BUFFALO HUNTING WITH THE BLACKFEET
Early next morning the camp was in motion, and they travelled south
all day, making a long march. Hugh left the pack horses in charge
of Fox Eye's people, who drove them along with their own, while
he and Jack and Joe joined the flankers, who marched off to one
side, and who killed a few antelope, a few bulls, and hunted out
the stream bottoms that they passed. Each day these hunters killed
just about fresh meat enough to support the camp, which as yet had
plenty of dried meat, so that there was no suffering. That night
Hugh told Jack that the next day they would strike the Musselshell,
and very likely buffalo, but if not, they would cross the river and
move on down toward the Yellowstone, where, on the Dry Fork, or
Porcupine, they would be sure to get what they wanted.
"We can't stop very long with these people, son," he said; "not
if we're going into the mountains, and going to work our way down
through them back to the ranch. Of course we've got lots of time,
but then we don't want to stay up here too long, and be rushed at
the last, so that we'll have to hurry along and make our horses
poor, and keep ourselves tired all the time. We can stop here for
a while and kill buffalo, and then we'll leave the people, and
strike west into the mountains."
The next night they camped on the Musselshell, and word was brought
that about twenty or twenty-five miles to the south buffalo were
plenty. Orders were given that from now on no one should kill
buffalo, and camp was moved a day's march still further south,
to the neighborhood of the herd. The next day a bunch of buffalo
was located in a place suitable for a surround. That night the
old crier, as usual, rode around through the camp, telling all
the people to get in their horses, to tie up their running horses
close, ordering the women to sharpen their knives, and the men to
whet their arrow-points, because the next day they were going to
chase buffalo. The following morning, very early, Jack heard him
shouting through the camp, calling to the people to "Get up! get
up!" It was still black night; the stars shone brilliantly in the
sky, the light of the fire showed through the lodge-skins, and
sparks were rising with the smoke, when Jack went out to saddle up
Pawnee. Hugh had had offers of buffalo runners from several of his
friends. Last Bull had asked him to ride the spotted horse that he
had several times used the year before, while Jackson had pressed
upon him a beautiful buckskin that he declared was the best buffalo
horse in the camp. The excitement which always precedes a buffalo
chase pervaded the camp, and every one seemed to be hurrying in the
performance of whatever task was at hand. It was still long before
daylight when Jack and Hugh, following the men who were starting
out, found at a little distance from the camp the group of hunters
who were being held there by the soldiers.
The sky was just becoming gray in the east when the soldiers
started off, and the hunters followed; and just after the sun had
risen, the halt was made behind a hill which hid the herd from
them. After a little pause, and a few low-voiced directions, horses
were changed, the line spread out, and at first going slowly, rode
up to the crest of the hill, pushed over it, and hurried down
toward the unfrightened buffalo. These were slow to see their
enemies, and the horsemen were close to them before the herd got
started. Jack held back Pawnee until the word came for the charge,
and even after that he still restrained him, not wishing him to run
too hard at first, for the horse was fat, and might lose his wind
if pushed at the start.
He gave no thought to the whereabouts of his friends; Joe and Hugh
would no doubt take care of themselves. Just before he overtook
the last of the bulls, however, he was aware of a man riding close
to him, and turning saw Billy Jackson, riding the little buckskin,
without a saddle, and carrying in his hands a bow and some arrows,
while he had a quiver on his back.
Jack laughed at him, and signed to him that he was armed with good
weapons, and Jackson nodded. A moment later they were mixed up
with the dust of the flying herd, and surrounded by buffalo, and
Jack bent his energies to killing a couple of cows. The bulls were
soon passed, and Pawnee, running free and easily, forged up to
the cows. Two fat ones were running just ahead of him, lumbering
heavily, and with their tongues out, yet getting over the ground
with surprising speed. He drew up alongside of one, and shot it,
and it turned a somersault; then touching Pawnee with his heel, he
was soon riding close to another, which also he killed by a single
shot. Then turning, he rode back to the last cow, and looked at
her. She was quite dead.
The task of butchering seemed rather a heavy one, but he went to
the cow first shot, and, with some trouble split her down the
belly, and then re-mounting, went back to the other cow, which he
treated in the same way. Then he sat down on the ground in the
shade of his horse, and waited.
An hour later the women and girls and children were seen coming
over the hills with their travois, and scattering out to look at
the dead buffalo, over many of which men who had returned were now
working. When Fox Eye's family came along, Jack spoke to the wife,
and made her understand that these two were his buffalo, and with
two of the other women she set about skinning and cutting them up.
That night in the lodge, as they were getting ready for bed, Hugh
said to Jack, "Son, have you ever been through this country before?
Do you see anything that you recognize?"
"Why yes, Hugh, of course, we came through it last year when we
were coming north, but I haven't seen anything to-day that I knew."
"Well," said Hugh, "I'm not very much surprised at that, but right
along here somewhere is where we passed last year, the second or
third day after we crossed the Yellowstone River, coming north.
Now, I ain't never forgot that sheep's head that we left up in the
tree down there. As I told you then, it's a better head than most,
and likely a better one than you'll ever kill again, and I was
thinking that it wouldn't be a bad idea for you and me to ride down
there and get it. We can go in a day, and come back in another, and
we can easily enough carry the head with us, and take it back to
the ranch. What do you say?"
"Why, sure Hugh;" said Jack, "I'd like to do that mighty well. I've
always felt sorry that we lost that sheep head, and felt that I
wanted it to take back east. I never thought of our getting it this
year; in fact I never expected to see it again. I'd like very much
to get it, if you feel like it."
"Well, say we do it. We can start to-morrow or next day; the
Indians'll be here now two or three days at least, killing and
drying meat, and we can easily enough go there, and come back and
catch them before they leave these parts. You and I can go alone,
or we can take Joe; or if you like, we can ask anybody else that we
want to go down there with us. It'll be a nice little trip."
So it was arranged that within a day or two they should start for
the Yellowstone River, to get the sheep's head.
It was the second day after that they finally got away. Joe wanted
to go with them, and when they told Jackson what they intended
doing, he said that he too would like to go. This made a party
of four capable men, to whom no danger could come. They took a
couple of pack horses, to carry their bedding and provisions, but
no shelter, for the weather was bright and dry, and there seemed
no prospect of rain. On their way to the Yellowstone they rode
constantly through buffalo and antelope, tame and unsuspicious, and
just moving aside from the track of the travellers as they passed
along. That night they camped on the little stream just where Jack
had killed the sheep, and reaching camp before sundown, Hugh and
Jack rode up the stream to the tree where the sheep's head had been
placed, took it down and brought it to camp. The ashes of the fire
of the year before, and the bones of the sheep from which they had
cut the meat called up old memories. Even the places where the
lines had been tied for drying the meat were remembered.
Jack was glad enough to get this head again. As Hugh had said, it
was a very fine one. The great horns swung around in more than a
complete curve, and although near the base they were more or less
bruised and battered by the battles the old ram had fought, the
tips of the horns were very nearly perfect. The skin of the head
and neck had been picked by the birds and bleached by the weather,
and Hugh said; "I'm not sure that it will do to use in covering
the skull, son; but even if it is too hard and sunburned to make
anything out of, I'd take it along. If we get another good ram on
the trip you can take his scalp; but if we don't, maybe the man
that puts up your head can make something out of this."
The next morning before starting back, they rode down to the
Yellowstone River, and looked up and down the valley. There were
some buffalo here too, and a few elk; but there was nothing to
keep them, and they turned about and returned to the Piegan camp,
which they reached that night.
For some days longer the camp remained here, killing buffalo and
drying the meat. Then they moved east, one day's journey, to
another little stream, and again hunted from here. By this time
many buffalo had been killed, and many robes made. The parfleches
were full of dried meat and back fat; and now presently the chiefs
began to consult as to whether they should not go north again to
the neighborhood of the mountains, for the women wished to gather
roots and berries for the winter.
One evening when Jack came in from the hunt he saw a great crowd
of people, men, women and children, gathered just outside of
the circle. They seemed to be having a good time, for shouts of
laughter and shrill screams from the women told that something was
happening which amused them all.
Riding up to the edge of the crowd, Jack saw in the midst of it a
little buffalo calf, standing there with its head down and tail in
the air, facing with very determined attitude two or three small
boys who were trying to approach and get hold of it. Every now and
then one of the little fellows would get up his courage and venture
close to the calf's head, when the calf would charge him and the
boy would jump out of the way; but just as Jack came to a place
where he could see, one of the boys went slowly forward toward
the calf, and just as the calf began to charge, one of the boy's
companions gave him a push forward, so that instead of dodging the
calf he met its charge, and was knocked sprawling on the ground.
Then everybody screamed with laughter, and the boy scrambled out of
the way as fast as he could.
At one side of the ring of people, Jackson was standing, evidently
much amused at what was going on. Jack called out to him, "What are
they doing, Billy?"
"Why, I roped this calf to-day and brought him in to try to take
him back to the river, where there are some cows, and raise him,
but some of these small boys got bothering and teasing him, and
I told them if they didn't let him alone I'd turn him loose, and
let him take care of himself, and now it seems to me he's doing it
pretty well; he's knocked a half dozen of 'em out of time already,
and once in a while, if he gets real mad, he charges into the
crowd, and I tell you they scatter."
The fun went on for a little while longer, and then Jackson, after
speaking to the people, put a rope about the calf's neck, and with
the assistance of two young men, dragged it away to his lodge,
where it was picketed to a stake firmly driven into the ground.
That night, Joe said to Jack, "Say, Jack, do you want to see some
fun to-morrow?"
"Of course I do," said Jack. "I always want to be around when
there's any fun going on."
"Well," said Joe, "there's going to be some fun to-morrow; at least
I think there is. Some of the young men have been making fun of
Eagle Ribs; they say that there's something he dare not do; to
jump from his horse to the back of a bull, and ride it. When they
said that, Eagle Ribs said, 'Why do you talk about doing that?
You should talk about something that is really dangerous. I should
not be afraid to jump on a bull's back and ride him; but it's too
easy; I do not care to do little things like that. It would be a
trouble to me, and could not do any one any good.' The others kept
teasing him, and making fun of him, and at last, after they had
bothered him a good deal, Eagle Ribs said, 'It will be a little
trouble to do this, but if you want to see me I will do it. I will
ride a bull; the fastest and strongest that I can choose. Watch me
to-morrow, and see whether I do it or not.' So to-morrow we're all
going together, to see whether Eagle Ribs will ride the bull."
"But isn't there danger that the bull will throw him off, and catch
him and kill him?"
"No," said Joe, "I guess he can stick to it; or, if he can't do
that, why he'll have to be quick on his feet if the bull does throw
him; they can't turn very quickly, you know, and Eagle Ribs, if
he's smart, can get around and keep out of the way of his horns.
Besides that, there'll be a lot of us there, and we can tease the
bull, and get him to chase us, if Eagle Ribs should be in any
danger."
"Well," said Jack, "it's going to be a regular circus, I guess, and
I'll have to be there."
"Yes," said Joe, "you want to be there if you can; and a lot of us
young fellows are going to keep pretty close together, and I think
we'll have a real good time, even if we don't kill any buffalo. The
camp has got about all the meat now it wants, anyhow."
The next morning before the chase began, Jack and Joe found
themselves among a lot of boys about their own age, many of whom
were making fun of and teasing Eagle Ribs. When the chase started
the boys did not ride as usual to try to catch cows, but instead of
that singled out some old bulls that made up the rear of the herd,
and turned them off on to the prairie.
Then they all began to whoop and yell, and call out Eagle Ribs'
name, and say to him, "Now is the time to show us what you can do.
Here is your horse; now ride him." Eagle Ribs was riding a good
horse, and at once accepted the challenge. He pressed the animal
close up to a bull, and when he was so near that his horse's side
almost touched the buffalo's side, he reached far forward, grasped
the long hair on the buffalo's hump, and threw himself from his
horse onto the bull's back. The bull was frightened, and for a few
minutes it ran faster than all the horses; and then forgetting that
it was being chased, and only anxious to get rid of the terrible
burden that it was carrying, it stopped, and began to plunge and
buck, and skip around, and acted as if it were a calf instead of a
huge old bull. Eagle Ribs clung to it with both hands, and with his
legs, but the bull jumped so high, and came down so hard, that two
or three times he was shaken from his seat. The boys all about him
were shouting with laughter, some of them calling out encouraging
words to the bull, and some to the rider.
[Illustration: "HE REACHED FAR FORWARD, AND GRASPED THE LONG HAIR
ON THE BUFFALO'S HUMP."--_Page 82._]
The bull seemed very strong, and for a long time did not get tired,
and two or three times Jack feared that the boy would be thrown
from his back. Presently, however, the bull stopped, and stood
with his head down, glaring at the horsemen about him, as if he
wanted to fight. Now the boys began to ask Eagle Ribs why he had
stopped; why he did not ride further; and one of them threw his
quirt to him, telling him that he should use this to make his horse
go better. Others ran their horses close by, in front of the bull,
trying to make him charge. Toward one of these horses he rushed
furiously, and as he did so, Eagle Ribs slipped from his back and
ran away in the opposite direction, and got behind a horse ridden
by one of the boys. Jack rode up to him, and signed to him to get
on behind him, and then they went back to where Eagle Ribs' horse
was feeding, and he mounted him. Meantime, the bull had run on, and
some of the boys had killed him.
The next evening the old crier rode about the camp, shouting out
the orders of the chiefs; telling the people that the next day,
early, the camp would move back to the great river.
On the evening of that day Jack was awakened by a shot in the camp,
and then another, and then a rush of people, followed by a swift
pounding of horses' hoofs on the prairie. He scrambled from his
bed, put on his moccasins, and seizing his gun and cartridge belt,
rushed out-of-doors. Joe was standing in front of the lodge, having
just come out, and Jack asked him what was the matter. "I don't
know sure," said Joe, "only horses have been stolen."
"Well," said Jack, "why don't they go after the thieves?"
"Oh," said Joe, "that would not do; that is too dangerous. Suppose
we were to run out onto the prairie, chasing the thieves, they
could stop behind any sage brush, or the edge of any hill, and
shoot us as we came up to them, before we could see them. We'll
have to wait until to-morrow, until it gets light, and then take
good horses and try to catch them."
The whole camp was now thoroughly awake, and the fires were made
up in every lodge, while people went about visiting each other,
and trying to find out what the extent of the loss had been. It
appeared that only three good horses had been taken; but more would
have been stolen if it had not happened that a man coming back
late from a gambling game, and seeing somebody cutting the rope of
a horse in front of his lodge, had shot at him with a pistol that
he carried. The enemy threw himself on the horse and rode swiftly
away, and at the sound of the shot a half dozen men rushed from
their lodges and fired at the retreating sound.
It was several hours before the camp quieted down again, and before
daylight next morning forty or fifty men on good horses were
prepared to follow the trail, and try to overtake the thieves.
Both Jack and Joe wished to accompany the pursuing party, but Hugh
advised them not to. He said, "If we had come up here to spend the
summer with these people, maybe there'd be no harm in your going
off, but now in the course of a few days we're going to leave them
and go into the mountains, and if you run your horses down, or if
either of you should get hurt, why it might spoil our whole trip
back to the ranch. These Indians ain't likely to overtake those
fellows, and 'twill just be a long hard ride for nothing. We'd
better stop at the camp for two or three days more, and then strike
out for the mountains, just as we intended to, and go on down
there and see that place they used to call Colter's Hell, and then
go on down through it, and back to the ranch." The boys, rather
unwillingly, agreed to do this.
Three days later the Piegan village was once more camped not far
from the Judith Mountains, and all the pursuing warriors had
returned, not having overtaken their enemies. Dire were the threats
that they made against the Crows who had stolen the horses, and a
number of war parties were made up to go south and make reprisals
on that tribe.