_Crusoe acts a conspicuous and humane part_--_A friend gained_--_A
great feast_.
When the foot-race was concluded the three hunters hung about looking
on at the various games for some time, and then strolled towards the
lake.
"Ye may be thankful yer neck's whole," said Joe, grinning, as Henri
rubbed his shoulder with a rueful look. "An' we'll have to send that
Injun and his family a knife and some beads to make up for the fright
they got."
"Ha! an' fat is to be give to me for my broke shoulder?"
"Credit, man, credit," said Dick Varley, laughing.
"Credit! fat is dat?"
"Honour and glory, lad, and the praises of them savages."
"Ha! de praise? more probeebale de ill-vill of de rascale. I seed dem
scowl at me not ver' pritty."
"That's true, Henri; but sich as it is it's all ye'll git."
"I vish," remarked Henri after a pause--"I vish I could git de vampum
belt de leetle chief had on. It vas superb. Fat place do vampums come
from?"
"They're shells--"
"Oui," interrupted Henri; "I know _fat_ dey is. Dey is shells, and de
Injuns tink dem goot monish, mais I ask you _fat place_ de come from."
"They are thought to be gathered on the shores o' the Pacific," said
Joe. "The Injuns on the west o' the Rocky Mountains picks them up and
exchanges them wi' the fellows hereaway for horses and skins--so I'm
told."
At this moment there was a wild cry of terror heard a short distance
ahead of them. Rushing forward they observed an Indian woman flying
frantically down the river's bank towards the waterfall, a hundred
yards above which an object was seen struggling in the water.
"'Tis her child," cried Joe, as the mother's frantic cry reached his
ear. "It'll be over the fall in a minute! Run, Dick, you're quickest."
They had all started forward at speed, but Dick and Crusoe were far
ahead, and abreast of the spot in a few seconds.
"Save it, pup," cried Dick, pointing to the child, which had been
caught in an eddy, and was for a few moments hovering on the edge of
the stream that rushed impetuously towards the fall.
The noble Newfoundland did not require to be told what to do. It seems
a natural instinct in this sagacious species of dog to save man or
beast that chances to be struggling in the water, and many are the
authentic stories related of Newfoundland dogs saving life in cases
of shipwreck. Indeed, they are regularly trained to the work in some
countries; and nobly, fearlessly, disinterestedly do they discharge
their trust, often in the midst of appalling dangers. Crusoe sprang
from the bank with such impetus that his broad chest ploughed up
the water like the bow of a boat, and the energetic workings of his
muscles were indicated by the force of each successive propulsion as
he shot ahead.
In a few seconds he reached the child and caught it by the hair. Then
he turned to swim back, but the stream had got hold of him. Bravely he
struggled, and lifted the child breast-high out of the water in his
powerful efforts to stem the current. In vain. Each moment he was
carried inch by inch down until he was on the brink of the fall,
which, though not high, was a large body of water and fell with a
heavy roar. He raised himself high out of the stream with the vigour
of his last struggle, and then fell back into the abyss.
By this time the poor mother was in a canoe as close to the fall as
she could with safety approach, and the little bark danced like a
cockle-shell on the turmoil of waters as she stood with uplifted
paddle and staring eyeballs awaiting the rising of the child.
Crusoe came up almost instantly, but _alone_, for the dash over the
fall had wrenched the child from his teeth. He raised himself high up,
and looked anxiously round for a moment. Then he caught sight of a
little hand raised above the boiling flood. In one moment he had the
child again by the hair, and just as the prow of the Indian woman's
canoe touched the shore he brought the child to land.
Springing towards him, the mother snatched her child from the flood,
and gazed at its death-like face with eyeballs starting from their
sockets. Then she laid her cheek on its cold breast, and stood like a
statue of despair. There was one slight pulsation of the heart and
a gentle motion of the hand! The child still lived. Opening up her
blanket she laid her little one against her naked, warm bosom, drew
the covering close around it, and sitting down on the bank wept aloud
for joy.
"Come--come 'way quick," cried Henri, hurrying off to hide the emotion
which he could not crush down.
"Ay, she don't need our help now," said Joe, following his comrade.
As for Crusoe, he walked along by his master's side with his usual
quiet, serene look of good-will towards all mankind. Doubtless a
feeling of gladness at having saved a human life filled his shaggy
breast, for he wagged his tail gently after each shake of his dripping
sides; but his meek eyes were downcast, save when raised to receive
the welcome and unusually fervent caress. Crusoe did not know that
those three men loved him as though he had been a brother.
On their way back to the village the hunters were met by a little boy,
who said that a council was to be held immediately, and their presence
was requested.
The council was held in the tent of the principal chief, towards which
all the other chiefs and many of the noted braves hurried. Like all
Indian councils, it was preceded by smoking the "medicine pipe,"
and was followed by speeches from several of the best orators. The
substance of the discourse differed little from what has been already
related in reference to the treaty between the Pale-faces, and upon
the whole it was satisfactory. But Joe Blunt could not fail to notice
that Mahtawa maintained sullen silence during the whole course of the
meeting.
He observed also that there was a considerable change in the tone
of the meeting when he informed them that he was bound on a similar
errand of peace to several of the other tribes, especially to one or
two tribes which were the Pawnees' bitter enemies at that time. These
grasping savages having quite made up their minds that they were
to obtain the entire contents of the two bales of goods, were much
mortified on hearing that part was to go to other Indian tribes. Some
of them even hinted that this would not be allowed, and Joe feared at
one time that things were going to take an unfavourable turn. The hair
of his scalp, as he afterwards said, "began to lift a little and feel
oneasy." But San-it-sa-rish stood honestly to his word, said that it
would be well that the Pale-faces and the Pawnees should be brothers,
and hoped that they would not forget the promise of annual presents
from the hand of the great chief who lived in the big village near the
rising sun.
Having settled this matter amicably, Joe distributed among the Indians
the proportion of his goods designed for them; and then they all
adjourned to another tent, where a great feast was prepared for them.
"Are ye hungry?" inquired Joe of Dick as they walked along.
"Ay, that am I. I feel as if I could eat a buffalo alive. Why, it's my
'pinion we've tasted nothin' since daybreak-this mornin'."
"Well, I've often told ye that them Redskins think it a disgrace to
give in eatin' till all that's set before them at a feast is bolted.
We'll ha' to stretch oursel's, we will."
"I'se got a plenty room," remarked Henri.
"Ye have, but ye'll wish ye had more in a little."
"Bien, I not care!"
In quarter of an hour all the guests invited to this great "medicine
feast" were assembled. No women were admitted. They never are at
Indian feasts.
We may remark in passing that the word "medicine," as used among the
North American Indians, has a very much wider signification than it
has with us. It is an almost inexplicable word. When asked, they
cannot give a full or satisfactory explanation of it themselves. In
the general, we may say that whatever is mysterious is "medicine."
Jugglery and conjuring, of a noisy, mysterious, and, we must add,
rather silly nature, is "medicine," and the juggler is a "medicine
man." These medicine men undertake cures; but they are regular
charlatans, and know nothing whatever of the diseases they pretend
to cure or their remedies. They carry bags containing sundry relics;
these are "medicine bags." Every brave has his own private medicine
bag. Everything that is incomprehensible, or supposed to be
supernatural, religious, or medical, is "medicine." This feast, being
an unusual one, in honour of strangers, and in connection with a
peculiar and unexpected event, was "medicine." Even Crusoe, since his
gallant conduct in saving the Indian child, was "medicine;" and Dick
Varley's double-barrelled rifle, which had been an object of wonder
ever since his arrival at the village, was tremendous "medicine!"
Of course the Indians were arrayed in their best. Several wore
necklaces of the claws of the grizzly bear, of which they are
extremely proud; and a gaudily picturesque group they were. The chief,
however, had undergone a transformation that well-nigh upset the
gravity of our hunters, and rendered Dick's efforts to look solemn
quite abortive. San-it-sa-rish had once been to the trading-forts of
the Pale-faces, and while there had received the customary gift of
a blue surtout with brass buttons, and an ordinary hat, such as
gentlemen wear at home. As the coat was a good deal too small for him,
a terrible length of dark, bony wrist appeared below the cuffs. The
waist was too high, and it was with great difficulty that he managed
to button the garment across his broad chest. Being ignorant of the
nature of a hat, the worthy savage had allowed the paper and string
with which it had been originally covered to remain on, supposing them
to be part and parcel of the hat; and this, together with the high
collar of the coat, which gave him a crushed-up appearance, the
long black naked legs, and the painted visage, gave to him a _tout
ensemble_ which we can compare to nothing, as there was nothing in
nature comparable to it.
Those guests who assembled first passed their time in smoking the
medicine pipe until the others should arrive, for so long as a single
invited guest is absent the feast cannot begin. Dignified silence was
maintained while the pipe thus circulated from hand to hand. When the
last guest arrived they began.
The men were seated in two rows, face to face. Feasts of this kind
usually consist of but one species of food, and on the present
occasion it was an enormous caldron full of maize which had to be
devoured. About fifty sat down to eat a quantity of what may be termed
thick porridge that would have been ample allowance for a hundred
ordinary men. Before commencing, San-it-sa-rish desired an aged
medicine man to make an oration, which he did fluently and poetically.
Its subject was the praise of the giver of the feast. At the end of
each period there was a general "hou! hou!" of assent--equivalent to
the "hear! hear!" of civilized men.
Other orators then followed, all of whom spoke with great ease and
fluency, and some in the most impassioned strains, working themselves
and their audience up to the highest pitch of excitement, now shouting
with frenzied violence till their eyes glared from their sockets and
the veins of their foreheads swelled almost to bursting as they spoke
of war and chase, anon breaking into soft modulated and pleasing tones
while they dilated upon the pleasures of peace and hospitality.
After these had finished, a number of wooden bowls full of maize
porridge were put down between the guests--one bowl to each couple
facing each other. But before commencing a portion was laid aside and
dedicated to their gods, with various mysterious ceremonies; for here,
as in other places where the gospel is not known, the poor savages
fancied that they could propitiate God with sacrifices. They had never
heard of the "sacrifice of a broken spirit and a contrite heart." This
offering being made, the feast began in earnest. Not only was it a
rule in this feast that every mouthful should be swallowed by each
guest, however unwilling and unable he should be to do so, but he
who could dispose of it with greatest speed was deemed the greatest
man--at least on that occasion--while the last to conclude his supper
was looked upon with some degree of contempt!
It seems strange that such a custom should ever have arisen, and one
is not a little puzzled in endeavouring to guess at the origin of it.
There is one fact that occurs to us as the probable cause. The Indian
is, as we have before hinted, frequently reduced to a state
bordering on starvation, and in a day after he may be burdened with
superabundance of food. He oftentimes therefore eats as much as he can
stuff into his body when he is blessed with plenty, so as to be the
better able to withstand the attacks of hunger that may possibly be
in store for him. The amount that an Indian will thus eat at a single
meal is incredible. He seems to have the power of distending himself
for the reception of a quantity that would kill a civilized man.
Children in particular become like tightly inflated little balloons
after a feast, and as they wear no clothing, the extraordinary
rotundity is very obvious, not to say ridiculous. We conclude
therefore that unusual powers of gormandizing, being useful, come at
last to be cultivated as praiseworthy.
By good fortune Dick and Joe Blunt happened to have such enormous
gluttons as _vis-à-vis_ that the portions of their respective bowls
which they could not devour were gobbled up for them. By good capacity
and digestion, with no small amount of effort, Henri managed to
dispose of his own share; but he was last of being done, and fell in
the savages' esteem greatly. The way in which that sticky compost of
boiled maize went down was absolutely amazing. The man opposite Dick,
in particular, was a human boa-constrictor. He well-nigh suffocated
Dick with suppressed laughter. He was a great raw-boned savage, with a
throat of indiarubber, and went quickly and quietly on swallowing mass
after mass with the solemn gravity of an owl. It mattered not a straw
to him that Dick took comparatively small mouthfuls, and nearly choked
on them too for want of liquid to wash them down. Had Dick eaten none
at all he would have uncomplainingly disposed of the whole. Jack the
Giant-Killer's feats were nothing to his; and when at last the bowl
was empty, he stopped short like a machine from which the steam had
been suddenly cut off, and laid down his buffalo horn-spoon _without_
a sigh.
Dick sighed, though with relief and gratitude, when his bowl was
empty.
"I hope I may never have to do it again," said Joe that night as they
wended their way back to the chief's tent after supper. "I wouldn't be
fit for anything for a week arter it."
Dick could only laugh, for any allusion to the feast instantly brought
back that owl-like gourmand to whom he was so deeply indebted.
Henri groaned. "Oh! mes boy, I am speechless! I am ready for bust!
Oui--hah! I veesh it vas to-morrow."
Many a time that night did Henri "veesh it vas to-morrow," as he lay
helpless on his back, looking up through the roof of the chief's tent
at the stars, and listening enviously to the plethoric snoring of Joe
Blunt.
He was entertained, however, during those waking hours with a serenade
such as few civilized ears ever listen to. This was nothing else than
a vocal concert performed by all the dogs of the village, and as they
amounted to nearly two thousand the orchestra was a pretty full one.
These wretches howled as if they had all gone mad. Yet there was
"method in their madness;" for they congregated in a crowd before
beginning, and sat down on their haunches. Then one, which seemed to
be the conductor, raised his snout to the sky and uttered a long, low,
melancholy wail. The others took it up by twos and threes, until the
whole pack had their noses pointing to the stars and their throats
distended to the uttermost, while a prolonged yell filled the air.
Then it sank gradually, one or two (bad performers probably) making
a yelping attempt to get it up again at the wrong time. Again the
conductor raised his nose, and out it came--full swing. There was no
vociferous barking. It was simple wolfish howling increased in fervour
to an electric yell, with slight barks running continuously through it
like an obbligato accompaniment.
When Crusoe first heard the unwonted sound he sprang to his feet,
bristled up like a hyena, showed all his teeth, and bounded out of the
tent blazing with indignation and astonishment. When he found out what
it was he returned quite sleek, and with a look of profound contempt
on his countenance as he resumed his place by his master's side and
went to sleep.