They had hardly moved at all. Then
he went on a step or two further, so that he could see beyond them, and the
place that he had seen the day before was just full of buffalo. Again he
held up his hands to the sky and said: "O raven, O He amma wihio, you have
made my words true. The lie that I told you have made come true."
He turned and rode down the hill towards the chiefs. Before he had reached
them, one of them called to him to come right to the middle of the line
where they were sitting, and when he had come near, they told him to get
off his horse and lead it off to one side and then to come back to the
middle of the line. They sent a young man to bring a buffalo chip and he
brought one and put it down on the ground before the old chief Standing
Water, and then went away. The chief placed it on the ground in front of
him, about the length of his arm distant from his knees. Then he filled a
pipe. Sun's Road still stood out in front of the line, in sight of all the
people. He was still badly frightened, for he did not know what they were
going to do. He was young, and did not know the ceremonies.
When the pipe was filled, the old chief lighted it and pointed the stem to
the east, to the south, to the west and to the north, then up to the sky,
and then down to the ground. Then he rested the bowl of the pipe on the
buffalo chip and said, "Sun's Road, come here." When he had come close, the
chief said, "Take hold of this pipe and draw on it five times." The old man
held the pipe, and so did Sun's Road, until he had drawn five times on the
pipe. Then the chief said, "Now do you hold the pipe," and Sun's Road held
it while the old man took his hands away, and he said: "Sun's Road, pass
your hands all down the stem and over the pipe, and then rub your hands
over your face and head, and over your arms and body and legs. Then hand me
the pipe." Sun's Road did as he was bade. Then the old man put his hand on
the buffalo chip and said to Sun's Road, "Did you see bulls?"
And Sun's Road answered, "I saw them."
The old man pulled in the chip a little way toward himself.
"Did you see cows?"
"I saw them."
The chief moved the chip a little further toward himself.
"Did you see two-year-olds?"
"I saw them."
Standing Water moved the chip a little further toward himself.
"Did you see yearlings?"
"I saw them."
"Did you see small calves?"
"I saw them."