WHITE WEASEL
For many days the Absaroke trotted and bumped along, ceaselessly beating
their ponies' sides with their heels, and lashing with their elk-horn
whips. With their packs and travoix they could not move fast, but they
made up for this by long hours of industrious plodding. An Indian is
never struck without striking back, and his counter always comes when
not expected. They wanted to manoeuvre their women and children, so that
many hills and broad valleys would lie between them and their vengeance
when it should be taken. Through the deep cañons, among the dark pine
trees, out across the bold table-lands, through the rivers of the
mountains, wound the long cavalcade, making its way to the chosen valley
of Crowland, where their warriors mustered in numbers to secure them
from all thought of fear of the white men.
[Illustration]
The braves burned for vengeance on the white fools who dug in the Gulch
they were leaving behind, but the yellow-eyed people were all brothers.
To strike the slaves of the gravel-pits would be to make trouble with
the river-men, who brought up the powder and guns in boats every
green-grass. The tribal policy was against such a rupture. The Crows, or
Sparrowhawks as they called themselves, were already encompassed by
their enemies, and only able by the most desperate endeavors to hold
their own hunting-grounds against the Blackfeet, Sioux, and Cheyennes.
Theirs was the pick and choosing of the northern plains. Neither too hot
nor too cold, well watered and thickly grassed on the plains, swarming
with buffalo, while in the winter they could retire to the upper valleys
of the Big Horn River, where they were shut in by the impassable
snow-clad mountains from foreign horse thieves, and where the nutritious
salt-weed kept their ponies in condition. Like all good lands, they
could only be held by a strong and brave people, who were made to fight
constantly for what they held. The powder and guns could only be had
from the white traders, so they made a virtue of necessity and held
their hand.
Before many days the squaw Ba-cher-hish-a rode among the lodges with
little White Weasel sitting behind her, dry-eyed and content.
Alder had lost Gold Nugget, but the Indians had White Weasel--so things
were mended.
His foster-mother--the one from whom the chief had taken him--had stayed
behind the retreating camp, stealing about unseen. She wore the wolfskin
over her back, and in those days no one paid any attention to a wolf.
In the dusk of evening she had lain near the shack where her boy was
housed, and at the first opportunity she had seized him and fled. He did
not cry out when her warning hiss struck native tones on his ear.
Mounting her pony, she had gained the scouts, which lay back on the
Indian trail. The hat-weavers (white men) should know White Weasel no
more.
The old men Nah-kee and Umbas-a-hoos sat smoking over their talk in the
purple shade of a tepee. Idly noting the affairs of camp, their eyes
fell on groups of small urchins, which were scampering about engaging
each other in mimic war. They shot blunt-headed arrows, while other tots
returned the fire from the vantage of lariated ponies or friendly
tepees. They further observed that little White Weasel, by his activity,
fierce impulse, and mental excellence, was admittedly leading one of
these diminutive war-parties. He had stripped off his small buckskin
shirt, and the milk-white skin glared in the sunlight; one little braid
had become undone and flowed in golden curls about his shoulders. In
childish screams he urged his group to charge the other, and running
forth he scattered all before his insistent assault.
"See, brother," spoke Nah-kee, "the little white Crow has been struck in
the face by an arrow, but he does not stop."
"Umph--he will make a warrior," replied the other, his features relaxing
into something approaching kindliness. The two old men understood what
they saw even if they had never heard of the "Gothic self-abandonment"
which was the inheritance of White Weasel. "He may be a war-chief--he
leads the boys even now, before he is big enough to climb up the fore
leg of a pony to get on its back. The arrow in his face did not stop
him. These white men cannot endure pain as we do; they bleat like a deer
under the knife. Do you remember the one we built the fire on three
grasses ago over by the Big Muddy when Eashdies split his head with a
battle-axe to stop his noise? Brother, little White Weasel is a Crow."
[Illustration: A CROW.]
"It is so," pursued the other veteran; "these yellow-eyes are only fit
to play badger in a gravel-pit or harness themselves to loaded boats,
which pull powder and lead up the long river. They walk all one
green-grass beside their long-horned buffalo, hauling their tepee wagons
over the plains. If it were not for their medicine goods, we would drive
them far away."
"Yes, brother, they are good for us. If we did not have their powder and
guns, the Cut-Throats [Sioux] and the Cut-Arms [Cheyennes] would soon
put the Absaroke fires out. We must step carefully and keep our eyes
open lest the whites again see White Weasel; and if these half-Indian
men about camp talk to the traders about him, we will have the camp
soldiers beat them with sticks. The white traders would take our powder
away from us unless we gave him to them."
"We could steal him again, brother."
"Yes, if they did not send him down the long river in a boat. Then he
would go so far toward the morning that we should never pass our eyes
over him again on this side of the Spiritland. We need him to fill the
place of some warrior who will be struck by the enemy."
Seeing the squaw Ba-cher-hish-a passing, they called to her and said:
"When there are any white men around the camps, paint the face of your
little son White Weasel, and fill his hair with wood ashes. If you are
careful to do this, the white men will not notice him; you will not have
to part with him again."
"What you say is true," spoke the squaw, "but I cannot put black ashes
in his eyes." She departed, nevertheless, glorious with the new thought.
Having fought each other with arrows until it no longer amused them, the
foes of an idle hour ran away together down by the creek, where they
disrobed by a process neatly described by the white men's drill
regulations, which say a thing shall be done in "one time and two
motions."
White Weasel was more complicated than his fellows by reason of one
shirt, which he promptly skinned off. "See the white Crow," gurgled a
small savage, as every eye turned to our hero. "He always has the
war-paint on his body. He is always painted like the big men when they
go to strike the enemy--he is red all over. The war-paint is in his
skin."
"Now, let us be buffalo," spoke one, answered by others, "Yes, let us be
buffalo." Accordingly, in true imitation of what to them was a familiar
sight, they formed in line, White Weasel at the head as usual. Bending
their bodies forward and swinging their heads, they followed down to the
water, throwing themselves flat in the shallows. Now they were no longer
buffalo, but merely small boys splashing about in the cool water,
screaming incoherently and as nearly perfectly happy as nature ever
intended human beings to be. After a few minutes of this, the humorist
among them, the ultra-imaginative one, stood up pointing dramatically,
and, simulating fear, yelled, "Here comes the bad water monster,"
whereat with shrill screams and much splashing the score of little imps
ran ashore and sat down, grinning at their half-felt fear. The water
monster was quite real to them. Who could say one might not appear and
grab a laggard?
After this they ran skipping along the river bank, quite naked, as
purposeless as birds, until they met two old squaws dipping water from
the creek to carry home. With hue and cry they gathered about them,
darting like quick-motioned wolves around worn-out buffalo. "They are
buffalo, and we are wolves," chorussed the infant band; "bite them!
blind them! We are wolves! we will eat them!" They plucked at their
garments and threw dirt over them in childish glee. The old women
snarled at their persecutors and caught up sticks to defend themselves.
It was beginning to look rather serious for the supposed buffalo, when a
young warrior came riding down, his pony going silently in the soft
dirt. Comprehending the situation, and being fairly among them, he dealt
out a few well-considered cuts with his pony-whip, which changed the
tune of those who had felt its contact. They all ran off, some holding
on to their smarts--scattering away much as the wolves themselves might
have done under such conditions.
Indian boys are very much like white boys in every respect, except that
they are subject to no restraint, and carry their mischievousness to all
bounds. Their ideas of play being founded on the ways of things about
them, they are warriors, wild animals, horses, and the hunters, and the
hunted by turns. Bands of these little Crows scarcely past toddling
ranged the camp, keeping dogs, ponies, and women in a constant state of
unrest. Occasional justice was meted out to them with a pony-whip, but
in proportions much less than their deserts.
Being hungry, White Weasel plodded home to his mother's lodge, and
finding a buffalo rib roasting near the fire he appropriated it. It was
nearly as large as himself, and when he had satisfied his appetite, his
face and hands were most appallingly greased. Seeing this, his mother
wiped him off, but not as thoroughly as his condition called for, it
must be admitted. Falling back on a buffalo robe, little Weasel soon
fell into a deep slumber, during which a big dog belonging to the tent
made play to complete the squaw's washing, by licking all the grease
from his face and hands.
In due course he arose refreshed and ready for more mischief. The first
opportunity which presented itself was the big dog, which was sleeping
outside. "He is a young pony; I will break him to bear a man," said
Weasel to himself. Straightway he threw himself on the pup, grasping
firmly with heel and hand. The dog rose suddenly with a yell, and nipped
one of Weasel's legs quite hard enough to bring his horse-breaking to a
finish with an answering yell. The dog made off, followed by hissing
imprecations from Ba-cher-hish-a, who rubbed the little round leg and
crooned away his tears. He was not long depressed by the incident.
Now all small Indian boys have a regard for prairie-dog or marmot's
flesh, which is akin to the white boy's taste for candy balls and cream
paste. In order to satisfy it the small Indian must lie out on the
prairie for an hour under the broiling sun, and make a sure shot in the
bargain. The white boy has only to acquire five cents, yet in the
majority of cases that too is attended by almost overwhelming
difficulties.
With three other boys White Weasel repaired to the adjoining dog-town,
and having located from cover a fat old marmot whose hole was near the
outskirts of the village, they each cut a tuft of grease-weed. Waiting
until he had gone inside, they ran forward swiftly and threw themselves
on the ground behind other dog mounds, putting up the grease-weed in
front of themselves. With shrill chirping, all the marmots of this
colony dived into their holes and gave the desert over to silence. After
a long time marmots far away from them came out to protest against the
intrusion. An old Indian warrior sitting on a near-by bluff, nursing
morose thoughts, was almost charmed into good nature by the play of the
infant hunters below him. He could remember when he had done this same
thing--many, many grasses ago. More grasses than he could well remember.
The sun had drawn a long shadow before the fat marmot showed his head
above the level of his intrenchments--his fearful little black eyes set
and his ears straining. Three other pairs of black eyes and one pair of
blue ones snapped at him from behind the grease-weed. There followed a
long wait, after which the marmot jumped up on the dirt rim which
surrounded his hole, and there waited until his patience gave out. With
a sharp bark and a wiggling of his tail he rolled out along the plain, a
small ball of dusty fur. To the intent gaze of the nine-year-olds he
was much more important than can be explained from this view-point.
Having judged him sufficiently far from his base, the small hunters
sprang to their knees, and drove their arrows with all the energy of
soft young arms at the quarry. The marmot made a gallant race, but an
unfortunate blunt-head caught him somewhere and bowled him over. Before
he could recover, the boys were upon him, and his stage had passed.
Carrying the game and followed by his companions, Weasel took it home to
his foster-mother, who set to skinning it, crooning as she did in the
repeated sing-song of her race:--
"My son is a little hunter,
My son is a little hunter,
Some day the buffalo will fear him,
Some day the buffalo will fear him,
Some day the buffalo will fear him,"
and so on throughout the Indian list until the marmot was ready for
cooking.
So ran the young life of the white Crow. While the sun shone, he chased
over the country with his small fellows, shooting blunt arrows at
anything living of which they were not afraid. No one corrected him; no
one made him go to bed early; no one washed him but the near-by brook;
no one bothered him with stories about good little boys; in fact,
whether he was good or bad had never been indicated to him. He was as
all Crow boys are--no better and no worse. He shared the affections of
his foster-parents with several natural offspring, and shared in common,
though the camp took a keen interest in so unusual a Crow. Being by
nature bright and engaging, he foraged on every camp kettle, and made
the men laugh as they lounged in the afternoon shade, by his absurd
imitations of the war and scalp dances, which he served up seriously in
his infant way.
Any white man could see at a glance that White Weasel was evolved from a
race which, however remote from him, got its yellow hair, fair skin, and
blue eyes amid the fjords, forests, rocks, and ice-floes of the north of
Europe. The fierce sun of lower latitudes had burned no ancestor of
Weasel's; their skins had been protected against cold blasts by the
hides of animals. Their yellow hair was the same as the Arctic bear's,
and their eyes the color of new ice. Little Weasel's fortunes had taken
him far afield. He was born white, but he had a Crow heart, so the
tribesmen persuaded themselves. They did not understand the laws of
heredity. They had never hunted those.