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Canadian Inatltuta for Hiatorlcal Microraproductian* / Iralttut Canadian da ml c fotapfoducticna liiMorlquaa

995

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>»aocon tBoiuTioN tbt omit

(ANSI ond BO TEST CH/WT No. J)

ffi^R^I^

dEEUEDJvHGE In,

IMJ Eott Moin StrMt

TWO WILDERNESS
^_0 YAGERS

MY HOST THE ENEMY

■Y

FRANKUN WELLES CALKINS

"Tht book If fttU of nup ind go, ind U iplrittdlr lUiwtratW.
* * * The luthor hii cvldmtljr writtm of territory * * * Ktna
Cboroaihly f«inlU*r, and tlw limpU, direct ityle of the namtiv*
W decidedly ple*iiii|. The edventuret ire well worth telling."
■—Nnotrk Evnimg Airwi.

** &ight and vigorou* iketchei of life end edrentnre on the
border line of the Wcit. * * * The Morie* are ell &r beyond the
•Tcrtgc abort ta!e In cttnatmction and itrcn|th."

'—Ctintr-ytunsI,

■*Thi author bat ^ren lu twenty-two atorict, every one brim
liill of excitement, adventure, loma pathetic and Mveral humor-
OM. * * * Mr. Calkina baa ^nerved the true apirit of adventure
and hia tnnapUnttd to the publication the real itmoqihere of the
rontier. He haa not depended on fiction, but hai been an eye-
witneai to many of the inddenta narrated in the atoriea.**

— C4ic«f « yvtrntt,

*' It would be difficult to imagine a more Intereiting and unique
collection of tala of tht American frontier. * * * It ii n^rcahing
to pick up a book that aecmi limited by Iti coven rather than
expanded to fit them. The itcriea are all short, but aome of
them contain aa much action and more real atmoaphere than tboae
other author! have ei^nded to make whole boolu."

— CJticoft TribMtu.

" Inddenta of actual adventun: are even more Interesting than
the inventions of fiction, and the writer haa told the itoriet with
I vigor, directneu and picturoqueness that haa preserved the
atmosphere of the fronder," — Watekword,

t2mo, CtaiK MosirMied, ft JO

fukthtud fy

FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY

CHICAGO NEW YORK TOROHTO

TWO WILDERNESS
VOYAGERS

A TRUE TALE OF INDIAN LIFE

FRANKLIN WELLES CALKINS

LONDON, EDINBURGH
M C M 1 1

fc3505

/}3?r

T^<^

/^o;^

BY FLIHINO H.

RITXLL COMPANY

Aaiut

MY "LITTLE SISTER"

OF THE DAKOTAS

CONTENTS

I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
X.
XI.
XII.
XIII.
XIV.
XV.
XVI.
XVII.
XVIII,
XIX.
XX.

XXI.

XXII.

XXIII.

A Spring Awakbninq

The Sioux Slaves .

At the Sugar Camp

Into the Unknown Country

The Danger of Delays

As THE Rabbits Hide .

Into the Tauarack Swamp

The Eagles Provide

The Spirit Woods

Etapa Counts a Coup .

They Dance to Grandfather Inyan

Flight ....

The Little Nurse

Going to the Enemy

In Black Otter's Camp

In the Cougar's Lair .

The Canoe of the WaJIcuh

At the Big River

The Pony Stealers

The Grief of Fire Cloud and Crane

Cry ....
A Strange Buffalo
A Warrior's Death
The Big Yellow River
7

9
19
26

41
48
61
70
79
90
99
108

"5
131
'47
•63
172
182
192
197

209
220
228
241

CONTENTS

XXIV.

XXV.

XXVI.

XXVII.

XXVIII.

XXIX.

XXX.

XXXI.

XXXII.

_, rAOc

The Boat Which Was Not Straight

Tongue's j^

A Long Trail jjg

The Valley op Desolation . . .067

"SciLlI SCILI!" 37J

The Buffalo Ghost Women . . aga

The Buffaloes — A Voyage by Bull

Boat 303

A Parade Fight . . .319

The Voyagers Arrive .... 330
The Warrior Father's Appeal . . 353

NOTE

If the reader will kindly take note of the few
helps offered below, the Dakota words used in this
story may be pronounced with a degree of confidence.

No vowels are silent. a = a as in father, e-a as
in mate, i = e as in me, o-o as in wrote, u = u as
in rule, c has the sound of ch, as in march, h and
g are gutturals, i is sh, j = zh and n is nasal. All
other consonants are sounded practically as in English.
Zintkala, for instance, is pronounced Zent kah' la, and
p-oa, A tah' pa. The pronunciation of Ojibwa words
is indicated in thfe spelling.

F. W. C.

TWO WILDERNESS
VOYAGERS

CHAPTER I
A SPRING AWAKENING

The crows had gathered at their rookeries
among the tall pines of a bluff which over-
topped an Ojibwa village. Snow had melted off
the bark roofs of the wigwams and in their
front— if they maybe said to have had a front-
lay a far stretch of blue-green ice shimmering
under the April sun. To and fro above this ice-
field the solemn harbingers of spring flapped
their black wings. They scanned its barren
space in vain search for open water and the float
of winter killed fish. The occasional remon-
strant Aal-aal-aal! of one of these winging spec-
ters sounded a lean and melancholy note of
hunger. Now and then, too, within their range
of vision, a wolf, bare of rib and thin to the
semblance of a shadow, loped, a flitting wraith
across an arm of the lake. Save for the scream
of a scolding jay, the chirrup of a surviving
bunting, or the chatter of a red squirrel, the
spaces of the skeleton woods had been as the
aisles of the dead.

TWO WILDERNESS VOYA GERS

At the village, after moons of semi-hiberna-
tion, the warming April sun stirred the people to
some impulse of animation. Muffled figures
shuffled to and fro between the lodges and their
fishing-holes in the ice. Lean wolf dogs skulked
from lodge to lodge or yapped dismally as they
were kicked away from hanging about the doors.
Upon the outskirts a bunch of skeleton ponies
rustled in the snow, hardy pigmies browsing
upon the remains, of last year's vegetation.
Here, too, the crows came and perched in the
tree-tops— safely beyond the range of small shot
— expectant of the annual feasts which spring-
poor ponies furnish.

The starving moons are cruel in the far north
lands. The manido people get very angry; bad
spirits prevail. At times Arctic hurricanes come
sweeping the woods, one after another, and the
angry wind-gods cast down trees in such dread-
ful fashion that the hunters are appalled and
the moose and deer are driven to the coulees of
the highlands for shelter, where none but t} e
wolves dare go after them. And so a half-
starved people hail the swiftly returning sun
with sober manifestations of joy. Fearing lest
h' i progress may be obstructed they make many
prayers and smoke offerings to Ki-tshe Manido.

At Tall Gun's village the people had begun to
take the fish which will not stir out of deep
waters until the sun's rays begin to glimmer

A SPRING AWAK E N I N G

through the ice. Laboriously the women had
worked for several days chopping channels
beside the crevasses, which here and there ran
far out upon the lake. Into these openings the
tribal nets had been lowered. These nets the
hungry ones visited frequently. Equable divi-
sion of small catches had several times been
made and there had begun to be heard a low hum
of renewed life in the wigwams.

During three starving moons no fire had been
built in the long lodge, no drum had been beaten,
no gourd rattled, no song chanted. But, as the
sun mounted one still forenoon, the tinkle of
rivulets of water was heard, pools glittered upon
the blue ice-field, and suddenly the roll of the
conjurer's drum throbbed, the sound of his
rattle clicked upon the still air and his voice was
heard chanting in a strange tongue. The people
were made glad; their pulses quickened for they
knew that the medicine of Ghost Moccasin and
their own prayers had prevailed.

Tum-te-tum-tum! at last they heard him beat-
ing it— the medicine drum of Dzhe-bi-o-mok-ke-
zinl A thrill of unexpressed excitement ran all
through the wigwams. Low it began, the
music, then increased to a muffled roar like the
drumming of a partridge's wings in foggy
weather.

The conjurer was alone in his lodge and
soon his voice was heard in strange cries calling

TWO WILDERNESS VO YAGERS

upon the tnanidos; and when the medicine rattle
was shaken some people were sure that spirits
were arriving. Their arrival became a certainty
when the noises of drum and rattle were drowned
in a medley of appalling sounds, heard nowhere
outside an isolated Indian camp. Thumpings
and groanmgs, strange thrilling cries, rumbling
thunderous noises as if Anemeke himself were
speaking the grumbling, coughing notes of
Makwa the bear, jugubrious hootings of Gu-ko-
ko^ the owl-a very war of contending manidos
seemed to rage inside Ghost Moccasin's wis-
warn. "

Surely this was the greatest conjurer of the
Awanse tribes. Very old men could not remem-
ber when the spirits had more undeniably mani-
fcsted themselves. Yet there were those among
lall Gun s wigwams who smiled sourly behind
clouds of tobacco smoke.

Tall Gun sat in his lodge well content with his
faithful conjurer's performance. The head
man s stomach was filled with fish, the season of
plenty was at hand, and there was a comely new
wife in his wigwam. If his mind held a taint of
suspicion as to the origin of th. superhuman
thumpings, groanings and frenzied cries which
issued from Ghost Moccasin's lodge it was
hidden behind the mask of gravity which sat
upon his face while he blew volumes of blue
smoke from his nostrils, turning the stem of his

cass* tUe a calumet to all points of the comoass
and reverently skyward. Suddenly the noH^oJ

Even the H^^"' "'?^" ''''^"^'l '" the%illage
Even the dogs seemed driven to somnolence by
this we.rd stillness broken only now and then by
the harsh startlingr cry of a crow

Suddenly out of the sky there dropped a clear
booming call-^«.„«^^/ ga-ungk/ elunl The
spell was broken-the answer^ to k„t pjye'

outside their wigwams. They looked up at aun^
ah-quod the sky shading their eyes whh their
palms Gaa^mk/ Deliberately the clear call
rang down out of the blue ether. Quickly one
h!!!h if ''"n \"'' '^^ blinking eyes saw hfgh-

ng birds, the advance skirmish line of mi-kah
the wild goose. •

While they were yet watching delightedly
their conjurer suddenly appeared among the7

^hni m"""^"V^"«^^" violently beatinga dr^m
Ghost Moccasin himself was painted and arraTd
•n his most gorgeous and effective manner
He began a chant, pointing skyward as he

hro^ ti^' """^'-^ Manabozho had wrought
through h,. prayers and the working of his pow

wSs'oth"" '^'L^";''^ people fawfche
TZTr, T^ head-dress, stained a vivid

green, were those of mi-kah, the wild goose.

TWO WILDERNESS VOY AGERS

they looked at each other in astonishment, and
when presently one came running from the nets
to announce a great catch of the maskallonge,

ley marveled in their joy. Truly it was won-
derfull

That afternoon there was feasting and a fire
was lighted in the long lodge. The people gath-
ered early in the evening, seating themselves
around the edges of the big wigwam, where they
waited in decorous silence for the great men to
appear. Tall Gun came first and seated himself
in the place of honor upon a skin reserved for
him. As many great men do, Ghost Moccasin
kept his audience in waiting until some of them
yawned in sheer impatience. For an hour or
more the older people sat, and the younger stood
in a packed ellipse about the outer circuit of the
smoothly worn ground floor of their primitive
town-hall.

Now and then the elder men turned to each
other with some low-voiced remark, but even
these refrained from smoking. The younger
ones maintained a decorous silence, their eyes
only shining with the light of impatience or of
expectancy.

The conjurer's success had that day been so
manifested that he thought fit to annoi.ace him-
self by a crier. His approach was therefore
solemnly chanted from outside the lodge. There
were old men and some younger folk whose

A SPRING AWAKEN I N G

eyes twinkled, but they looked discreetly down
their noses. Ghost Moccasin came in, his assist-
ants bearing the sacred drum and medicine pouch.
The conjurer had arrayed himself fantastically
and earned a powerful medicine fetich and a
wondrous rattle.

His assistants began to drum and the medi-
cine man, seating himself before a bright fire of
fagots, began a series of public incantations,
smoking to all the manidos and mumbling
strange incoherences. After a sufficient length
of ti ..e, dunng which the younger people were
in a great state of suspension, the medicine man
began an intelligible chant, and this is what he
sang:

I do not know where I am going.

I depend upon the clear sky.

Ho, you fugar maple, fast your sap is flowing,

O my friends, 1 thank you,

O my friends, I thank you.

The first two measures were chanted very
slowly 'vith impressive hiatuses and amid silence,
b t the last lines rolled off his tongue quickly
and were responded to by a general and joyous
hand-clap that was like the scattered volley of a
skirmish line.

First the young girls came forward and
danced. To the barbaric double time of the
tom-tom and the rhythmic jangle of its bells

TWO WILDE RNESS VOYAGERS

these moved modestly, their elbows at a slight
curve, their moccasined toes turned inward.

Ho, In-ne-na-tigl E-shig-o-ma-e-oosh,

Ho, ni-ki-ni-ka-na, migwetsh, ni-ki-ni-ka na.

The weird cadences of their chant imported
in shrilling tones the thrill of awakening
nature, the joyous prophecy of plenty, of content
and good will among men.

Louder beat 'the tom-tom, more fiercely
jangled the bells, and the voice of Ghost Mocca-
sin, raised in crying repetitive, was like a clarion
call to action. Young men took the place of
maidens in the dance and the action grew fast
and furious until the timed rhythm of those
swaying, leaping figures whirled the brains of
the on-lookers into its mad, magnetic current.
Wild cries of encouragement were shouted by
the women and young folk. The feet of the
young men beat upon the floor, ;heir sweating,
painted bodies writhed, their faces grimaced as
they rivalled each other in shouting the cadences
of the chant.

There were only two persons who were not
apparently pleased with this dance and these
were small unnoted people— a boy and a girl, of
near a dozen years each, who stood behind an
ugly woman, crowded between the inner posts of
the big wigwam. These two were thinly clad

SPRING AWA K E N I NG

„ J''*-i"''f °^ '^^^ '"'''■^ •"d««'l flushed but
not with pleasure. The girl had disdainfully

Lubet, rail Gun s squaw, had stained it. Her
blue strouds sleeve carried most of this adorn-
ment but some famt streaks yet remained to
accentuate the hot blood of resentment and dis"
gust which showed in her small round face. She
stood erect against a post, her hands dangling a
keenlymtelhgent and scornful little critic of this
Awanse f^te dance.

The boy, of the same height, stood on the
ttn'r'n V^ their mistress, who was no otter
than Tall Gun's old wife 'Lizbet. He had a
shoulder crowded between two upright stakes
as though he would have burst through thelhin
pamtu,n. This one looked out from under "

n i" r'' • ^^" ^"'^ ^'^"^'^d a Sioux scowl
upon the whoopmg moving crowd

•Lizbet Tall Gun was of an excitable nature
bhe stood partly in front of her charges and in
her eagerness to egg on the dancers to some . ew
gnmace or contortion, the hostile faces of the
boy and girl went unnoted.

hJn''^ '''^' '' M.^ '" ""^"y ^^^^^' so «:'ose had
been her surveillance, these children spoke

worn '" !,''T,°^" '""S^"^- As the excited

woman crowded forward the better to l^-se no

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

movement of the dance, the girl spoke behind
her back, taking care not to look at her brother.

"Younger brother," she said, "younger brother,
let us soon go homeward."

"The arrows of the Cree fellows," returned
the boy, scowling more deeply under his mop of
hair, "and the bow of my grandfather and some
buckskins are hidden in a hol'ow-wood."

"Waste, mi sun ! " said the girl, struggling
to hide the satisfaction in her face. "Wastel I
also have done i something. Secretly I h<ive
hidden the awl of this she creature and two
bundles of thread."

"Good," muttered the boy, "therefore we shall
not go with these good-for-nothings to boil the
sweet water of their trees."

He was about to speak further, but some
accent of his despised and unknown tongue
reached 'Lizbet's ear and she 'turned, giving
the girl and boy each a fierce slap upon the
cheek, shrieking Ojibwa maledictions.

When he could see her back again the boy
scowled up at her with the face of a small fury.
A young meti woman at his right hand saw the
blow. She noted the look upon the boy's face
and she shrieked with laughter, but the kindly
French blood in her veins prevented her from
exposing him further to the old wife's fury.

The alien boy and girl, however, had said
enough. They spoke not again during the dance.

CHAPTER II
THE SIOUX SLAVES

Mahpiya-peta, or Fire Cloud, yas a war-chief
of the Oglalar Prior to i860 he fought fre-
quently in wars against the aggressive whites,
the Ojibwas, Pawnees, and Crows, and in defence
of the narrowing frontiers of his nation. He
was a soldier of renown and, being a person of
importance, was chosen as one of a delegation of
Northwest Indians who visited the Great Father
at Washington.

From that trip he returned to his town upon
the Smoky River a changed man.

"I will no longer fight the white people," he
declared to his soldiers. "We make ourselves
ridiculous. We must become as they are or
perish."

In the following spring he took his children,
Zintkala-Zi (Yellow Bird) and Etapa (The Right
Hand), to the mission school at Traverse des
Sioux in order that they might be educated to
live - - the manner of the conquerors.

Fo. i.hese, he said, would soon despoil his
nation and pen the wretched remnant of its
tribes upon narrow tracts of land to be held as
prisoners of war— to be slaughtered, if they

19 '

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

should resist, as the buffalo are slaughtered in a
surround.

How much his heart was wrung in obedience
to his judgment, when he left his children at the
mission, no one can tell. His Isanti wife
mourned for them almost as she would have
mourned for the dead. To her it seemed an
incredible and cruel thing that she should be
asked to part with her children, little more than
babies, to be reared and taught among a strange
people — to forget their own kindred and per-
haps their own tongue. But she could not gain-
say her lord and master, Fire Cloud.

The children were not less rebellious in spirit
than their mother. They were cruelly home-
sick from the first. The little girl was obedient
to her teachers for some weeks, but when Etapa
proved intractable to discipline, and was pun-
ished for running away to play with the children
of "blanket Indians," she, too, gr'^w rebellious.
At the end of four months it became evident to
the better judgment at the mission that Fire
Cloud's young belligerents would better have
stayed among the Cglalas.

One night in September the boy and girl took
matters into their own hands, seized an oppor-
tune moment and fled, intending to make their
way across to the Missouri River, where their
mother's people were then living. Once among
these they felt very certain their father would

THE SIOUX SLAVE S

send for them when their wrongs should have
been recounted to him.

nin^'^^'^'^T ^^''y ^°'^^ hunger, these chil-
dren trusted themseves to the boundless prairies
without food and with no weapons save a horn-
tipped bow which the boy's grandfather had
made for him and which he had clung to with a
persistence not to be denied. But, though he
had the bow, he had no arrows save the reeds he
WM able to pluck from the creeks and sloughs.
So for three days this boy of ten and girl of

upon the roots of the teepsinna which they dug
with half a clam shell and ate raw.

They had reached the buffalo country when a
party of Assiniboin hunters-men and women-
swooped upon them and bore them northward
as captives. The Assiniboins at this time were
nominally at peace with the lower Dakota
tribes and, when this party had reached a trad-
ing-post on the Red River, they had so far
repented of their rashness as to ofTer their cao-
tives in private sale to some Ojibuas who were
on a trading expedition.

Thus, for two dumpy ponies and some other
property. Tall Gun, of a village in the far eastern
woods came into possession of the .Iglala boy
and girl. When Tall Gun's party had trailed
back to the Red Lake country' the chief set up
another wigwam and took to wife the comeliest

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

maid of his village. In propitiation he gave to
'Lizbet, a half-caste, who had kept him in monog-
amous estate for a quarter of a century, the
Sioux captives, that she might with honor set up
a household of her own. With the possession of
these strong children, the boy already an efficient
hunter of small game and the girl able to do
most of the work required in her wigwam, with
a husband still willing to provide meat and skins
from the hunting, 'Lizbet was very well content.
Thereupon the wily chief congratulated himself
upon the opportune stroke wliereby he had
grasped the horn of a dilemma. Such are the
odd and accidental forces which go to the
shaping of destinies where wp,r and plunder
obtain.

Zintkala-Zi and Etapa, after the first poign-
ant terrors of capture, accepted their captivity
as became the children of warlike people. Had
they been taken into a wild tribe whose ways
of life were similar to their own, or had they
been kindly treated by adoption, it is very pos-
sible they might never have attempted to escape
and would in time have lost their identity as
Dakotas.

But neither of these things happened to them.
The son and daughter of a war-chief of the
Oglalas, whose mother was daughter of a
Yankton chief, had been children of some dis-
tinction among their own folk. They were now

THE SIOUX SLAV E S

slaves to a woman of nondescript people whose
every mode of dress and of life they detested.

Their mistress was a virago. She was not
thoroughly vicious but tyrannical, which was
quite as galling to the Sioux children. As they
were— from policy—obedient to her behests, so
far as they understood them, it was some time
before 'Lizbet laid violent hands on one of her
chattels. This happened when she discovered
that Zintkala-Zi had cunningly concealed a
splendid necklace of polished elk teeth and was
unwilling to give it up.

In her irksome prison-pen among the mission-
aries little Zintkala had been reproved for
wearing "heathen ornaments" and so she had
hidden her double chain, sewing a strand inside
either of a pair of buckskin leggins. These leg-
gins she had worn when captured by the Hohe
(Assiniboins). Within their winter folds the
valuable ornaments remained hidden until the
shrewd eyes of 'Lizbet detected their outlines
beneath the worn buckskin. The strings of pol-
ished ivories were promptly ripped from their
fastenings, and 'Lizbet took possession of the
child's beloved ornaments with a scream of
delight. Because Zintkala cried, when she
hung the chains about her skinny neck, 'Lizbet
beat her severely with switches. After this the
Sioux children never compromised with her for
an instant in their hearts,
as

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

At first some Ojibwa youths made an attempt
to deprive Etapa of his bow, which they said was
too big and strong for so small a boy. They
told 'Lizbet that the lad should trade it for one
better adapted to his years. But shrewd 'Liz-
bet, making him understand their criticism, pro-
cured some fairly serviceable arrows and sent
Etapa into the woods. When he returned with
three rabbits and a grouse the bow was secured
to him.

The boy, howeve*', unable as yet to converse
in Ojibwa, did not understand and, when boys —
out of hearing of 'Lizbet — still urged him to
trade his bow, he was much alarmed lest they
should take it from him by force.

Just before the snow came, a party of Crees,
traveling through the country, camped at Tall
Gun's village and stayed for a day or two to
gamble and to "swap" for such property as could
be traded. On the day after their departure
Etapa's bow was missing and, although 'Lizbet
gave him a severe beating for carelessness, it
was generally believed that the Crees had stolen
the weapon because of its superior quality. To
appease the angry old wife Tall Gun made the
boy a bow of dry ash. It was a contemptible
weapon in Etapa's eyes yet, needing food, he
made effective use of it so long as there were
birds and rabbits to be shot.

In 'Lizbet's wigwam the Sioux children, who

THE SIOUX SLAVES

were recogniied as her property, her slaves in
fact, graduated in a stem discipline. She con-
tinually talked to them in Ojibwa. After some
days, when she had taught them a few necessary
words and had established a sign language in aid
of their understanding, she never again allowed
them to speak to each other in their c yn tongue.
A word in the Sioux was the signal for a blow
with a dog whip. In all that dismal winter they
had no opportunity to speak together apart from
their argus-eyed mistress. 'Lizbet kept one
of them beside her constantly. She never
allowed the two to pass outside her lodge
together and, if she stepped across to a neigh-
bor's wigwam, she took Zintkala with her.
How bitterly irksome this life became to these
children of the plains the subsequent chapters of
this history will reveal.

CHAPTER III
AT THE SUGAR CAMP

On the morning after the f£te dance there was
confusion indescribable at Tall Gun's village.
The weather had come off uncommonly warm
and the wigwams jwere turned inside out in a
mad scramble to make hasty exit toward a sugar-
camp.

Their skeleton ponies could not travel in the
snow nor drag travois packs over the ice; so
there was tying and untying, packing and repack-
ing of blankets, skins, clothing, kettles, pans,
cooking utensils, axes and fishing tackle to meet
the limited capacity of a limited number of dog
sledges.

Women and children hustled to and fro, yell-
ing themselves hoarse, while men seized upon
half-trained wolf-dogs and fought with the snarl-
ing, vicious brutes to get them into harness.
There was need of frantic haste, for already
there was much water upon the ice and, by noon,
or a little later, the lake would be impassable for
sledges and the slush snow of the woods equally
so.

Ho-ho-ho! E-shig-o-ma-e-oosh! Fast the sap
is flowing! People ran hither and thither in a

AT THE SUGAR C

AMP

frenzy lest they should overlook some necessary
dish, chipping adr, or other utensil. As fast as
a family had its dogs or its women loaded with
packs the members set out at a dog trot upon
the sloppy ice. Every rivulet of a hundred miles
and more of shore-line was pouring its flood out
upon that bottle-green waste.

So they ran, slopping in shallow pools, with
sweating shoulders and icy feet, women and
papooses chattering and screaming, and men
belaboring dogs and swearing strange French
oaths. When one slipped and fell, getting a
shower-bath from the splash, shrieks of laughter
greeted the mishap. By holding to the ice-
ndges they were able to keep their feet out part
of the time, else the ice-water would have proven
intolerable long before the twelve-mile stretch
was crossed.

Numbers of crows and ravens followed this
long file of bipeds and four-foots over the ice.
Where these shouting creatures should stop the
winged caravans knew that many fish would be
taken and out of a wasteful abundance the
empty craw could be filled. So the funereal
birds flapped alongside, alighting upon the ice-
ridges to utter hoarse, anxious notes, stalking
smgly or in solemn files just far enough from the
movers to be out of range of a boy's blunt-ended
arrow.
Of all the scurrying, human crowd only two

two WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

were utterly discontent. These were the young
Dakotas. During the rigors of an Arctic winter
they had not dared to attempt escape, for they
could not have survived a march in the awful cold.
But now that spring had come both were eager
to fly and they had only awaited an opportune
moment to seize such things as they needed and
had hidden. By secret signs, made when 'Liz-
bet's back was turned, they had agreed that some
dark night when the "she creature" was asleep,
they would steal from her wigwam and take to
the woods. Not only did this early flight across
the lake carry them further into the unknown
country, but they were compelled to carry bur-
dens which nearly crushed their young backs
before the goal was reached. 'Lizbet had no
dogs, not being able to support them, and so she
loaded herself and her slaves with such effects as
Tall Gun's sledge could not accommodate. And
she forced the burdened children to trav( ' in her
front, shrieking at them French and Ojibwa
maledictions or threatening the dog whip when
their tired legs lagged. The impulse to fling
down their hateful packs '4|id speed with swift
feet to the nearest dark line of woods was strong
upon them. But this rash prompting was
resisted and finally the dreadful journey came
to an end.

At high noon the sledges were gathered at the
north rim of the lake where, at a well-known

AT THESUGAR CAM P

inlet, fish were slaughtered in such numbers as
justified the wisdom of the attendant crows.
The open current of the brook had tolled the
finny ones out of winter quarters until, within its
narrow channel, they were crowding upon each
other. There men and boys, armed with all
sorts of spears, attacked them in hilarious excite-
ment and soon the snow on either bank was
heaped with the slain and, like a miniature bat-
tle ground, stained carmine. This carnage con-
tinued until the fish were run out of the open
brook.

The Ojibwas had also reached the country of
In-ne-na'-tig, (the sugar maple). Along both
banks of the small stream were many groups of
the tall, shapely trees. Hundreds of trunks boro
rmgs of fissured scars where the tomahawk or
the chipping adz had tapped them.

At some distance up the brook, hidden away
amid ranks of tall maples, stood the skeleton
frame-work of a huge wigwam, the Ojibwa sugar
camp. Its poles were yet partly covered with
the bark of last year's laying. Many hands
make light work and by night the ragged roof
and sides were snugly pieced with freshly peeled
birch-bark.

This camp, after the manner of a Huron long
house, was arranged to accommodate a large
number of families, only in this instance each
familv hung up blankets or skins to partition off

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

its section. This was done not so much for the
sake of privacy as to mark a line which should
divide each family's household goods from those
of its neighbors.

Notwithstanding the bustle of their hurried
dash from village to sugar-bush the Indians dis-
covered quickly that the sap was not flowing —
that Ghost Moccasin was not wholly infallible.
In this far north land the frost sets its teeth deep
into the ground and many days of warming sun
are required to start even the volatile sap of the
sugar maple flowing.

But there was much to do in the days of
waiting. Every year they must make a new
set of birch-bark sap-vessels and spouts,
casseaux or troughs for catching the sap, buck-
ets for carrying, and the gauj^, a yoke which
was borne across the shoulder. For, with
the improvidence of nature's children, they
took no care of these things but left them
scattered about, where they were used last, to
be burned or buried in snow and forest debris.
Upon only one set of the implements of
their sugar-making did they bestow absolutely
necessary care. They kept within their wigwams
the several large brass kettles, which a post
trader furnished them for the sake of the trade
they brought him. These kettles were relig-
iously scoured, polished and guarded with the
care bestowed upon sacred articles.

AT THE SUGA R C A "vl P

Their sugar-making was a pr )f;.5ble int^ustry,
and annually they sold many mococks, of a brick-
like consistency, at the upper Red River post—
and the article brought them three-point blan-
kets, red strouds and trinkets more than the
skins they took. And besides, in the season of
makmg, there was the delicious diet of syrup
and sugar of which they ate enormous quantities.
In their days of preparation for the sap catch-
ing, of tapping trees, whittling souttiires, making
and setting the casseaux, and repairing the stone
furnaces, abundance came to them from the
south seas. Overhead the near blue sky was
flecked with clouds of geese, brant and ducks,
and, stretches of open water having appeared
along the lake shore, the birds tumbled into
these spaces in myriads.

The noise of their wings, their flappings,
splashings, gabble and quacking, the murmur of
a multitude, sounded far through the still woods.
Among the bush alongshore the hunters
secreted themselves and with small shot secured
an overabundance of meat and feathers.

During a slow migration of weeks these birds,
because of their vast numbers, had fed, almost
undisturbed, upon the wheat and corn fields of
the lower and central Mississippi countries. In
these early years of western settlement we
indeed furnished to the Indians, in fat and juicy
migrators, our only ungrudging supplies.

TWO WIL DERNESS VOYAGERS

The people of the sugar camp took on flesh
visibly during these days of abundance. The
fat goose flesh and the maple syrup and sugar
gave their brown skins a healthy glow and put
spirit and sparkle into their eyes. A new and
vigorous life possessed them, and the hum of it
ran as a pleasant murmur in their camp. 1 he
sounds of the drum, of weird Ojibwa chants and
French roulades, mirtgled oddly with the medley
of the lake, the cawing of crows, the screams of
jays, and the piping of blackbirds.

During the morning hours women, girls and
boys were busy at gathering sap and again in
the late afternoon. To and fro they shuffled m
and out among the tree trunks, each carrying the
gauji with a birch-bark bucket at either end. All
day and all night the kettles boiled merrily with
women or girls taking turns in constant attend-
ance. OL t. J

'Lizbet Tall Gun was in her glory. She had
charge of the great brass kettle which was the
head man's chief possession and article of dis-
tinction. And she had his young wife, a niece,
and the Sioux boy and girl to do her bidding.
She was thus high priestess of the sugar-making
and she made a large show of authority. She
sat upon a colored mat, smoking and giving com-
mands, though she arose occasionally to exam-
ine critically the bubbling contents of the kettle.
Occasionally, also, when it appeared that the

AT THE SUGAR C AM P

syrup was too low or too high or that there was
a suspicion of byrning about the rim of the kettle
she snatched the hemlock paddle from the Sioux
girl s hand to bestow a sounding thwack upon
her shoulders.

Zintkala-Zi bore this with impassive face, and
went about her task as before. As became a
daughter of the Dakotas she accepted the
inevitable without a show of emotion. She even
laughed at times when something amusing
occurred; and, when the sap was not running and
the big kettle had been scoured, she played with
the young girls of the camp and made for the little
ones wooden dolls with carved heads, dressing
them with bits of bright clothes and cast-off
buckskins.

In all this demeanor 'Lizbet read submission
and the growth in the girl of an Ojibwa heart.
Etapa, too, seemed to have undergone a change
At times during the winter he had been sulky
and ill-mannered. It was especially difficult to
teach him the Ojibwa words. In six months he
had barely learned enough of the tongue to
know what was required of common necessity.
When Lizbet was not at hand he sometimes
taunted the Ojibwa boys with their babbling
tongue. He spoke of it contemptuously as "bi-
wab-ik-shik-wik!"-a name which the young
mimic had invented.
However, at the sugar camp, in the midst of

B:!

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

excitement and of plenty, with as much of the
sweet as he chose to eat— for no one was stinted
at the boilings — Etapa seemed to have slied his
surly disposition. He brought wood for the fur-
nace, carried his gauf'^viith cheerfulness, and took
on flesh and a shining skin.

'Lizbet was much pleased at the apparent
change. She had conceived a secret liking for
the boy, who was a keen hunter and quick to see
things. "See," she said to her husband, who daily
honored her by lighting hiu pipe at her fire,
"see, how it is with my children."

Zintkala had gone a little distance after wood
and Etapa was coming along a path bearing
buckets of sap. "They are now of our people,"
boasted 'Lizbet and Tall Gun was also pleased.
He seated himself upon ' Lizbet's mat and smoked
contentedly the while her charges came and
went. He had noted that 'Lizbet's kettle was
continually fille.d to the boiling point and that
her furnace never lacked wood. As a great num-
ber of trees had been tapped, that all the boilers
might use as much sap as they could reduce, he
foresaw that 'Lizbet would this season much sur-
pass her former tale of cakes and mococks.
Thus he did not hesitate to express tacit approval
by sitting a decorous length of time at her fire.

His complacent sitting so pleased the elder
wife — who saw signs of jealousy in the younger —
that one afternoon she grew quite hilarious and

AT THE SUGAR CAM P

excited and drank a great deal of warm syrup.
S>he also made a delicious wax for her lord She
was thus attending the kettle herself to serve
I all Oun, and her boiling ran low

tJ„!l ^^l ^^"T '""'"• ^^'^' '^"^ sap-gathering
time, when she noted her remissness and to
make amends she called the young wife to see
after the kettle-and incidentally to take the
blame which would attach to burning on-put a
^<J«y upon her shoulders and, with Zinikala
and Etapa went out to collect sap from any drip-
pings which might remain.

Thus they hurried, going on parallel lines and
7roul ^^''^ °'''^'"' ^'■°'" *'"°"Sh to

They were a good distance from camp at
dusk, and still their buckets were not filled, when
Lizbet was suddenly taken with fearful pains

!!!h f • u""""- '^^ ^'■°""'^' *P"«"K her sap
and shrieking in agony. She rolled upon the

S'tC^ " '"' '''' '^"^ ''-""^ '^^ a

Awed and astonished,, the Sioux children

stood gazing for a moment. Some evil spirit

had seized upon this woman. Doubtless it was

serr"r%K° '^^ ^'^^^"^ '^^^ ^""^ "^^'^^ in

u ii- ^^''^'■^ "^""'"^ 'o seize upon this
probability For many days they had been pray-
ing to Waniyan Tanka to help them to escape
Lizbet was plainly hors de combat, senseless.

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

shrieking with pain. Zintkala was first to act.
She ran to the groveling woman, snatched her
long knife from its sheath and, seizing the
strings of elk teeth about her neck, struggled
with the frantic creature until she had cut away
their fastenings and secured the treasure.

"Younger brother," she said, in great excite-
ment, "let us now go homeward! Hither let us
run 'imong the trees,' taking the canoe with
which a man hr.s arrived."

A hunter, who had returned to the village by-
way of the woods, had that day paddled a birch-
bark vessel across the lake. It was the first thus
far to be brought to the camp. Etapa looked at
'Lizbet, whose contortionn and screams did not
cease. Very evidently an evil spirit had been
sent to attack her.

"Ho, Tank6," (older sister), said the boy, "we
shall run toward these people, crying that some
enemies have arrived. We shall take some
parfl^ches to make us proper clothing."

Seeing the wisdom of this very young warrior,
his sister ran with him. They shouted: "The
enemy! The enemy! Those wicked ones have
attacked 'Lizbet!"

Keen ears at the sugar-making had heard
'Lizbet's screams, and presently, catching the
purport of the Sioux children's cries, the camp
was thrown into an uproar. Men, old and
young, seized their weapons and, supposing that

AT THE SUGAR CAM

a bear or a cougar had seized upon 'Lizbet, ran
through the woods to her succor. Women and
girls, not deeming it prudent to go into the
darkened woods, gathered in excited groups
upon the outskirts of the camp.

The little Sioux, so soon as they heard the
footfalls of the runners, ceased their cries, and,
avoiding the Ojibwas in the darkness, passed
around then, and so on swiftly to the rear of
their camp. Seeing no one on that side of the
big wigwam, they dodged in at an opening and
seized such things as they needed or could lay
their hands on in the semi-darkness. In 'Liz-
bet's and Tall Gun's apartments they knew, in
particular, where the household goods were
stowed, and they thus secured two parflfiches of
buckskins, a small bag containing hanks of
thread, bundles of sinews and other needful
things, with a light and convenient tomahawk
which belonged to the young wife of the chief.
They had no difficulty in stealing away from
the camp in its rear for all was hub-bub and con-
fusion out beyond the furnaces. Their first diffi-
culty was encountered upon reaching the canoe
which had been drawn out upon the creek bank.
There were no paddles at hand. It was some
minutes before they found a single broad-bladed
one concealed among some bushes. With this
Etapa made such haste as he could, but they
were not out of the creek channel when they

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

heard the sharp gasp of a fleet-footed runner in
pursuit.

Frightened, they were about to leap from the
boat when the man broke from cover near at
hand. It was too late to escape by running, and
Etapa thrust his paddle upon the bottom and
gave the boat a fierce shove. At the same instant
the runner leaped at t}iem from the bank. Even
as he jumped the light craft shot away from
under him, and the man sprawled his length in
the shallow brook.

When he recovered the canoe was darting out
upon the waters of the lake. This runner had
no fire-arm, but he yelled frantic directions
to those who were chasing in his rear and, a
moment later, the beach alongshore was ablaze .
with popping guns.

It was too dark for rifle shooting, else this
story could never have been told. Bullets
skipped and whizzed about the receding canoe
and small shot struck it and the occupants repeat-
edly. Undoubtedly, when they had discovered
the ruse of the young Sioux, the Ojibwas imme-
diately connected their flight with 'Lizbet's attack
and they were fierce to capture or slay them.

Though feeling the sting of small pellets upon
the arm and shoulder, Etapa plied the paddle
with all his strength and, in two or three min-
utes, the canoe had slipped out into the darkness
and beyond the range of shots.

THE SUGAR C

AMP

J'Jf'^u^'" l^'^ ""* ^y- " q"'ri"Rly. "those
people have hit me with some shots "

,iJf''°*^ '*"'*''' '"""y ''*'"*•" «a'<l Zintkala,
simply. But, younger brother, it does not hurt
greatly.

"It is nothing," said Etapa and in their
greater anxiety to steer their course aright they
did not again mention their hurts. Without the
bow and arrows, which Etapa had hidden in a
wood at the village, they could not hope to
make the long journey which lay between them
and their own country.

Therefore the canoe's prow was turned south-

1*!"^ , "'?'" ""^^ "^^^ *nd, as all Indian
children know "The Seven Dizzy People," who
swing nightly around the pole -ar-these and
their native instinct for direction guided the
Sioux children, who took turns in plying the
paddle and who worked as those work who race
with death upon their heels.

They knew perfectly that two lines of runners
one upon either shore of the lake, would be
launched after them to take up their trail wher-
ever they should come to land; that they must
Hy— fly— fly if they would live.

The night favored them, for there was no air

stirnng. There were no ripples upon the lake

save those made by the water-fowl which rose

flapping and squalling in their front.

The one who was not paiidling sat in the bow

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

watching for the ice-floes which endangered
' their frail craft. Zintkala's wound bled freely.
A swan-shot had passed through her palm and
lodged under the skin upon the back of the left
hand. She trailed the hand in cold water until
the blood ceased to flow and thereafter the
hurt troubled her little.

Two hours of swift paddling brought them
under a bluff behind 'the Ojibwa village. By
no possibility could runners coming around the
lake reach this point txjfcre morning. The
young Sioux had often heard the Ojibwas say it
was a long day's run by the shore and one way
they could not come at all without boats because
of a wide neck of water which connected with a
very long lake.

So Zintkala and Etapa were very cautious in
approaching the village. An old man, his wife
and their lame son, had been left to guard the
wigwams. While the children were not afraid
of being caught by these, the family might yet
be on the alert and so prevent them from secur-
ing the necessary bow and arrows.

However, they had no difficulty at all. The
wigwams were silent and fireless when they
arrived. Etapa recovered his bow and the
arrows which he had cunningly stolen from the
Crees, and Zintkala, from behind a certain
piece of bark in the roof of 'Lizbet's lodge, took
the awl, thread and small articles she had hidden.

CHAPTER IV

INTO THE UNKNOWN COUNTRY

When they returned to the canoe Etapa and
Zintkala bore each a light strong paddle, much
easier to handle than the heavy one they had
used and had needed to use alternately. Their
progress was now rapid. They sped faster than
anyone could have made his way through the
woods and tamarack swamps alongshore. They
were elated. The night, the long lake and the
wilderness were before them and when they
were far beyond ear-shot of the village they
talked freely and excitedly of their recent expe-
riences. Etapa counted the little "mosquito
bites where the small shot had hit him and
found that ten or more of them had gone
through his skin in various places. He felt
proud of these wounds and thought that he
should be able to show the scars when he
had arrived at home.

And he would not have been a genuine littie
bioux had he not boasted greatly of how he had
darted the canoe out from under the leaper who
soufirht to jump down upon them from the creek
bank, and also of his exploit in stealing a quiver
of arrows from the Crees-he had seven, finely
toothed and feathered, and of superior wood—

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

".1

and of his adroitness in hiding his bow so that
the Ojibwas had believed the Crees had
stolen it.

And Zintkala, riding upcn the smooth water,
listened, well pleased with the sound of her own
tongue again. So they paddled on, keeping The
Dizzy People upon their right and, most of the
time, a faintly outlined shoreline upon the other
hand.

They were not alone— far from it. On every
hand were the puddling, quacking, squalling
water-fowl. These rose at times in such num-
bers that the noise of their wings was as the
voice of Wakinyan the thunder god. There
were many flashes of white wings sailing by and
strange voices, which startled them, came out of
the night.

The steady dip-dip of the light paddles did
not cease for an instant and after a time the
land shadows disappeared upon their left and
appeared upon their right. By this token they
knew that they were entering the channel
between the two lakes, and so turned their
course southward. When they had left the
headland they did not see the shoreline again
and they had paddled until their arms were very
weary when a fog began to rise upon the lake.
Soon this mist became so dense that the stars
were obscured, and the little voyagers were
literally at sea as to direction.
43

INTO THE UNKNOWN COUNTRY

They paddled about for a time much puzzled
and distressed. This fog might well mean death
to them, for, unless the lake were very long
indeed, the Ojibwa runners might come within
sight of them when the mist should lift with the
rising sun. Soon the folly of continued paddling
became apparent— for they might even be going
back into the teeth of the enemy. Therefore
they remained silent in the midst of silence, for
the water-fowl seemed to have gone as'eep; only
now and then a pair of wings flapped or a faint,
contented chuckle sounded within their hearing.
Soon, in spite of anxiety, sleep overcame the
little voyagers and with blankets closely wrapped
they lay upon the canoe's bottom.

When they awoke the sun had begun to
glimmer from a height into the low mist which
lay upon the lake. Instantly they seized their
paddles and steered their canoe southward.

As the sun rose higher a light fog still hung
over the lake and overhead the sky was hazy
also. This made the hearts of the paddlers
glad, for they knew the atmosphere would not
clear until a breeze came. There would be
opportunity to land their canoe without danger
of observation if they should arrive at the shore-
line within a reasonable time. Though their
canoe could still be seen at a long bow-shot's dis-
tance, the chance that an Ojibwa should be with-
m sight was too small to give them uneasiness.

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

The rise of water-fowl in its front as the canoe
advanced would, in clear weather, have marked
its progress for many miles to keen eyes on the
lookout. At a little distance, however, the mists
swallowed all these hurtling crowds of birds.

After paddling for some length of time the
voyagers were alarmed by hearing a medley of
strange noises in their front. Shrill outcries,
whoops of wild laughter, screams, groans and
gruntings, came to their ears out of the fog.

At first the children were much alarmed,
fancying that they heard a multitude of the
strange manidos of the Ojibwas. They ceased
paddling and were in doubt as to what course
they should pursue. They were thus hesitating
in silence, fearing to converse together, when a
bevy of big white-winged birds appeared, skim-
ming low over the water. These screamed afad
laughed in a manner which left no doubt as to
the origin of the alarming noises. Whole tribes
of these strange whoopers, white, gray and
black, now came yelling through the fog. Some
of these birds alighted upc i the water, cocked
great red and yellow eyes at the canoers and
then rose and flew away with odd cries and yells
of shrill, mocking laughter.

All this was most astonishing to the Sioux
children to whom these noisy Arctic birds, their
sudden appearance and disappearance, their
transient gavaeian medley — annual events in the

INTO THE UNKNOWN COU NTRY

north lake country-were wholly unknown. In
the unknown there is always mystery to the In-
dian, and the boy and girl looked at each other
and spoke in low tones, in much amazement.

They resumed their paddling and held their
direction mechanically while their eyes were for
the birds. Presently they began to encounter
ce-floes, and upon these melting, spongy masses
the strange birds were gathered in great num-
bers and their antics gave fresh cause for won-
fln!'; ^ ? .certainly acted strangely. Some
fluttered their wings, holding them grotesquely
aloft as buzzards do, while their huge bills
gaped threateningly; others seemed to be exe-
cuting a dance, crooking their necks and hopping
from one foot to the other, while others strutted
with a great show of fierceness; and each
seemed to vie with another in screeching, laugh-
ing, scolding or grunting, until the ears were
pierced with their outcries. Barring the fact
that they wot not of the comparison the onlook-
ers might have fancied themselves sitting in
a gallery of the Inferno.

"Do look, younger brother!" Zintkala
exclaimed, presently. "On this one side the
people are really dancing the buffalo dance "

Etapa turned his face, as directed, toward an
ice-field upon his left and, near at hand, a group
of birds were certainly prancing, hopping, jump-
ing and posing their wings and bodies in such
«s

TWO WILDERN ESS VOYAGERS

impossible attitudes as suggested a violent dance
of the Dakotas. The birds were very probably
quarreling over the carcass of a fish which each
wished the privilege of pecking out of the ice for
its individual benefit.

"Older sister," said Etapa, with conviction,
"these people will surely go to war. It is the
buffalo scalp dance." i

The children spoke naturally of these birds as
"people." All animals, to the Indian, in his
native state, are a mysterious folk. Some are
sent by the Great Spirit to furnish food and
clothing, others to harass and annoy and per-
haps to cast an evil spell, and yet others to fur-
nish warning and instruction. ^^

"It may be, brother," ventured Zintkala, that
Wakinyan has sent these strange warriors to
protect us from the enemy." ^

"Ho, Tanke!" cried Etapa, "I think that is so.

At any rate, they declared, it was evident that
these scolding birds were debating what should
be done to some very bad people, and there
could be none worse than the Rara-ton-wan
(Ojibwa).

Thus, seeing the birds apparently well disposed
toward themselves, they took comfort from their
mysterious conduct, supposing it might mean
confusion to their enemies. Therefore Etapa
addressed the terns and laughing gulis as follows:

"Ho, you birds, you strange ones, you are very

INTOTHE UNKNOWN COUNTRY

mysterious. Anyone can see that you have a
great medicine. Therefore we desire greatly
that you shall help us, so that you shall all shout
very mysteriously at the enemy. If you will do
so for us he shall not find our trail."

When a whooping outcry arose among some
gulls, at the close of this speech, the children
were quite certain these birds had understood
and would try to help them.

Thus, with hearts comforted, the little voyagers
paddled on amid a whooping tumult until sud-
denly there loomed in the fog a line of skeleton
tree-tops and shore was near at hand. They
hastened joyfully to land, for they were getting
woefully hungry, and must travel, hiding their
trail, a good distance in the woods before they
would dare to stop and build a fire.

The shore they now approached was gorged
with ice, a high north wind having driven the
ice-fields upon it, piling huge white masses on
the beach and hoisting fresh walls of sand and
gravel.

Very cunningly the voyagers came to land
amid this debris. They left the canoe overturned
at the edge of a gorge, that it might drift with
wind and wave, and scrambled over the honey-
combed masses until they could pass to hard
ground upon the trunk of a fallen tree. Then
bearing their small bundles, they launched them-
selves into the wilderness of woods.

CHAPTER V
THE DANGER OF DELAYS

Through alternate growths of hard woods and
pines the little voyagers passed on until they
walked unsteadily from fatigue. As much as
possible they kept to the hard ridges and stony
ground, avoiding spots where moldy vegetation
or moist earth might leave a trace of footprints.

They had no set plan other than to travel
southward with all the speed possible, for in that
direction lay the Minnesota River and a narrow-
ing strip of territory still occupied by Dakotas.
They knew nothing of the country which lay
before them, for the Assiniboins had carried
them over the prairie regions far to westward,
and the Ojibwa had brought them eastward over
a country partly wooded.

Despite hunger and weariness they felt a
mounting sense of freedom with each step which
carried them further from a hated drudgery
among a despised people. They did not feel
that they were alone for squirrels barked and
birds chirruped among the trees. Now and
then a startled deer stood at graze for an
instan: and then sailed gracefully away among
the tree trunks. Overhead, too, a myriad folk
called down to them out of the hazy sky and

THE DANGER

OF DELAYS

there was a cheery whistle of wings above the
tree-tops as flights of small ducks passed from
one wild nee lake to another.

After a time they neared one of these marsh
lakes where there was a deafening uproar of
water-fowl tumbling in and out of the reedy
swamp. •^v.ujr

"Younger brother," said Zintkala. "I think
hunger"' "°" '''" '"""^ ^''^'- ^ ^»'"* ^''h

"Stay here, sister; I will do so," answered the
boy. He dropped all burdens but his bow; then
breakmg some straight, hollow reeds from the
edge of a bayou near at hand and selecting
some pebbles from the lakeshore, he s .t dow^
and w.th the a.d of some pieces of pack-threld
manufactured several arrows. This he did by
^ttmg small stones into the split ends of his

These were primitive weapons, yet the lad
passed around among the bushes, approached
the lakeshore near to where flocks were feed-
ing, and easily killed a couple of fat ducks

Zmtkala had, in their raid upon the supar-
camp secured 'Lizbet's small hoard of matches
as w»ll as flint and steel and she had a small fire
going when Etapa returned.

Although desperately hungry Etapa was *he
warrior in miniature. He allowed Zintkala to
dress the ducks and roast them the while he
to

TWO WILDERNE SS VOYAGERS

whittled at a bit of hardwood, with tiny trans-
verse holes, fitting one hollow with a reed stem
that he might have a pipe wherewith to smoke
to the earth, the sky and thunder spirits. He
had no tobacco, but pulverized willow bark
makes a sweet smoke and is thus a proper
incense offering.

By the time his pipe was finished the ducks,
spitted upon two sticky, were roasted and the
children attacked them smoking hot. Ah, how
good to bury the teeth in that sweet meati
They ate ravenously, panting with enjoyment,
until every bone was clean picked.

"Younger brother, you should have killed
another," said Zintkala.

Etapa looked at the scattered bones regret-
fully.

Just then a squirrel barked near at hand.
"See, brother, shoot — shooti" said Zintkala,
pointing her finger to a tree beyond him.

Etapa turned about and saw a large gray
squirrel upon a limb near to the ground. The
saucy creature was barking at five or six steps'
distance. The boy cautiously took up his bow
and a reed arrow and, a few minutes later, bunny
was spitted over a bed of embers.

While the squirrel was cooking, the brother
and sister took account of their bundles of
effects. Each had come off with a gray blanket
and a parfl^che (whole-skin sack) of buckskin.

THE DANGER OF D eTTT^

Etapa beside, had secured, with the tomahawk
bVS:/ Kt'-at'f 5' --<i -oosfhTde:

se.zed upon various small and u^seS artdes!n

Dits, a hank of buckskin strings, and. best of all
lZ'!^i •"""' ^r" •" *'>'^h she w^uld be abi

blankets intendinfto St^rSlmTCr'
sun'had'r' Tl "^^'" •" a twinkling ihe
S^std^oSnld!'^ ""•''* •^^"^^ -''-P-of
They were rather cross when they awok*. ^.n^
each was inclined to find fault w th^he o^h.^T
d'TSiv ^H ^'^^ "-•^^d^HeiJ'smatbut

-•^sr^^^eS^i;s---s

dJate-torthi-t^^^^^^^^^^
Pe led. much against their wi? roTu™^ the"
S: wolds!" '^"'^' '''^ '^''«^^°- -<^ keptt:
They had walked a considerable distance

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

when they came upon a fresh difficulty — a black
and barren tract, recently desolated by a forest
fire, lay before them. Across this they must go
or turn back and attempt going around the lake
to westward. Thus there was but a choice of
evils and the little voyagers, after sage counsel-
ling together, elected to go ahead.

They could not fail to leave tracks upon the
dust of th-j burned ground, but they took what
precaution they might to allpviate the danger of
being seen by some trailer or stray hunter while
they were crossing. Etapa climbed a tree upon
the edge of the tract and scanned the reaches of
the burned district closely. Seeing nothing to
alarm he descended and the two made up their
bundles and wrapped their blankets in a pecul-
iar way about their bodies. Then, stooping
until their heads were low lo the ground, half
walking, half crawling, they went one behind the
other, imitating the movements of mato-sapa,
the black bear.

By this means they hoped to escape the dan-
gers of a chase should any hunter come within
sight. For at this season the black bear was
little but skin and bone and ill-temper and the
Indian hunter usually avoided the animal.
There was no one there to judge of their imita-
tive performance, yet it may be set down as
certain that the average hunter, seeing at a dis-
tance those dark gray figures ambling among the

THE DANGER OF D ELAYS

blackened stumps, would have adjudged them
bears and would have passed on to the chase
of more desirable game.

A half hour of this kind of going proved a
wearisome business and the little Sioux were
overjoyed when they had again safely reached
the shelter of woods and bush, where they could
straighten the kinks out of their backs.

They were yet for a time forced to travel east-
ward by the trend of the lakeshore. They did
not know it, but they were now entering a region
famous for its wild rice lakes, and never in one
day had they seen so many water-fowl. Great
flights were passing to and fro overhead and the
murmur and spatter of them came up from the
lake in continuous accompaniment to their
walk. Now and then, in response to some sud-
den alarm or impulse, clouds of birds would rise
from the water with a roar of wings which was
simply astonishing.

"Hoye, Tanktf!" Etapa would shout, forgetting
caution in this tremendous din. "MagakiSikca
Ota-Ota!" (Hey, older sister, ducks are wonder-
fully plenty!)

An hour or two before sunset the children
reached a southward trend of the lake and, com-
ing upon a low ridge, saw before them another
burned tract which had been swept bare of trees.
But this district had been desolated some years
previous and was grown to young jack pines

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

and other bush to an average height above the
voyagers' heads.

They betook themselves to the bush joyously.
It was exactly such covert as they would have
chosen until assured of safety from pursuit.
Within this copse they felt the security of rab-
bits in a warren of hazel bush.

Toward sunset they came upon an open grass
plat where the last year's dry "fog" lay thick
upon the ground and a small clear brook ran
through the midst. Here they were tempted to
rest and, having carefully examined the thickets
near by until they had found dry and charred
wood which would make little or no smoke, they
determined to camp for the night. It truly
seemed that no one could find them in this bush
land.

Yet they were soon startled by a crashing
among the small pines and were about to scud
away when they distinguished the footfalls of
some large animal and, squatting upon the grass,
awaited its appearance with anxiety. The
creature came toward them and broke from
cover at a little distance. It was a huge and
hornless bull moose, which catching sight of
strange creatures upon the s'^ss, stood at gaze
with its ungainly muzzle reared, and half-
grunted, half-snorted, mingling fear with threat.

Zintkala feared the big animal was about to
attack, and counselled flight in alarmed panto-

THE DANGE R OF DELAYS

mime, but Etapa stood up boldly and addressed
the moose.

"I know you, bull moose," he said. "You are a
good fighter, but you have no horns and I do not
fear you. With my knife, should you attack, I
could cut youi skin in small pieces. We are not
at war at this season, O bull moose! Your flesh
IS poor and you have no back fat, therefore let
us make a peace. I will cut some willow bark
and you shall smoke with me."

But the moose did not stay to smoke. He
stood throughout the harangue gazing in con-
tmued astonishment, then, having concluded that
there was nothing to fear or to further interest in
these small bipeds, he moved indifferently away
"Older sister," said Etapa, "we shall not build
a fire until after Wi (the sun) is hidden, there-
fore make yourself to rest. I will make some
arrows and kill geese."

So the sister lay at ease upon a luxurious bed
of dry grass while the brother cut straight wil-
low rods for his arrows and searched the bed of
the brook for fitting stones with which to head
them. When he had weapons enough the boy
approached the lakeshore, creeping among the
shrub and the still standing grass. Some white-
faced geese which he had heard continuously
flapping their wings and gabbling, were sitting
upon the sand or puddling in the shallow water
near at hand. Etapa succeeded in stealing

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

within a few steps of one of these and buried a
jagged shaft in its side. Before the bird could
struggle into the water and while a hundred
others rose flapping and squalling above his
head, the lad pounced upon his game with a
little whoop of triumph. It was the first time he
had killed magi, the wild goose.

Zintkala also was highly pleased with the
young hunter's success. 'An hour or so later,
while they were making savory roasts of their
goose meat, their evening was rounded out by
another adventure.

While eating and talking in low tones their
acute ears caught a light patter of footfalls and,
looking about, they saw a shadow figure flit
across the fire-lit grass plat. It was sung-manitu,
the wolf, and the brother and sister looked at
each other inquiringly.

"Why is this one come to us?" they asked each
other and neither could give an answer. They
were not afraid. The wolf does not attack
people at their campfires — never at all unless
driven by maddening hunger. Neither, in the
Dakota belief, does this animal, which is invested
with sacred and supernatural qualities, approach
near to human beings except to convey informa-
tion or warning from the higher powers of intel-
ligence.

Therefore these children ceased eating and
sat in hushed expectancy, awaiting the further
se

THE DANGER Q F D E L A Y S

movements of sung-manitu. Every .lightest
rustle of bush or twig fell upon their ear, L the

t^t'Uln ,?°'"'^ "V ''*"'• "°* *•>««• keeping
within the toss of a stone of their campfire
Occasionally the wolf stopped stock still, as if
listening intently, and their ears were filled only
with the distant spatter and gabble of water-fowl
men sung-manitu moved again, and they heard
nothing else.

Presently the animal came into the open upon
the side opposite to where it had just been seen
and. sitting upon its haunches, looked intently
toward the silent watchers and their fire. Its
gray outlines, its lighter-colored forelegs, its
pointed nose and ears, and a fire flicker of reflec-
tion in Its eyes, were plainly visible. Thus it sat
solemn and motionless, seeming to convey to the
voyagers some occult message of the wilderness.

w?th .n f "f P'^'l "« ^^tion. listening and looking
with all their souls to interpret the signs.
When the wolf finally trotted into the bushes

««L^T u°V^^ '"''"'*"'' P'^"^'^ beyond
«I !;. ^T^^' *"•* ^'''^' *K»in looked at
each other with deep inquirj.. "I think-" said
Etapa. "I think-" repeated Zintkala. but
neither of them got any further, and they
resumed eating in a ruminant mood. They
finally rolled themselves in their blankets, saying
nothing and much puzzled by the conduct of
sung-manitu.

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

Their bed was dry marsh grass, their roof a
low sky set with stars, and their lullaby the
tumultuous murmur of a million water-fowl.

They awoke in the pale twilight of a morning
which the pen hesitates to set forth — a spring
morning of the north land — a morning with a
clear, near sky, a soft, cool air, pine-scented,
fresh with the Isreath of pure waters and beat
upon by the wings and cries of a myriad of
migrators. The emotions of any creature with
five senses are stirred by such a morning. Its
air is breathed as a tonic and the pulse is quick-
ened with a desire for exertion.

As by common impulse the Sioux children
separated and, each seeking a bath pool, stripped
and splashed in the cold water of the brook with
an enjoyment whetted by long abstinence from
the privilege. When they returned to their
camp each was filled with elation and excite-
ment, and they would dearly have liked a noisy
race upon the lakeshore, but there was caution
to observe and breakfast to obtain; for some sly
creature had made away with the remains of
their goose during the night.

Upon going to look for game Etapa found the
birds all out at sea. But there were many fish
running in the brook and, affixing Zintkala's
long knife to the end of a pole, the boy quickly
killed enough for a breakfast.

During the meal some ducks alighted, squal-

THE DANGER Q F DELAYS

'!"«• "Pon the beach where he had looked for
them. As that day's journey must take them
into the woods again, where there might be no
lakes and streams harboring game, Etapa stole
to the waterfront to try for a shot.;

His first arrow was effective in knocking over
two small ducks, but when he ran to pick them
up the lad made a discovery which turned him
cold from head to feet. There vere fresh moc-
casm tracks upon the sand of the beach!

Three men had passed that morning, doubtless
before himself and Zintkala were awake cer-
tainly before the light had come, else they would
have discovered his own tracks where he had
chased the goose. When he had recovered from
surpnse and dismay Etapa stepped quickly back
to the cover of overhanging bush.

This boy was possessed of a keen intelligence
and the gifts of intuition which the wilderness
bestows upon its children. Therefore the situa-
tion quickly shaped itself in his mind. From a
slight elevation the evening before he had noted
that a bog marsh, leading back to a tamarack
swamp, extended as far as the eye could reach
upon his left. He had perceived that he was
making his way along a neck between this
swamp and the lake. What if the marsh were
merely an arm of the lake crooked back from
some point in advance!
His eye scanned the shore-line. Yes, it was

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

so — away down the nearly regular inward curve
birds were flying to and fro, apparently going in
and out of some tall pine woods. Those birds
were following an arm of the marsh. How
foolish he had been not to think of this before!
He had run into a trap. He had been trailed
across the burned ground and marked down as
hiding somewhere between swamp and lake.
At that moment he hazarded no guess in the
swift conclusion that he and Zintkala-Zi were
hemmed in by Tall Gun's Ojibwa trailers.

rjr

CHAPTER VI

AS THE RABBITS HIDE

Even as the boy stood, considering how he

apptrernTfi ""'' l^^^^^V^ '^^ -"^f two men
appeared, not five bow-shots distant walkino-

Etapa sped back to camp and, as he burst into
the opening, Z.ntkala read the evil tiding S
his exctement. She had already buried the
IT^"^ °' » «n»°keless fire of charred wood had

small, tight rolls and she looked at her broths
with a scared, inquiring face. He put up a
warning hand until he had come ver> near.

The RaratonwanI" he said. "They are com-
ing— we must go quickly."

re^rted to 'If '"'"^ ''-"^^ '^^ ^-^*«''^ ">'"<!
"Ser!" «K T''"^' ^'^" "^ the wolf.
_ Brother! she said, as Etapa seized his pack

sung-manitu saW thus-go la this direction!"
"J l^^'u I ^'^P*- ''truck by the thought,

we should have gone more quickly." He
looked at the ducks in his hand. It would not
do to leave so much as a feather upon the trail
they must make and he flung his birds into Se

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

brook. "Come," he said. They did not run;
they slipped into the bushes at a light and
hurried walk. The sister followed the brother
and their feet almost unconsciously sought the
bare, hard spots, their bodies weaved from side
to side to avoid a telltale contact with the ever-
green bush.

A swift change had come over the buoyant,
hopeful children of the Aioming. All the help-
ful spirits, the birds and animals, had seemed to
be aiding in their escape from the Ojibwa. Sud-
denly the enemy had come upon them and they
were flung upon their own resources in this
desperate case. The flushed and confident faces
of so late a moment were drawn and pinched,
and a pair of bloodless, breathless waifs, like
ephemeral shadows, flitted from bush to bush.

In this swift, silent walk they progressed in a
general direction toward the tamarack swamp;
yet Etapa was continually taking sharp, zigzag
courses, now and then going back upon his trail
as the fox-chased rabbit does. He had no pos-
sible doubt that the upper reaches of this neck of
bush land were guarded closely by watching,
listening Indians, or that the men below would,
within a brief time, discover their night camp
and their line of flight. Therefore he and Zint-
kala must keep going, if need be until night
fall, unceasingly dodging and warily listening for
hostile sounds.

AS TH E RAB BITS HIDE

scfred'^eS thT"" '^T "'^ '" '^^ '""• ^o their
scared ears the sound was as if a shot had been

fired at them from the bush near at hand Bu"

far away to northward another gun answered

and they knew the first shot had Snouncld the

discoven. of their tracks or their camp, and the

second had been fired in answer to a precon!

certed signal Then a still more distant Z

report told them that at least three part es of

the enemy hemmed them in upon the necT

Instmctively. Etapa changed his course, going

-as ear and eye decided-in a straighllinf

m the direction of the second gun shot ol his

rack they advanced swiftly until the bov's

ujstmct told hi^ it was time to stop and lisS>

Then they squatted under the bushes and, S

Suddenly there was a rustling of the young
pines and a snapping of twigs which told of thi
rapid approach of some creature. A brief
moment of hstening decided the matter. A S

and the little hearts ceased to beat that the
direction of those footfalls should be accurately
judged! And what faint, long sighs of relfef
were breathed when it became Ividfnt that onTy
one man was within hearing and that he wm
going by upon one side, paralleling their course.
Etapa then considered. If there had been

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

several men and they had all passed, making no
discovery, he would have cope straight forward,
at least for a considerable distance. But that
way lay danger even greater perhaps than in
the rear, and so again he turned their course
toward the tamarack swamp and again resumed
the tactics of zigzagging and doubling. And no
hunter, merely crossing the trail thus made,
could have discovered it except by accident or a
prolonged and infinitely 'patient search. But the
best tracker of Tall Gun's band would doubtless
shortly be put upon their trail at the other end.
After making their way in laborious fashion
for some distance toward the marsh the fugitives
came upon a slight, stony ridge the far slope of
which extended to the open swamp. Etapa
turned to his sister with a sudden light of anima-
tion in his eyes. Zintkala's pale, drawn face
responded with an eager flush of comprehension,
and again their hearts beat hopefully.

Here, where the bush was not so thick, they
made their way more rapidly, stepping from
stone to stone, very certain that no human enemy
could trail them upon such ground. This tract
of rocky soil continued, lying along the marsh,
for a considerable distance.

Etapa led the way to within a short distance of
the marsh's edge, then followed where the
stones were thickest, taking a course parallel to
its irregular curves. Thus they actually traveled

AS THE RABBITS HIDE

for a considerable distance back toward their
n.ght camp. This course they followed so long
as the stones ay thick upon the ground. They

Snlrco'r' "'' ^''""''^ •'"" ''''" ^i-

fh^^^V^''^ r? ** ""^ ^""^ °f fhe stony tract
whL .K 'u^ ** *. P°'"* *^" ''«''" toward
r„-f K i ^°^ '"*."'' connected with the lake
and had made nearly a half-circuit of their camp.

Sr. .K ' u^J^" l^°''- ^"'^ '^^ •"*" "'nning
among the bushes, they had heard nothing of
their enemies. *

Etapa now cast his eyes about for an incon-
spicuous place of hiding. He finally selected a
thin strip of shmb pine, upon the verge of the
bog land, where the bush was barely sufficient to
"""^Vt^^ prostrate body from prying eyes.

Within this thin fringe of bush-the last covert
that a civilized person would have chosen-the
Sioux children took to cover after the manner
of the rabbits. They chose, with the instinct of
wild things each a spot sheltered by slightly
raised boulders and a thin veil of pine foliage
Each spread a blanket in double folds and lay
at full length upon it. And here they rested
silently, with watchful eyes and wary eL, well
knowing that a number of Ojibwa hunters were
at the other end of their morning's trail and fol-
lowing with more than the persistence of a wolf
pack. The children were now wholly dependent

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

for safety upon their success in having made a
blind trail. As to immediate danger, they were
not much worried, yet, as the sun rose high and
beat warmly upon their covert, each fought a
mental battle with drowsiness. They lay thus
wearily until the afternoon was waning, seeing
or hearing nothing to alarm.

Then their still alert ears caught slight sounds
as of some creature walking in the shallow water
of the bog marsh. Soon a softly-measured
tread, marked by the light plash and drip of
water as a foot was lifted or immersed, told
the intent ears that a man was approaching,
wading along shore. With bated breath,
with animation suspended save as nature
concentrated it upon the sense of hearing,
the fugitive waifs lay inert as the stones beside
them.

Both, as it happened, and chiefly for interest
in passing flights of water-fowl, had their faces
turned toward the open swamp. As their
eyes thus rested upon a space veiled lightly by
the pencil growth of pine, a man came within
their range of vision and so close at hand that a
hiding deer would scarcely have held its covert
in their places.

Yet these two did not stir so much as an eye-
lid while an Ojibwa, who could almost have
touched the bush fringes with his gun, waded
softly by, stepping in shallow water between the

AS THE RABB

ITS HIDE

first bogs of the wet ground. The man was

C^^.k". «"m"?" '° *' ^oy»«e»-thus they
knew that Bimidji's young men, of another pine-
woods village, had joined with Tall Gun's in the
Chase. In the same instant their torture of fear
was lightened by noting that the hunter's eyes'
were intent upon the tufts of grass which clothed
the bogs and drooped into the water. Evidently
their trail had been lost when their enemies
reached the stony ground!

This man supposed they might have crossed
the mareh somewhere about this point where
the reach of open bog and water was narrowest,
and he was keenly scanning the feathered float
of grass for sign of any fresh displacement. In
tact, he was looking into the shallow water for
their tracks! The man was very cunning^uch
was the thought of his breathless watchers, and
It was with intense relief that they heard the last
dnp of water from his moccasined heels.

The trail hunter passed so close that" had he
turned his head to peer intently for an instant
into the feather-like fringe of pines he must
certainly have discovered the hiders. But
such was the wisdom of these prairie children'
It IS almost equally certain the hunter would
have been astonished at their choice of covert.
Again, had the hunter's faculties been less
intently engaged and those of the fugitives less
utterly repressed, he might, by his wilderness

«7

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

instinct, have felt their near presence and so
have turned his eyes upon them.

Such was the ordeal through which the Sioux
children had consciously yet instinctively passed.
The rebound of joyful emotion when the danger
had gone by was almost more than either could
endure in silence. The little girl even found
humor in the situation, and she almost laughed
outright as she recalled how the man's toes had
curled each time as he' lifted them from the
water. Evidently there was ice at the bottom.

Etapa's elation ran very high, for he felt very
certain this man's report would keep any whom
he should meet from going over the same
ground. But there was also a sobering second
thought in the knowledge that other Ojibwas
had joined Tall Gun's young men in the pursuit.
This might very well mean that 'Lizbet was dead
and her people (relatives) bent upon revenge.

So wearily he lay, as did his sister, breathing
with soft regrularity, relaxing no whit of vigi-
lance. It was a matter not only of life or liberty,
but of honor now, to foil these hated Ojibwas.
Again, however, their faces were turned to the
swamp where flocks of ducks hurtled by in
almost continuous flight. Blue wings, green
wings, black and white with flashes of red and
gold — swiftly the procession passed, whistling
upon the wind like swift flights of missiles.

Now and then a flock of white-faced geese

ITS HIDE

A S T H E R A B B

low that their dove<olored breasts and jrrcat
spread of wing seemed, for an instant, to hover
protectingly over the hidden voyagers. Yet the
wanr watchers well knew that in these close
flights there was an element of danger to them-
selves, bhould any suspicious stir or glint of
color catch the cocked eye of the wary leader of
one of these flocks his whole herd would go
hurtling and squalling skyward, as plain a signal
to the watchful Ojibwa as the «d light of a camp-
Jire. So, hungry and bone-weary, the little voy-
agers lay close in covert until night gathered its
curtain close about them and they were free to
move with little danger of being seen

CHAPTER VII
INTO THE TAMARACK SWAMP

Wicarpi-kin, the stars, were glimmering here
and there out of a hazy sky, but all the bush
land lay mottled in thick darkness, and the open
stretch of bog and water showed only as a faintly
seen and uncertain space, hemmed with a black
wall which marked the line of the tamarack
swamp.

This swamp, if it were passable for the feet,
offered a line of retreat from the surrounding
bush land, where certainly no trail could be fol-
lowed beyond the extreme edge, and not there if
the steps were taken with proper care.

Etapa was not certain of the depth out where
the bog had showed only tufts of grass above
the water's surface, but the wader had taught
him as well as Zintkala that at the bottom of
the bog was solid footing of ice and frozen
ground. The marsh ice had been covered early
with an overflow of melted snows, and it so lay
thawing by degrees.

The boy spoke to his sister in low tones, the
general confusion of night sounds in this season
of bird migration making it safe to do so.

"Older sister," he said, "we shall go hither far

tNTO THE TAMARACK SWAM P

They rolled their blankets and effects in close
bundles and tied them to their backs about 1^
waist. Zintkala saying nothing.

Etapa led the way and they stepped trcn.
some close-ly,ng boulder, into the wat«. wh^re
there were few bogs and little grass. Th -y
walked ven. carefully, lifting their feet high and
puttmg them straight down to displace as little
as possible of the dead vegetation. They had

wourdlol T"'";'''^ "•=" »"'« '»>« "° one
would follow them far into the swamp. The

rnnTK""*' '""w"' '°'*^'' ">*" ^''"of 'h« lakes.

and the .ce at bottom soon benumbed their feet

The water was nowhere more than knee-deepi

No m!n ",?'.' ^''?'"^"*"°'8hunendurable
No man could here have waded for a great

behind the l.ttle voyagers and they pushed ahead
w.,h cramping feet and chilling bones. When
Sj'to : l'', **r^*^^*«« they were com"
growth, and to stand upon them, beating their
Jhem "" *""■' '•'^ '''*'°'' '«'""«'' to

tnTt^^'i""!!*^^ *"•* "'" shivering, they began
to thread the.r nay into the depths of a swam J
where the growth of small tree trunks wa^ so
dense as sometimes to compel them to turn

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

their bodies edgewise, pulling their bundle rolls
after them, in order to advance. The water was
everywhere half knee-deep and the gloom
intense. Now and then, through the skeleton
web overhead, one particularly bright star glim-
mered and its fitful twinkle was all the guide
they had. For the most part they made their
way by feeling. Etapa trailed his unstrung bow
and bundle in one hand and with the other
searched the spaces in his front, and Zintkala
followed, treading as closely as possible upon his
heels, never daring to drop beyond arms' reach.
Thus, slowly and with infinite patience, they
advanced into the heart of a perilous swamp.
Wherever they could find a limb of considerable
size thrust across their path they endeavored to
climb upon it in order to beat warmth into their
feet. Sometimes this was possible and some-
times, because of the thick growth overhead,
they were compelled to creep beneath or to pass
around. In spite of these occasional respites
from the biting cold of ice-water their feet in
time became so numb and their legs so cramped
that they groped their way stumblingly, nerved
only by the necessity of foiling their enemies.
Doubtless the unspoken thought of each was
that they might easily perish in this unknown
swamp — but it was better to die here than again
to fall into the hands of the Ojibwa.
How many dreadful hours were passed in
73

INTO THE TAMARACK S WAMP

threading the mazes of the tamarack swamp can-
not be known. The voyagers' feet and legs at
length became so numb and useless that they
were barely able to drag them over the rough
under surface, polling themselves forward by
graspmg the limbs or small trunks of trees
1 hey could no longer pound life into their legs
even upon a fallen log which they attempted to
stand upon.

^Brother," said Zintkala, after a weary time,
brother, I perish. I cannot walk." Her teeth
were chattering so that she could hardly speak
the words.

"Come, Tanke, let us go on yet a little longer "
urged Etapa. "We shall find some large fallen
tree and lie upon it to rest."

They did not find the tree but, after painfully
draggmg their limbs some little distance further
they came suddenly upon a small open plat of
marsh grass— such as is often found, a little
oasis in the tamarack woods— where the ground
lay quite above the water's level. Half-frozen
faint with hunger and dizzy with fatigue, they
stumbled upon this dry grass as those who are
drowning clutch the plank of safety.

Zintkala fell in a heap, her limbs cramping,
her teeth chattering, too exhausted for a warm-
ing exercise. She had clung to her blanket roll
mechanically. Etapa, though he shook as with
a fever chill, was yet able to keep his feet He
n

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

stamped about clumsily but manfully, crying out
to his sister that she should do as he did. In
thus tramping and attempting to jump he
stumbled backward over a dead tree which had
fallen across the opening. As he crashed among
the branches some animal of the cat tribe sprang
from its warm nest spitting and growling angrily.
This creature scrambled into a near tree-top and
continued to menace th^ intruders with angry
snarls.

Somewhat frightened by the threats of the
cat, Etapa decided to build a fire. As there was
no wind blowing he knew that the smoke must
go upward and could hardly carry a telltale scent
to the enemy.

Following the dead tree to its broken tops, he
soon secured an armful of fagots and, with a
wisp of dry grass for kindling, speedily had a
snapping fire going. As the blaze crept out upon
the grass he stamped it out with his wet moc-
casins and so prevented the disaster of a tale-
telling light upon the sky. The tamarack sticks
burned briskly, and Zintkala crawled on her
hands and knees into the grateful warmth.

Seeing her condition, Etapa piled on more
sticks and both sat with their benumbed feet
thrust almost into the flames. Ah, how good
was the heat! It was truly wa^te-ste. but they
were no sooner warm than hunger pinched
them anew.

?♦

INTO THE TAMARACK S WAMP

While they sat warming their feet they heard
the wildcat scramble away among the trees, but
soon a saucy owl, perched near at hand
IK^ *V^? "O'^kingly. "Hu-hoo! hul who^
S u ^'^ '^^y understood English they
might have answered after the manner of the

iirbei^s?r''^°- -'• ''^' - "--

After a long time, when they were thoroughly
f^.T^ "If"; '^""^ *'*PP'='' themselves tightly
LgeTslepT'"^ ^'- '" ^"''^ ^' ^ ^-'«^

.J*/*l-T/".***y"^''' ^^'"' 'he chill air
awoke Zmtkala. who sat up to draw her blanket
more closely around her and instantly was
stncken with fright. The sky was obscured and
the darkness intense. None who do not know
by experience the oppressive blackness of a
tamarack swamp upon a rayless night can imag-
ne Its effect upon the mind of this Indian girl
It was a weird, dank darkness which carried a
positive conviction of the reign of under-world
spints. She was smitten with the fear of the
water-god of the Dakotas, the fabled monster of
the wakan-wica^a or medicine men.

Hoye, younger brother," she called, in a

'm't^'u rj°"^^>**''" 1"''='''y' I a"* afraid
of Unk-t6-hii." She thrust out a hand and shook
nim, repeating her appeal.
"He-hee, why do you thus wake me?" he

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

grumbled. "Shh-te!" she warned. "Unk-t6-hi
will hear you and the under-water people will
surely devour us."

At this the boy sat up, shivering. He, too,
was stricken with the fear of Unk-t6-hi and his
under-water beasts.

"Let us keep very still," he murmured, "and
pray to the thunder spirits. Perhaps they will
keep the evil ones from finding us. Do you not
think, older sister, that theV have made it very
dark against the under-water beasts?"

"It is very dark," she muttered, "but do not
speak further, younger brother."

An unwonted and, as it seemed to these chil-
dren, a dreadful silence had fallen upon the
earth. They did not know it, but a fog had risen
and hung densely in the woods and upon the
waters. The migrating birds and woodfolk, see-
ing nothing, had fallen to rest. A dead stillness
reigned save that now and then an intermittent,
rasping shriek seemed to pierce all the black
depths of the woods and once a hollow, terrible
laugh fell out of the sky. The children were too
much frightened to recognize the cries of the
swamp owl and of that unerring swimmer, diver
and flier, the loon. They heard only the voices
of Unk-t6-hi and his evil ones, who they
doubted not were seeking to devour the invad-
ers of their dismal swamp.

They snuggled, trembling, close together and

INTO THE TAMARACK SWAMP

could only whisper the hope that Wakinyan, the
spint of thunders, enemy of Unk-te-hi. had cast
a black robe over the woods to blind the evil
one. Fervently, but with scarcely audible voices,
they prayed to the spirits of the upper air to
protect them. ^^

With the coming of light they felt that their
prayers had been answered and their fears
passed to give place to the gnaw of hunger. Be-
cause of the fog there was in the swamp no livimg
thing to be seen or heard.

»i,"^if ""1: °'''^'' f'S'«='-' •« us go from here," said
the brother, and with a hopeless face the little
girl packed her bundle. There was no mark of
land or sky to guide them, but they felt that they

,T,"nHfi? If "!f-^ y^' •"*•* '''^"»th to with-

stand the cold wading.

Etapa found traces in the dry grass of their
tracks in coming ,n upon the opening and they
left, going in the opposite direction. Again the
dismal wading with water from ankle to knee
deep and the same wedging and winding amid
rough, close standing tree trunks and with the
barest flicker of befogged skylight overhead.

1 here was a single element of cheeriness amid
the gloom for again they heard the whistle of
wings overhead, the booming call and the far-off
murmur, of innumerable water-fowl.

In order to keep a single course, Etapa would
tasten his eye upon the farthest tree trunk to be

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

seen ahe»d and when this was reached would
look oa to the next. But there were spots where
the small growth stood so close he could only
have made a straight path, laboriously, with his
hatdiet. So the small trail-makei would turn, as
he supposed, at a direct angle, until he could
pass the thick growth and take up his former
direction. Even to a forest-bred Indian the
tamarack swamp is an intricate puzzle, and the
prairie-bred boy was no ma'tch for its mazes.

On and on waded the fugitives, veering to this
direction or that as necessity demanded, becom-
ii^ more and more confused, cold' and thor-
oughly wretched as no outlet from the swamp
appeared. They were rejoiced when rarely they
found a fallen or a leaning tree upon which they
could beat their cold feet and rest.

After a fearful length of time, famished with
Imnger, and ready to drop from the cold-water
cramp and fatigue, they came out of the dread-
ful woods to set their feet gladly again upon dry
ground, but to find, to their later amazement,
that they had performed the miracle of the lost,
and had returned exactly to the starting point.
Again, of necessity, they built a fire of the dead
tree's branches to warm their chilled legs and
dry their clothes, and here they knew they must
stay until the sun should shine.

CHAPTER VIII
THE EAGLES PROVIDE

tJ^V ^*''' T^"" '*** ^'■°'" seareh of the Ojibwa
for who would risk life wading in this dreS
swamp upon the mere chance of discoven„/S
fnend or h.s enemy? Therefore, seeing thaf the
smoke went upward, they piled ^ood u^ hdr
fire without fear of the trail hunters. But, hav
ng eaten nothing nov for more than "wentv-
EtLT't- '^? '^'"'^ desperately E^
Etapa fashioned some blunt-end arrows from
young tamarack-for he would not use hfs "wa"
arrows except in defense-and, walking aW
Ae small oasis, scanned all the tree-topsTn seaS
of squ.n.els or small birds. The onl/si^ ofTfe
the boy could discover, however, was at the far
end of the grass plat, where several dead trees
stood upon the dry ground. I„ the top of one

sticks so interwoven among the limbs as to
impress upon the Indian boyl permanen dwell?

efn Z7 u-^% ""'""'■ ^°'- *°"gh he had
seen many bird's nests-the eagle's amona

others-built of sticks, he had ne^er see„ oSf
anything like so large, or with an appearance so
solid and permanent. PP^arance so

Despite the gnaw of hunger, the lad was curi-

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

ously interested in this immense tep6e of the
tree-tops, and he sat upon the grass for a long
time considering it. He finally reached the con-
clusion that mato sapa, the blr V bear, might
have built his summer home >v'.f i« he could lie
and enjoy the cool winds an.' perhaps at times
there were young bears living in the stick wig-
wam.

He was thus sitting and puzzling in his mind
when a big bird of white breast came flapping
heavily out of the fog, flying low over some
young tamaracks, and struggling with a large
live fish in its talons. The bird dipped down-
ward, evidently having a hard time of it— for the
fish was wriggling violently— then soared upward,
in an attempt to alight upon the stick house.

In doing so the captor struck its prey heavily
upon the edge of its nest and the fish, suddenly
wrenching itself free, fell to the ground. Doubt-
less the eagle would have recovered it, but Etapa
pounced upon the God-send with a cry of won-
der and triumph.

He forgot all caution and ran through the fog
shouting with gladness. "See — see, sister," he
cried, "what a bird has brought! It is certain
Wakinyan has sent this fish!"

And Zintkala, too, cried out with wonder and
joy, saying that surely they must now know that
the thunder spirits had heard their prayers.
"Younger brother," she said, "it is signified that

THE EAGLES P

R O V I D E

we should not go from here until Wi (the sun)
gives his light.

hr5uTfK''^«'l!"''i"'^°^ nature prepared and
broiled the fish and in no less devout spirit,
though tortured with hunger, the two ate of it.
Who shall say that He whose ravens fed Elijah
was less mindful of these truer children of the
wilderness?

When they had finished eating Etapa pro-
cured some bark from a cluster of willows upon
the grass land and, filling his wooden pipe,
smoked to the spirit of thunders, pointing the
pipe s stem toward the huge fish-eagle's nest as
he exhaled the vapor. As if in answer to his pray-
ers, the bird returaed presently bearing another
fish in Its talons. This time the eagle alighted
without difficulty upon its .est. A moment later
a piercing scream sounded out of the fog and
the bird s mate swooped across to the nest, also
bearing a fish.

Etapa and Zintkala approached with awe in
their faces. They wished to speak to the birds
and to show a humble and grateful spirit before
them. But the eagles both few awky. The one
bore Its prey, the other left a fish upon the great

By me»s of a pole which he cut, Etapa

c imbed iMo the branches of a tree which stood

alongside aad, after much difficulty, succeeded

in pokmg the fish off its perch. It was now

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

quite evident to him that a pair of fish-eagles
had built the "house tep£e," but he none the less
devoutly believed that the birds were obeying
some wakan-wa^te, or good spirit, in bringing
and leaving the fish. Doubtless the eagles had
thought that two fishes were enough for two
small Dakotas and so had carried one away for
their own eating.

"Ho, Tank6," said the ^y,when he had de-
scended, "we shall stay here a long time, I think,
for the Ojibwa can not find us. They will say
the Dakotas have perished."

"The smoke goes upward to the abode of
Wakinyan — it is so," said Zintkala.

"Hoye, sister, let us make here a small tepee,
so that rain will not fall on us," urged the boy.

"We have no skins for the covering," objected
Zintkala.

"You shall see how it is," said Etapa. "I will
put my blanket above the top." And forthwith
he seized his tomahawk and attacked some
young tamarack growth to secure his poles. Zint-
kala now produced a working kit from her
parfl6che and began to make a pa-r of moccasins,
for those they wore were nearly r uined by wading
and rough usage. In a little time the boy nad
set up a number of stakes and fastened his three-
point blanket in the form of a tepee covering
about the top.

"See, sister, go into your lodge and there

THE EAGLES PRQV I D E

work," pleaded the lad. and Zintkala was
Obliged to smile approval at the tiny affair. She
sat under the covering which came perhaps one-
third of the way down and was barely sufficient
to have fended a light rain off her head and
shoulders. Still, this bit of shelter made her '
teel more at home than she had done since leav-
ing her own Oglala village. She spread her
work about her and unconsciously assumed the
air of a housekeeper.

Zintkala had been well taught at home.
Although small of her age, and yet a mere child
in appearance, she had seen eleven winters when
taken from her mother's tep^e, and she had
been taught to do all kinds of work, housewifely
and ornamental, which falls to the lot of an
industrious Dakota girL

She had no cutting-board or patterns but
she went very handily about making a plain
pair of moccasins. As she worked, she desired
to be entertained, as was so often done at home
by some pretty, thrilling or humorous story!
Therefore she said to Etapa, who had seated
himself to watch and to criticise her cutting and
stitching. Ho. young warrior, you who have

ikt'o-'" "^"^ *'""°"' ''''°^' *^" "^ * '*°'y °^

Etapa was already the story-teller of Fire
Cloud s family. He had two older half-brothers
who had been to war, but he, Etapa. on account

maocon nsoumoN tbt cmait

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(716) 2Sa-»BS-Fax

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

of his influential Isanti relatives, had been
chosen to succeed to such hereditary distinctions
as the Dakotas recognize. He was to be a
medicine chief and keeper of records and he
had been drilled by his grandfather (father's
uncle) in much of the Oglala folklore. There
are no more vivacious or entertaining story-tell-
ers than may be found among Dakotas of good
memory and a lively manner. Their method is
the method of nature, imitative in voice and
jesture. Etapa was by nature a mimic, and he
had been drilled in story-telling from the time
that his vocabulary would permit.

Many of his stories were of Iktomi the spider,
a fabulous character, half-goblin, half-fairy, and
a pitiful devil into the bargain. Iktomi and his
escapades serve quite often a sober and instruc-
tive purpose, pointing a moral to the giddy, the
dishonest or the evil-minded.

Etapa liked now and then to give an exhibi-
tion of his narrative talent, and he had not for a
long time had an opportunity. He was not
above flattery, and the sister's complimentary
address pleased him, and so he told this Dakota
legend of

HOW IKTOMI COUNTED A COUP.

"Some people had mentioned to Iktomi that
he should now go to war. 'Heretofore,' they
said, 'we have urged you to do so. You have
84

THE EAGLES P

R O V I D E

become very slothful and your enemies are

u",f .'"n"^" '** *"*'=''• 'Jn'^ss presently you
shall kill a buffalo bull, or strike the dead, you
can not lead the people of this village. 'At the
least, they said, 'you should take horses of our
enemies, the Scili.'

"Iktomi retired to his lodge. He sat a long
time considering. He was much concerned lest
the people should regard him with contempt.
Un the following day he went away and hid him-
self for a long time in a wood.
1 ii"/ '■ef"">ed, singing: 'Something I have
killed-something I have killed! Hiwo! ihol
Dakotas, why followed ye not your partisani'

Ihe people came forth from their tepees.
Iktomi continued to sing very boastfully. As he
walked about he shook his medicine rattle, mak-
ing a loud noise. He spoke very highly of him-
seit. He had no bow and arrows and no
war-club.

" 'Perhaps he has a knife.' said some one.
borne one went behind, cutting off Iktomi's belt.
Ihis one held it up exclaiming, 'Oho— this man
has no weapon whatever!'

'"I have slain an enemy with my matric'
boasted Iktomi. 'Fie! oh fiel' cried all the
people. Hear this man— is it not ridiculous?
Let us soldier-kiU him. Let us bum his tepee
and cut his blankets.'
"The chief person of this village was a woman.
ss

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

'Ho, my children,' said this old woman, 'give ye
weapons to my grandson, who may yet prove
himself a warrior. See, I have made for him a
war-bonnet.'

"Then one ran quickly and brought a bow and
arrows. So another fetched a coup-stick, and
yet again one came bringing a war-shirt.

" 'So, here is your armament, great war-chief.
Go ye forth and slay our enemies,' said the
people.

"Therefore Iktomi took the vapi oath and
purified himself. He danced the circle-dance
and shot the wolf-image. In the following
morning he went forth, walking a long way.
After a time he came to a stream where there
were a number of trees. 'These are my sol-
diers,' said Iktomi. Therefore he addressed
them. He boasted greatly. 'Behold your war-
chief,' he said. 'When have I run from the
enemy? Only this winter I have slain a white
rabbitl'

"Now the badger and the coyote and the skunk
were sitting in the tall grass. They laughed.

"'Ho-he — ho-he!' they said. 'Hear ye; this
warrior has slain Maitinska, the white rabbit.'

"Iktomi supposed that these people were the
trees speaking highly of his deeds. He became
violent and shouted with a loud voice. He
walked treading heavily and displayed his war-
shirt to the trees. He flourished his coup-stick.

THE EAGLES PR O V I D E

'Last year,' he cried, 'I counted coup upon
Itunkasan, the weasel — two coups upon the

grasshopper '

" 'Hopidansnil Wonderful!' exclaimed the
coyote, the badger and the skunk; 'he has
counted a coup upon the weasel and the grass-
hopper!'

" 'Only last year,' shouted Iktomi, 'I— I— I saw
a buffalo bull!' He looked about fearfully to see
if any buffaloes were near.

" 'Hun-hun-he!' cried the voices, 'he saw a live
bull. Hearing his words thus repeated, Iktomi
became very boastful indeed. He made a long
speech, bragging greatly.

"Presently the coyote said to the skunk: 'Hiwo,
my friend, go forward now and lie down upon
the grass. Iktomi will come forward to count a
coup.'

"'Do ye thus, this one time,' urged the
badger.

"So the skunk went forward and stretched him-
self and Iktomi, seeing him lie thus, supposed
that he was dead. He rushed forward very
courageously. He strurk with the coup-stick
and the skunk arose and threw a vapor upon him.

"Iktomi ran homeward, crying, 'I have struck
the enemy!' He ran crying thus to the village
of the old woman. The people rushed forth.
'Behold, I have struck the enemy!' whooped
Iktomi. The people came near.

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

"'He-he-he!' they cried; 'Iktomi has struck
the enemy!' and they ran away, holding their
noses. That is all."

Zintkala laughed. "Younger brother," she
said, "you indeed dream strange things."

"At any rate," declared Etapa, "my grand-
father has told me of this."

Thus for a rime the two enjoyed their new-
found liberty and the undisturbed use of their
iiiother tongue. Just before dark Zintkala held
up a pair of rough moccasins she had finished.
"See, brother," she said, "they are for you. I
know, however, they are very awkwardly done,
for I had no try-pieces nor cutting-board."

Etapa accepted the gift, as younger brothers
are wont to do, without comment.

This night, remembering the terrors of the
night before, they had suoplied themselves with
a goodly heap of fire-wood. The flicker c£ the
fire was better than no light, although their little
blaze bat emphasized the intensity of the dark-
ness which shut them in.

For a time, after they had eaten the last of
their fish, they sat close to their fire, talking in
low tones and shutting fears of Unk-t6-hi out of
their minds. Again the rasping shrieks of the
swamp-owl pierced their ears, but they now
recognized the voice of the bird. The hollow
night-jarring notes of a bittern came to them
from the far end of the grass plat and the trill-

THE EAGLES PR O VIDE

ing of numerous frogs began to be heard. The
distant howl of a timber wolf was welcomed, for
it admonished them that there was, somewhere
in the direction they wished to go, an end to the
swamp water. They knew that sung-manitu
would not wet his feet in cold water overmuch.
Still, with these friendly sounds and the light
of their fire to cheer, night brought to them the
terrors of their primitive beliefs. They suffered
so much from their fears of the unknown that
they took turns in keeping the fire going.
Indeed, who may guess at the depths of suffer-
ing within the soul of each little lone watcher
sitting by that solitary campfire? Yet the com-
posure of each was effectively stoical.

CHAPTER IX
THE SPIRIT WOODS

The watcher slept at daylight and when both
awoke the sun was shining. They had no meat
for breakfast and the birds had not returned
since both had flown away together; so they pre-
pared at once to leave the swamp and continue
their flight southward.

Yet, while they were tying their blanket rolls,
the far-away scream of an eagle was heard, and,
feeling sure that the bird was bringing a fish,
they sat upon the fallen tree and watched with
expectant faces.

It was but a moment when the eagle appeared,
again flying heavily and bearing a large fish. It
swooped downward and was about to alight upon
its nest when up from the center rose a creature
with hunched back, hair standing on end, and a
snarling miaul of remonstrance.

The startled fisher dropped its prey to the
ground and darted upward, wheeling hi^h and
screaming angrily at the intruder upon its nest.
The bird poised for an instant and then, with
whistling wings, swooped down to the attack.
The cat bounded upward with a fierce snarl
and a wild sweep of its paw. Some feathers
were struck from the eagle's breast but the bird

THE SPIRIT WOO D S

passed on, wheeling upward again, with con-
tinued shrill screams.

Suddenly there were two great birds poising
above the angry wildcat which held its ground,
or rather the nest, with bristling back. The cat
was a big gray lynx with pointed ears and a
wicked spread of jaws. It had no mind to give
up the comfortable perch it had chosen for a
sun-warmed nap.

And now the excited little Dakotas watched a
combat the like of which it has been given few
to see— a strange and thrilling sight, a beautiful
game of fence played by accomplished hunters
and fighters of the wilderness. The cat upon
the nest, each bird in the air, sought by its pecul-
iar tactics to inflict without receiving injury.

One after the other the poised eagles swooped
down, seeking to strike the bouncing, spitting
lynx. Several times the cat leaped upward,
turning cunningly in mid-air and with an upward
stroke of one forepaw which, fairiy delivered,
would have finished the charging bird. And
each time the four-foot alighted easily at the
point from which it had jumped. But the birds
had timed and calculated too many flights from
aloft to be caught by such wiles.

Suddenly, as the lynx leaped higher than ever
to meet its attack, an eagle flattened its wings,
retarding its progress the brief part of a second!
then darted on with lightning speed, and struck

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

its talons into the scalp and ear of the vaulting
cat, as the latte .- spent its stroke.

Like hurled projectiles, lynx and bird were
borne over the edge of the nest and shot down-
ward, the cat squalling frightfully, the eagle
beating its wings and, for a moment, almost
bearing up a creature of several limes its weight.
Bird and beast had almost struck the ground
together when the eagle loosed its hold and
again, screaming defiance, soared spirally
aloft

"Ho, igmu hota," (gray cat} "you are a cow-
ardl" shouted Etapa, as the lynx leaped away
among the dense tamaracks.

"And you, eagles," cried the boy, arising and
looking up with great admiration, "you are very
brave. I have seen that you fight well. I also
consider it a great favor that you have brought
another fish."

And forthwith he secured the fish, which was
quite large enough to furnish a good breakfast.
Very gravely, however, the two considered the
wisdom of building a fire now that the sun was
shining. It hardly seemed, after canvassing the
matter, that the Ojibwas had so long lingered in
their vicinity, and there were some dry sticks
scattered about which would make a fire with
not much smoke.

So, in a little time, they had a breakfast of
broiled fish smoking hot and, greatly cheered

THE SPIRIT W O O D S

by this comforting meal, they took their I undies
and again waded into the swamp.

Etapa's keen ears had taken strict account of
the howlings of a wolf during the night. Many
times he had turned himself facing the sound,
listening intently, noting the position of his fire
and the mimic tepee as he stood. Where the
wolf sat howling was dry ground, open timber,
and at no great distance.

The position of the sun appeared a secure
guide, for the skeleton tops of the tamaracks
were nowhere thick enough to wholly cut off its
light. Their progress was slow but certain.
Their course, for the most part, led them through
a thick growth of young trees where there was
much stooping and even crawling over the bogs
but fortunately very little water after half an
hour or so of advance. By this token they knew
that, at last, they were passing out of the dismal
swamp which had both terrorized and protected
them.

Of a sudden they came out upon dry ground
among tamiracks of thinner growth and larger
body. Above and in advance of these sturdier
trees there loomed the immense tops of sky-
scraping evergreens, and in a moment the little
voyagers were launched into the marvelous
spaces and the stillness of a forest of Norway
pines.

The children had neither seen such trees nor

•3

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

heard of them. They stood with awe and great
wonder in their faces and their eyes turned
upward, following to dizzy heights the lines of
magnificent trunks which towered eighty or a
hundred feet before giving off a limb.

The ground upon which these trees stood was
quite level in surface with a slight rise away
from the swamp. It was covered with a carpet
of pine needles and cones and was bare of small
growth save here and there, where the midday
sun filtered a flickering light, there stood a pen-
cil-like growth of sickly ferns and conifers. The
pale yellow-green foliage, the tall wand-like
stems of these plants, standing under a faint
web of sunlight, frail, spiritual, delicate as the
tracery of old lace, gave a fairy-world appear-
ance to the solemn trunk-grown spaces.

To the prairie children this was indeed
a wonderland. They trod softly, certain of
stepping upon sacred ground. This might even
be the abode of the Wakan-Tanka of their
mother's people, the Waniyan Tanka of the
Oglalas— the Great Spirit of all the world.

They were in doubt as to whether they should
go forward boldly. Such conduct might be dis-
pleasing to the Maker of these wonderful trees,
and this spirit land in no way fitted for their rude
presence.

"See, brother, these little ones," breathed Zint-
kala softly. She stood at a little distance look-

ieverrnl**""' ^••''•' ''"by pines and she spoke
m^SlVlif:."^ "^ '''^'^ ''*« "-^"'

'•Are they not wonderful?" she asked.
Indeed they are truly so," murmured Etapa

For a time they forgot all else save the mvs'

Among the vast aisles of tree trunks there wm
no sign of life, no stir of twig or leTf-t Jr
never could be stir of vegetabl^'w^ wht h': e
mighty trees stood-and there was no breeze
to^rustle the dense foliage of theirTar aw^y

th^J'i""*'' '^'^ f^^^'""" advanced ever so softly

breaking of a fire-fagot. When they stood still
their own heart throbs oppressed them, str^m

3rerd™m: "" "" "''^"'^ ^ ^"^ »>-' o^ *
in ^J.r'''' "^^'"^ ""*''•"» '"^ *•»"" o*- 'o stay them

onJdenr'Thr";^'*''^ """'^'^^ ^-■-'1 -^

conndence. They became accustomed to the
man^elous silence, the awe-inspiring shadows

£d!" ""'•'°"' ^"' ^'^^ -^"' fo^ard more

But they walked slowly, their eyes often lifted

o the vast heights of the tree-tops. Silently

they prayed to these trees, which they thS

TWO WILDERN ESS VOYAGERS

might reach upward to the abode of Wakinyan,
the thunder god.

Occasionally Etapa stopped to exclaim, "Ece
tuwe kakfefel" (Who would believe it!) Then,
startled at the explosive sounds of his own
voice, the lad would go on marveling. At this use
of her mother's favorite expression of wonder or
disbelief Zintkala would for the moment for-
get the presence of the mysterious woods.
Quickly in imagination she saw the inside of a
large Oglala tep6e— a tep6e always covered with
the best of skins, ornamented with colored fig-
ures of beasts and men and of an armored horse-
man, a war-chief and hunter of his nation— a
tepfee whose floor was strewn with soft skins and
mattings, whose walls were hung with orna-
mental work, and wherein want and hunger had
seldom entered.

In that beautiful retrospect a figure moved, a
straight and always neatly dressed woman— a
woman with a low, broad forehead, a wealth of
black hair and the whitest teeth and kindest
smile in all the Oglala towns. Oh, how the
little heart longed for that dear Sioux mother!

With her lips Zintkala murmured a prayer
to the tall trees. "O trees, O you wonderful
ones, help ye these little ones to go safely home-
ward. You that reach so high, you may talk
with Wakinyan, ask "the thunder spirits that
they shall take us by the hand."

THE SPIRIT WO O D S

the Ojibwas. They seemed, indeed, to have

the' J!? H rK-"^" '*""'*'^ ^^'' ^" r^-n^ved from
he hated Chippewa village. It is doubtful if

tSev """aa ^''^" •'""" ^'^^^'y astonished had

Ses of the n t "'""' '^?^-^'''^ P'^'"^ »"d ^h-
Pr™i u^°'^' ^^'^'"8^ *° '«<=«'^e them. .

Presently, as they were looking ahead, a whir-
hurtled lT '^'\?'°'^ from the ground and
hurtled hke a whizzing missile into the high
tree-tops. The thunder of its wings, a hollow
dromng roar that was re-echoed fro^, all thi

The bTrd °^ '''%'T^^' "early stunned them
The b.rd was a ruffed grouse, and the first thing
set led ''^''^^l^^'^^^ong the giant pines. I?
settled upon a branch but so high above their

of grLT" '"" ' """' '™"" ^P^^'' "P- * field

..^n-^u ^A^" ^^^' '■""™^'^ *° earth Etapa was
astonished to see acock grouse walking in h^
front but a few steps distant, its ruff and ta

'^?:^^::x::^ - ^^'-^ -' — ■"« ««•'

fnV K ^°?''u ^^'^ '^^ ^'^y- ^"'l fitting an arrow
to h.s bow he shot the bird. He picked it up in thi
devout belief that the bird was a gift from a

wrc^s'-'oS? ^.'''•t' '" '■'^ -y^teXu:

woods. Older sister," he asked, "do you not
think that we should smoke to the;e trees?"

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

"I think that you should make a smoke and
that we should pray to them," replied Zintkala.

Etapa hesitated, seeing no dry wood at hand.
He could scrape together fallen twigs, but,
though fire is sacred, there was the chance that
it might displease Wakinyan to burn wood
upon his silent and holy ground. He struggled
plainly with this doubt, so that Zintkala read the
emotion in his face.

"Let us go farther, younger brother," she
counseled. "If there be dry wood it will be for
our fire."

When they came at last upon a fallen giant,
with broken limbs flung far and wide, they no
longer doubted. While Zintkala built a fire
and dressed the bird Etapa went somewhat
apart and smoked reverently, turning his pipe-
stem often to the trees.

Neither of the voyagers gave further thought
to the Ojibwa — so far did they seem removed
from all things human. They ate their bird
gratefully, strong in the sense of protection in
this land of spirit trees.

CHAPTER X

ETAPA COUNTS A COUP

For a good part of the day the voyagers
walked among the gigantic pines. The sun had
passed Its zenith when they came suddenly to

world ""^"^^ ^""^ '"'*' '^^ °P^"' "»^^^d

Again they entered upon a burned-over tract

of unseen extent. But this time the young

growth stood much higher than a man's head. A

a ram had fallen before its work had been quite
completed. Immense blackened stubs loomed

wooT '^' t'^'u '^' y''""^ P'"- -"d hard
Xtn '}'^''^^"^'i and half-burned trunks

ottered contmuous obstruction to the walking
It was an uncanny kind of country where 'he
young took vigorous root upon the ashes and
among the half-consumed skeletons of the dead
The travelers would gladly have avoided
crossing this forbidding and difficult piece of
bush land, but there was no way around for. on
the outskirts, lines of dead tree trunks with only
their tops^ burned off, like an army of cloud-
touchmg flagstaffs, extended as far as the eye
could reach. -^

It was with a sense of loss, almost of desola-

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

tion, that they passed out of the clear spaces of
the great trees, but once within the burnt-wood
jungle they gave themselves wholly to the task
of making their way across. There were
tangled thickets, heaps of charred refuse, briar
grown, and there was rough ground, and dark
holes tumbled with dead wood and debris, to
weary the body and depress the spirits. But the
sky was cloudless and the, sun their guide and
again they heard the aerial cries of migrating
geese, swans, brant and cranes. This talk of the
upper world served in a degree to balance the
dismal features of an irksome travel.

It was near mid-afternoon, and they were
slowly working their way for perhaps the hun-
dredth time over a raft of faller trees, scaling
the obstructions as noiselessly as a pair of foxes,
when they came upon a huge tree trunk, a fallen
giant, scarred with many fireholes, so immense
that they paused to gaze at this new wonder.

Etapa was about to speak when they heard a
stir among the bushes and upheaved tree-roots
upon their right. Some person! An Ojibwa!
With fluttering hearts they sank to the ground.
But their fears were quickly relieved, in part, for
the sounds of claws scratching upon wood
admonished them that a large four-foot was
close at hand.

And quickly thereafter the big one heaved
itself, scrambling heavily, upon the fallen tree

ETAPA COUNTS A COUP

near its roots. Peering fearfully from under
bushes, the children saw the shaggy hulk of
mato-sapa moving leisurely along the top of the
great log. Keeping on he would pass almost
within arm's reach and Zintkala stirred as if
about to run. She was greatly frightened, but
Etapa knew that it was now too late to run and
he laid a warning hand upon her shoulder.

The bear advanced, a gaunt, ragged creature,
with humped shoulders and swaying head, until
its sharp snout and wicked little eyes were
brought to bear directly upon th : half-hidden
bipeds beneath. Doubtless the animal had been
disturbed by the slight sounds of their approach
and, supposing some small animal had come near
its lair, had mounted the log to investigate.

The beast gave a sniff, a little "whoof!" of
discovery, and glared down upon the unhappy
voyagers apparently minded to pounce upon
them in a twinkling.

Then Etapa, who was nearest the bear, believ-
ing that his last moment had come, was seized
with a fierce .hrill of emotion. He leaped to his
feet and struck the astonished four-foot a hard
rap with his bow.

The result was two sharp surprises. The bear,
frightened beyond measure by this strange and
unexpected attack, turned a back somersault off
the log and lunged away among the bushes,
grunting with fear and the pain of a keen stroke
xoi

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

upon its snout. Etapa, unbelieving that he could
have won a victory so easily, climbed upon the
log to see if truly the bear had run away. When
he realized that the animal had wholly fled and
would not return to attack, his fortune seemed
yet quite too great for belief. He turned slowly
to look down at Zintkala.

She was gazing at him wonderingly and with
an understanding of "^is emotion. "Younger
brother," she asked gravely, "is it indeed true
that you have struck mato-sapa?"

The boy's face flushed. "I did indeed strike
him strongly upon the face," he said, his eyes
glowing. He leaped to the ground and took the
position and posture in which he had delivered
the stroke. "I hit mato-sapa thus," he said,
striking the log with his bow.

But Zintkala had both seen and heard the
blow, and she did not need further proof. "Ho,
young warrior, you have counted coup on mato-
sapa; henceforth choose ye a name," she said.
And it may be safely said that no moment of
greater pride or elation was ever reached in the
lives of the little voyagers.

From the point of view of the plains Indian, to
strike a dead enemy with the coup-stick or a
weapon of war was more honorable than to slay
him. For, they said, if you are near enough to
strike the dead you must have advanced within
the enemy's lines or have driven him from his

103

posmon You can shoot and kill your foe from

exnlnl '"«'>^^'.'»°''«"- to be attained in a sinrie
Hve bearwit'h r'' ' '"'"? '"'"'y '^^ '° h^-

give even 'tri^'^''^''"" '" ""^ *" '^""' '°

give even a tried warrior a new name

ttapa was a very human boy of eleven vear.
and when the full significance of Jis deed cam"

::H^;^J:sr:fisr--—

me Strikes-the-Bear."
"Wa^te. it is a good name." said Zintkala

White man, said Etapa. exultantly. "He will
wish me to go against the enemy."

pond^with tracks of deer and mooseTeldi^^^S

As Etapa had killed two grouse and a squirrel
by the way they had wherewith to serve heir
hunger. They built a cheerful fire for They n"

TWO WILf^ERNESS VOYAGERS

longer had fear of Tall Gun's trailers. They
reasoned that these had never taken up their
tracks after losing them upon the stony ground,
and how could any one find them in this land of
the bush?

To the hoot of the owl, the jarring of the bit-
tern, the chatter and gabble and the far cry of
incessant migrators, and the distant mournful
cadence of the timber-wolf, they fell asleep each
upon a fragrant couch of young pine boughs.

In the night, after their heaped-up fire had
smouldered low, a bull moose came to the pond
to drink. This ponderous creature stalked
silently, considering his bulk, out of the jungle
and had reached the water's edge when, prob-
ably, the expiring snap of in ember exposed a
glow of firelight, and the monster gave a shrill
snort of surprise. Instantly two small electrified
specters stood upon the sands and the moon
looked down upon three startled wild things, all,
for the instant, too much scared to take to flight.

To the Sioux children that colossal, shadowy
figure, barely outlined against the shadows of
the jungle, seemed indeed that of some under-
wate** monster arisen from the lake to devour
them. Perhaps it was Unk-t6-hl, from whom
flight is impossible, or it might be I-ya, the giant
whose mouth gapes to swallow all things.

Their awful fears were only relieved by a
second snort of the big bull who, having thus

vented his utter amazement, crashed away

among the young trees. '

• Then these children of habitual alarms lav

down and fell asleep again. Later they were

to dnnk and. catching sight or scent of the sleep-
ers whistled their shrill snorts of warning. J^t
before daylight a herd of tired geese settled
upon the pond. The birds talked fo each other
m undertones for a time, and the voyagers, hav-
ing been awakened by the beating of their
wi^. listened contentedly to their low gabW^

When daylight began to appear and he could
no longer hear their sleepy voices Etapa cau-

omer'TK '" ^''"^ '^'^ '^^'^ ""''^ of 'he new-
comers There were scores of them sitting upon
the sands, with heads under their wings, and a

of ?ie noS'^.Sf"^"'^" '•^'^ ripplinjsurftce
of the pond. Sillv creatures! How easily the

wolf or the fox could pounce upon them from
the cover of the bushes! But there is individual
tfred frl""""! t"! "^^'^ ^^'y »«=ese, when
feelini ^ "''''''' *'"'" ""'^^rsal

Etapa uttered just the slightest hiss of warning

L„'"k ^^''°"' '"^ ^"^^ "^y '""ition rathe?
2»vi„ ^r"*^"'! '° ^ ***''e and listening.

llT^- kT "."' ^^'°'' «"=""^ ^J^e '*d cautiously

shed his blanket and, with bow and arrow in-

hand, flattened himself like a big turtle and

los

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

moved with as little noise upon the sands utatil
he had entered the cover of the jungle.

Amid the bushes he trailed with the gliding cau-
tion of a cougar until he had approached to within
ridiculously short arrow range, when he fitted
one of the Cree arrows to his bow and spitted
two dozing geese upon a single shaft. The herd
rose squalling in late alarm.

When Etapa returned, dragging his heavy
game along the sandsi Zintkala was putting
sticks upon some uncovered embers.

"Nakaei, younger brother, you that are a
hunter, you are very cunning, it seems," L^aid the
sister.

Etapa was secretly elated. This older sister
was usually a very quiet and dignified little per-
son and, like most Indian maidens, sparing of
compliments. Yet twice now she had openly
acknowledged his bravery and skill. He felt that
she really depended upon his sagacity as a
hunter and acknowledged him as leader in
meeting the difficulties of their long trail.

When they had first set out Zintkala had
spoken of digging edible roots with a long stout
knife, and now the brother reminded h .—"You
do not now speak of digging tinpsela, older sis-
ter." Whereupon the sister began with preoc-
cupation to take the skin from a goose.

The roast goose flesh was delicious, and they
ate an enormous quantity. Still there was much
loe

ETAPA COUNTS A COUP
ZT^Z^'^'H' '^^ '"^' ''~"«d '■" thin «rip.
Yet, far away, upon the outskirts of the burned
a laii pme. At the height of one hundred feet

slendeTl "T.* /'/"''''"' *™ holding to S
slender trunk, looking out over a wide Mt^t

liRht and some time later his shaded and scan

.^/dS:mokr"''^'K''2 *''" "'^ht of s
horizon ° '"'""' floating upon a blue

He, too, built a fire upon descending, and

tree t'oM He ? "T "!?""^ ''«''^'- 'h" the
ircctops. He smothered th s black a^^u

fanning it down with his blanke^an^tre TiJS'
k?cki the h" ' ''T'*^*' *=°^"""'' *nd then he
emit t LTwiL'^^" '"^^ '"'' ^-^-'^ ^''

107

CHAPTER XI
THEi .)ANCE TO GRANDFATHER INYAN

Wi, the lun.had passed his meridian when the
little voyagers emerged from the jungle and
came again, with a great delight, under the pro-
tection of the giant trees— upon the friendly
(runk-grown spaces where there were no bushes,
briars, nor jagged, hiddpn stones to bruise the
feet and tear the moccasins.

But this time they did not walk through silent
aisles. No air stirred the under-world, but its
high canopy of evergreens was shaken by a
strong west wind. The voyagers stopped often
to gaze at these mighty swaying tree-tops and
to listen to the roaring song of Wakinyan as his
wind blew among them. Now and then a limb,
thickly feathered with green needles, was broken
from its parent stem and fell, top downward,
floating gently like ^he dropping of a prairie
tumble weed.

Where the lower spaces were so still, where
there was such a fragrant incense, and the earth
was pleasant to the feet, the children did not
think that harm could come to them.

When they found a little dip containing good
water they built a fire fearlessly. Very sweet
and good the goose meat tasted and again they
ate a large quantity, all they had, in fact.

DANCE TO GRANDFATHER INYAM

ofti!'dVm''*:!i!''™*f" they came to a country
of sand hill., where the trees were scattering aad

?:ot;h^\xtToo*r' '"'•" ^"-'^-"^

tu»«i «? niiiocKs, too, they came upon a fine

ness. (ere they remembered indeed th-
in!V^ ^' Niobrara, where they iad buiWed
sand heaps for tepees and villages, where sticks
SSe an?K ^""1 «P'"emed soldiers ^^'d
&ni nr P ''°'«»-fo'-ke<i "ticks were for d^e

and with little punches of%he SLr enS tTe
cunning and devious trails of the men-^d tEe
boys-whohadgonetowar. *

h.Au '^' 2°"^ "ealingi How excitine that
had been! Sticks, ringed and streaked 2 bark
peel., gs, and usually long enough to bestride
1P"'''«««J ponies. How elabofatey they hid
planned their mimic raids against the W, ^*
m.m.c hostiles, and how S own soS en
always came riding home in triumph with mlnv

Sel aL'"'" ^'•"^••^'^ ^'^^ '-y 'o poor
b^re unnn i'*"""""^"' '°°' '^'^ 'warrior,
bore upon poles some curiously-tied tufts oi

100

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

prairie grass, which represented the scalps of the
Hoh6, the Scili, or of whiie men, and there was
triumph and dancing indeed.

For is it not patriotic and glorious to slay the
enemies of one's own nation, those who would
wrest from a people not only their lives but their
homes and their hunting grounds — who would
wipe them off the face of the earth? And do
not the children of everybody's dear native land
march under banners, , with uplifted eyes and
devout faces, singing the songs of victory; and
are the tomahawk and the scalping knife less mer-
ciful than the bayonet and the exploding shell?

The little voyagers were daughter and son of
a patriotic soldier and a patriotic mother, chil-
dren of a federation which for centuries con-
trol' ^d a magnificent empire of territory, whose
men, aye, and whose women, have fought for
every inch of its ground with a heroism and
despair never exceeded in the annals of history.

But this is a digression from a simple story of
the wanderings of Zintkala-Zi and Etapa. The
little maiden did not long forget the needs of
the moment which were patching and moccasin-
making. Her coarse cloth skirt was torn and
needed repairs and her moccasins and leggins
were much the worse for wear. So her parfldche
was again emptied of its contents and her jacket
of open sleeves was spread upon her lap to be
darned. Etapa's buckskin capote and string-
no

DANCE TO GRANDFATHER INYA M
wound leggins had thus far suffered but little

to distract the s^all^sS^y a^ntiSrsl^at^
maneuvers, to fill them with still greater S

E f".'^' *■''"" •*" ^^^ succefded lefthS
blanket hanging upon the bush where he had
played h.s antics and stole away behind i^ sSel-
he h.!? '^"^*°™«d himself silently .way til
he had gained the cover of a hillock wh^nK J
stole softly around behind the^klre" ^^nk
where only a few feet from the ground the Iktt
up-ended fellows were "sqwukkfng" "1^2:

.r^lu ^" '"^'■''•'^ ''^°°P °f •>« «pote the lad
but t^f'r''T°^'''^ squirrels off it pe ch
but. in falling, the nimble creature evaded h's

ceed irc^rn'"' '•? r'^^P^'^- "^ 'I'd not su"
2l.J\ ^""^ ^''^^' ^''"'^fe' although he

areds of wild pigeons in these woods. Several
ux

III

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

In one of these short excursions the boy came
upon a venerable gray boulder which stood as
high as the surrounding trees and was many
steps in circumference at its base. Except
where the moose had eaten them off this tower-
ing rock was thickly grown with lichens which
gave it a hoary appearance of great age.

Etapa stood for some minutes, hh eyes cast
upward, venerating this aged and eternally-
enduring one which knows not time, seasons nor
change. Then the boy yrent softly back to Zint-
kala. "Come," he said, "I have found Grand-
father Inyan — the very aged one. Let us smoke
and pray to him."

So they went together softly among the
sand hillocks until they confronted Grandfather
Inyan. While Etapa prepared his pipe and wil-
low bark for smoking, Zintkala stood — as a
small devotee before a shrine— looking devoutly
up at the everlasting one, the vast sentinel and
guide set so mysteriously among the trees.

"It is taku-wakan," (something wonderful), she
said. While Etapa smoked, offering incense to
the rock, sky and trees, she prayed thus:

"Behold us, small ones, O Grandfather Inyan.
You are doubtless very old and wise, therefore
you, O Grandfather Inyan, and ye trees, assist
us greatly that we may find our way home-
ward."

Fire is sacred to Inyan, therefore under the

112

DANCE TO GRANDFATHER INY AM

shadow of the great rock they built one of drv
sfcks and gathered a heap of fagots to ke^p tZ
blaze going unt.l far into the night. Then alter!

puSh'.? ''Tf '° '""^ P-^ -'^ bath"ed and
purified their bodies, for, they said, '"We will

make a feast and dance to Grandma her Inyln
and so he shall help us." ^ '

After they had aten they combed their hair
klLTad'^^'n' ''ri'' ^°°^^ '^' -''-"Zint-
trtestcSgly '''" '''''-' '^^ '''' '''^'^

f^rt^lL\[7T-f^ u""' ^y '^^ '«''' °f the
nre they had built to him, they gave a sacred

dance to Grandfather Inyan and his protect „g

dark tonn' H "^ "^ '^' '°'^ ^"'^ embow;red il
drenrnS.^^^'^"^"^'*''^^^ ""'^ ^™- «=hi'-

fac^Lf' ''■"' '='°?^'l'-^^'' blanket, with rapt
face and serious air, performed her part in

The boy, with less grace but no less reverent

ace, sprang lightly from foot to foot chin ing

low ejaci.IaMons of prayer. tnancing

Had . rock and the trees, sheltering their
sma I circle of light and their brown swaying

S,K ;'!f''''l^'* '^^ "^'■^' ''^^"^ ^nd power!
attributed to them, they must have moved even
their roots to respond to the appeals for p^ty

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

which these lost and revering waifs addressed to
them.

When they had danced until they were weary
they stretched themselves tightly rolled in their
blankets upon the sands and, with renewed trust
in the future, fell asleep.

tt*

CHAPTER XII
FLIGHT

Again a balmy spring morning with no stir of
wind and the woods silent save for the scream of
a jay or the chirruping of pine-inhabiting birds.

It was nearly sunrise when the voyagers
crawled out of their blankets. After the first
buoyant breath they remembered that the plenti-
ful pigeons had flown away at sunset of the
evening before and, in their feast to Grandfather
Inyan, they had eaten all the birds they had.

1 here was nothing to regret, but they were so
hungry and there were no birds in sight. There
were red squirrels in these woods and, though
they were very small, a number of them would
make a suitable meal-and so Etapa strung his
bow to hunt for them.

"Hoye, sister," he said, "if any birds arrive at
these trees, cry out to me and I will come to
shoot them.

He was about to go after the squin-els when
he saw in Zintkala's face the dawning sense of
fear and uneasiness which, for no apparent
cause, he himself was beginning to feel. When
he finished speech he failed to move in th direc-
tion he had intended. Both children stood in
listening attitude.

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

At first they looked away from each other as
though to search for the game which Etapa
would kill. Far away and from some distant
lake they heard the quavering cry of a loon.
Deep within the woods a bluejay shrieked,
repeating a trio of screams several times.

What was it suddenly chilled the blood in their
veins? Not the cry of the loon nor the whirring
call of a crane, dropping from the sky, neither
the frantic shriek of the bluejay.

No, it was a stirring of the sixth sense of the
wilderness child — the sense of long-range per-
sonal contact whereby the magnetic force of one
being is acted upon — at surprising distances — by
the electric aura of another. Given an undis-
turbed environment, a perfect condition of the
atmosphere, and the "untutored savage" will
infallibly discover — long before it is due to
appear — the approach of a hostile or of a
friendly presence.

The enemy! Coming — coming — coming — this
was the message, borne upon the still morning
air, which reached the consciousness of the little
voyagers and froze them in their tracks. They
only waited to make certain of the impinging of
a hostile force and they seized upon their bun-
dles of effects and fled, as certain of pursuit as
the deer which flees a baying hound.

They ran as they had never run before, a
breathless, skimming, dodging flight, throwing

116

FLIGHT

tree trunks, hillocks, bushes behind th-^m,
instinctively and unerringly as the partridge flies
to foil the gunner's aim.

They heard presently, too, and with scarcely
quickened pulse, the baffled and unguarded
whoop which announced the discovery of their
abandoned camp and their sudden flight there-
from—though the Indian's yells might have been
intended as a signal and thus the enemy would
arrive in force upon their trail.

On— on— on they fled. Reaching hard, even
ground, among the tall pines again, they turned
at a nght-angle to their former course and ran
toward the east, the direction which they might
least be expected to take.

The eyes of an eagle, the nose of a fox, these
alone could have followed their tracks at the
pace they took. In that brief, tense moment
before their flight the attitude of all things was
changed for them. No bird, beast, tree or rock
now offered them its protection; there was
another sky and another earth, and the face of
Wakinyan himself was turned from them.

They glimpsed furtively the spaces in front as
they sped— each tree, each bush, each rock was
suspected of hiding an enemy in wait. The
aisles of the tall pines were gloomy and threaten-
ing spaces, embittering the frightened souls,
withholding the atmosphere of protection, giv-
ing sweeping views to the hidden foe. With

117

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

a sense of desolation in the heart, each throb-
bing, panting little creature fled, seeking any
fate whatsoever, save a return to slave cap-
tivity — on — on — on — scudding like the hunted
hare.

The sun rose high above the tops even of the
tallest pines and found them running with scarce
abated speed. Noon came — the weary legs still
carried them forward, going now at the swing-
ing trot which the hunted man or the chased
wolf finds best adapted to a lengthened run.

Now and then they Waited at some pool or
running brook to quench a raging thirst. They
only stopped running when the stout boy, not
the slender girl, dropped and from sheer fatigue
could not regain his feet.

For eight hours or more they had run to the
eastward, a good part of the way over ground
clear of undergrowth, through a vast forest of
white and Norway pines. The distance they
had covered without food would seem incredible
to any who have not actual knowledge of the
Indian's powers of endurance. A strong adult
would have made sixty miles in S'lch a run, and
with less fatigue; and it is hazarding nothing of
truth to say that Etapa had fallen finally at
forty miles or more from their morning's camp.

The voyagers could go no farther. They lay
upon their blankets and slept the sleep of
exhaustion. The chill night air alone awoke

118

FLIGHT

S! w I'T^f" '^", '*"' *° °p«" '»«'• ey« upon

were still, with the silence which can be felt

Suffering with hunger, but more from fright
?' J'"'^ «^' drew her blanket close abom her
head and shoulders, that she might shut out the
black vacant space and its terrors, "--hus she
sat for a long time with suppressed breathing, a
shapeless httle bunch which the keenest eye of a
night prowler might have passed unnoticed,
cold **"''*' *"•* '''"■^''' shivering with

"Tankd!" He spoke in a scared whisper. The
big sister- heard as in a dream and gave no
aS. ^^"•'^'"-^his time aloud a^d with

"I am here," Zintkala answered simply, in a
voice muffled in the folds of her blanket The
boy s terror, but not his whole misery, abated

J want something to eat," he pleaded. "lam
hungry. I suffer very much."

He was again the "little brother" appealing to
the wise, older sister for succor. Somewhere
within her parfl^che, which she had clung to [n
her ong flight. Tanke (older sister or big sister)
should have preserved some pieces of all the
birds they had cooked. His tone implied as
much, and the sister's heart smote her for
improvidence, but she answered in the same far-
away, indifferent tones:

119

I;;

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

"I have nothing— there is nothing until Wi
gives his light. Thereafter I shall dig some
roots, presently."

Then for the first time since the night of their
capture Etapa wept. "I want my mother," he
said, and cried bitterly for a long time. The sis-
ter sat in silence, while the hitherto stout-
hearted boy, lost within the vast wilderness, a
thousand miles from his own Oglala village,
bone-weary, shivering, half-starved and desper-
ate, gave way to his grieL

At length, out of fear, Zintkala spoke. She
hitched herself toward the weeper and laid her
face against his.

"Younger brother," she murmured, "do not
cry thus loudly. Heretofore you have not wept,
and now I fear some wicked wolves may come
to devour us."

This admonition checked the boy's crying
aloud. His head fell forward upon his sister's
lap, and he sobbed himself asleep while she
warmed his shoulders with her blanket.

The little girl felt worn and old — oh, so old!
All her muscles were stiff and sore and, in the
miseries of hunger and the ache of bones, she
forgot her terrors of the unknown and so kept a
weary vigil until daylight came.

Gaunt, hollow of cheek and hollow of eye and
limping painfully, the little voyagers took up
their march so soon as they could see among the

120

FLIGHT

dim aisles of the trees. They were still within
the depths of a great pine forest— the greatest
of all the northland. They traveled now-in
such fashion as they could— toward the south,
^ain finding their course from the source whence
the sun's light came.

Deep draughts of cold water, at the first pool
they came to, revived their lagging vitality for a
time, and they pressed on more eagerly, looking
for squirrels or grouse or even some small birds
to shoot, or perchance to discover the dead top
of some edible root.

But they looked in vain. They had penetrated
into the heart of a forest lacking in insect and
vegetable life, and therefore shunned of the life
which preys upon life. There was only growth-
room for the sky-scraping trees. The children
m this desperate strait gathered and chewed,
occasionally, bits of resin and the seed scales of
the pine cone. These served, in a small measure,
to appease the incessant gnaw of hunger.

After several hours of walking, however,
hunger so asserted itself that they might even
have surrendered themselves to 'Lizbet's clutches
for a mouthful of meat. If by going in that direc-
tion they could have been assured of finally get-
ting out of these gloomy pine woods and into the
land of game again, they would readily have
traveled toward Tall Gun's village. Not know-
ing, they kept on toward the south or as nearly

Iff

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGE RS

•o at occasional glimpses of the shifting sun would
permit. They ceased to look for game or roots,
but stumbled on with ears open for signs of life
in some outer world. But neither whistle of
wing nor honk of goose fell out of the still sky.
At midday, both exhausted, they fell upon the
ground and slept again. Thus they were
enabled to rest for two or three hours, forget-
ting the pangs of hunger. And again they
plodded on and in a little time were overjoyed
to discover the glimmer of a lake in their front.
But they were astonished and further disheart-
ened, in coming upon its rocky shore line, to see
no signs of life— just a placid deep blue sheet of
water hemmed with interminable lines of cloud-
touching trees. A pair of loons were finally
sighted, the sun glimmering upon their flapping
wings far out in the center of the lake.

Although they scrambled wearily among the
rocks to look down into deep waters, there were
no fish to be seen. The only animal they fo-nd
upon this lakeshore was a huge turtle, upon a
flat stone, getting the sun's heat upon its back,
and which craned its neck in amazement at the
unwonted noise of their approach.

This edible creature they might easily have
secured and, with the aid of knife and hatchet,
have gained an abundant supply of food. But
it did not occur to them to kill it, for the turtle
was the taboo of their gens and they would no

132

Z!" '"•= '*''" «' "» fl«h than of their

when Thiy*ame u^o„ I /'■''•^''■°'" "'''""ion
low wate7 of tL hr V'7 '"'"• ^" ""» "^al-

Instantly, with all facultif. ai».* .u

surround. To this end thi u i ^ * strategic
;^. and pre -Sli^-5SSS^

The boy weig&trc'o™e"rs''of'K*='r
with stones anrf aI.,^ i--j "'* •>lanket

about thrcentersothatnnTu '■'"''" ^^^'^h'^

surface was submeSeJ an^l °'' TT °^ ''»

blocked the brookTrr;;X;;:,-''<''« ''''''

mlt'of^Et'S^Ittl' T^^^'y '"« -ove-
tured four of trr^ ^^^ ^^^ trap cap-

133

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

tf«t« 1"

These thin, small fish, half-roasted on a
smokeless blaze of dry twigs, were barely suffi-
cient to stay the keenest pangs of hunger, and
Etapa was too nearly exhausted — he shivered
nuserably from his wetting in the brook — to
attempt further travel, fishing or hunting.

Something, in the bones perhaps, told them
they must, at all hazards, rest by a warm fire
until another morning. A huge dead pine,
uprooted by a wind, lay*across the brook. To
this they repaired and made a camp. Zintkala
regarded her shivering brother furtively and
with solicitude. She built a hot fire against the
log and bade him sit close to the blaze while
she staked their blankets on either hand to dry.

This was quite a reckless proceeding in view
of the persistent chase of Tall Gun's Ojibwas,
but the pinch of hunger, cold or illness shuts out
other considerations. Zintkala knew that if
the Ojibwa possessed the skill and patience they
had shown as far as the camp in the sand hills,
nothing now could save herself and Etapa from
capture. If they had, as was equally probable,
given over the chase upon discovering the wary
flight from that camp, there could be no neces-
sity for extreme caution. The voyagers had
done their utmost to foil and to outrun the
Raratonwan, and the evil spirit had prevailed
thus far. It remained to see what might yet
happen.

FLIGHT

Etapa slept for a time, while ti.; blanket, were
drying. He awoke hollow-cheeked and heavy
of eye. "Why do you not sleep?" he asked.

"The wicked wolves might come," the sister
suggested, "and— and the fire will keep those
evil ones away."

"Then I shall keep the fire. I have enough
sleep," he said. "I am not any more hungrj'."

This was a bad sign, and Zintkala looked at
the brother uneasily. But she had nothing to
oppose to his suggestion, and so wrapped herself
in her blanket.

When she awoke the sun had arisen, and she
found Etapa, with a strange flush upon his
face, stumbling along the brook toward the
lake. She called after him to know what he
would do and, as he did not answer, she hurried
on to inquire. It seemed that he wished to
iind some fish for her breakfast. He was not
hungry, he said, but older sister must be very
much in want of food.

"Come," said Zintkala, "l' will do without
food. Let us go on quickly to some open
country."

The brother yielded without remark and
again they took up their journey. Etapa dis-
claimed hunger, but he had a strange feeling at
the pit of his stomach whch caused him to draw
in his belt until he resembled some giant, ambline
insect.

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

It was mid-forenoon when the plodding and
nearly lifeless children came at last out of the
lifeless woods. Suddenly they emerged into
a world of plenty, upon the shores of a great
lake so wide as to reach to a far, unbroken
horizon. This lake was flecked with herds of
water-fowl. There was a wall of sand and a wide
sand beach as far as the eye could reach along
the shore line.

The woods were small and again there were
wild pigeons, grouse and squirrels in abundance.
But all this life now mocked at the Dakota boy,
for when he had succeeded in stringing his bow
he had not strength to bend it for a shot. He
made several unsuccessful efforts, and then
looked at his sister with a drawn and pitiful face.
"Rest, brother," she said. "Lie upon these
sands and I will go to dig some roots." She
drank a great deal of cold water and then took
her knife and went into the woods. She could
shoot with the bow and arrow, but not well
enough to hit birds unless they were very close
indeed. So she betook herself to the resort of a
hungry Indian woman, who will find roots and
berries where all others fail to find them.

"I must look also for medicine roots," said Zint-
kala to herself, thus compelled to admit that
Etapa was ill or about to become so. She found
the deat' leaves and stems of many plants
strange to her; but when she dug and tasted
las

F L I G H T

?ar ^''^^^^^^^either medicine nor good to
After a time, however, in a well «h=A^A

nized « K t^ ■ °'^^ P'*"'« ^'hich she recotr-

s the' oZ^h^^d v^«f- -^-d o ":ft

with them in autTmn "^ '"""^ ''^^ --^h

heJJnife ef ' T'-" ^'"'""^' ^'''l ^'ntkala used
ner knife eagerly m uprooting them <ih^t ^

quite a quantity, and they we^e wa^ie Tl ^°""f
good. She scraneH tU^ u r **^*^-ste— good,

pieces of roo and at I'em '°'" ''T^' '^""^^

walked over a sIoJ J7 , '""• ^^ ^^^

, aiiu near at hand she saw tracks nf .«o»

sapa upon the sands. So the bear h.H T i

many clams. These were not "^^^ ''*'' '°""d

her people, but sheTne^TharhX^^'foIktme'

sV T !['"' """"'•'•«« °f them^rX^^"' ""''

127

TWO WILDERN ESS VOYAGERS

Then, without waiting to clothe her feet, her
eye sought the line of beach until it fell upon a
little gray object lying in the sunshine under a
wall of sand. Making certain that Etapa slept,
she seated herself and, cracking the shells of
clams between two stones, devoured the tough
but edible moUusks until she had, as nearly as
she dared, appeased her hunger. Doubtless no
epicure of modern days ever tickled his palate
with "Little Necks" of a more delicious flavor.
They were fai clams of the full-fed sort found in
lakes which abound in vegetable and animal
life. ,. , ,

Etapa was sleeping heavily when Zmtkala
reached him and she did not wake him at once,
for she wished him to rest and then to have
some clams, roasting hot. So she made a fire
and, while the clams were baking, she built a
"sweat house" by digging a pit with a draft,
lighting a fire within and piling some large
stones upon the burning wood.

Then she awoke Etapa and put roast clams,
nicely opened with her knife, before him. But
his hunger had gone. He ate one or two of the
brown lumps because she urged him. But his
face was burning, his eyes shone with a strange
light, and he complained of pains in his head

and side. a- • i

So, when the stones in the pit were sufficiently
heated, the sister laid poles on them and made

138

FLIGHT

the boy sit over them while she folded parflfiche
and blankets about him and piled sand upon the
edges so as to retain the heat.

uln\ ^^l"''^'' "v* °'^^'' P«°P>«' *'e divided
upon social and religious customs and practices
A class, nearly always those of larger natural"
ab.l.t.es have little or no faith in their conjureS
and med.ane-men. Many diseases are known

!h.l Vk" ^ u^^' ^"'^ '^^y S'> ^bout curing
them with such genuine remedies as nature
provides. Zintkala's people-on both S-
were of this sort. The cures which they had
fauh ,n were largely of the well directed powers,
sweating herbs, dieting and many simple a^d
universal remedies.

Therefore Zintkala did not wish for a wakan-
wica^a (medicme-man) to treat her brother with
his drummings, his chantings and his mum-
meries. The little docti^ss gave her patient a
thorough sweating, then raked away the ashes
of her cooking fire and made him lie upon the
heated sands rolled tightly in blankets.

Then, tired though she was. she selected a
shelving sunny bank against the lake wall of
sand and proceeded to build a wickiup. Against
the scarp of the wall she began operations^^-
gmg away the slope with a clam shell "to make a
level spot, yet pulling down dry sand finally for

attai?;- ^'''" '^' '"^^ Etapa's hatijiet and
attacked some young growth near at -hand

139

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

She drove two crotched stakes and laid a pole
upon them parallel with the top of the bank,
laying sticks thickly across from this pole and
again slanting from the pole to the ground
beneath. A cross pole and more sticks inclosed
an end of the structure and the other was left
open for entrance anu exit. The roof of this
framework she covered thickly with young pine
boughs, thatching them cunningly with vines and
strips of tough bark.

By the time the energetic little maiden had
her roof finished night was coming on. So she
built a swift fire of dry leaves and sticks upon
the floor of her wickiup until the sands were
heated. Then she raked out the embers, awoke
Etapa, half dragged and half persuaded the
stupor-ridden lad inside and put him to bed with
a parflfiche drawn over his feet and another
about his shoulders.

Fortunately for this small nurse and her plans,
spring comes quickly in the northland. The
weather had come on warm; buds were swelling
upon the trees; bluebirds, thrushes and other
warblers sang joyously, with promise of summer,
among the small woods. And the sun sank in a
great red glory beneath the waters of the lake.

\)Mm

ISO

CHAPTER XIII

THE LITTLE NURSE

Zintkala built a larffe fire ut th^

her wickiup. She drf^~H ."""'"^ °'

limbs in place and rh^^^ \ ""'"''^'' "^ '•'V

for the air w^ yef chteer''"!! IT '^^°'^

briltr^ta^iirw^e \hr,i5r ^'' ^«

St? ■^1^"^-"^^^^ ^

dered in S "f^ ke t^ 'S J'"l\^ ''*"■
witko (foolish and incoher^^nt?'^ "' ""^

wifhVSttttrarwirr"-^

fierce insistence, however thriittr- .*\*''"°''
of her mind a thouSrof S ^ ^u f ''"' °"'
come to such fllnessWht ^""^ *'''*='* ""'&'>'
among the in ; but wi^h'the'^V"*'"*'"

Pinched face^d htVh rrt tftre^K"'? !"

131

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

him. After a dark hour of despair, Etapa again
fell into a deep sleep.

Then his nurse aroused to action. She ate a
hasty breakfast of baked clams, then very care-
fully passed some thongs around the boy's
ankles and tied them so that he might not get
up and run off in one of his witko moments.
Then she took her knife and his hatchet and
went to the woods. Diligently she searched for
the roots and herbs known to use in her
mother's family. There was as yet no green
vegetation, and her search was tedious in tl'.e
extreme, compelling her to dig much under the
dry leaves and stems of such weeds and wood
plants as the melting snows or the wild creatures
had left undisturbed.

At last she chanced upon a bed of mandrakes,
and her face lighted with a great joy. Ah, this
was indeed wa^te-^te (very, very good)l She
dug many of the roots. With these and some
freshly peeled bark of the wild cherry she
returned to her wickiup.

She looked in upon her patient with anxiety.
He was sitting up with fevered face, sullenly try-
ing to untie the thongs about his feet. She
assisted him and, after walking about upon the
sands with unsteady legs for a moment, he came
back to his couch and turned his face to the
bank.

Zintkala now took her basin and two extra

132

T H ",

LITTLE NUR

S E

large clamshells and shaved into tb ie receptacles
small bits of the root and bark she had gath-
ered. She longed for some of the bitter sage
leaves from her mother's bui.dle of dried herbs
But there was no sage bush in all this northland.
and so she did what she could with what she had
She set her dishes, filled with water, upon
some stones which she had placed to heat upon
the embers of her fire. She knew the roots and
bark must not be freely boiled and arranged her
dishes so as to keep the water gently simmering.
S>he now fished for clams, and it was a long time
after she had roasted some mollusks and eaten
them before her teas were bitter enough for
medicine.

Etapa would not eat although she urged him
hoping to thus prove to herself that his illness
was not a serious matter. She was encouraged
that he did not get violent and Leyond her con-
trol. In one of his rational moments, after a
time, she succeeded in getting him to drink, with
a wry face, a basin of mandrake tea. After this
he again fell into a stupor of sleep.

Zintkala kept her brews going, setting away
!n shelter clamshells filled with bitter teas until
she had enough to last for hours. Then, know-
ing that her patient was too weak to wander off,
she went to look for food. She was tired of the
tough clams.
In a little exploring expedition she discovered

133

TWO WILDERNESS VOYA GERS

a marsh bayou where many large fish were to be
seen feeding among the reeds in shallow water.
Eh6-hoI Here was good meat in plenty. She
affixed her long knife to a pole and went spear-
ing. After some adventures, and several hard
struggles, she succeeded in killing two large cat-
fish and lugged them to her wickiup in triumph.
Her elation in this exploit would have been very
great but for the anxious heart she bore.

Oddly enough, it was but a little time after
she had dressed these fish and hung the meat
upon curing sticks that she found three unsus-
pected fishhooks in her own roll of belongings.
The hooks were concealed within a bundle
of colored threads and pieces of trader's
twine which she undid to further her mending.
This was great good fortune, for she was an
expert fisher and the possession of these cun-
ning little weapons settled the question of food
supply where there were fish to be caught.

She had thought some of hunting with Etapa's
bow, but the Cree arrows would every one be
needed when they should take up their journey
homeward.

Most of that day she sat upon the sands in
the sunshine mending clothes, leggins and moc-
casins. Rents in her jeep (skirt) she darned by
sewing in soft pieces of buckskin, ornamenting
them with stitches of red and blue packthreads.
This occupation was varied with brief visits to

134

THE LITTLE NURSE

dnnk of her bitter teas. AH day the bov lav
water and the bitter drinks.
,t«r" l*"*/'^'*' 'here settled at length that
unn^fK ri""' *"^ preoccupation whiS seizes
upon the Indian, as a defen«; against the ravages
of emotion, in times of suffering and grief.
wnrUK /??'.* •'"'■y '^''y- Among other
thus J "''"'' '.»'"'=WnK her wickiu?, which

«e beaT' '^ '"■'""/r"' ^'=''*"" "^ 'he immedi-
ate beach an oval hummock setting its vivid
green against the sand wall. She Jent al^^

houXen'" ^'' ''' '"*^"' ^' '^^ » '-"
Now and then, however, her eyes strayed as

of 'the I r'^ '""l *=''■" '"'I P'^'-id blue wate»
of the lake where the sun beat warmly, and a light
glimmer of radiation arose in which, as in sXe
far-removed ethereal world, there floated great

water-fowl. There sang in her ears also in gen-

ltZtT"^'^T''^'''°^ puddling and quack-
ing, which seemed to come from a far country a
drowsy dreamland, where people moved wi'th
slow reluctance and yawned and stretched and
flapped their wings protestingly.

mij^T' J*!,''- "'*"** '"'"8^'= '^^on'Or 'he little
maid looked in vain for sight or sign of land.
Ihe sheen of misty water, with its herds of

135

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

birds vanishing to mere specks in the distance,
seemed illimitable, and she wondered indeed if
here were not the end of the earth at that dis-
tant sunset sea which she had heard of among
her people.

At night, however, this illusion was dispelled.
After the sun had set redly, falling into the
water, clouds obscured the stars, and, as darkness
came on, a red sky light appeared across the
lake, a cloud glow which her vision — associated
with many prairie fires — could not mistake.
The red sky meant a forest fire across the water.
Woods were burning there, and the lake was not
as wide as it had appeared. And there were
people over there, too. As night advanced the
dash of scarlet upon the clouds became a broad
band, and its ruby light was reflected upon the
ripples of the lake until beach and shore line
were visible as by moonlight.

Zintkala was not sleepy. She sat in the
opening of her wickiup for a long time looking
out upon the wonder world of fire-lit night and
with the fascination of a child of whatsoever
complexion. The now dancing ripples, the
white birds and the dark ones with the fire's
glow upon them, the far-seen herds of fowl
moving in a red dusk like war-parties of horse-
men going upon a level plain to strike their
enemies, all the curiously peopled water-world,
held her imagination.

isa

THE LITTLE NUR S E

It was not a still world, neither of woods nor

lake. Out of the sky came now and then the

reed-hke piercing laugh of the loon, the bugle

note of the arctic going swan, the harsh squawk

of the night heron, and, from the tree-tops near

at hand, two owls mocked at the puddling ducks

which presently they intended to pounce upon.

Once, starthngly close, a crackling of bushes

caught the watcher's ear and brought her heart

fluttering into her throat. At last the Ojibwal

But no, a dark hulk moving upon four legs came

out upon the sands and she unden.tood that

mato-sapa had come to his clam fishery. She

shrank within the door of her tep6e and peered

fearfully forth.

The king of the woods, it appeared, was not
hungry. He simply wallowed in shallow water,
rolling himself about like an agency pig, and
then shuffled away into his bushes. Once only
he lifted his head and stood at gaze, appearing
to be mildly interested in her domicile against
the sand wall.

Once Etapa spoke asking for water and again
after she had given him a drink and fallen
asleep, he awoke her with the persistent cry.
He drank more greedily than before. Lacking
desire to sleep, Zintkala again sat in the open-
ing of the wickiup. And while she looked out
over the water and upon the red sky, lo, a won-
der happened. It began with forked lightning

137

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

which paled the fire's glow and then a faroff
deep mutter shook the earth, announcing the
approach of the thunder birds. These vast and
powerful creatures came nearer and ate up the
fire in the sky. They played upon the water
with their brilliant forked tongues, and the
waves began to lash the rocks and sands and the
wind to roar in the trees, and, in the crackling
tumult of their wings and the blinding light of
the bolts they shot, terror seized upon the little
brown girl. She forgot her patient and cowered,
her head wrapped in a parfl£che, in the dark-
est corner of her wickiup.

Though the rain fell in bucketfuls, and the
waves rolled high, and the wind howled the
wicked song of Unk-t6-hi, no harm came to the
little voyagers who, so well was the wickiup
lodged and thatched, were not even wetted.

In the morning Etapa was at the height of his
fever. He raged and tossed and muttered
strange things. He was quite out of his head.
The little nurse went about with compressed
lips. She cooked several pieces of fish. "He
will be very hungry this morning," she said.
She set a basin of the broiled catfish at the side
of his couch, and then went cut and ate her
morning meal, sitting with her back to the
wickiup. When she had finished she went in
and took away the basin, pretending that Etapa
had eaten most of the fish. She threw the con-

138

THE LITTLE NURS E

tents of the dish among the bushes, saying to
some birds that they could have what was left.
Then she set about brewing bitter teas again.
This herb drink she gave to the sufferer in large
doses when he cried out for water, and at mid-
day he again fell into a heavy sleep.

The day was very warm and pleasant. Many
large flocks of water-fowl left the lake and fl^w
northward, honking and squalling with much
uproar and fuss.

Seeing that Etapa was not likely to awake
soon, his nurse cut a slender pole and with hook
and line and some fresh clams went fishing at
the bayou. The big pike and pickerel snapped
at her tempting baits so greedily that they
almost frightened her, and she returned with as
many as she could carry.

When she came to the heap of clamshells she
left two of her fish upon the stones. "They are
for you, O mato-sapa," she said, turning toward
the bushes and addressing the bear quite as
though the animal were facing her. "Perhaps
you will see that my heart is good, and thus you
will not enter my tepee."

The Indian child speaks always the language
of its elders, and, if it be not stupid or lacking in
brain quality, will, at eight o' ten years, have
attained a vocabulary capable of more effective
speech than the average child of similar age
among English-speaking people.

139

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

At ten Zintkala had been accomplished in
her own tongue; in five months at a missionary
school she had learned enough of English to
converse with her teachers about ordinary mat-
ters, and six months' tutelage among the Ojibwa,
in a tongue differing as widely from her own as
Latin from Hindustani, she had learned to
speak Chippewa readily.

When she again turned toward the wickiup
Etapa was outside staggering and stumbling,
making a half-crazed effort to reach the water.
She ran to him in a great fright, for she thought
that now he was surely 'witko and about to
become violent. Partly carrying, and partly
forcing him to walk, she got him back to his
couch and supplied his wants with bitter drinks.

On the whole, she was glad — not knowing that
the fever gave him strength — that he was able
to stand on his feet. When, after more drink,
he fell into another sleep, she became quite
cheerful.

The afternoon was really hot, and the water
around the edges of the lake had lost its winter
chill. Zintkala shed her Ojibwa dress and,
stripped to the breech-clout, a little brown water
fairy, puddled and swam in the lake with as
much apparent ease and enjoyment as the ducks.

Afterward she played upon the beach as she
had done among her native sand hills, building
conical tepees, setting up medicine poles and

THE LITTLE NU R S E

small twigs for people, rigging mimic ponies
with mimic travols poles and loading them with
mimic swaddled babies and camp effects.

For a time she seemed to be at home again
on the Smoky River. In her ears there hummed
sweetest music, low-voiced talk of women gossip-
ing in front of their tep6es, the sounds of mortar
and pestle, [the whinny^ of ponies and bark of
dogs, cries which greet the return of the hunt-
ing party, and shouts of young men playing the
haka game.

Thus she was pleasantly absorbed until awak-
ened to bitter reality by Etapa's cry for water.
She ran to obey the call and, when she saw his
face, deep fear and depression again took pos-
session of her.

That night Zintkala hardly slept, and for
three days thereafter Etapa required her con-
stant care, giving her only snatches of rest. The
patient was violent at times, and it required all
her streng^th to keep him within the wickiup.

During this time she ate only the fish which
she had partly cured and preserved, and made
but one excursion to the woods after roots and
cherry bark for her brews. On this occasion she
had the good fortune to kill a rabbit, which she
hit with a stone. This game she dressed and
hung near the fire to make soup for Etapa.
Some of this, very weak, she gave him when he
craved water. Some of the meat, too, she had

141

TWO WILDERNESS VO YAGERS

on hand, with bitter cherry bark, when the fever
left him.

This happened on the sixth morning of his ill-
ness.

When, upon awakening from a better sleep
than she had had iri several days, the little nurse
no longer heard her patient's heavy breathing,
but saw an emaciated figure with face turned
away, with blanket unmoved where she had last
tucked it around his feet, she caught her breath
with a little gasp and ran outside, not daring to
look at the features of that still one.

Distrait and wild-eyed, she wandered for a
time. She gazed far across the lake where the
fire had burned and where, upon the horizon
line, a mere speck, she had one day seen a canoe
pass. There were people, there was a village
over there, and she almost made herself believe
that she ought at once to go around the lake and
find these folk. Maybe their medicine-man, like
Ghost Moccasin of Tall Gun's village, was a very
great wonder-worker. Perhaps such a wonder-
ful one would come and cure Etapa.

She raced away from the specter in her mind.
She hastened to the pool of the bayou to see if
there were indeed fish swimming there. Once
there she noted that a pair of ducks flew out of
the rushes upon the opposite edge, and she
thought that she must now hunt along the reedy
banks of this stream for the eggs of magak^ica.

1*2

THE LITTLE NURSE

Duck's eggs were delicious, yet she felt no
hunger for them. •

She turned her attention to the great white
herds of pehcans upon the lake. All the w Id
geese and many of the droves of ducks had van-
.shed, but It did not occur to her to wonder
where they had gone. She kept her eyes upon
the imniense white birds with big red pouches
under their bills. She thought that she'should
have one of those pouche.. They were ve^

Si:Tm.''^''^'^'^^^'^*'^^-'>«^'^'^--ri«^

Yet something kept saying to her that she

bTk-i^baS " ''' -'^'''"-«° '-'^o

stumble'!)"""'' ^'°u^ '•'" ^^'^- ^^' "«I« feet
stumbled among the stones; her breath, now
suppressed, again came and went in spa.moZ
erasps; a strange misty world danced in her eves-
a tattoo of drums throbbed in her ears ^ '
She approached the wickiup with halting steps
and wavenng eyes; her small round face was
pmchedand bloodless, white as one of the de^d
Some compelling force drew her to the opening"
She peered inside. Ah, waite-^te! The sick one

towardrrt"'" *''" """' ^^^ '^^^ P-''^
She bent over him with all her soul in her
tace. One look and her energies and faculties
returned in a single throb. She flew outside

143 '

I 1

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

uncovered the embers of her fire, snatched her
basin and ran for water. A large leg of the rab-
bit! This she had saved for a nourishing broth.
Ah, Etapa must very quickly take some of her
soup. He would like it; he would drink it
eagerly perhaps. He must now be very hun-
gry — they were always so. All her energies
were concentrated upon the cooking of that
broth, with nursing it with just enough of fire.
She had a bit of salt and that she put in to make
it very good indeed. '

In a brief time she was bending above her
scarcely breathing patient, clamshell spoon and
dish in hand, and when the weak boy made a
little strangling noise in his throat she almost
laughed. When she saw that he had really
swallowed two mouthfuls of broth, and that his
hollow eyes had opened and he seemed to know
her, she glowed with energy, a little dynamo of
nature to gfive to the weak one life and strength.

Two or three times, within a little while, she
succeeded in getting her patient to swallow
broth, and then, to her great delight, he fell into
a soft and natural sleep.

The rabbit soup— such a little bit— would soon
be gone, and now to kill a bird! She would not
have hesitated to undertake to catch one with
her hands, but she took the bow and two of the
precious arrows and sallied into the woods.

Any kind of birds would serve her purpose,

14i

THE LITTLE NURSE

Zfnt , "'^u "''*' ''*'' '"^^'^ '^^ ^'K°™« dim-
ming of cock grouse near at hand. The thunder
of their wings had sometimes startled her as the
muttenngs of Wakinyan. But she had heard
the bird before, and she had seen many during
her recent tramps. She now listened for their
loud whirnng roar as eagerly as the hawk which

we^rfhiddeT '"^"^'^ ''''''' "'"^'^ ^''^ ''-^'
Presently, as she stole on breathless tiptoe
among some young trees, there burst upon her
XriJU ^l'"'?.^™"'' humming which sent electric
thrills prickling over her skin. Ah, the bird was
located with a glance. Only a little way off the
sprangled roots of a fallen tree protruded above
some small growth. Upon that old dry log. deep
within the shadows of evergreens, the cock
pheasant had his parade ground

.,J^lu u"^*^ ^'^^'^- ^'^ niotionless, she stood
until the bumming of wings began again; then she
fitted an arrow to her bow and stepped, moving
^th infinite caution, toward the dead tree's roots
When the whirring ceased, a statue of an Indian
girl stood among the young pines. Thus, with
the sure instinct of a fox, she alternately
approached and shrank to the stillness of her
surroundings until, at last, in the midst of an
ecstasy of whizzing vibrations, she crouched
oehind the upheaved tree roots.

148

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

There was another interval of suppressed ani-
mation during which the huntress heard the
cock's cooing kroo — kroo — kroo, as he spread
his ruff and strutted, displaying his plumage,
while awaiting the appearar>ce of some coy
female.

Bhum — bhum — bhm — n — d — r'r'rVl Mercy,
what a noise! The shy little huntress arose,
popping up like a jack-in-the-box, and aimed an
arrow at that blinded puff-ball of conceit. At
three steps even she, Zintkala, could not miss,
and an instant later she ran at full speed bear-
ing in triumph the still fluttering bird.

Very likely no strutting cock of any sort ever
passed from dress-parade into a delectable broth
with greater expedition.

146

CHAPTER XIV

GOING TO THE ENEMY

Violent fevers of the swamp and woods are
emaciating and usually leave the system
deranged for a time. Etapa did not mend
rapidly and, though after some days he was able
to walk about, it was evident that he would not
be stout enough to travel for a long time. He
resembled only the half-animated framewoik of
the stout boy who had escaped from the sugar-
camp. "

He no longer spoke of going homeward. He
seemed content to be provided for, to lie upon
the sands and watch the white herds of pelicans.
The sister saw how it was, and she pondered the
matter gravely. Twice she had seen an elon-
gated speck, almost upon the rim of the sky
move across the lake from a far-off headland!
On one or two still, clear mornings, also, there
were smoke indications hazing the sky above a
dimly seen shore line of bluff and woods. That
there was a large village in that direction she
could have no doubt, and somehow she had
arnved at the conclusion that the people were a
peaceful sort of folk, who lived in a wonderful
land of plenty and were generous to friends and
strangers alike.

147

TWO WILDERNESS VO YAGERS

True, these people might not feel kindly
toward those of the Dakota nation, but it seemed
quite certain to her that they were not a cruel
folk, on the lookout to do others harm, or they
would have discovered and set upon her little
camp long since. The Ojibwas of Tall Gun's vil-
lage were almost forgotten, so distant was their
country and so long it seemed since her escape
from them.

She remembered that once in her home village
a young Pawnee— a Scili-i-had thrown himself
upon the mercy of the Oglalas. He had been lost,
and had come upon their tep6es in a violent snow
storm. This young man had been well received.
He stayed with his benefactors many moons,
hunting faithfully for them during the buffalo
killing season, and then returned, unmolested, to
his own people.

So Zintkala determined to seek the strangers
across the lake and ask for hospitality for
a season.

She now used her buckskins— the parfl6che and
loose skins— making moccasins and garments
and in mending. She had much colored pack-
thread and some pretty beads among her pick-
ings, and she fashioned herself n overskirt of
Sioux pattern which she ornamented with many
fringes. When she had donned this skirt, her
elk-teeth necklace and some real Dakota leg-
gins and moccasins, she felt as much like some

GOING TO THE ENEM Y

In these days of Etapa's slow recovery Zint-
kala took on new life and capability. She was
the camp s fisher and hunter, and her larder was
well supplied with fresh fish and duck's egm
upon which diet, and a daily swim in the lake'
she throve as a healthy animal. Her plump!
round face and snapping black eyes glowed with
animation.

She did not after that one time see mato-sapa.
who, It seemed, preferred a more solitary haunt.
Yet some creature, which left strange tracks upon

wif- rV'\" J'J'*"'* ""* "«■" ^•"J "ole fish
which she had hung to a pole for safe keeping.
Thereafter for a time she kept her meat in the
wickiup and still the marauder came regularly
eating the fishheads which she threw upon the
beach and leaving those queer tracks all about
ner domicile.

Then she hit upon the expedient of carrying
her refuse out to the heap of clamshells, and
there the strange creature came and devoured
It She again hung a fish upon the cross-stick
she had arranged, and that same night, when the
moon was shining, she was awakened by a snap-
ping sound as of a fagot broken across the knee
i;eermg out she saw a black creature, about the
size of a common dog, eating her fish.

More angered than alarmed, she seized Etapa's

1*9 "^

TWO WILDERNESS V OYAGERS

bow and arrows and discharged a shaft with all
her might at the range of three or four paces.
The animal was hit in the neck and sprang high
with a fierce whistling snarl. It whirled about
and about upon the sands, growling and strik-
ing at the slender shaft which had gone through
its throat, and then, making curious leaps along
the beach, disappeared from sight.

On the following morning the voyagers found
a big brown carcajou lying dead upon the sands
near the bayou. When she saw what a savage
creature she had slain Zintkala was almost as
much frightened as elated. The body was so
heavy that all her strength was required to drag
it to the wickiup. Etapa praised her skill in
shooting. "How, big sister," he said, "that was
indeed well done. Now you shall make me a
chiefs garment."

With what strength he had, the boy helped his
sister to take off the carcajou's skin. It was a
beautiful pelt, and they left a very pretty black
bush of tail pendant.

Zintkala at once set about fleshing this fine
skin in readiness for tanning, which process was
completed by aid of wood ashes, fresh brains,
and by much rubbing with the hands. The
fur was long and thick, of dark brown, with
two bands of cinnamon ant], when she had
sewed the flaps of the forelegs into sleeve-
lets, Etapa was truly furnished with a "chiefs

ISO

GOING TO THE E N E M Y

garment," which he wore hangring down his
back with the tail ornament brushing his
heels. And the Sioux children thought it a
venr beautiful dress. Zintkala was so struck
with the wearer's appearance— despite his thin
face and pipe-stem legs-that she immediately
set about omamenting the turned-down head-
piece and his moccasins with what remained of
her beads.

It was more than half a moon after Etapa had
been taken with the fever before they left the
invalids quarters and took up their journey
along the eastern coast of the lake. In all this
time no human being had been seen, only the
far specks of canoes. There was. however, the
warm, blossoming, spring-inhabited world which
catered to all their needs except the longing for
home. They did not hurry in their departure,
for Etapa was far from strong, and Zintkala
earned the small burden of their belongings.

The sister had said nothing to the brother of
her plan of going to the strange people. She
did not wish to seem to think him unwell and
that he might not be able, for a long time, to
travel a great distance. The length of the way
homeward was only measurable in her mind by
recollections of the seasons of her travels away
from the Oglala country. She guessed that it
would require two moons of walking for them to
reach their home, and she now felt that thev

151 '

■%

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

might have to wait until another melting of the
snow.

Zintkala had developed physical strength
with self-reliance, and she carried her pack,
hatchet, basin, bows and arrows, a leaf or two of
dried fish, a bundle of pieces of skin and thread,
with lightfooted ease.

As they made their way along the lakeshore,
walking wherever they could upon the sand and
gravel beaches, Zintkala often said, "Stay,
younger brother, I think there are some of the
sweet roots" (ginseng) "in this wood. I will go a
little way to dig it," or, "Whil ^unkaku! Let
us have the egg^s of maga-win. I saw her fly
from those reeds."

Thus, while the lad rested without seeming to
rest, Zintkala would go exploring. Sometimes
she found the nest of a goose or duck upon a
muskrat's conical dwelling among the rushes, but
the eggs were no longer good to eat, as a glance
at their shiny shells easily convinced the wader.

The children had grown weary of seeing the
great herds of pelicans which floated at lazy
ease day and night, and the loons and gr£be
everywhere specking the water, but there had
lately arrived a myriad of new birds, piping
creatures of spindle legs and slender necks, with
feather dress of browns, drabs, grays and whites,
which continually ran upon the sands or flew
back and forth along the beach.

163

GOING TO THE ENE

M Y

These birds, of several varieties new to them,
excited their wonder and comment. One smali
variety was seen in places in immense numbers.
These were stupid, nodding little birds which
settled in clouds at the water's edge and almost
ran under the voyagers' feet.

"Hoye, sister," said Etapa.when their curiosity
had been satisfied by observation, "shoot arrows
among these little birds. Shoot the war-arrowr,
thus," and he showed her how she could skip an
arrow low down ilong the water's edge, without
danger of losing.

The ruse was successful. Zintkala tried
several shots before getting the rap<?e and the
level well, then a single arrow knocked over four
of the birds, and afterwards she killed them at
will. They found these small snipes delicious
when the breasts were broiled, and Etapa ate
heartier at midday than he had done since fall-
ing ill.

There were many large turtles and pretty
snakes where there was mud and reedy shores,
and there was particularly one green snake
which Zintkala admired greatly. She would
have liked the skin of this one dressed and
tanned for a bracelet. All these creatures and
many more commanded their interest as they
sauntered leisurely upon the wave-washed sands
and gravels or walked along high or muddy
shores.

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

Toward night they passed around a bluff bank
to descend again upon a very wide sand-walled
beach. Upon this broad belt of shore line, as
evening came on, they saw a number of deer
come down to drink, and once a cow moose and
her yellow-headed calf trotted away in their
front.

As Etapa had slept a long time after the mid-
day meal they traveled but a little way that
afternoon. They camped at the mouth of a
sedgy creek where ther^: were many ducks'
nests, and here Zintkala secured fresh eggs
enough for the evening's and morning's meals.

The second day's slow travel was very much a
repetition of the first, save that it rained a part
of the day and they spent several hours in the
shelter of a cliff of rocks. During the afternoon
the dim southern shore line which they had seen
very indistinctly from the wickiup took clear
shape as a bold bluff which seemed to extend far
out into the lake. The foot of this high land
they reached before sunset and camped in the
shelter of some bushes under a rise. Here
there was a plain path made by fishermen and
hunters coming off the bluff to the lakeshore.
It was very evident that there was a large village
near at hand.

When Etapa saw the path he pointed to it
inquiringly but said nothing, and Zintkala said
nothing that evening. At sunrise they had

GOING TO THE ENEMY

broiled snipe and a fish for their breakfast; then
Zintkala set about making such toilet as she
could, having no colored earths to paint her
cheeks. She combed and braided her hair with
much care, and, at the point of her elk-teeth
necklace, she fastened the scarlet wings of a bird
which a hawk had killed.

Etapa looked on without comment. He
understood that they were to approach the
strange village. He was listless and unable to
offer serious objections had it occurred to him to
do so. He donned his carcajou skin and put a
feather in his braid to denote that he had struck
an enemy, and so made an end of his toilet.

Thus arrayed, they went forward upon the
bluff. As they were aware that they might be
seen by hunters or fishermen at any moment,
they made no attempt to conceal their move-
ments. They advanced along a plain path
traversing an oak ridge for a mile or more.

Presently a droning hum of sounds announced
that they were drawing near to a very large vil-
lage, and in a few minutes they were able to look
down upon a broad open plat, with patches of
brush here and there, upon which a great num-
ber of wigrwams were newly erected.

From the temporary appearance of these
lodges they knew that they had come upon a
summer camp of woods Indians, pitched upon a
favorite hunting and fishing ground. The bluffs,

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

also, far down their bases, were fringed with
berry bushes. The children could not doubt
that this was indeed a land of abundance, and
the people moving about among the tepees on
the flat a folk highly favored by their manidos.
The village was pitched near to the lake shore,
and they could see two or three canoes moving
across a bay. On the beach, where it showed in
yellow patches beyond the bush fringes, dark
figures flitted chasing to and fro. The strange
people's children were at play running races,
perhaps, upon the sand.

Presently, as they began descending the hills,
they heard the voices of women among the
bushes near at hand, but could not tell what was
said. They thought these women were digging
roots.

They did not draw near to this Indian town
without fear. But they had once more accepted
the inevitable, and they took comfort from the
appearance of things. They knew by shrewd
instinct and observa';ion that these were real
Indians, like themselves, people of the wild lands
unmixed and unmixing with the white folk of
the agencies.

They halted for a time upon t'le bluflf path
within plain view of the village. Then, as no
one appeared to be on the lookout to detect the
approach of strangers, Zintkala said, "Come,
younger brother, let us go among ^hese people."

1S6

GOING TO THE ENEMY

They set forward at once and soon emerged
from the bushes upon an open flat. A little way
out from the nearest wigwams they met a woman
with a large fat baby peeping over her shoulder,
and this person uttered a slight exclamation of
surprise.

The woman indeed stared at them in a rather
unmannerly way. Yet she looked upon an
unusual sight, for plainly by their dress the
strangers were Sioux children and the foremost
a young girl of erect bearing, with an earnest,
intent face and quite the air of a chiefs
daughter and of having come upon an impor-
tant errand. She had halted in the path in her
surprise, but she stepped aside and the Dakotas
passed on without seeming to take note of her.

Some wolf-dogs came from the near wigwams
and barked, but these, too, fell away before
them. Children ceased to play, and some shy
little folk ran behind shelter to peep at the new-
comers. Older people, within and without the
open lodges, also glanced curiously at the
strangers; for the most part these regarded them
with a kindly gravity which made itself felt and
brought a faint glow into the girl's round face.

Zintkala was looking for the lodge of the
chief soldier, and expected to find some totem or
decoration to distinguish his wigwam. This she
searched for with reason, for these Indians lived
and dressed after the native fashion and not as

1ST

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

mixed bloods and agency people. Several skin
tepees bore flags and ornamental designs, but
none seemed to indicate the rank of its dwellers.

No one spoke to them, and Zintkala was
much puzzled and even distressed to know to
whom she might properly apply for hospitality.
The children had passed the center of the village
thus looking at the lodges and were feeling very
much embarrassed when an old man confronted
them.

"Ho, young Dakotas, you are come a long dis-
tance, it appears," said this one. The man spoke
in Ojibwa, and Zintkala answered hesitatingly,
her face reddening at her own temerity.

"We are Dakotas, therefore we wish to speak
to the head soldier of this large town."

With a gesture the man bade them follow.
He walked toward the lakeshore. When clear
of surrounding wigwams he pointed to a large
conical lodge which stood against a cluster of
water willows near to a gravel beach.

"The man is there," said the old man simply,
and he strode away and left them. The chil-
dren approached the tall lodge as hesitating
pilgrims approach a shrine. It was difficult to
come near so great a man as this chief must be,
unannounced. Therefore, at some unobtrusive
paces, they halted to wait for some sign of
recognition.

They saw before them — which gave their

158

GOING TO THE E N E M Y

heans encouragement— a big tepee of buffalo
skins and upon its front, newly painted, the
totem of a blue fish and an otter. For some
minutes they stood, growing more embarrassed
and very red of cheek.

They talked together in low tones to relieve
their distress and, while they stood thus with
their faces near together, a young woman came
from the darkened interior of the lodge and
stood in front of its triangular opening. This
person regarded the strangers gravely and with
evident inquiry. Zintkala saw the woman, but
seemed to be looking straight beyond her, and
Etapa turned his face toward the lake and
shifted the carcajou skin to a shoulder. They
were visibly ill at ease.

The young woman saw this and went into
her tep6e. She spoke something in low tones
and a man's voice answered her. This talking
continued for a moment, and a man came forth
with a nervous shuffling stride and approached
the newcomers. He was a young man with a
mop of hair upon his shoulders and a fringe
covering his forehead to the eyebrows. He
wore no paints. He had a striped blanket about
the shoulders, and his buckskin leggins had
many-colored fringes, and his moccasins were
beautifully decorated with turquois beads. He
had a keen face with shrewd eyes that seemed
to look through one.

TWO WILDE RNESS VOYAGERS

"How, how, Dakotas," he greeted, reaching a
hand. They shook hands with him gladly, the
boy following the girl.

"We are the children of Fire Cloud of the
Oglalas, and we are come a long way," said Zint-
kala.

"How, I know that man. He has fought my
people a number of times," said the young man
grimly. He looked at them with a glance so
searching that their little souls shrank within
them. For an instant they felt far removed
from this strange village and their faces were
cold and lifeless.

Zintkala spoke in a far-away voice. "We
were taken to the agency at Traverse des
Sioux," she said. "We were to learn to be like
white people. We did not like to do so. When
we ran away from those people the Hoh6 came
upon us very suddenly. They took us to a far
country from whence we escaped, and one of us
is not able to travel."

The man regarded her face keenly again, but
he asked no embarrassing questions. "Come,"
he said, and led the way into his tep6e.

"Some Dakotas have escaped from their ene-
mies," he said to the woman they had seen.
"Give them meat." He seated himself upon some
skins and waved his visitors to some mats oppo-
site. His wife immediately went out and put
some fish in her kettle and set it cooking.

160

GOING TO THE ENEMY

Gravely, but with no other sign of emotion, the
little voyagers took seats, squatting with legs
decorously crossed. The man lit his pipe and
smoked. A small child, affixed to a board which
leaned against a bunk bed, blinked solemnly at
the strangers.

There were a number of guns hung to the
tep6e stakes, also powder horns, bullet pouches,
fishskin ornaments, tobacco pouches, pieces of
unfinished work in braided buckskin, pelts of
otter, mink, sable, white weasel and other small
and beautiful animals. And there were bales of
blankets and skins under the bunk, with saddles,
trappings and various articles of furniture lying
about. Evidently this man was rich.

Their eyes took in these things casually as
they waited. They knew their host would not
again speak to them until they had eaten, sup-
posing them to be too much exhausted for con-
versation. Thus was maintained the etiquette
of the lodge. Yet the little strangers, of impas-
sive face, awaited with no small anxiety of heart.
They were glad when the woman came in with a
pleasant countenance and set a bowl of cooked
fish before them. They ate slowly until satis-
fied, and the woman quietly removed her turtle-
shell dish.

Then the man spoke.

"I am Black Otter," he said, "of the Awanse
Pillagers. My father was £sh-ke-bug-e-coshe.

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

H\ ought with your people and overcame them
at Bear River."

He spoke simply, without boasting, cleaning
his pipe bowl meanwhile with a small sharp tool.

Esh-ke-bug-e-coshe! The little voyagers'
faces grew pinched and cold again, and their
eyes held the wavering, far-off expression. For
the name of this man's father was a hated one
among the Dakotas. Zintkala and Etapa had
often, too, heard the old men speak of two suns
of fierce fighting at Bear River, where the
Raratonwan had wrested from their nation a
great hunting ground.

No wonder that fear gripped their hearts, yet
they tat motionless, saying nothing. After a
time their unbidding host looked at them ear-
nestly and his words were good.

"We are now at peace with the Dakotas," he
said. "We have fought each other enough
heretofore and we wish the Dakotas well. I
shall give you some presents, and I will treat
you well so long as you shall stay in my wig-
wam."

He who imagines that the Indian and the
Indian's child are stoics, void of the ordinary
emotions, should have seen the young Sioux's
faces light up and shine with a great joy.

ira

CHAPTER XV
IN BLACK OTTER'S CAMP

The little voyagers had indeed chanced upon
Black Otter's village at an opportune moment.
Although they knew nothing of the truth at the
time, less than a moon had passed since Little
Crow's Sioux scouts had visited the Awanse
winter towns, and had gained the promise of this
Chippewa soldier and his young men that they
would soon join the Dakotas in a war of exter-
mination to be waged against the settlements
and posts of the Upper Mississippi.

The reception of Zintkala and Etapa among
these hereditary enemies was, without doubt,
colored largely by their recently formed alliance.
These children were treated with truly distin-
guished consideration, quite as the son and
daughter of a friendly chief would— from natural
kindliness and motives of interest as well— have
been treated.

When the sister and the brother had gained
confidence Zintkala told to Black Otter and
his wife the whole story of their misfortunes
after running away from the missionary school,
their capture by the Hohe, the "sleeps" they had
traveled with them, the meeting with Tall Gun's

163

„

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

Ojibwa near the traders' fort, and of how Tall
Gun had traded with Gauchi (Left Hand), giv-
ing two spotted ponies, one with white hind legs,
in exchange for themselves; they were small
ponies also, but he had given the Hohi also a
fine green blanket and an ax and many fishhooks
and beads. She told, too, how she had hidden
her necklace of elk's teeth, and of the cruelty of
'Lizbet, who had beaten her because she had
clung to the strings. Then of the sugar-making
and of the flight, and how Tall Gun's soldiers
had shot at them. They showed the little white
scars of the small shot, and Black Otter and his
wife put their fingers upon the swan-shot under
the skin of Zintkala's hand.

The young chief and his wife were filled with
interest. Narratives of the true incidents of
war, the chase, and adventure made up a large
part of the interest of life to the Indian of those
days, and a tale of escape from captivity with so
many incidents of varied character was absorb-
ingly entertaining.

When Zintkala told of Etapa's striking the
bear the chief was much pleased. "Hu-hul" he
exclaimed, "that was indeed very brave. How,
that was well done, how, howl"

Etapa had begun to feel some life and anima-
tion among these new friends, and so he showed
in his mimic way how he had struck mato-sapa
a hard stroke upon the snout. And Zintkala

164

IN BLACK OTTER'S CAMP

came in for a share of commendation when
the told of what she had done for her brother
in his illness, and of the killing of the carcajou.
Black Otter and Other Bird, his wife, much
admired the carcajou's skin as an ornamental
garment, and they quite regarded Zintkala as a
person of consequence, saying that what she ha 1
done was how, how, very well done of a truth

The chief said that he was very much ('.l!^.^)■
pointed in the Assinibotns, who were his frieri'ls,
that they had done so badly in a time of nice
among Indians, and when all must be consider-
ing what they should do to save their lands from
the white men. As for Tall Gun, he was not
surprised. The man was a distant relative, but
he had mixed with white people and agency
folk, and had drunk of their red waters till he
was very nearly as bad as they were. Tall Gun
and his men had come to be very much no-ac-
count Indians, and they were no longer consid-
ered as true Awanse. Zintkala and Etapa had
done well, he told them, to run away from such
folk.

Yes, indeed, said Other Bird, she knew 'Lizbet
Tall Gun very well, and she had always been r
very disagreeable woman. Twice her husband
had turned her out of his wigwam, and he would
not have taken her back only she had many
half-breed relatives around the posts, and these
had supported her in the quarrels. Once, too,
les

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

'Lizbet had stolen from her— Other Bird's —
mother a beautiful pair of moccasins ornamented
with stained porcupine's quills and blue beads.
Certainly that was very bad among one's own
people.

Other Bird quickly became much attached to
her young guests. She took that vivid interest
in them as strangers' children which is common
to young mothers the world over. Zintkala's
ability to talk the Awanse and thus to tell of her
life among a strange people, lately become
Ojibwa allies, gave her an extraordinary attrac-
tion.

Having naturally a shrewd turn of mind and
an alert intelligence, the young Sioux girl talked
well.

Etapa also warmed into life among these
friendly folk. A dry lodge to sleep in, a variety
of nourishing food, and a new interest in life,
these things added daily to his strength of body
and mind. Soon he was able to play with boys
that came, shyly at first, to get a peep at the
strangers, and finally, as his strength improved,
to admire his feats with the bow and arrow, a
weapon which had fallen into disuse save as a
plaything among the Awanse. The Sioux boy
taught them new games and learned to play at
theirs.

Many older people, too, took a lively interest
in Black Otter's prot6g6s, and they brought

166

IN BLACK OTTER'S CA MP

many small gifts and listened again and again to
Other Bird's account of their adventures. Zint-
kala soon had quite a pouchful of colored beads,
bits of bright ribbon, stained feathers and the
quills of porcupines, one of those bracelets she
had wished for wrought from the skin of a green
snake, and other ornamental and useful trinkets
such as girls delight in.

Other Bird was delighted that her guest should
receive these gifts appropriate to a chiefs
daughter. She herself made for Zintkala a pair
of highly ornamented leggins and a short blue
skirt of trader's cloth.

These Pillagers were then an independent and
showy people, living upon magnificent hunting
and fishing grounds. They were never in actual
■want of food save from sheer improvidence. In
berry seasons they had a surfeit and they dried
and stored large quantities for future use.

Though in ill-repute as material for the mis-
sionaries of civilization and intractable to the
cast-iron military discipline of a U. S. Indian
agency, these Indians are to this day the most
independent and nearest self-supporting cf those
who cling to the old life. It has been their for-
tune quite recently to chiefly accentuate the
beginnings of another "Century of Dishonor."

Their reception and treatment of the little
voyagers were, after all, in keeping with the
spirit they had before manifested toward any

167

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

who claimed their aid and friendship. They
had fought the Sioux for many generations and
finally, by the aid of firearms furnished by the
British traders, had wrested from that warlike
nation a great region of woods and lakes and
rich prairies. Yet, in the midst of this long war, a
band of Dakotas, driven from their own country
by a tribal feud, and starving in winter upon a
fire-swept prairie, came to the Awanse, bringing
the captives they had taken, their women and
children, saying, "We perish from hunger and
our enemies seek to destroy us. Do as you will
with us. If you shall save us we will ever after
remain your friends — if you slay us we die at any
rate."

Immediately the Pillagers took these poor
people into their lodges and fed and clothed
them, and, when safer times came, sent them
back to their own country. There has been no
quarrel between the two tribes since. This, is
history confirmed to the writer of this narrative
by aged and honorable men among the northern
tribes and by the marriages which yet take place
between the northern Sioux and the Chippewas.

For a time these friendly people made Zint-
kala and Etapa forget their homesick longings.
Besides their genuine hospitality and the blos-
soming of their wonderful spring season, there
were fishing and swimming, canoe racing, drum
and flute music and dancing, and, not the least

168

IN BLACK OTTER'S CAMP

of pleasures, the gathering and eating of fat
young pigeons — "squabs," as the white settlers
have called them.

There was also a war excitement. The young
men of this large camp were preparing to take
up the hatchet, and there were strangers coming
and going who had entered a league forming
against the encroaching whites. It appeared
that Black Otter was not the chief of these
Awanse, as the Sioux children had at first been
led to suppose, but only a partisan and war
leader of the young men.

After a time, seeing all this preparation for
war, and that Etapa was becoming strong again,
Zintkala thought of going homeward. One
evening she spoke to Other Bird about this.
Black Otter's wife sat thoughtful for a time, then
she got up and went outside her tep6e to see if
anyone was within hearing. When she came in
she spoke.

"You have seen," she said, "that our young
men are going to war. Men from Little Crow's
towns of your people have come among us urging
war against the white folk who have taken
our lands. So there will soon be fighting in the
lower country. It may be that they are fighting
now. It will not be good for you to leave us yet
until we can safely send you to some of your
people who will assist you homeward. What I
have said is as the bird sings, and my husband

169

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

would be angry with me if he should hear that I
had spoken thus unwisely."

Zintkala said nothing, but these words gave
her great uneasiness. She wanted more than
ever to go home. She was not capable of
logical reasoning, but she felt that now her
father must surely wish his children to be at
home and not among the toka (enemy). With
all her little soul she detested the conquering
race, but she did not believe that her father
would wish to go to war against the white
people. Fire Cloud had Said to his family, "My
children, the waidcunpi" (white ones) "are count-
less. We are nothing. It is very silly for us to
think of going to war against such."

Zintkala knew that this father, however,
would send for his children very quickly if there
were to be a war against the agencies. She was
very much troubled and spoke to Etapa of these
things when she could do so privately. "Let us
go homeward secretly and quickly, older sister,"
was his response.

"Younger brother," she replied in reproof , "what
you have said is very wrong indeed. We should
not escape from these people as from the enemy."

It was but a day or two later that they played
for a long time in the afternoon upon a gravel
beach, gathering pretty pebbles and especially
hunting for small colored stones with holes in
them. They were hunting these at sunset when

170

IN BLACK OTTER'S CAMP

some young men came down to swim, and as
these passed them they heard a familiar voice
and, looking toward the group, saw several of
Tall Gun's young men. Instantly the two bent
low over their search, turning their backs toward
the swimmers. They slipped gradually away
from the vicinity and, getting quickly behind
some bushes, ran swiftly to the lodge of their
host. Black Otter had gone away in the morn-
ing. Other Bird had taken her baby and gone
to gossip with a neighbor.

The Sioux children did not stop to consider
the usages of hospitality. All these people were
become once more the enemy. The head chief
of this village they did not really know. He
had never spoken to them. £>oubtles8 when
Tall Gun should demand the slaves whom he
had purchased of the Hohe this man would
deliver them to him and, according to all Indian
custom, they were the property of Tall Gun
until they should be ransomed or make good
their escape.

Therefore they gathered their blankets and
the few weapons and effects they had brought
with them and, placing their presents in a heap
upon a mat, as soon as darkness came on, crawled
under the skin at the rear of the tepee, silently
crept away among the bushes which fringed the
lakeshore and bluff, and so passed unmolested
around the village and into the wood beyond.

171

CHAPTER XVI

IN THE COUGAR'S LAIR

It may be that they fled frotn the camp of
Black Otter unwisely. This can not be known,
as there was no discovered attempt to follow
them. They ran as they had once run before,
until their legs refused the office.

After an hour or so of early semi-darkness,
Wimima, the full-moon, dropped her brilliant
webs and skeins of light into all the trunk-grown
spaces. So, where there were not bushes to
hinder, the chase away from fear was almost as
if diey ran in daylight. Much of the way they
passed through pine woods. Two or three times
aa arm of the big rambling lake was thrust
across their front, turning them aside at wide
angles. Then they slipped into woods beyond its
shore lines and came upon a hilly country of
small pines with frequent open tracts of burned
over lands.

They had become hardier voyagers than those
of the tamarack swamp and "spirit woods." The
novel fears of the first nights — the first they had
ever spent alone — in the forests had been in a
measure schooled out of their minds. To the
weird night cries, the strange silences, the influ-

1T3

IN THE COUGAR'S LAIR

ences of the shadows, they were becoming inured
by experience.

Yet startling things befell and frightened
them. The ruSed grouse whizzed from it*
covert and they caught their breath, stunned by
the thunder of its wings. A wolf heard the light
pit-pat of their footfalls and lay in wait for some
easy quarry. Its gruff snarl of surprise and
chagrin as it sprang away at the point of contact
brought them to stand with prickling skins. The
hoarse squawk of a bittern which sprang from
the marsh grass at their feet, the hushed swoop
of an owl across a moonlit space, the star-fire of
a decayed log, the ghostly arms of a dead white
birch, the near shrill yapping of a red fox, the
lighted flash of a deer's white flag — all these
things and many more gave them momentary
terrors.

At last, when the moon had outridden its
zenith, and their legs were extremely weary, they
came upon a prairie with a soft carpet of grass,
smd a huge elk, with great black clubs of antlers,
confronted them, stamping and snorting as if
minded to attack. They stood close together,
panting and talking in low tones while hehaka
threatened. They could not run away; they
were too tired. Presently, however, the big bull
trotted off, and they walked on. They could
no longer run, and it was Zintkala who first spoke
of stopping.

ITS

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

"Younger brother, let us lie down," she
pleaded. "I faint f.' om weariness."

"Not so, sister, come ye on to the woods again,
lest the enemy shall find us when we are awak-
ened," said the boy, who was again the hardy
leader he had been.

Against so sound advice the sister could not
protest, and so she plodded fj . '-er little feet
dragging and stumbling in \t>- grass, her eyes
closing now and then from sh n fatigue. Etapa
led the way for some time over a high prairie
country, when they came suddenly upon a coulde
stream, sunken deep in the bosom of the level
lands, gurgling and tumbling through a sharply-
cut and wooded ravine.

On the bluff looking down to this shadow
gulch they walked for a little way, hesitating to
take the plunge into its abyss-like depths.
They could not know that they might cross the
stream, rumbling among the rocks below. At
last, however, they were ''too weary to longer
hesitate, and at the head of a dark, rocky and
bush-grown coulee they paused for a moment
confusedly.

"Tanke," muttered Etapa, sleepily, "I think we
should rest here, where the thick bushes will hide
us from the enemy."

"I wish to lie down," murmured Zintkala,
staggering as she spoke. So they began to
descend the steep, ragged ravine, the sister

174.

IN THE COUGA RS L A I

clinging to the brother in order to keep her feet
upon the steep scarps of the bluff. From the
first descent was arduous. Rough rock ledges,
sudden steeps, dense growths of bush, were all
hidden from the moon's light by a beetling bluff
above.

As they dropped lower into the coul6e the
blackness became intense. Nothing could be
seen below. They would gladly have retraced
their steps but for the arduous and well nigh
impossible effort of the climu.

Overcome by sleep and fatigue they were
thus toilsomely descending when Etapa's feet
slipped and he fell. Involuntarily he seized upon
Zintkala's skirt, and the two, whirling over and
over, dropped to the bottom of an almost per-
pendicular notch.

"O younger brother," muttered Zintkala, "I
fear that we die." Yet the little girl lay upon a
bed of leaves and debris and, despite her
bruises, turned herself upon her side and almost
instantly fell asleep. Etapa sat up for a time try-
ing to collect Us battered senses; then he, too,
fell back oggon the leaves and slept the sleep of
exhausticm.

But for the weary stupor which was upon them
the two would doubtless have noted a musky and
peculiar odor in tke dark pocket into which they
aad Mkai. K their ears also had not been deaf
to an sounds in the sleep-ridden jar of their fall.

TWO WILDERNE SS VOYAGERS

»ome faint little hissings, from the darkest corner
of the crevasse into which they had fallen, would
have driven them speedily to another shelter.
As it was they lay unheeding, a blanket roll here
and another there, the boy's bow caught upon a
bush part way up the steep, his arrows, thrown
from their quiver, scattered among the rocks
below.

If the moon could have shone at a certain
angle into this crevasse, a deep, bush-grown tri-
angular notch in a rock-ledge, its light would
have fallen upon two pairs of innocents. One,
unconscious of peril, lay as motionless as the
cleanly gnawed bones of the dead which were
scattered on every hand; the other, with recently
opened eyes, cowered within the deepest comer of
their lair, amazed and distressed at the ominous
and disagreeable odor which filled their sniffling
nostrils. These two crawled over each other,
hugging an earth bank beneath a shelving rock.
They buried their small noses each beneath the
other's body or between its own furry paws.
Unable to shut off the offensive smell they
bared their pin-pointed fangs and hissed and
spat in faint sibilant breathings like the warnings
of a harmless snake.

In the meantime a cougar darr: trotted stealthily
among the bush-grown ravines of the coulee.
During all the long day she had lain alternating
between the luxury of sleep and the pleasure of

176

IN THE COUGAR'S L A I R

•uckling and careMing her babie.. She was now
very hungry. She had been out since midnight,
perhaps, but the moon's light was too brilliant for
good hunting. The hare was abroad and alert
sitting nowhere long enough to give scent for
the still hunt. The grouse whizzed from cover
far beyond reach, as keen of eye as in the day-
time; and the wood duck and her young moved
calmly out from shore, dipping their bills and
nodding wisely. Two or three insignificant and
stupid ground birds, snapped from their nests
in the upland grass, served only to whet the
appetite. So as meat must be had to nourish
her young kits, the huntress of the long claw
repaired to a deer's runway, to play the waiting
game. '*

Upon the coulee's bluff, at the head of a
ravine which was traversed by a narrow and
hard-trodden path, she concealed herself amonjr
the low bush. She lay at the edge of the
praine where her eye could sweep a wide half
circuit of grass land. A number of deer were
feeding, scattered here and there, but. though
she waited patiently and cunningly after her
wisdom, none of the animals came to the creek
for water. A heavy dew had fallen, and the
succulent, wet young grass offered food and
drink in abundance.

i...?*^?'*^'" came, the sun arose, and found her

leer moved

177

away

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TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

toward a highland. Only one, a yearling doe,
lingered near. This one lay down and chewed
the cud. Its back was turned to the cougar, and
now the sly one stole forth upon the chance,
against long odds, of taking the shy one
unawares. Flattened to the semblance of a
huge yellow snake, her tail following like a
smaller snake, her back barely showing above
the short grass, the great cat wormed her way
inch by inch toward the ruminant.

Fortune favored her, for the long ears of the
young doe were loppihg lazily, thus cutting off
the line of vision of one eye, which must have
noted unusual movements across her shoulder.

Doubtless yet she might have escaped had not
her face for one fatal moment been buried under
her flank to bite at some offending insect. In
that instant the cougar dam gathered all her
whipcord muscles into knots and launched her-
self. Too late the fawn's ears caught the sibi-
lant sounds of that skimming, whizzing rush.
She leaped wildly in air, and the cougar struck
home her talons deep into flank and shoulder
The animals rolled together like a ragged yel-
low ball, and the fawn's neck was broken with a
snap. After tasting the blood of her quarry the
hungry one remembered her kits and hastened
back to her lair.

The hot scent of blood in her nostrils and the
blind savagery of triumph prevented her dis-

178

IN THE COUGA R'S L A I

covery of the voyagers until she had leaped from
a rock, half tumbled and half dragged her prey
into the mouth of the notch.

Then her threats, suddenly launched, would
have electrified any but the dead. At the first
rattling vibration of snarls the little Sioux leaped
to their feet with nerves strung for flight. But
there was no line of flight open. The cougar
dam had flattened herself as if for a leap, with
bared fangs and claws tearing at the soil, within
the one narrow pass from her lair.

Zintkala sprang to an opposite rim of rock
and cowered, her hands shielding her face.
"Oh, brother, we die," she wailed.

Etapa was scared. His knees shook and his
teeth chattered with fear. Yet the boy, seeing
no chance of escape, looked instinctively for his
weapons. Only his tomahawk was within reach,
and this lay half-way between himself and the
cougar. As he dared not take a step toward the
threatening creature he backed away to where
Zintkala cowered and drew her long knife from
its sheath.

The spirit within him was braver than the
flesh, for his hand shook as he raised the
weapon and his voice was thin and quavering as
he cried, after the manner of his kind, to the
snarling beast, "If you come to fight I will cut
your skin, igmu-hanska! I will make holes in
your flesh!" .

171

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

As the boy had receded the cougar dam
advanced, now standing upright, with distended
jaws and deep chest roarings, whipping her tail
to and fro, the incarnation of savage ferocity.

She halted midway in her lair, and the notch
rang with her threats. Yet, though her muscles
were knotted in a half-crouch, her yellow-green
eyes ablaze and all her fangs bared, she hesitated
to attack.

The boy saw this hesi it'on, and his nerve
came back in a reactive si .k. Again, as when
the bear had threatened, he flared into savagery.
He shouted an Oglala war-whoop. "Hi-yi-yih!
yi-hi! Come on, igmu-hanskal I will cut your
skin. Yih-hi! It is even so. I will do it." He
made his knife blade whirl before him, and the
rocks re-echoed his fierce shouts.

Suddenly, as he whooped at her, the beast
before him ceased her threats. The hair fell
upon her skin, the tail ceased to snap, and she
craned her neck with a hoarse whine of anxiety.
She seemed to be calling, and the mother solici-
tude was written so plainly in her intent gaze,
her ejiger, anxious face and piteous whine, that
a child could not have mistaken.

The boy unconsciously followed the line of her
gaze, directed to a point under the rock rim
against which he had planted his back. He
stooped and looked obliquely into a pocket
within a step or two of his feet. He saw the

180

IN THE COUGA R'S LAIR

reason for the "long-cat's" threats, the object of
her yearning anxiety.

"Ho, igmu-hanskal" cried the boy, "you desire
your children's safety. I will not hurt them.
See, I will give them to you." And without an
instant's hesitation he thrust his foot into their
nest and poked her hissing, spitting kits out into
the open. Then he seized and tossed them one
after the other quite over the old dam's head and
into the mouth of the notch.

The cougar's eyes followed her kits, and -
eagerly sprang after them, stooping over li. .\
with strange inquiring cries. Then she gathered
both tiny creatures in her mouth and slipped
into the depths of the coulde.

181

CHAPTER XVII
THE CANOE OF THE WA^^CUN

"Wan ho, Tank6, see what igmu-hanska has
left for us!" cried Etapa. His fear had vanished,
and he pounced joyously upon the carcass of the
young deer. His hunger was now keen and here
was fresh meat in abundance.

"Inama! It is wonderful!" said the girl. Her
face had not regained its color, and her legs yet
felt shaky, but she was very glad of this good
meat.

"I am very thirsty, but I can not yet go down
to the water;" she said, "and I am also afraid to
stay," she added.

"The long-cat will not come bacV " Etapa
assured her. "Look for the Cree arrows, sister,"
and he took her basin and descended to the
stream. He returned in two or three minutes,
and then, while he took the skin of the fawn,
Zintkala gathered some di-y, tender fagots and
lighted a little blaze which gave off but a tiny
wreath of smoke. Thin strips of venison,
scorched over this flicker of flame, tasted won-
derfully good and they ate until their girths had
visibly increased. They then gathered their few
effects and, carrying the "saddles" of the fawn,
toiled out of the coulee. At the edge of the

183

THE CANOE OF THE WA^^ CUN

prairie, where the grass was still wet with dew,
they came upon the cougar's trail where she had
dragged the young doe. In the direct n they
wished to go they followed this plain t '.e, and
at the point of attack Etapa examined tl .round
with a young hunter's intense interest. There
he read the story of her lying in wait and of her
successful still hunt.

They had now set their faces westward, and
they walked upon the prairie, scanning fre-
quently the north horizon, ready to plunge into
the coulee at sight of any suspicious figure in the
distance. For a little way the course of the
stream was eastward through prairie and wood-
lands. Then, until noon, they plodded through a
belt of pine country and again came upon the
open prairie to a region of beautiful wooded
lakes, a land of rich grasses, abloom with a great
variety of prairie and wood flowers, and a hunt-
er's paradise.

It was the country their ancestors had fought
over for more than two centuries, perhaps for
ten of them. This land they had held for at
least a century against the combined efforts of
Ojibwa, Crees, Assiniboins, fur traders and
white adventurers, and with chiefly the bow and
arrow to oppose to flintlock guns!

A little after noon the voyagers passed into a
great hardwood forest, and in the depths of the
woods built a fire and cooked all their meat so as

183

TWO WILDERNES'! VOYAGERS

to preserve what they could not eat. After they
had eaten they were attacked with sleep and fell
upon their blankets.

They were awakened some hours later by vol-
leys of thunder, and arose to find the sky dark-
ened and to hear a great roar of coming wind
and rain. Few are the Indians who do not feel
fear in a thunder-storm. In their native state
they begin to pray fervently at the first mutter-
ings of the thunder god or thunder bird as the
belief may run.

Zintkala and Etapa had been taught a prayer
which Dakota children should offer to Wakinyan
when lost in a storm. With scared faces they
looked at the blackened spaces of western sky
and saw clouds and tree tops transfixed by
jagged red bolts, and they stepped a little apart
and, with faces turned skyward, prayed pite-
ously.

And these are the words they used and the
interpretation thereof:

Wakinyan, mi me meya ukija lo! Wakinyan,
mi me meya ukiye lol Wanyanka yo! ni wak-
pahte cin tokel yacin ecamon kta. Heon, ni
meyaye ni to wa^ake-tanka kin on napatayul
amayaye, hecel waki-hunni kta.

"Thunder Spirits! Whirlwinds! Ye are com-
ing. See me, pity me! You have great powers.
Therefore take me by the hand and lead me
homeward. Thereafter I shall do your will."

THE CANOE OF THE W AI§6cUN

Thunder, wind and rain, however, were deaf
to this appeal for pity. A terrific storm fell upon
the woods. Overhead was a swaying, mighty
uproar. The tree tops were lashed together as
grass blades. Big oaks were snapped off as
though striclcen by cannon balls. The crash of
these, the incessant rattling volleys of thunder,
the awful roar of wind mingled with the deafen-
ing beat of rain, might well have appalled the
coolest brain or the stoutest heart.

The Sioux children flung themselves face
downward upon the ground and suffered the
terrors of those who expect a violent death.
The rain fell as in a cloud-burst until every gully
and runlet gurgled or rumbled with its flood.
Inches of water fell and the storm passed as
quickly as it had come. The little voyagers
could hardly believe themselves alive when they
faced each other, with sunlight filtering through
the torn branches, upon the drenched and leaf-
strewn earth.

The life came back into their faces and they
laughed joyously. "Inama!" exclaimed Zint-
kala. "Wonderful! It appears that Wakinyan
has spared our lives."

Laughing happily, they squeezed the water
out of their soaked clothing and dripping braids.
With the best wringing they could give them,
their blankets were very heavy. They wished to
dry their clothing and so packed their bundles

186

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

and trudged on to find an opening where sun
and wind could do the work most quickly.

There were fallen timbers and swollen brooks
to stay their progress. Several times they were
compelled to go up or down a torrent-filled ravine
to find crossing on the inevitable fallen tree.
But fortune favored them. While the sun was
still shining hotly they came out upon an open
prairie and, at the edge of a hazel thicket, where
they could spread their blankets to catch both
wind and sun's rays, th;:y made camp for the
night. As they had an abundance of meat they
had only to lie at ease drying their clothes.

Yet Zintkala, with a 4ceen scent for wild fruit,
soon discovered a patch of strawberries, and the
two feasted, eating of the delicious fruit until
their hands and faces were stained a vivid red
and their stomachs could hold no more. Upon
the warm, damp grass they slept until morning.
They breakfasted as they had taken supper in
the berry patch. They were loath to leave the
abundance of strawberries but finally tore them-
selves away upon the chance of finding more en-
route.

They now crossed a prairie and traversed the
walled sand beaches of several beautiful lakes.
Among these sands they found, upon a number
of stretches, the new-laid eggs of some long-
legged birds which ran before them, ducking
their heads and incessantly piping a single

THE CANOE OF THE WA^^CUN

querulous note. The eggs we.-e very good, and
they dined heartily off then.. Also, toward
night, in one of the lake outlc.., they came upon
a run of the big buffalo fish — a large variety of
suckers— md in the shallow water where the
fish's backfin cut the surface they captured a
scaly monster about as large as either of them-
selves.

Upon this big fish they feasted that night and
the following morning, and they further cooked
and cured their supply of venison, knowing it
must be heated often or become sour and stale
and, as they wished to travel fast, they could not
gruess how soon they might need tiiis supply.

Their forethought was justified. The sun had
just begun slanting toward the west when they
came upon a wooded stream with a deep, rapid
current which ran to the southwest. They were
trudging along the bank of this river when they
stepped from thick brush into an opening and
without warning came plump upon a log cabi.i
with a dirt roof, standing by an oak tree newly
riven and splintered by wind or lightning. The
voyagers were not greatly alarmed. They knew
this familiar half-roofed hut for the tepee of a
French fur hunter, a domicile seen at all the
trading posts and at many Indian villages.

As they stood, undecided whether to go fo
ward or retreat, their eyes fell upon the figure of
a man's arm stretched out upon the bare ground

187

TWO WILDERNESS VOYA GERS

and reaching half its length beyond the corner
of the cabin. Was the man sleeping? Softly
Etapa stepped forward at an angle which would
give him a front view of the hut, and slowly the
full figure of a man came into view. The boy
did not need to look closely at the swollen
upturned face to know that the man was dead.
He had been stricken by lightning, or a fallen
limb, directly in front of his door. Etapa knew
that there could have been no other persons at
hand or the dead one wou^d have been buried.

"This wa^cun" (white man) "is dead. I think
Wakinyan has slain him," he said, in a tone
hushed with awe. Zintkala came forward on
tiptoe and looked.

"Nakaes, younger brother, it is so," she said,
and then turned her eyes to the river bank.
"There is the canoe of this dead one. I think
we should take it."

The prow of a birch-bark vessel showed plainly
against some bushes and hastening to it they
found the canoe moored, with paddle inside, in
a sort of bayou notch. The voyagers were glad
to be speedily whirled out of sight of that still
figure before the hut. The man would not need
his canoe further, and they were glad of its aid
for what distance the river might run to west-
ward.

The current of the stream was deep and
strong, and the paddle was only needed for

THE CANOE OF TH E WA^ficUN

steering. When they had flung off the grue-
some feeling which a view of the dead man's dis-
torted face had excited they were happy to be
borne swiftly past woods and prairie.

Often both prairie banks were massed in wild
roses, and as the children descended between the
hedges of color they forgot caution and shouted
at each other, each as if the other had no eyes,
"See, seel" "Oh. do look!" "Nina wa^te!"

Now and then they shot rapids that would
have wrecked their slight craft at another season.
But the water was very high from rcce t heavy
rains and, though the current bore 5m at a
dizzy speed, its center was usually as smooth as
glass. At one narrow pass, however, wheie
there was a sharp bend, the waters were rolled
together as a scroll. They saw the danger too
late to avoid it, and with breathless speed their
light craft whizzed through the foaming tumble
of waters. The canoe was half filled and the
voyagers were drenched to their skins but they
suffered no other hurt than a momentary
fright.

They brought the craft to land, turned the
water out, and again wrung their blankets and
clothing with laughter at the mishap. There-
after they approached sharp curves more
cautiously.

When night came they had probably voyaged
fifty miles or more to westward, and they

189

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

ascended a low bluff to find themselves upon a
prairie where no timber could be seen save
the narrow fringe which skirted their water-
way.

They were overjoyed. This was indeed their
own country. They knew the prairie literally
"as seamen know the sea." Here were the
teepsinna and other roots which Zintkala loved
to dig. And here were the whistling antelope
which stood at gaze stamping their feet saucily,
but safely beyond arrqw range. And, yes,
almost at their feet there lay the horned skull
and bleaching bones of tatanka, the buffalo bull.

For a time these wild children ran about, care-
free upon the prairie, reveling in its tonic,
untainted breeze, pouncing with joyous exclama-
tions upon familiar flowers and plants. They
gathered handfuls of red lilies and yellow moc-
casin-flowers, and they ate wild turnips and
potatoes until they could hold no more.

They would gladly have camped upon the
high prairie, where they felt so much at home,
but caution forbade and at night they returned
to the river's bank. Lighting their fire was now
a more serious matter than it had been. Zint-
kala had hoarded her little store of matches,
and the remainder, rolled tightly in buckskins,
had even come dry through the rain. But the
afternoon's canoe drenching had soaked her tiny
bunch and spoiled them. As they had neglected

190

THE CANOE OF THE WA^f CUN

in daylight to search the river woods for dry and
powdery punk, and all the old fog of grass was
wet with dew, they were fireless until morning;
though they would gladly have made a little
blaze for the cheer of it.

191

CHAPTER XVIII

AT THE BIG RIVER

Their first greeting at daylight made them
laugh with delight. On the river's bank a bird
of yellow breast sat upon a tall, dry willow top
and sang, Kola ni Lakota! Kola ni Lakota!
(Friend, you are a Dakota). And they inter-
preted its familiar accent in the plural sense.
The bird was taiiyaknonpa, the meadow lark,
which Dakotas did not kill because of its reiter-
ated claim to kinship.

Zintkala and Etapa cried out joyously that
they were indeed Dakotas, and the bird flew
away apparently well content. That morning
they also saw other old friends— ^ungila, the
swift and crooked-bill, the squalling prairie
curlew. They ate of the cooked venison and
did not build a fire, although Etapa secured tin-
der from the woods.

For another day the swift, full-fed stream car-
ried them out into the plains country. There
was danger in this daylight canoeing, for, at any
moment, they might shoot into view of a hostile
camp or village. This peril had not impressed
them until they knew that they had been
launched into the level country where timber is
not to be found save along the streams. They

AT THE BIG RIVER

could only guard against surprise by keenly
scanning every reach and bend of the river in
their front. They felt at ease, however, when,
as frequently happened, there were deer, elk or
antelope feeding upon the bluff slopes. In the
unscared attitude of these four-foots they read
the sign, "No hunters near."

For the rest the canoe needed only steering
and much of the way it ran, for speed, as the elk
trots. Low bluffs continued along the river, and
often enough for fresh surprises they were
banked in red roses and the atmosphere between
them was laden with a delicious fragrance.
Thus the voyagers sped joyously homeward,
going so fast and so far that it seemed to them
the river must keep on until they should reach
their own Oglala town.

But at midday they came to the end of this
waterway, so far, at least, as it ran to the west-
ward. Their canoe, at a sweeping turn, was dis-
charged quite suddenly upon a wider and
discolored current which ran to the north almost
as the crow flies. Much disappointed that
canoeing should so soon have ended, they
crossed to the west bank of this large river and
climbed its low bluff to find a beaten road at the
top and a trader's post, with out-buiidings, in full
view a mile or two to the northward.

Immediately they knew this river for the Mini
Luta, or Red River of the North; for down this

193

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

I' -

1.^

stream and past the very fort which they now
saw the Assiniboins had carried them to cap-
tivity. They had arrived at a country hostile to
Dakotas, but they were well out of a strange
and trackless wilderness. They looked at each
other joyously. »n the language of seamen,
they now had "plain sailing." They had only to
follow up this river to its lake head to reach
Sioux territory.

They returned to the canoe and for a little
time Etapa paddled vip the stream just to see
what progress he could make.

"Tank6," he said, "I think we should now go
nights in the canoe."

But a half-hour's slow progress disposed of
this plan, and the two, packing their bundles,
trudged along the river's bank. They dared not
go upon the level prairie for fear of being dis-
covered by people from the fort.

Their wisdom was justified at evening. They
were lying at rest among some bushes when
their ears caught a familiar sound, a snatch of
the song of Canadian boatmen:

"Printemps . . petits grands . . . Lon Ion
laridon daine"— these last words sung by several
voices in unison.

The two looked at each other, their white
teeth gleaming in grins of approval. They
liked that rollicking boat song, which they had
often heard on the Missouri and at Traverse

AT THE BIG R I V E R

des Sioux. Although they did not know the
meaning of the words, either could have re-
peated the lines:

Touts Usprintemps,

TantptHts que grandi,

Lon Ion laridon daine,

Lon ion laridon daine.

The song and its resonant chorus came nearer,
and presently the creak of oar-locks admonished
the voyagers to lie low in cover. They did not
dare to risk discovery in peeping at the stran-
gers; for there might be Hohe (Assiniboins) in
that large boat, and the- o would shoot or cap-
ture young Sioux with little regard to the jolly
boatmen. So the bateau slipped by, and its
thrilling chorus ceased to charm the hiders.

The voyagers dared not build a fire that even-
ing, but ate their cooked venison and betook
themselves to their blankets. They lay in a low
*hicket of hazel bush.

They had not yet fallen asleep when they
heard hoof-beats upon the bluff. They sat up
with hearts in their mouths and peered cautiously
up r: the hill's black rim outlined sharply against
a starlit sky. The figure of a horseman, halted,
loomed upon the crest. He sat as if waiting for
some one, and presently they heard again the
distant muffled thud, thud of hoofs.

After a bit the second pony rider halted and
the man upon the bluff lifted his voice and

195

I ll

TW O WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

shouted at the loiterer. "Coo'e'e!" he called.
"HoBida! Cohan, cohan! , , „ ,„„_j,

Zintkala and Etapa -^^-"'?''\'}'^^J°^;,
vet they were not as they shou d have be n
Sken in their own dialect. The'r shrewd e«.
detected, too, that the man said hello and
W'Sfferently from the Assiniboins, but that
he Jaid^ome on" just the same. This man was
evidently Dakota, but not of the Assm.bom
trii Perhaps he was a friend who would
5a% assist them to g, homeward. He rn.gh
iven lend a pony. Yet they dared not call out
Thim and 'he man and his boy rode on and

'-^^ty'7::'^:S:7^^^^^^ - know what they
shouWhave done, and they talked, speaking m
1 „ tnnps for a long time about this. They
'rre^Httle depressed at the thought of having
Tefa fHend go by; for they knew that there were
northern Sioux who were friendly with both the
HoS and their own people. Yet they did not
see how they couid wisely have attracted this

-"^^raTng time they did not sleep. It was
very warm. The mosquitoes attacked them
Ind they covered their faces with green leaves.
Thus lying, they listened to the night murmur
of the river, the hoots of owls, the booming of
the nfgh -ja;, the pop-plop of the diving beaver,
and the whizzing of a myiad of June-bugs.

CHAPTER XIX

THE PONY STEALERS

The morning was very still and clear. After
eating of their venison the little voyagers
debated for some time as to whether they should
now travel by day. The river thoroughfare
seemed a dangerous route. On the other hand
the prairie as far as the eye could reach was
level as the extended palm. Plainly it would not
do, day or night, to walk on the plain, at least
until they should get far beyond the traffic of
the trading-posts.

Zintkala favored travel by day along the
river, where there seemed always willows, bushes
or trees for hiding. True there might be vil-
lages or tep6es along the streams, but the sister
argued that they could discover approach to
these best by the sun's light, and so avoid them.
In the night, she said, if one were not very care-
ful, one might suddenly come upon people where
there were dogs to alarm, and how could escape
be made in such a narrow valley?

Etapa was for night-going, and he held out for
a long time, saying they could walk upon the
prairie in darkness, keeping close to the bluff, so
that they might hide at once if they should hear
anyone coming.

197

I'll

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

The sister's earnest persuasion prevailed
finally, and they took up the burden of a
cautious and difficult march. For most of the
way the river ran through a coulee which was like
a deep, rough canal cut in the prairie. Occasion-
ally this rather narrow pass widened to give
room for a belt of timber or a loop of willow-
fringed meadow.

Everywhere the voyagers followed closely the
stream's bush-grown bank. They were not fear-
ful lest anyone should make suspicious discovery
of their trail, for this waterway was a highroad
of Indian and half-breed travel. Once that fore-
noon they lay in hiding while a caravan of two-
wheeled wooden carts creaked and groaned over
the prairie road. They did not see the metis
who drove these crts, but they heard plainly
their voices and the cracking of their whips as
they urged the slow oxen forward. They were
glad that the train was passing down the river
instead of up.

They lay a long time hidden in the bushes lest
they might be seen by stragglers. The need for
caution in their travel had become very apparent,
and their progress was tediously slow. They
peered from hidden covers across every opening,
and into every bluff coulde.

They stole across such openings, stooping low,
keeping to the tall grass where possible, and
often imitating the movements of animals.

198

THE PONY STE A L E R S

They flitted from cover to cover among the
bushes and tree trunks, treading noiselessly.

It was near noon and they were just entering
a wood, having approached the river bank after
a detour and by way of a dry run, when they
heard a splash in the current below. They
turned their faces to see a man, an Indian, wad-
ing near the edge of the water. This man's
back was toward them, and he held a spear
poised in one hand. Like startled partridges
the two sank to the grass ano squatted motion-
less until the wader had passed beyond hearing.

Then they looked at each other with uneasy
inquiiy. They were plainly between the fisher
and his tepee or village, and it appeared equally
perilous to go up or down the narrow valley.

They were yet undecided what to do, and sat
listening intently when they heard the tinkle-
tinkle of pony bells upon a bluff. A number of
animals were soon sighted, several bow-shots
distant, coming over its crest and descending
the bush-grown scarp of the coulee. Also behind
the ponies several black heads appeared above
the bush, dusky dots upon a shield of green,
and the voyagers saw that some young Indians
were driving the little herd.

The village was thus plainly located at a point
up the stream within the coulee and near at hand.
Their own position was one of immediate peril.
At any instant a straggler from the camp might

199

TWO W ILDERNESS VOYAGERS

chance upon them. They could not of course
wade the river; they dared not go forward, and
the man with the spear might at any instant
mount the bank below.

They chose the safest line of retreat. Enter-
ing the woods in front they turned to the right
and walked leisurely to the foot of the river
bluff. They moved slowly, that they might not
rustle the bushes, and carelessly, so that if seen
at a distance they might be mistaken for chil-
dren of the village or camp.

The coul6e scarp was grown thickly to small
bush. Making sure they had not been seen,
they crawled cautiously upward until they
reached a point near the crest. Here they took
refuge under a low hedge of wild grape vines
and where they could peer safely down upon the
valley. A long stretch of the river could be seen
fringed with trees and hemmed, in the distance,
by converging lines of bluffs and— almost under
their eyes— beyond the grove they had entered
were four conical tepees pitched upon the open
flat and close to the stream. Beyond the lodges
a herd of ten or a dozen ponies were grazing
lazily.

The children who had brf ught these animals
down from the prairie had caught two of the
runaways and were tethering them at a bow-shot
from the camp. Some women were apparently
cleaning fish upon the river's bank. Near to

300

! :ii'

THE PONY ST E A L E R S

them were several upturned canoes. Three
men were lying upon the grass, and one of them
was making gestures as though telling a atorr

It was startling now to see how nearly f.ey
had come to running plump upon these people.
Evidently their camp had been newly made, else
there would have been more sign about to give
warning. Zintkala was now convinced of the
wisdom of night travel along this river.

For a time the voyagers dared not talk lest
someone might be near at hand. At length,
however, after they had scanned all the reaches
below and noted that a breeze had begun to
rustle the bushes and trees, so that no sound,
not even of pony bells, came up from the tepees,
they spoke together in undertones.

"Older sister," said Etapa, "it appears that
these people are very slothful. I think that they
are good-for-nothing agency Indians. I would
not be afraid to steal all their ponies, and I think
that we should take horses of them to-night."

Zintkala's eyes snapped approval. These
people were certainly a silly folk, or they would
not allow strangers to approach so near to their
tepees unnoted. The spirit of daring seized
upon the girl and she spoke in eager tones.

"Let us do so, younger brother," she said. "I
will assist you to drive away their ponies. We
shall arrive at home afterward very quickly."

Thereafter they talked, planning with enthu-

201

TWO WI LDERNESS VOYAGERS

siasm a night campaign against the sleepy camp.
After a time they saw two pe.3ons, a man and a
man, plodding along the river's bank directly
below. These were returning leisurely to camp,
and the woman bent under a back-load of large
fish which she had strung upon a willow hoop.
The man bore a spear upon his shoulder with a
single small fish dangling from the point.

The Sioux children marveled that they had
escaped discovery. Naturally they took credit
to themselves for the shrewd caution of their
march along the river. From the appearance of
their tepees and the fact thai they traveled both
by canoe and travois the voyagers judged these
Indians to be Hoh6, Assiniboins of the river,
and not of the dry plains. They were of the
sort who dwelt about the trading posts and
agencies, and perhaps some were of mixed
blood. But they were toka (the enemy), and,
therefore, it would be highly honorable to take
their horses from them.

So the young Sioux plotted deeply. They
noted every movement of the Hohe camp.
Before nightfall they had counted the inmates
of the tep6es, the number of dogs— there were
three— and of ponies and colts. They traced in
plan every foot of their approach to tin pasture
ground from a detour of the prairie ^o descent
of a bush-grown s.pur of the coulee and a waty
retrograde along the river's edge.

203

THE PONY STEALERS

They had still a store of hard cooked, stale
venison, enough to last three or four days at a
pinch, and they could ride, ride, ride until hun-
ger should compel a halt. They ate but spar-
ingly that day and awaited with impatience the
slow setting of the sun.

Yet it was a long time after the stars appeared
before they stirred from cover. They were
rather stiff and weary from long lying under the
low vines when they finally ascended to the
prairie.

T'pon the level ground they sat long e.iough to
tie their blankets and all the articles they were
to carry in tight rolls. Etapa included bow,
quiver of arrows and tomahawk in his bundle.
These light packs they secured on their backs
by buckskin strings and thongs.

Thus equipped they walked around to a spur
of bluff which was perhaps a mile below the
Assiniboin camp. Here they stopped for a time.
They sat upon a bare spot where they could
study all the darkened spaces of the coulee and
thus fix upon lines of escape should discovery
follow their undertaking.

The night was quite dark, with only starshine
to light the depths of the river gulch, and when
the two had reached the stream, under the
shelter of its fringe of bush and trees, they had
little fear of making advance toward the pony
herd.

203

J 'Si

TWO WILDE RNESS VOYAGERS

Though they walked with extreme caution
their hearts beat high with expectancy.

When, in the growing dusk, they had last seen
the Hohe ponies they were scattered upon a
narrow strip of bottom at a considerable distance
from the tepees. Some three or four of the
leaders were tethered to long picket ropes.
Unless some untoward thing should happen to
arouse the camp it would seem a matter of no
difficulty to lead these ponies away.

From tree to tree and bush to bush, carefully
they approached the herd ground. At last as
they knew by a certain thick cluster of young
trees, which stood near the river's edge, they
should have come opposite the tethered ponies.
Close scrutiny of the level land disclosed on y
one animal. This pony was grazing but a little
way out from the trees. And the occasional
tinkle of bells, which for some minutes they had
been noting and trying to locate, now sounded
far down toward the camp, even below it

perhaps! i. n j

This was very discouraging, for those belled
ponies had been tethered right there, opposite
the trees. Certainly it would not be wise to go to
or to pass the camp after the horses. They held
a whispered consultation. It seemed best to
take this one horse, which they could do with
safety, and go with it. They had buckskin
enough for a halter, and they could both ride

204

THE PONY STEALERS

the animal without overburdening. Perhaps
the Hoh6 would not chase a great way for just
one pony. They might even think it gone
astray, and, where there were so many tracks,
be led to search at random up and down the
stream.

So they quietly walked out from the trees
toward this animal, which they supposed to be
picketed; for doubtless the unruly bell ponies
had pulled their pins. They were much sur-
prised when the lone horse kept stepping away
in their front and feeding on toward the camp.
The animal was loose. They yet hoped to catch
it, going one on either side and approaching
carelessly. But the pony still slipped away, feed-
ing toward the Hohe camp, as though drawn by
a magnet.

Presently, as they made a wide circuit to get
around the wary one, another pony appeared, a
small one lying down. This one arose and came
toward the larger, and then both slipped past
the children and melted into the darkness.

The large timber below the tepees now showed
tall and black, and from where they stood noth-
ing could be seen within its shadows. The
tinkle-tankle of bells now sounded very close. It
was evident that those old run-abouts were pick-
eted between their position and the camp. They
listened intently. Thee was nothing to be
heard save the murmur of the stream, the rustle

20S

fi Hi'

TWO W ILDERNESS VOYAGERS

of tree foKage. the jingle of the bells, and the
stamping of the mosquito-bitten ponies. Ihe
ho^eTwere certainly near at hand, and so were
the Hoh6 tepees. The campers and the dogs
were evidently sleeping.

A spirit of covetous daring had come upon the
young Sioux. They simply could not go away
andlLve all these ponies to graze undisturbed
They came near together and Etapa signified by
gesture that they should go on, cut loose the
picketed horses, mount ind drive away the herd
Zintkala put aside all thought of peril and
agreed to the plan. . ,

They now walked forward, going around the
ponfes'as they came to them. They wen on
until they had passed all the horses as nearly as
thev could reckon. ,.

Suddenly a dog began to b^rk, and immed,
atelyall the curs they had seen came out and set
up the familiar ki-yi-yap of the Indian wolf-dog
iLtead of running away the yo««gSioux seated
themselves upon the grass and began to busy
themselves as if cleaning fish or skinning game
AsTe curs continued to yelp they stretched
themselves in the bottom grass a^ *ough dis-
posed to sleep. The grass was tall enough to

cover their bodies. The '^^^^'ily 'l°^J/"°
run at them, but continued to bark and howl

around the tepees. i „ .„ the

Presently a man came out and spoke to the

206

THE PONY STEALERS

dogs. This was a trying moment. Had the curs
yelped with increased excitement and run at
the hiders, like good watch dogs, discovery and
capture must have inevitably followed. But
they were Indian dogs, and the Dakota boy
and girl knew their ways. When the man
came out these dogs expecte '. to be kicked or
whipped and while still yelping and howling,
exerted themselves only to keep out of harm's
way. In the end the Indian ran at them
throwing sticks and shouting angrily until the
pack had scurried into the woods.

In the midst of this excitement Zintkala and
Etapa crawled away and approached the nearest
tethered pony. The stolid animal, having seen
them all the time, payed them no attention.
Etapa cut its picket rope and the two crawled
slowly on to the length of the string. There
they sat in the grass for a long time, letting the
ponies get used to their presence, and waiting
for the people and dogs to fall asleep again.

They waited till a faint light above a western
bluff warned them that the moon was rising.
Then they led their captive gently forward to
where the second pony was picketed. At the
^ . ■ time they gradually moved the loose
poiiies before them. They wished to leave no
chance of pursuit behind.

Adroitly, almost inch by inch, the little bunch
of Hohe ponies faded away from their picket

207

TWO WILDE RNESS VOYAGERS

grounds. Before the cunning "rustlers" had
passed the point of descent a misshapen moon,
which perhaps the mice had gnawed, was look-
ing over the river bluff and into the coul6e.

Suddenly an incautious voice was heard in the
rear, the voice of a man, who had heard the fad-
ing tinkle of bells, and who supposed the ponies
had pulled their picket pins and were wander-
ing off.

"Sohe-e! Sohe-el Ks60k-ks06k!" the man
called in a remonstrant; resonant voice, which
filled all the coulee behind.

They did not wait to look back, but mounted
their lead animals and whirling their rope ends
dashed upon the herd in their front. The crack-
ing strokes, the sharp "huh-huh-huh!" of their
urging quickly set the small bunch of ponies off
at a gallop. Once they got going it was easy to
make them go faster. In a minute or two they
had swept around a point of bluff, up a coul6e
descent, and out upon the illimitable prairie.

^ II

i ill

li'i" I

CHAPTER XX

THE GRIEF OF FIRE CLOUD AND
CRANE'S CRY

The same grass-growing moon, which saw the
h tie voyagers launched upon the prairie countnT
brought the first news of their capture to F.Ve
C 1 .ud s village of Oglalas.

As the warm days had come on and the grass
was makmg good feed, Fire Cloud had safd to
h.s w. e, Pehan-ho-wi„ or Crane's Cry, "After a
mle ume now we shall pack the tra^ds and go
to your relatives at the Missouri River. There
we shall v.s,t until the buffalo killing. I shal!
send for our children, and they shall remain wkh
us during two moons."

Then Crane's Cry was glad. The heart of the
mother sang within her. Two little sloe-eyed
^rls also were delighted. Although it seemed to
them a great age since older sister and brother
had been taken from home, the little ones ran
off to some sand hills to chatter their joy and^o
play at drag-the-travois" on a traii to the muddy

tc^^'^ l^^ ^""^^y ^'°"'' """^^^^ immediately set
Shehai '° "T'' ^"^ "^^^'"^ '^^ 'Children,
make Ir"^ l^'T '° '*•'• S''^ ^^^ ^i^hed to
make clothing for her absent ones and not that

309

O WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

ill!

them. Now that

the missionaries should clotht .— .- -
she was to have them with her for a time she
would make them many garments. During the
summer, too. she would make them beautiWly
beaded moccasins. Her dear little daughter
should have a valuable dress of the finest fawn-
skin, with shield and sleeves done in stained
porcupine quills, and with many bright colored
fringes upon the skirt. And Etapa her m.mic.
the story-teller, her stout-hearted little hunter,
whose sturdy voice every day rang >« »>" «axs-
how her heart laughed at thought of himl
Well, he should have a war-bonnet, not a
mimic head dress, but a real bonnet with feathers
trailing to his heels. u ^ »u-.

With deep interest and dancing heart the
mother undid her bundles and P/'•fl6<J«^^°^,J!13
skins and ornamental work. And she joyfully
called in a young married sister, who was deft at
making designs and patterns, to assist her in
Sanning the various garments. The sister was
only too happy to be of use in her favorite pas-
time, and Crane's Cry's tep€e was speedily con-
verted into a workshop, which might be said to
combine tailoring, dress-making and millinery
with fancy work. , , . ,

As the days went by her two little brown girls
watched with delight the growth ^i gorgeous
garments. And there was no envy m the hearts
of these well-dressed mites, who dearly loved

310

THE GRIEF OF FIRE CLOUD

their tank6 and ^unkaku. Whatever the Sioux
father may have thought of these things he said
nothing. He was apparently content that his
wife should find happiness in working for her
children.

Matters were thus in Fire Cloud's tep6e when
the day drew near that he began to think of
taking the trail to eastward. He sat upon the
ground at midday and smoked and meditated.
Quiet had settled upon his village. Men were
lying about asleep or reclined upon the grass
lazily playing at simple games of chance.
Women gossiped in low tones within their
open tep6es. Many children were wading or
swimming in the shallow river, which ran over a
gravel bed near at hand. Across the stream,
upon a flat bottom and upon the hill slopes
beyond, large herds of ponies dotted the sur-
face. Some were grazing, a large number lay
at full-fed ease. Upon a high point above these
a man stood erect, a pigmy figure etched upon
the deep blue of a June sky.

The eyes of this watcher were keen and far-
seeing, and the scope of his vision the limit of
their range upon the levels. Presently this man
picked up a blanket at his feet and whirled it
three times about his head with a peculiar circu-
lar motion. Then he waved it up and down
once, and once from east to west. Immediately
a man in the village cried that the scout was sig-
au

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

naling the approach of a single runner coming
from the east and that the courier was on horse-
back with two lead ponies.

This news put the people on the qui vive.
Some of their own young men had gone among
the pine coulees to hunt the deer that morning,
but none of them had taken more than a single
horse, so they knew that a stranger was coming.
A stranger with two pack animals must have
come from a long distance, and thus might be
bearer of important tidings.

As with other folk,'there is nothing of greater
interest to the Indians than news from abroad,
or from distant relatives. The arrival of a
runner from another town is an event in village
life, and if he has some stirring narrati\ v of a
war expedition, of some successful or disastrous
exploit, or if he bring news that the buffalo are
uncommonly plentiful in the country from
whence he has traveled, there will be a new date
in the tribal calendar, a fresh entry that will de-
termine the name of that year's "winter count."

But Indians do not often run to meet the news
bearer nor show, as a rule, any outward interest
in his arrival. Although he well knows that his
approach has been noted from afar, and that
news of his arrival is spread in the village, the
newcomer will see no evidence of the undercur-
rent of excitement which his coming has set in
motion.

313

THE GRIEF OF FIRE CLOUD

When the man with three pontes descended
into the river valley and dismounted in the out-
skirts of this Oglala village to picket his animals
there was no one at hand to make curious
inquiry. No one seemed to take note of
him as he walked, very straight, with a blanket
over one shoulder, in among the tep^est. He
was a man of middle age, wjlh a keen sharp
face, scarred cheek and thin figure, and sev-
eral furtive pairs of eyes recognised him
for a soldier of the Wapetonwan— Cut-Face,
who had fought a duel with two Ojibwas and
who bore in consequence a number of knife
scars.

In a very brief time this man discovered the
tep6e of Fire Cloud and walked straight to
where its chief was sitting upon a grass plat.
He had news for which there could be no cere-
monial delays. "How, my cousin," he greeted,
"I have been glad to find you here. I am come
to bring you bad news. Your children were
taken by the Hoh6. They went away from
those white people, and were coming homeward
and thus the Hoh6 took them."

"My children are dead!" said the chief with
conviction. He had not stirred as the messen-
ger spoke, but his face had undergone a subtle
change. It had suddenly become shrunken and
thin, and his eyes were turned inward. Inside
his tep6e a little smothered exclamation, a sharp

318

il ' ■'. li

TWO WI LDERNESS VOYAGERS

catching of breath, told that Crane't Cry had
heard her husband speak.

Then the father bowed his head upon his
breast and the mother fell face downward in her
tepie, and so lay as one dead, while the runner
sat upon the ground and told his story.

The children of Fire Cloud had fled from the
mission, he said, during the dry-grass moon. Men
had been sent to trail them, and had come back
after five suns, saying that the Assiniboins had
carried the children northward. These men had
been too few to follow and attack so large a
party. The Indians at' Traverse des Sioux were
not agreed as to what should- be done, but the
missionaries had hired a young man to go to
Fire Cloud's village with the news.

This runner had come as far as the Missouri,
and there learning that the Pawnees were hunt-
ing to westward, had tarried at a Brul6 town,
not daring to go on. This young man had acted
very badly. He had stayed all winter among
the Brul6s, who told him that they did not see
that anything could be done to recover captives
taken to such a far country among enemies so
powerful. This unfaithful runner had not come
in at Traverse des Sioux until the grass had
started, when he, Cut-Face, who had been away
from home in autumn, had packed his own
ponies and traveled very fast to inform his
cousin of the evil thing which had befallen.

314

THE GRIEF OF FIRE CL OUD

"I am a broken man," said Fire Cloud at the
close of this recital. "I have done wrong, a.id
Waniyan Tanka has punished me. Etapa is no
more. My daughter is dead— henceforth there
is nothing."

"I have yet something to say," said the mes-
senger. "The Dakotas of the agency will make
war soon. They will destroy those who have
taken our lands. Petit Corbeau of the Wape-
ku-ton-wan has sent to ask if the Oglalas will
assist in this war. I will not talk further to-day."
And the messenger arose abruptly and left the
father to his grief.

Fire Cloud passed into his tep6e. His wife
yet lay as one dead with her face to the earth.
She had heard all, and hope was gone out of
her. His little ones were away at play. The
man stood motionless inside his lodge for a time.
Then, wishing to be alone, he blackened his face,
drew his blanket around him, and passed out
and walked far away from his village.

Quickly the news spread throughout the
encampment. People did not speak to the chief
as he went out from them. They did not go to
his tep^e, for they respected the grief of Fire
Cloud and Crane's Cry. They said, "Lo, our
friends are deeply affected. After a time we
shall go mourn with them."

The sister of Crane's Cry took her brother-in-
law's little girls into her own tep6e. Gently she

215

il ■ !li

TWO WILDE RNESS VOYAGERS

told them of their low and that they must abide
with her for a time. The broken-hearted waili
of these little ones were the first sounds of gnev-
ing for the lost Zintkala and Etapa. The chil-
dren's open grieving, however, was hushed, long
ere that of the stunned mother began.

During three suns Fire Cloud stayed out alone
upon the prairie. He sat under his blanket fast-
ing and praying. At night he stood upon a high
hill that the spirits of the upper world might see
him and thus consider as to whether his prayers
should be answered. He desired to go a^inst
the enemy, and that, in fighting them, he should
meet an honorable death.

When darkness came on also Crane s Cry and
her immediate relatives retired to a hilltop,
where they bewailed the lost ones. Crane s 4,ry
wore a black blanket and put earth and asi.(-3
upon her head. She cried continually dunng the
night, and in daylight lay upon the floor of her
tep^e with her face in ashes.

With most Indians the captivity of their chil-
dren, without hope of rescue, — nd there seldom
is such hope— is a calamity more bitter even
than death. For the children will, if not put to
the torture, be reared as strangers and enemies.
They are known no more to their own people,
and therefore they are dead, and it is thus that
their relatives speak and think of them.
When his period of fasting and prayer had

318

THE GRIEF OF FIRE CLOUD

expired by exhaustion, Fire Cloud returned to
his tep^e and ate meat.

On the following day he attended a council of
the Oglalas, who were met to consider the mes-
Mge of Little Crow, chief of the Minnesota
Sioux. This man who had proven his quality as
a leader was planning a war against the settle-
ments, which had pushed his Indians off their
prairies, and because the Great Father at Wash-
ington had failed to keep his people from
starving. This soldier asked the Oglalas
whether they would join him in the fighting,
and he had urged strongly that they should do so
Many Oglala soldiers spoke at this meeting
which debated the matter for several days.
Some talked in favor of going with their breth-
ren in the war, others opposed the plan alto-
gether. Fire Cloud, though nominally oi'trrnk-
ing any present, was one of the last to speak.
His speech is preserved to this day in the
traditional lore of his people. It ran as follows:
My friends, you see in me a desolate man.
The light is gone out of my tepee. I am as one
who walks alone and in darkness. When I reach
out my hand to touch those who should be my
support when the hairs are white, they are gone.
My children are dead, and I am punished for my
folly in sending them to be taught by the ene-
mies of my race. Henceforth there are only the
garments of mourning in my lodge.

217

i> ill

ili^

I '<i

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

"Hitherto I have not talked in this council of
wise men. 1 have said in my heart, 'My people
know better than I what should be done. Let
them, therefore, decide.' I have listened to what
has been said. Some of my partisans have
spoken well, and I have considered. I know this
soldier of the Wapekutas (Little Crow), and I
have listened to the words he has spoken by the
mouth of Cut-Face. The man is brave, but he is
very foolish. Doubtless he and his soldiers will
kill some white people, and we shall lose a
larger piece of land in consequence.

"Listen, my friends, my partisans, and ye old
people. The white soldiers are as the gnats
which sting at sunset. As fast as we shall kill
some, others will come, bringing a greater com-
pany, to suck the blood from our veins. Already
they have taken the best portion of our posses-
sions. Now we shall lift our tomahawks and by
our folly ask them to come and finish despoiling
us! My friends, you have all seen the wounded
bull turn upon the hunters. He might withhold
himself and escape, but he wishes to inflict an
injury and so dies. I think the Dakotas are like
this bull. They destroy themselves in wishing
to gore the enemy. When they have caused the
white people to strike us in Minnesota and to
pursue us hither, and when these have burned
our towns and scattered our numbers, then shall
our enemies, the Hoh6, the Crows, and the Scili

318

THE GRIEF OF FIRE CLOUD

come to pick the bones which the Great Father's

soldiers shall leave behind t" cm,

.id it is t\i tUsh to fight
ot now go : J seek them,
i:er me v hither I am
I desire greatly to give

"Heretofore I have
the white people. I will
but if they shall come
going I shall fight them

my body to the enemy that when my arm is tired
striking he shall count coup upon it. But I will
strike at the Hohe, who have despoiled me of
my children. These fighters of their kind and
eaters of their own offspring I wish to cut off
from harassing my people. I will not take part
in Little Crow's war. I will go to the Bad
Lands and make a stronghold, and there I will
fight any who come against me. I desire that
my partisans and my soldiers and their people
shall follow me. I have spoken my thoughts."

This speech was effective in causing the
Oglalas to reject Little Crow's overtures. In
the end a number of villages of the western
Sioux packed the travois and followed Fire
Cloud.

319

CHAPTER XXI

^ifli

A STRANGE BUFFALO

For nearly three days, and riding much at
night, the little voyagers had traveled over a
prairie country to the southwest. When they
had secured ponies they had no further thought
of going up the Red River to the agencies,
where people might be fighting, and themselves
again be taken by the enemy.

One by one, from sheer exhaustion, the ponies
had dropped out of their captured band, until
there only remEkined the two strongest and swift-
est which they had finally selected to nde.
There had probably bem no pursuit, because
there could be none, and the travelers had seen
no person, white or red, to cause them alarm.

While they were unable to point out exactly
the direction in which lay their own country, they
knew that they must travel south and west, and
finally further west than south, and that, keeping
to that general course, they must come to the
Missouri River.

On the fourth day of riding, at probably more
than two hundred miles from the starting point,
ponies and riders were sadly in need of rest.

Their food had given out and the children had
now to collect a fresh supply.

330

A STRANGE BU F F A L O

They stopped before midday among some
coteaus, where there was a long marshy lake, and
a breeding ground for geese, ducks, sand-hill
cranes, curlews and other birds. Many young
of the land birds were just feathering out, and
could not fly.

When they had watered and picketed their
horses and slept for a time, the brother and
sister set out to chase these young birds. It was
not easy to get them, for they began running at
the instant of alarm, and it was well nigh impos-
sible to hit them with bow and arrow. Catching
them was simply a matter of the swifter pair of
legs or the greater endurance. Now that the
children had gained rest and sleep they enjoyed
the sport. A couple of ungainly young cranes
gave them a hot chase across a wide stretch of
corn-staik grass. The legs of the pursuers were
frequently tangled, and they fell over unseen
bogs whooping with laughter and shouting
encouragement to each other. The cranes had
nearly escaped by running out upon a miry piece
of ground and coming to a stand, when Etapa
swam a bayou to a stony bank, and caused them
to run into the grass again by throwing pebbles
at them. The birds were finally captured and,
as they were nearly half grown, fat, and heavy
of breast, the young hunters had reason, as
they did, to lug them to their camp in triumph.
They also caught some young curlews- which

231

SW^

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

"I ii
'^ . ■ li

furnished them with all the meat they could eat
at one time, and this was no small quantity.

They had made a mighty march, and they
knew they had no longer to fear pursuit from
the men they had despoiled of horses. They
had thus far scarcely given themselves time to
talk, so fast they had ridden and so sore and
overcome with sleep were they when they halted.

But now, full-fed, and having shed weariness,
they were filled with elation and chattered like a
pair of magpies. They had each an excellent
riding pony, and with the Sioux love of horses,
they took delight in ' recounting the good points
of their animals. Zintkala's pony was of a
creamy buckskin color, with black mane and
tail, markings much admired by the plains
Indians. The one Etapa rode was a "calico,"
spotted red and white, and both were hardy
runners of undeniable wind.

The children enjoyed in advance the sensation
they would create when they should ride into
their Oglala town and tell how they had taken
these ponies from the Hohe. In this happy per-
spective they quite lost sight of the significance
of their own home-coming. The ponies were
now all they had room for in their thoughts.
They had already named the animals, Sunka-
ska, White Dog, and Wicarpi-kin-ia, Red Stars.
They spent the balance of the afternoon in
securely picketing and admiring these four-foots.
2^

.li!

A STRANGE BU F F A L O
There was a patch of dry willows near at hand

lol ""t^" "*="""?' ^'^' ^"h almost no
smoke. There was also a knoll, or small butte,
which commanded a wide reach of plain, and
from .ts top they could scan the prairie
stretches for a long distance. As there was
good water and grass and plenty of game they
deeded to camp for two suns at this place. In
this time they proposed to catch and cure enough
meat to last them until they should reach home.
They also wished to make girths, "catch-ons,"
and pack-straps for their blankets, which they
had inconveniently used, folded twice, as saddles
Por this purpose, and in making bridle-halters,
sWns"^ remainder of their stock of buck-

^K^^u*"! T"'"^ '^^y °^ '''^''" *t^y ^t this camp
they had fine sport catching birds. They were
now remvigorated, and could follow the chase
with both zest and endurance. Spring had come
on early and warm in this region, and the young
of every sort of birds were advanced in growth
1 te pursuit of young cranes was especially
exciting, and there were numerous families of
them, scattered among the low hills. Some of
these were nearly ready for flight. These were
strong, swift runners, but when closely pressed
they would flap their half-feathered win^ to the
hindrance of their legs, and so make fun for
the hunters. While the children were running

]'>,'<

■i|::

TWO WILDE RNESS VOYAGERS

them, too, the old cranes would fly about trum-
peting crazily, and so add much to the excite-
ment. ,
In chase of the cranes the voyagers found
themselves at midday at a considerable distance
from their camp. They had made several cap-
tures, and were returning laden when, m crossing
a low ridge, at one end of the marsh lake, they
saw what they supposed to be a buffalo
approaching.

Etapa was first to, see the humped creature
shutBing along with head down, apparently much
exhausted. „, , ■ •

"Hoye. Tanke," he cried. "Look, yonder is a
bull coming. I think he has come from a coun-
try where there is no water, and he is very poor
and weak." .

Zintkala looked at the ambhng creature with
interest. Her eyes were as keen and sometimes
more observing than the boy's.

"Younger brother," she said, "I do not think
that is a buffalo. This one coming does not
appear to have horns."

"Whi, Tanke, how foolish!" exclaimed the
lad. "Look what a long distance he is coming."
"It appears, however, that I can see the legs,
persisted the sister, and this answer won the
point of inserting doubt into the brother s mind.
"Let us sit up on this high ground and wait,
said Etapa. "At any rate I am tired." They

324

A STRANGE

BUFFALO

deposited their long-legged birds, and squatted
comfortably with crossed legs. As it appeared
evident that the creature approaching was a
four-foot coming to the lake for water, they

hand"" '" "'"'"* *" '''* " P*'* "^" *'

Before they could decide as to whether it were
a buffalo or a tall and hornless elk the object of
their curiosity dropped out of sight upon lower
ground. But it must pass-to reach water-over
the ridge upon which they sat, and so they
waited, talking and watching. When the plod-
ding creature came within sight again it was
mounting the ridge near at hand. A single
glance showed a brown pony with a man upon

its neck """^ '^"'' ^" '"■'" ^'^'P'nS

A moment of wild alarm followed this discov-
eiy, but native instinct saved the voyagers from
taking to their heels. If a cunning maneuver
had been planned its success was already certain.
I hey arose with palpitating hearts and stood
awaiting the man's approach. They were quickly
relieved of any feeling of fear. As horse and
nder drew near it was evident that the man was
either sic: or wounded, that his lying upon his
pony s back was not a ruse, but of necessity

He raised his head feebly, showing an emaci-
ated face, and waved a hand in token of amity
How. how. cola," he managed to ejaculate, as

{

'tw o wilderness voyagers

his animal halted, fronting ^he li^e voyagen.
They looked at the'trange'. P'tV-^Jy.^^^^^^^^^^
forgetting their fears. Me was

1 Tt saddle He was half naked, having
"" niM oair of irggins and worn moccasins
?ordS^l^nrHt hollow cheeks, sunken eyes
and prominent ribs spoke of great suffering from
wounds or illness. „

^"My children." saifl this |"^"' y°" ^\,"3
about to die. I desire to be led to the tepdes ot

'ThrvSagers were appalled at the soldiers

neld and'th^ey stood hesitating and abated for

_» Thpv knew now that he naa seen

a camp ot tn«r pc v embarrassing for an

lenitb. .peaking .mply"^"""*;, „,

where we are stopping, i wiu tuv
you." she said. _^^^

A STRANGE BUFFALO

"Lead ye thither," said the stranger. "I may
yet go a little distance."

That they might not go before him, but fol-
low, Zintkala pointed out the high knoll which
stood above their camp. "It is there we are
curing meat," she said. "The hill is very near."

"Good," said the stranger. "I wish to die at
that place, and that ye shall cover my body with
stones."

asT

CHAPTER XXII

A WARRIOR'S DEATH

Walking behind the stricken rider, who again
leaned forward upon his pony's neck, the little
voyagers saw that this man was a warrior return-
ing from the enemy's country. The man had
three scalp-locks securely tied to his belt. Slung
to his saddle were a short rifle, a large powder
horn and bullet pouch 'and his blanket roll, and
he carried a long knife, with a deer's horn handle
and iron guards, m a sheath. It appeared also
that he was wounded badly in one thigh, which
seemed to be much swollen.

When they had arrived at their camp by the
willows the sick man asked for water, and Zint-
kala immediately ran to the lake and filled her
basin. The man drank eagerly all she brought,
and again she filled the dish for him. When he
had quenched his burning thirst the stranger
seemed a little revived. He still remained sitting
on his pony, steadying himself by clinging to his
saddle. His eyes wandered restlessly about.
He seemed unwilling to dismount at that spot
and the children stood waiting, much distressed
in mind that their camp did not seem to please
the sick warrior. He had appealed to them and
thus established a claim upon them for all the

835

A W A R R I O R'S D E A T

aid they were able to render. He could have
two blankets to lie upon, meat and loup to eat;
they had, in their poverty, nothing else.

The man's eyes rested at last upon the stony
knoll above their camp, and his face began to
show animation.

"Ho, my children," he said, "assist ye me hith-
erward. It is good that I should die upon that
hill."

Glad to render aid, even in such melancholy
state, Etapa and Zintkala did as they were
directed in helping to mount the butte. At the
crest where there was a flat rim, like a cap to the
hill, it was necessary for one to pull and one to
push in order to enable the weakened pony to
climb.

Upon the top of the hill were many boulders
and broken stones; at one place and at the high-
est point there was a heap of loose stones, which
appeared to have been anciently collected for a
purpose, perhaps to serve as a sign in the
Indian signal service. The warrior's hollow
face lightened and his eyes shone as he looked
upon this so fitting place to die.

"How, my children, this is indeed very good.
Build ye a heap of stones that I may sit looking
upon my country."

Perfectly understanding his wishes the children
hastened to obey. They rolled a large boulder
out upon the scattered pile and faced its square

33S

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

side to the east. Upon this they laid some flat
stones and piled others behind for support.
They then arranged a ridge of stones on either
side the heap, parallel with the boulder's flat sur-
face, and thus made a resting place and laid a
foundation for the warrior's tomb. Inside this
niche they spread his two blankets, one folded
over the boulder, that he might rest his back and
head.

"Wa^te!" exclaimed the sick one, evidently
well content with their labors. They now
assisted him to dismoiint, and saw that he could
not use one leg or stand without help. It
must, indeed, have been a long time since he
had been off his horse. It was with great diffi-
culty that he was put into position upon his
blankets, and for some time he sat gasping for
breath and sternly repressing any other expres-
sion of pain.

Children as they were, Zintkala and Etapa
saw that this man's time was drawing near.
Presently he again asked for water, and Zint-
kala ran to fetch it. She knew now that the
man was too near to death to require food, and
she did not offer it to him.

After he had drunk again and was somewhat
revived the warrior began to talk. He wished
to tell the story of his exploits. It was for this
he had ridden, with no hope of life and in des-
perate straits, many days' journeys. Death
39Q

A WARRIOR-s PE A T H

would have been ven^ bitter to him had it come
at a time when all record of his recent deed,
must have perished with him. Now. with

.ts approach. Here were those who would carry

th'.!rT r* *"i."8«='-'y «P«t his narrative. 7o
their people. His name and fame were thus
secured among Dakotas.

"How my children." he began, "sit ye here by
me and look upon the face of a warrior. Behold
we went forth from the Leaf People six strong
soldiers. We went against the Crees to do them
mjury, and lo I only have returned thus far.
You see me. Maza Akicita. Iron Soldier of the
Sisseton-wan I am about to die and I speak
R p'u ^c'^' "*"'•• S-noke Maker. Husan.

n^Vu Q° I ^''" *•"= ^^y- '^^^^ *"« soldiers
of the Siss6ton-wan, and they are dead. There
IS none left, only me. to speak to our people
of these men. "^

"Listen, my children, last year the Crees
attacked us at the buffalo killing. They came

soldiers. They slew some of the Sisseton-wan;
shooting at them with very long-shot guns. They

fh. S? J"^"^ '"■°"^' '*'^* ''"'"^s: therefore,
they killed our men.

"These people live in a country where there is
much snow (in the far north), and thus we wished
to strike at them when their horses were weak

231

.ill

ill

TWO W ILDERNESS VOYAGERS

Therefore, when the grass came with us the chief
of the Siss6ton-wan spoke to his men. Cloud
Man spoke to his partisan Left Hand. He said,
'How, my chief soldier, choose ye five men, tried
in war, and strike the Crees at Souris River. Do
so if you will and take t^eir horses from them.
Be very cunning, and very secret, and when
their horses are poor inflict an injury upon them."
"Thus we went against the Crees, these men,
as I have said. As the grass grew we traveled
northward. We rode slowly, hunting as we
went. After a time <we passed a number of
lakes and creeks. One day we arrived at the
great bend of the Souris River. We approached
the river to look for signs of the enemy. It
appeared that there were no people at that
place. Thus we went northward, keeping among
the hills. Every day some scout went to the top
of a high hill to look for the enemy.

"We moved slowly, and as we were going
there were some mountains which met the rising
sun. Here we saw many elk. We stopped to
kill some. We were chasing these elk and so
came to the Souris River, in a valley where there
was much good grass.

"It seems that ve were very careless this one
time. We stayed at this place two suns, cooking
meat and making a feast. We danced the knife
dance and ate much good meat. Suddenly some
Crees came upon us. They were riding war

333

A W A R R 1 o R- s DEATH

ponies, and they were more than the fingers of
two hands. We ran to get our ponies which
were picketed When we were putting on our
saddles the Crees rode about us in a circle
shooting. One rode nearer than the others'
singing. This one inquired if a Dakota could
be found who would come out to fight him. He
*"« . ' apparent by signs to us.

"*Ho, my soldiers!' thus said Left Hand,
btand ye here and I will go oUt to fight this
man. Do not shoot anyone so long as this one
man comes against me.'

"Left Hand mounted his horse and rode for-
ward to fight the Cree soldier. They hastened
to meet each other. They came shooting at
each other. It appeared that they escaped, and
thus they rushed to attack, swinging the war-
club. They came very near together, and
because they made strokes at each other their
horses became frightened. So they pitched
about, dodging continually. The Crees did not
come on to attack. They ceased shooting at us.
I hey sat upon their horses looking at these men
fight.

"The men continued to fight. They sought
each to take an advantage. Left Hand fought
very cunnmgly. He continued to ride in a circle
seekmg to strike the Cree as he passed. The
Cree repeatedly rode straight forward, wishing
to force his pony upon the other. He was very

383

TWO WILDE RNESS VOYAGERS

brave, but he was not wise. He rushed his pony,
using the quirt, and so came very close. Left
Hand struck the Cree's pony upon the head,
crushing the skull, and thus the man and his
horse fell together. Left Hand leaped from the
saddle and counted a coup upon the living body.
Then he killed the Cree with his war-club.

"He was taking the man's scalp, and those
Crees which were nearer began shooting at him.
Left Hand held the scalp aloft and the Crees

shot him. .

"I said to our soldiers, 'Let us go agamst these
dogs and slay some of them. Come, I will lead
you'' Four Crees were together in one place.
They were separated. We rode very swiftly
toward these men. Seeing us making ready to
shoot they rode away, each one man by himself.
Thus they sought to bring us immediately into
fighting the Crees, who were pursuing. Our
horses were very swift. We came upon two
Crees very quickly. Husan shot one of them.
I shot one with my gun touching his body. One
of the Crees shot Bear Robe's horse, and the pur-
suers came up and killed this soldier. We were
presently surrounded, and were loadmg and fir-
ing very rapidly. All the Dakotas which were
left had buffalo guns, which made a great noise,
and the Crees were afraid to come close. They
rode around us and continued to shoot at us.
"When I saw that the Crees feared to come

384

A W A R R I O R'S

DEATH

close to us, I said, 'Ho, my soldiers, when ye
shall see the enemy ride somewhat apart, going
around us, mount very quickly and attack some
that are on one side.' We wished to make the
Crees think that we were afraid. Thus we began
withdrawing toward a hill. Some of the enemy
ran their horses very fast to intercept us. When
they were near to the hill I said to my warriors.
Now let us mount and attack them in that place
very quickly.' We leaped upon our horses and
rode swiftly to overtake the enemy. These
endeavored to escape our attack. We killed
three of them. Sees the Day was killed at this
time.

"We were now three, and seven Crees were
pursuing us. We wished to kill more of them.
Thus we stopped in a coul6e to fight. We
wished the Crees to surround us that we might
attack some apart. This they did not do, but
continued going to a high point where they sat
upon their horses. They supposed we wished to
escape, and waited to pursue us when we should
come out. We saw that they did not wish to
fight in that place, and we rode forward upon the
prairie. We dismounted and waited for the
Crees to attack.

"The Crees came slowly toward us, singing.
One of them rode in advance.

"This one shook his war-bonnet, riding his
horse to and fro before us. He was shoutinir.

335 ■

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

issi

We understood that he wished to fight one of
us. We refused to fight in this manner. Taking
good aim at the boastful one I shot him. He
fell off his horse and was dead.

"I raised the war-club. 'Come,' I cried, 'let us
count coup upon this man's body.' We rushed
very quickly upon this man and took his scalp.
When we counted coup, I struck first. Husan was
second to strike. But the Crees had shot
Smoke Maker. He was holding to his saddle.
He was very badly hit. Husan now shot one of
the Crees, who had approached near to fire at us.

"They shot Husan's horse. He was now on
foot. We stood together to fight them. They
came very close shooting at us, shouting scornful
words. They shot Smoke Maker's horse which
fell upon him. Smoke Maker was dead.

"Husan spoke to me. He said: 'Hoye, chief
warrior, you have a swift horse; ride very fast and
escape, so that one shall live to tell the Sisseton-
wan of this battle. Behold, I am wounded anu
cannot escape.' He had fallen. Seeing yet four
Crees I aimed very carefully at one and killed
the man. Having a good horse I fled toward the
river. The Crees pursued me, shooting for a
time. I rode to the river and crossed. Having
gone faster, I was further from the Crees, and
these stopped at the river's bank. They fired
some shots and I shot at them. Then the Crees
returned to their dead.

A WARRIOR'S DE A T H

"I rode a distance, crossing the river, and see-
ing some high hills I rode among them. I pick-
eted my pony and ascended the topmost of these
hills, going carefully. I lay upon this high
ground and watched the Crees. These men put
circles of stones around the dead bodies of their
warriors. They wished to keep off the wolves,
and thus doing they rode homeward to fetch a
company to bun' them.

"It was now nearly night and, seeing the Crees
go down to the river, I followed them. As soon
as It was dark I rode after them. I could not
see the Crees, but I went along the stream look-
mg for their village. It seems that these people
lived a long way off, for I came suddenly upon
the camp of the three Crees. These men had
become tired and hungry. They had taken
meat of the hordes they had killed, and so they
were cooking and eating. They had a ver
bright fire, which I saw a long way off

"I wished to kill these men. so I approached,
having picketed my horse. I walked very softly
in the grass. I came near the river and
approached keeping behind some willows.
When I had come near to their camp the Crees
were eating meat.

"As they were sitting there I rushed suddenly
upon them. One I shot immediately. I attacked
the other two with my war-club. One con-
tended with me strongly. While I was fighting

287 =0

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

t ■ la

this one, the other Cree placed his gun against
my thigh and shot me, wounding my flesh. I
struck the man with my war-club, and so killed
him. The other one, who had shot me, ran
away. He mounted his horse and escaped.
Doubtless this man was a coward.

"I took the scalp trophies. I was very tired,
contending so long. Therefore I ate some meat
and slept for a time. When I awoke it was day
and I made haste to go homeward. My wound
was troublesome in walking so I was glad when
I came to my horse. ' I would have stopped to
scalp those Crees we had slain yesterday, but I
saw horsemen approaching upon some hills;
therefore, I made haste to come homeward. I
have ridden for six suns and have eaten no meat
for three suns. Now, my children, my wound is
very bad, and I must die. Go ye, therefore,
among the Dakotas and tell them where my
bones lie, and speak to them about the death of
those soldiers who went with me."

The warrior's last sentences were spoken with
great effort and his gestures, which his sum-
moned strength had rendered animated at first,
had become feebly inexpressive. Thus, how-
ever, was finished and told to retentive ears, the
story of one of the most stubbornly contested
fights of which the Sioux annals give account.
Heroic six, they were indeed "tried soldiers"!
and according to their lights were true patriots,

238

their

•erving reprisal
country.

s^O:.eller. trained ^ '.^^e'.'blra^f .r^^^

fortune ^X^'^^Uetteul^^-'^'' ""!! ^°°'^
v« ,1,^ "^•"n aoie to tell hi3 story to this larf

Yet there w™ a teaooable doubt .heSmth,'

.."Jrr.ns.'iits's^tr''-'^^!'-

whites. Go therefoJ ! • ^* .'°'""" ''^ '^^

th» „ villages are removed, because nf

peoDe will nnt t,i, .1. ■ gone. Ihese

through ai enem^, .'"■ ^^ *=" *"'' <=''"dren
safely follow the7 Hr'^V^Mr^^^'"" y^" -^^n
I have to dTou " ' '"'' ''"'^'""' *^*' '^^ '^

TWO WI LDERNESS VOYAGERS

These were not the last words of Iron Soldier,
but he speedily grew weaker, and his breath
now and then came in gasps. He spoke occa-
sionally to give some further directions, and to
ask for water. Until sunset he sat with a rapt
expression, looV'ng out over a vast expanse of
prairie to eastward. When the world of night
fell he aroused and chanted his death song.
The children brought up wood and made a fire
that the man's spirit might not go out in dark-
ness. In the night the soldier ceased to breathe,
and they saw that hef was dead. In the place of
relatives who should mourn for him Zintkala
blackened her face with earth, and drew her
blanket close about her head. She went out
upon the hillside and cried, wailing piteously for
the death of a threat warrior.

CHAPTER XXIII
THE BIG YELLOW RiVER

Soldier. Thus L ' °''^' '^^ ^'^V °f Iron

which hisliJsiirh h" ''!. •"°"~

club, his knifeand hU ■ '^ l'*''^''- "« ^ar-
hands. "'^ •"" P'P«= they placed at his

-^tZi^lf^' '"^ ''^^ "^ had
horn and bulle" L„ch L"™'''''!' ''^^ P^^^^'
saddle, which EaSputunon';;?'''' ^^* '° ^is
order that this prxS^of T," .!,''3" ''°"«' '"
sent to his relatives ^ °''^'^'"^'' •"«»>' be

wa^-tfSnTbuTt"he'£aI "^^'^ ^^''^ ^"^
-ak for continued at SttTeT '''^ '^^ *"''

of'Jhr^Ltrtrerrth^-^^^-end
another two sun, l..u ■ ""^^ «ayed for
Upon the ricCLir^Te^Z/r^ -«•
recovered heart and streno^K ^ 1^"'' P°"'es
for the Missouri RiVer w."^ ' *"1i''«y departed
journey. *"^' "'^'^ provided for a long

PraWrs^TthfrirSfn' ^T' '"^^ «-

Wuffs of the l5^«o^ri Ther^:^''' ''''" '° ''^^

un._^l here was no mistaking

TWO WIL DERNESS VOYAGERS

the deep valley, with its broad winding ribbonof
yellow water and gray sands. The children
chattered delightedly at sight of this river which
ran through their own country, that broad belt
which still belonged to their nation. They
camped upon its banks, feeling that, at last, they
were near to the towns of their own people, and
secure from the attack of foes.

They knew that they must go down the nyer
several days' journey to arrive at the Yankton
village, where their mother's people lived. They
had plenty of cured meat left ^r this travel,
but they had been riding hard and both their
animals and themselves needed rest. They had
become much attached to their hardy ponies.
White Dog and Red Stars, and they Picketed
these animals carefully wht re there was the best
erass. It was mid-forenooi\ when they stopped,
and they passed a share of the day lying within
the shade of some cottonwood trees m refresh-

"* WheTthey awoke they sat happily for a long
time on the river bank. Looking "Pon this
familiar yellow current they felt much at home.
They had only to follow its course for a little
time to get ar ^ng their own people. Yet now
that they were, as they supposed, so near to
Yanktonais villages they were not impatient to
advance, as they would have been toward their
own Oglala town.

342

THE BIG YELLOW R I V E R

They had gained in courage and self-reliance

supply of cured meat gave them a stout feeling

tli™r '"''• J^'^ '''^ "°' "o^^ fro™

tneir camp among the cottonwoods until the fol-
lowing morning.

They then went down the stream, following its
eastern bank, for on that side lived the Yant

where bluffs came to the river's brink. Much of

if- uV^A""^ ^°"*'*'''^ =*""«"» l»««en trails.
which had been used from time immemorial by
Indians, traveling up and down the river. Here
and there they passed the sites of villages long
since abandoned. The beaten earth, the buffalo
skulls, decayed antlers of deer and elk, and old
charred tep^e stakes were additional and welcome'
evidences of a Sioux country. Even tumble-
^m ^^^I'^y'e^' fr<"n which the remains of
the dead had been removed, were cheerful sijrhts
to these returning voyagers.

Yet this was an almost gameless country
Already the buffalo had been driven far to the
westward, and they were not often seen along the
Missouri. Far up the river, too, trading ?osts
had long been established, and the trappers, voy-
ageurs. and Indian fur and robe hunters had
«npped the nver of its game animals; hence so
many abandoned villages. In a day's ride the
Children saw no more than a half-dozen fleet-

343

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

footed antelope and they saw no other animab
larger than ground-squirrels. Their own buffalo
country lay yet five or six days' hard riding
to west of the big river. But they knew that
route up and down the Smoky River, from the
Yankton village, whither they were going. They
did not know for just how many suns they must
travel down the river, but the assurance of
reaching their own people in safety was now
very great.

So they rode joyously and carelessly. On the
second day after crossing the mouth of a stream
they came upon the site of a newly vacated vil-
lage, where there was every evidence that a
large number of people had lived for a long
time, and that their removal had been under-
taken and accomplished in haste. Very few of
the tep6e stakes had been pulled. These stood
just as the covers had been stripped from them.
Lying about were old pieces of skins, rope,
articles of household furniture, odds and ends,
which ordinarily Indian families would not have
left behind.

Evidently these people had moved their vil-
lage in a hurry, and were intending to go a long
distance, and to travel fast. They had crossed
the river right ihere, too, swimming their horses
to a dry sand-bar, upon which a trail could be
distinguished from a high bank near the aban-
doned town. This was doubtless one of those

£RS I THE BIG YELLOW RI VER

This evidence of a hasty leaving gave the chil-
dren some uneasiness. Yet it was getting on
toward the buffalo killing season, and if people
heard that there were plenty of buffaloes Vlong
way off they would, of course, make haste to g^
to that country, for sometimes the people had To

buffalo, and they must start early.

This was Zintkala's reasoning. But after
jarefu examination of the ground. Etapa came
to another conclusion.

yILIU"^' f°\t''l ''"r-" ^^ "•'»• "that these
Yanktona.s f o k have heard about the war people
are talking of. and they were afraid the wWte

K^I*""" '^' »» go across the river, too. younger
brother, urged the sister. "I fear to stay on
this side lest the enemy come."
"No. let us not do so yet." replied the boy.

We can at any time swim across the river with
our horses. I do not see that anyone has been
here since these people went away. They have
been gone five suns, I think."

They passed on from this point another day's
journey upon the east side of the river. Thev
Mw nothing to alarm them, but on the second

245

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

day came upon another abandoned village, bear-
ing the same evidence that people had moved
across the river and gone off in haste. Without
doubt runners had come to these villages
recently, bearing news of great importance.

The children had again only the choice of two
conclusions. Either the soldiers of the Great
Father were coming to destroy these towns or
there were a great many buffaloes a long jour-
ney to the westward, and the herds perhaps
moving farther away,

They were filled with alarm and uneasiness.
As the country directly west was unknown to
them they felt that they had need to travel on
to the Yankton village, where their mother's
people lived, in order to find their way home-
ward. They now feared that they would find
that town also abandoned— and their anxiety
was very great.

They still kept to the east side of the river for
Etapa reasoned, with admirable judgment, that
if an enemy were surely coming to attack the
Indians of those towns, they would at once cross
the river and take up their trails. Therefore
the voyagers were already traveling upon the
safest side.

On the third day, at near noon, they found
themselves upon a high bluff looking down upon
a country which they suddenly recognized as
familiar. This was the country of the Yank-

THE BIG YELLOW RIV ER

Hats and hill slopes, on both sides the river for

whir"^'''[^''u"'"^^ '««' somescattered a^[;Ss
whch should be grazing. There were „on?to
be seen. Nor was there any smoke curling above

the stretch of river bars and open valley.

They are gone," .aid Etapa. "Thev are
Rone," echoed Zintkala. ana they turied'^thS
faces away from each other.

a*r

CHAPTER XXIV

THE BOAT WHICH WAS NOT STRAIGHT
TONGUE'S

The little voyagers had told each other that
perhaps they should find the Yaiiktons and
Santees gone from *heir village. Nevertheless,
each felt an overwhelming sense of disappomt-
ment when the fact of removal was made appar-
ent They rode down the bluffs, along the
valley, and into the timber without speaking.
Doubtless the lump of homesickness and desola-
tion which each of these children was trymg to
swallow was quite as big and ached quite as hard
as though they had been German, trench or

^ When they reached the deserted village

KTOunds they sat for a time upon their ponies.

looking at the skeleton tepfees, the empty pony

corrals, the familiar trees, the well trodden grass

plats and shady places, where they had played

with their young relatives. They neither spoke

to nor looked at each other. They rode slowly

and silently down the river to an old swimming

ford, where their trail showed that the Yanktons

had crossed some days since. . , u

Here the voyagers stripped to the breecn-

BOAT NOT STRAIGHT TONGUE'S

clout, tied all their clothing and effects securely
on top of their blanket saddles, and drove their
ponies into the current. They swam behind,
holding to the animals' tails, and thus guided
their course. After they had swam and floated
with the current for half a mile or so, they
reached shallow water and waded out upon a
bar of dry sand which extended in a pointed neck
into the current. This long shifting bar the
Yanktons and Santees had used many years for
a landing in crossing to the west. In its sand
they were also obliged to travel up stream again
a considerable distance to gain ascent of the
bluff bank on that side.

Upon this war, near the point, Etapa and Zint-
kala stopped to dry and rub their clothes, which,
as their saddles were low, had been wetted more
or less. Their ponies, with dragging picket
ropes, stood in the sand aind lazily switched at
occasional flies. It takes a long time to dry buck-
skins properly. They need to be rubbed vigor-
ously to keep the skins from shrinking and
becoming rough and uncomfortable to wear.
The children had been engaged in this work for
some time when they heard a noise which sud-
denly filled them with excitement. Chuff!
Chuff! Chuff! It was the hoarse grumbling
cough of a river steamer! These sounds came
from up the river, and Zintkala and Etapa leaped
to their feet and clapped their hands joyfully
348

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

"Straight Tongue's boat! Straight Tongue's
boat 'shouted the delighted Uttle Sioux. They
„,ade haste to put on their «=lot5«^- J^^/^^^'gy
steamer they had ever seen had stopped the
S before to leave at the Yankton village a
^n wh^m all the Dakotas. who knew h.m. loved.
?he band" whom he had visited had g.ven h.m

the name of Straight Tongue .• ^'-'^I"?* *^\>;^^
found that his words were true. ?nd that he kept
his promises. This man was indeed the true
friend of Indians, and a «»i»>«n?^ . ''*'° f "J
evemhing within his power to assist hese poor
people in their struggles to obtain jus e^
LmUing he was able « do-tho"gh bu^ h^le
-here and there to stay the tide of ruthless and
lawless invasion which overwhelmed them.

Zintkala and Etapa knew th« man^d
better rtiU.he knew them as the children of Fire
Soud of the Oglalas. Once, when they had been
Sg the Yanktons. Straight Tongue had
stayed among these Indians a number of suns
Kat had'brought him up the r^^^.ni^^
come down to take him away. He had tallcea
Teh with the people, and th^ had be- -7
sorry to see the good man go. They wouia
dadlv have kept him with them.
^ While the brother and sister were at the mis-
sion school, also. Straight Tongue hac visited
S pl^Vhkdspol^^

■ ♦Thi»ni«nw«.Btoh«.pH.l'. WUlRplc.

BOAT NOT STRAIGHT TONGUE'S

kala and Etapa. He had remembered their
names and had taken each by the hand.

As these children had seen but the one steam-
boat—which was very mysterious and wonderful
—they had supposed there was but one such, and
that was Straight Tongue's. They had always
spoken of this boat as Taku-wakan-tanka, (some-
thing-mysteriously-wonderful).

They stood out upon the bar near to the
water's edge, that they might easily be seen when
the boat should pass. They hoped that it would
come near enough so that Straight Tongue
would see them, and that he would wish to
inquire whither the Dakotas of the village were
gone. Or, they thought, it might be that
Straight Tongue knew this, even that he had
sent these people away, and could tell where
they were. This good man spoke their lan-
guage, and they wished very much that he would
land his boat there. He could, no doubt, tell
them whether the Great Father's soldiers were
coming. Thus they reasoned with hope and joy.

"Brother, I think Straight Tongue will surely
see us," said Zintkala. "Do you think he will
be in the boat tepee? He will surely remember
the Yanktons and come out to see them?"

"Straight Tongue's boat is coming very fast—
1 do not see him— see what a great smoke he is
making," answered Etapa, with excitement.

Absorbed in the wonder of this coughing,

361

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

churning, smoking vessel the little voyagers
stood, all eyes and ears- until suddenly the ranks
of wood upon its fore-deck swarmed with men,
having guns in their hands, as they could see by
the glint of the sun upon the barrels. These
men immediately began to shoot and yell.

Not until they saw the water spattering in
their front and heard the whining yeun!—yeun!—
yeun! of bullets passing overhead did the aston-
ished children realize that the men upon that
boat— Straight Tongpe's boat! — were shooting at
them. When convinced they were terribly fright-
ened, but certain there had been some dreadful
mistake. They looked wildly about for some
avenue of escape. There was none, for the flat
sand-bar was raised scarcely a foot above the
water's edge. Seeing their hopeless situation
the voyagers waved their arms in frantic appeal.
They shouted their names— the name of their
father. They called to Straight Tongue, "Do
not shoot at us!"

Their appeals were answered by a storm of
shots. Hoping against hope, that when the boat
came nearer, their signals and cries would reach
friendly or pitying ears, the little Sioux took
refuge behind their ponies.

Still thinking Straight Tongue's men were
shooting by mistake, they continued to wave
their arms above their heads. They shouted
piteous appeals. "No shoot! No shoot!" they

283

BOAT NOT STRAIGHT TONGUE'S

"Hoi colal cola!" (friends!

cried in English,
friends!).

The boat had now come within more accurate
ZnL^ *?*'%P°°^ "^^ ^'"'=''«=n dead and
&r T ^^ ^'"- "'^ '■'"' ''^'''nd his sister's
horse, and the two redoubled their frantic hand-
wavings and shouted appeals for pity

unSnT*"''' "!f "~t ^'"'^'"^ crowd-had climbed
upon the wood ranks. In wild excitement these

Jrearms't"^ "''' "''^^' '^^°'^^"' *» -«« "*
tn^f/. J., *" '"^ 'P°" ^o' '''e™. this oppor-
tunity to k,Il a couple of hated redskins.

iSt^nlhesSr'^'^ '"'' "'""^^'^ ---"V

thJrhJiJ^*'-'"'^^^" "**^ '»"•«'" holding up
their hands in vain appeal. Half way across the
bar Zintkala fell. Etapa reached the shal!
Z T^ " J^l ''^^ f™-" -here they
ltd ""^ """« •''"'^•^'^ ^*-« down";

Wild and savage whoops and cheers greeted
he httle giri's fall and these were repeated wh«
itnTh^"''^''^^ but. seeing his black head move
crTwl f^r ''^ *« he attempted to swim or
craw to deeper water, the boat's pitiless crew
^sailed him with a fresh storm of bullets The!
«l'Lf ' "l'"u °^ '^^ ^^*""«' demanded
void of heart, for the steamer drew rapidly away

TWO WILD ERNESS VOYAGERS

toward the opposite bank of the river and passed
beyond bullet range.

Etapa. in sudden fear lest the boat shou d
round the bar. and thus the shooters should
attack him from that side, retreated to the saiJd.
He looked fearfully after the steamer until it
had passed around a bend and out of sight. He
had supposed his sister was dead, having seen
her fall, but, upon turning to the bar again, he
saw her sitting upqn the sand with her hands
clasping her head. With a joyful cry the boy
ran toward her. ,

"Hoye, Tank6," he shouted. _ It appears the
wa^cunpi have not killed you!"

Zintkala did not answer nor appear to hear
him until the boy ran to her, shouting her name
in great anxiety. As he came up the little girl
lifted a blood-streaked face and gazed at him
dazedly for a moment. A bullet had grazed her
head, cutting the skin upon her temple, and joy-
fully the boy saw that her hurt was neither
mortal nor very dangerous. . . •„

He ran to her dead pony, secuied her tin bMin
and fetched it to her filled with water. She had
•now begun to realize what had happened, bhe
bathed her bloody face and hands and so col-
lected her senses and came fully to herself.

Her eyes turned toward her fallen pony.
"Why did Straight Tongue's men kill our
horses?" she wailed, beginning to cry.

The bo/s eyes followed hers to th- ^. a
pomes, and he strumrled with h^ a i 1'*.''
ing of loss But hZ^ ? . ' <lesolate fee -

S-th"? ^" ''"^ - 3ie^'; ^ ;r"i?

TeS!" *''^' ""^ "^"^ ^'^'y «-'-» to stand -thus
and S L""'** '''"'^ ''^ *°""'l «^ed to bleed

"»k« ,:^' "'"' ""' ""' k^'S.ts
""IS; XhS'ins.'kt ,s ^i

such DiVr*.c «* u . 7 • ^°'"'^r> the basin and
>ucn pieces of buckskin as thev had „c»^ *

uwjct ana all cumbersome articlfe Tk

388

CHAPTER XXV
A LONG TRAIL

War is far-reaching in its consequences and
often lays its unsparing hand upon the innocent.
Our civil strife for the liberation of slaves set in
motion, to the farthest frontiers, those native
tribes, whom, on actount of coveting their vast
possessions, we have unceasingly robbed and
oppressed and enslaved, and thousands of whom
we hold to-day, the innocent with the guilty, as
half-starved prisoners of war.

When we struggled, brother against brother,
these tribes shifted ground, eagerly watching to
strike at the hosts of invasion when opportunity
should offer, and also to inflict injury upon the
ancient enemies of their kind.

The story of the little voyagers must have
ended at the Yankton village had not war made
for them, of their own country, a wilderness
more bewildering and more dangerous than even
the vast woods of the northland. They might
have followed the Yanktons but for the loss of
their ponies. On foot, however, there could be
but little chance of overtaking these people
before the rains or the trampling herds of buffalo
should obliterate their trail. There was no cer-
tainty in the minds of these Sioux children that
ase

S5d.lt"'?hev"l- '; °^^'""" their town, but.
the other.' "" '"'^ "''' '° ''•''«= 'his fear from

after day wi h „W.iv k^" '''«=y ^oHowed day

they chYtteTeJ ^^^ whe:"'"'\'"'' """^
point out the exa« ^nn» ***""=\*>'- they could
had been pitched L?h- ''^"'^ '''•=''■ *'^" '«P*e
the year Eo~ n "^ '^^''tward journey of

forked stake, whh ? w'!, '"'" ."'•^^ ^"""'^ the

of the crot'rCL etei^'^te'hSf " """^
boil, standinff exactly =. .i, ."^ttle had hung to

them when"!hrha!,^C^;,e\li- \t 'eft
from the cross-piece "*' P*>*

«> much at hom^ f^l ^''ey had not felt

TWO WI LDERNESS VOYAGERS

the point indicated. He al»<>"'»«ll"«\«'^ °!^'
fireTso that there appeared to be quite a lai»e
S of people about. When he returned to
their secluded nook the two were very happy •
Th%"poke often of the folk, camped about
them and whither they were going. It .eemed
tharsomcbody had come into the village saymg
there were a great many buffaloes to west-
warf%nd so thTpeople were alMedm« -^y
good indeed, and they were all going to the kll^
STmen, women and children. There would be
much^todo in the morning in packing the trayo.s
S getting ready for the start, but at th.s tune
the people were all sitting in front of the.r
tepfces. talking and smokmg.

^t High Wolfs wife's tep6e there are some
peopk tilling stories." said Zint^*!^ after a
?me "I heard some one laugh because a
foolish one got the PorcjiP'nes needles in
his fingers. He supposed that he had caught a

"'Sapa laughed. "I do not know that story."
he said. "I would like to hear those people
talk. Did you hear the story a man on th.s
sSwas telLg about Iktomi? They were talk-
ing. sitting at the fire of Standmg Buffalo s

'^"T did not hear that story, younger brother."
said Zintkala. "pray do tell it to me.
And so Etapa told about:

2BS

LONG

TRAIL

^^ IKTOMI AND THE MICE

One time IktomiMMs walking in the long
grass. He was very tired, and as he jiked
he was wishing to be entertained. Siu!;!. nly
this one thus desiring heard very '. a.uia)
music. This music was very mys.t. ...s sa^)
wonderful, and Iktomi was astonish -.<'. Tiie
voices of many strange people ; nging "hv.
wid very soft he heard everywhere. Smu ••
times it appeared that these people were n
the sky, and then Iktomi thought surely l-y
were in the grass, and then he said: 'Certainly
they are on the water."

"He became very much confused, listening to
these strange people. 'Ho,' said Iktomi. 'this is
indeed mysterious. Some one has surely made
a great medicine. I will discover about this. If
I can find this medicine I shall sing very accept-
ably indeed. I shall marry the daughter of a
nch person, who will not be able to resist this
singling.'

"Because he was very ugly to look ufon no
young woman would marry Iktomi. Thus he
was anxious to learn the secret of this wonderful
singing.

''He ran about in the grass. He stopped often
to listen. No one came to tell Iktomi about this
singing. Once Iktomi ran, looking upward. He
expected to see some people in the clouds. He
prayed to the clouds, 'Oh6-oh6, Mahpiya-ia,
ssa

TWO WILDE RNESS VOYAGERS

teach me this beautiful singing and I will do
your bidding. Thirty pieces of skin I will cut
from my arm when I am arrived at home.'

"Then as he ran, thus looking upward, Iktomi
fell over something.

"'He-he-he!' cried Iktomi, 'now I have hurt
myself upon this worthless buffalo skull.' Iktomi
sat groaning— 'Yuh-huh! winswi! this is indeed

very bad.'

"Suddenly he heard wonderful singing— many
voices singing very' fine came out of the buffalo

skull. , ^

" 'Oho,' said Iktomi, 'it seems that these myste-
rious ones, after all, are in this old buffalo skull.'
Iktomi made a light of some dry grass and
looked in at the large hole in tie back of this
skull. It was very dark in there, but the people
were much disturbed. There were mice dancing
and singing in there. They cried with very fine
voices, 'Do go away, Iktomi. Do not bother us,
for we wish to finish our dance.'

"Nevertheless, Iktomi, wishing to see these
people, thrust his head in at the larger opening,
and the mice ran out of the smaller holes,
very much frightened. Thus Iktomi's head
became fast inside the buffalo skull. He cou d
not remove it. So he arose wearing this old
skull. He cried out with fear because his eyes
were in darkness.
" 'O good spirits,' cried Iktomi, 'assist ye me to

360

A LONG TRAI L

get out of this evil place!' But no one came to
help Iktomi; therefore he ran, crying for assist-
ance. He came to the river, where there were
many trees. Iktomi wished to find some water
for he was very thirsty, having run about and
cned a p^eat deal.

"He ran against a tree. 'What tree is this?"
Iktomi asked this one. 'I am the oak tree,' said
this one. 'O yes, I know you,' said Iktomi. 'You
stand apart somewhat from the water.'

"Iktomi ran forward again. He came against
another tree. 'What tree is this?' Iktomi asked
this one. 'I am the elm,' said this one. 'O yes,'
said Iktomi, 'I know you. You stand, indeed,
quite near to the water.'

"Iktomi ran forward. Yet another tree stood
in the way. This tree bruised Iktomi. 'He-he-he!'
bawled Iktomi, 'now indeed I have lost some
pieces of my skin. What tree has done this to
me?' 'I am the cottonwood,' said this one.
Why do you run thus carelessly, seeing that I
stand in this place?'

"'Oho,' said Iktomi, 'I know you. You stand
very near to the water. Now I shall truly
quench my thirst.'

"So Iktomi ran quickly and suddenly he fell
head downward into a muddy stream, which ran
by there. Iktomi's head was fast in the bottom
of this stream. He was drowning. Pehan, the
crane, came by that place. He was wading and

861

TWO WILDERNE SS VOYAGERS

he wished to find some fat snails. Pehan was
thus looking into the water when Iktomi's great
toe appeared moving. Iktomi's moccasin was
torn; therefore, his toe was seen moving.

"Pehan seized Iktomi's great toe and pulled
very hard. He drew Iktomi out of the stream,
leaving the buffalo skull in the mud. Iktomi ran
homeward. His face was bleeding and very
muddy."

The sister was pleased with this story. She
smiled with a rapt, far-away expression, which
the flickering firelight converted into a look of
most flattering attention.

"It appears, older sister," said Etapa,"that you
like to hear stories of Ikto'."

"Yes, indeed, younger brother," she mur-
mured. "Who does not?"

So Etapa again told a story of

IKTOMI AND THE NIGHT-JAR

"Once Iktomi wished very much to be a night-
jar. He wished to dart downward, holding his
wings so," and the mimic sprang lightly to his
feet and ran forward several steps with a
swooping motion and with his arms akimbo.

"Iktomi felt deeply about this. He went about
watching the night-jars. 'Gh-o-o-o-o-g!' said the
night-jars. They darted upward and soared
aloft very prettily.

362

LONG

TRAIL

" 'O some mysterious one, do make me a night-
jar. I Wish to dart downward, making a loud
noise with my mouth,' said Iktomi.

He cried aloud and often to the night-jars.
One of these birds heard Iktomi speakinir.
1 his one took pity on Iktomi.

" 'Thus I understand.' said this one, 'you wish
to be a night-jar. that you wish to dart down-
ward, thus. Gh-o-o-o-gl' said the night-jar."

1 he mimic was upon his feet yet. He darted
to and fro, imitating the movements of the
birds with lively gestures. One not seeing him
and understanding would have thought thatsev-
eral crazy night-jars were trying to outdo each
other with their outlandish noises.

'"Gh-o-o-o-g! gh-o-o-o-o-g!' said this night-jar.
Come ye thus, Iktomi. Lie here upon your back
upon this rock-gh-o-OK)-g. I will make a great

wind -gh-o-o-o-g - gh-o-o-o-g-ek-kek, ka-a-a-
ak. said the n.ght-jar. 'Thus the wind shall go
into you gh-o-o-o-g,' said the night-jar. 'Gh^)-

M."?u~ • T^f ^'^ '^'"^^ * 8^"t ^'nd. Iktomi
felt this wind blowing all about him. Suddenly
he felt himself borne aloft. 'Gh-o-o-o-g ek-kek
ka-a-a-ak,' said Iktomi; and thus, they say, he
became a night-jar." '

This* story, because of its mimicry, was very
amusing and, though she had often heard it. Zint-
Iwla laughed delightedly.

388

TWO WILDERNES S VOYAGERS

The little voyagers did not leave this camp
until long after sunrise in the morning. It was
with difficulty they could tear themselves away,
and, while they were still within range, they
turned more than once to look back at the fringe
of willows which marked the spot where a
mother's kettle had hung.

Day after day they followed the river's course
across the prairie country— a prairie of rich
grasses and flowqrs, abounding in small life.
There was no lack of food, edible roots, ground-
squirrels, young grouse, curlews and river birds
and wild currants in abundance. A native boy
with bow and arrow, and a string for snare, must
indeed have been a shiftless lad to have gone
hiingry in this country in the summer time. But
Zintkala did her share in the providing. She
had a positive genius for discovering things good
to eat, and so, upon the whole, the voyagers
lived rather luxuriously. Now and then they
met with elk, deer or antelope, but Etapa was
not strong enough to drive an arrow through
one of these large animals, and, as he now had
but five of the Cree arrows left, he could not
afford to risk losing them. In Iron Soldier's
ammunition pouch, also, there were not many
bullets, and in his horn but little powder. His
gun, which the boy secretly hoped might finally
become his own property, was of a peculiar
model. The weapon known in the '50's as the
3M

A LONG TRAIL

"buffalo gun" was made especially for the robe
hunter, and was designed for ho«eback hunting.
It had an ordinary rifle, or rather musket, breech
and stock, but the barrel was usuafly but four-
rw'S^''Tf "k i"^^^' 5«^«^'l«d sixteen inches
m length. I had no sights-the humer simply
ran his eye along the smooth, round bairel-aad
was intended chiefly for single hand use when
the horseman was in swift pursuit of buffalo or
elk. However, the gun was a strong shooter
carrying but twelve bullets to the pound, and
was effective when carefully aimed at long rknge
This weapon was almost as noisy as a small cL-
non, and was also expensive to use where bullets
were accounted as currency.

Etapa regarded this gun with awe, and carried
It proudly. Only the great hunters amo.g his
people were able to afford such guns, and when
Zmtkala, longing for a piece of juicy venison,
would urge him to shoot at elk or deer, the boy
would answer. "Whi, Tanke! the gun of Iron
boldier makes a very great noise. Thus people
a long way off might hear me shooting and so
the enemy would come to take us."
To tell the truth, the boy was somewhat fear-

hnwL .K^ 't "".T"^"' ^ «^"' "^^'""^ sometimes
bruised the shoulder, and with the manner of
loading of which he was not well acquainted.

ually left the rich green of the fertile prairies
aes

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

behind them, and climbed the plateau of the
arid plains, into the country of sagebush, cactus
and buffalo grass; but they were still travers-
ing a land of plenty; the ground-squirrels were
yet abundant, and there were sage hens, grouse
and marmots in great numbers. Now and then,
too, a fat badger, wandering away from its
burrow, was overtaken and pierced with an
arrow. These furnished juicy meat, and the oil
ran down the browta chins of the voyagers as
they stuffed themselves to repletion.

Having outworn their moccasins, and with no
buckskins to replace them, the children were
now forced to go with bare feet. Though their
soles were toughened by long travel, they were
not impervious to the keen spines of the cactus
and their way was sometimes difficult and
painful.

366

CHAPTER XXVI
THE VALLEY OF DESOLATION
One morning the little voyagers came sud-
denly upon the mouth of a creek, which was a
favonte resort of the Oglalas in the seasoos rf
small fruits and of plums. The childr«. on
account of extreme heat, had been travel^ erf

far they had advanced into the hewt of their

Tg^oTr ^''"' *" '"' "" '^''«'-' '-'•-
"Hoye, Tank6!" he shouted explosively. "Here

rndell*" " T '""u**^ '*"= W*kP*l» 'here we
mdeed used to gather plums. Ya-la! Ya-lal"

Stkal/? ,7''°°P'"« »° the crest of a low bluff.

of etti:!!?."^'' ""'""'^^'"«- "- - '^ -•»-•

thS!!''* !r", "*" h^hlands there burst upon
them, in the clear atmosphere, familiar sights on
every hand. Upon their left was a gray mound
of neutral tmt which they knew as the Hill of
thePorcupme. Upon their right, to north and
west, there stretched, in dark, irregular outlines,
the wonder country of the Mini-skanskan, or
god-waters, the sacred ground of the Black
"•lis. In their front there extended the

•6T

TWO WIL DERNESS VOYAGERS

ragged-edged tablelands of the upper Smoky
River, lying like a dense and convoluted cloud
along the horiiun.

Joy convulse!^ the little voyagers. They
stretched out *' d' anns to this beloved land
and, with str-i uang eyes, cried to their people
that they, Zintuala and Etapa,were indeed com-
ing back to them.

"Ina! Ina! Atfel At6! We are coming!
We are coming! Etapa— Zintkala— your son—
your daughterl" they cried, with the joy of home
arrival already in their hearts. It seemed to
them that the beloved mother and father whose
names they shouted must surely hear their
voices and that these anxious ones would hasten
to meet them.

Only one long day's march with the travois lay
between them and the tep6es of their people.
After the first transports of discovery, in which
their eyes drank in every detail of the familiar
land, the fierce home hunger gripped their
hearts, and they v/ere instantly impatient of
everything which could impede their progress.

With one accord they ran back to the plum
thicket, and there, in a secure place of hiding
deposited their blankets, the carcajou skin, the
gun and accoutrements of Iron Soldier, every
article they had carried save the light bow and
arrows of the boy. They divided these, Zint-
kala carrying the five arrows, Etapa the bow in

208

THE VALLEY OF DESO LATION

hand. ThcM light weajions, as they held them,
were rather a help than a hindrance in run-
ning.

Thus equipped for speed they set out going at
a swift trot across the open plain. They had a
perfect guide in a certain bold prominence of
the Smolcy River b . jks. This clpud-touching
bluff was but a half-hour's walk from the Oglala
village and its crest was the lookout point of
scouts who watched for the appearance of buffa-
loes, of enemies or strangers, or of parties
returning from the chase.

Ardently the little voyagers hoped that keen
eyes upon that bluff, toward night, would discern
their owM approach and at a great distance, and
that some one with ponies would come out to
meet them. In all their long durance they had
never so burned with impatience.

On aad on they ran. With eight hundred
nute ot successful journeying behind them, with
periect health and unconquerable wills, their
nwides had grown to a hardihood of endurance
which w^ aothing less than astonishing.

SimiJe ck1dre« in nrind and heart, innocent
» the birds and animals of their wilderness, they
liaei with these, attained the -supreme command
of those forces of body and brain which make
te Che -Survival of r^t fittest." Truth compels
^ admiSHon. however, that they were not, at
t»s tiae, as enticing in appearance as most of
aw

TWO W ILDERNESS VOYAGERS

the wild things of their wilderneti. They had
lost 'Lizbet's comb in crossing the Missouri and
their hair hung in tangled, unkempt braids.
Their buckskins were worn, torn and dirty, their
leggins in tatters. But they had kept their
bodies clean, as healthy Indian children always
do where there is water to swim in.

The soles of their feet had become toughened
by barefoot travel until only the keener spines
of the cactus would penetrate them. Bristling
patches of these needle points they avoided with
a sub-conscious dexterity, as they ran. They
had eyes for the ground, although their gaze
was fixed with intent and passionate longing
upon a certain sharp projection against the south-
western horizon.

Noon came and found them still going at a
swinging trot. They had stopped but once to
drink sparingly— they knew better than to fill
themselves with water— at a small stream. They
were again burning with thirst when they came
upon a little creek which marked the longer half
of their run. Joyously they halted here to drink
water— a few swallows at a time— to rest, and
finally to eat s jme hard and tasteless strips of
dried meat which they had saved with the provi-
dence (I say it advisedly) of their kind, for an
emergency.

This rest and refreshment revived them. Like
a pair of tireless foxes they were up and off

270

THE VALLEY OF DESOLATIO N

again. And now as they came upon the hiah-
lands their goal, in a shiiJlmer of Z 4diaS
loomed lar^e and specter-like against the sky

u T'°, ''*'"" ""^ °^ """ning and thev
could plainly see the pine trees upon the breaks
opposite the Oglala town. '"c oreaks

^.eii?'"^"''*""•^:^*""^• '•'«''■ "Pidly pounding
hearts beat to this rhythm, and their muscle!
g«w more pliant their feet lighter as they sped
Their eyes sought the crest of the hill of look-
out for the figure of a lone watcher. Surely

seen him making signals. But they did not
pause to consider or to ask each other questions
They were too near to home. In their eager
drummmg hearts there was no room for douks

. Not until they had rushed over the crest of a
nse which commanded a wide view of the river
valley did they realize to what vain purpose "hey
had run so far though so tirelessly. ^

Upon all the river's reach which lay before

hen, there were to be seen no tep^es.L gS

■ng ponies, no signs of life. The Oglalas were

gone, ^d ^i^^^ jh^i^ ^^^^^^^^ villagfsite bbck

u17:k ^°f r''' "^^'"^ ominous eyTs of inquiry
upon the bleaching, shredded bones of theh^
abandoned camp. '

Who shall describe the desolation of those
young souls? My pen cannot attempt the t^k

371

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TWO WILDERN ESS VOYAGERS

With a wild home hunger in their faces, with
black despair in their hearts, they ran forward
with arms outstretched in piteous yearning.
"Ina! Ina! At6! Ate!" They fell upon the
sacred ground, once sheltered by a mother's
tepee, and buried their faces in the earth.

Thus they lay, with heartbroken cries and
bitter wailings, mingling their tears with the
dust. And thus night found them, exhausted
with weeping, and merciful sleep descended and
clothed them wit]ti unconsciousness.

Naturally there came reaction to their healthy
natures in the morning. Zintkala was first to
awake, opening her eyes at the touch of the
sun's rays upon their lids. She looked about her
in bewilderment. She had been dreaming and
was playing within her mother's tepee with all
the cheerful sounds of an Oglala camp in her
ears. The rude call to reality, to the drear pros-
pect of the deserted valley, like the stroke of a
whip, wrenched a cry of pain from her lips.
Etapa leaped to his feet in alarm, and stared
about him for an instant in bewilderment. Then
he, too, realized where he was. But his stomach
was empty and hunger instantly asserted a claim
paramount to that of grief.

"Hoye, Tanke," he cried, "let us at once go
back to the village of the pispiza, that we may
have good meat to eat. Also we must get our
blankets and the gun of Iron Soldier. I thmk

273

bo;"toutt 'ThTwiluto r •" ^^^"^"^^ ^''^
which they have taken t u^ ""^"y P°"'«
shall thus LaTnbeSrhnr u" """-"y- ^e

itiirrr^^ '^-or„i„raro&c"

that their peoDkh^^ "T ^ ^^ ^^'^ ^^^"'^'^
west, they were certn T ^ ^"^ '° '^^ "°«'^-
children Ld bVertTk7„-tS ^11^:7" ^"'^
pursuit of the buffaloes whch they had T""

lo ::::: '°"f r ^"^ ^' "^is stison^' ""^^

the p ut's aSn ''u "^ '"^^ ^^ ^'^ ^''^ "-^ of

^^.ojT'the^--^^;---

Hunter approached th^e^utsSs of'tt c~^

TWO WILDE RNESS VOYAGERS

nity with great caution, creeping for a long dis-
tance behind sage bushes. A brace of fat
marmots were his reward, and these, roasted
over a fire of buffalo chips, made a savory break-
fast for the famished ones.

They reached the creek of the plums at noon
the next day, secured their cached effects and
returned as leisurely to the abandoned camp of
their people.

ar*

CHAPTER XXVII

"SCILI! SCILI!"

Among the breaks at the mouth of a walled
cafion where a small brook trickled through a

slt^of Th™ r^ •" '}'' ''''"^■"''^- opposite Ae
«te of their deserted village, the little Sioux

sTorl 7 """P: '^•'"'■^ ^" shelter from
tt/rr. K / ^""J"8r rock and their retreat was
hidden by a dense fringe of low scrub pine.

Ihere was only one open way of ingress or
egress and from their elevated niche they could
If awake, hear or see the approach of any unwary
creatures. At their rear there was a precipitous
crevasse which led, in a tortuous and'^somewha
perilous ascent, to the heights above. Thus
with the judgment of wild things, they chose a
air for their hiding. They did not build fires i*
his place When they wished to cook meat the?
crossed the river valley and used the stone
covered fire-hole of their mother's tepTe!

Every morning they took the precaution of
mounting to the crest of the butte upon the
ableland, where they could scan leagues of sur'

Often'"tL'°r"''^ ^r/'«"^ °^ ^"^"d« or foes.
Often they lingered for an hour or two upon

rarefied atmosphere and enjoying the keen sense

375

i i:'ii

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

of exhilaration which a great height inspires.
The prospect from this outlook was indeed mag-
nificent. To the north there lay, at a depression
of more than one thousand feet, sixty miles of
undulating plains, stretching to black elevations
of pine-clad hills. Looking down upon this
country the eye could trace, for many leagues,
the winding courses of timber-fringed creeks.
In that marvelous atmosphere single trees stood,
clearly defined, at ,the limit of a day's journey.
To south and west of the butte, closely
touching its elevations at points, a high table-
land extended to the valley of the Running
Water. It would have been a shrewd enemy
indeed who could have cr)ssed this country
unobserved when they were on the butte.

From this point of vantage the liule voyagers
watched, with vivid interest, the now gathering
herds of antelope, bands of elk, and the move-
ments of black-tail deer going in and out of the
coulee below. All these creatures seemed to
realize fully that the country was cleared of its
hunters. Their movements were leisurely, nat-
ural and restful. Their plentiful numbers and
their unsuspicious attitudes fired Etapa with a
desire to kill one of those big elks, or at least a
fine black-tail buck.

One morning, just as they had mounted to the
crest of the highlands, the children came face to
face with an antlered bull about to descend into

276

1^ I "^ ^ ^ L I, S C I L I~

the cafion As this big fat elk, at a few • -^ces
d.su„t wheeled to trot away. Etapa dr. h
bow The excited lad would surely ve
aunched an arrow into the animal's flank and

sTster"'7°V'l ''T '°' '''' ^'^ action of the
sister. Z:ntkala leaped forward, caught the
shooters arm and so deflected the ;haftfromt
aim. She ran quickly after the arrow that Etaoa
might not scold her. P*

Seeing that, after all, he was not displeased
t\:::'' her mind freely on returning tht'

"That was very bad indeed, brother, to shoot
at henaka when you could only wound him "

do tedis ?' " r ^'^"^ ^•'^^ ^ •'-^- ^h^d
arrows!" "^ '"^'"'"^ ■'"'" """^ '°^i"g hi«

vo?nol"S- '^^ ^^' '" P'-«^"d^d surprise, "do
fl?r T,, u"?"", "^ "'•°^ *o"ld have gone
through hehaka's two skins?"
;;That is foolish talk," replied the sister flatly.

Shaft touched his fingers. He aimed straight
out of' ."k '" ^^ '^^ "'•™^- I' P-^^^d nearfy
ZL"^fu^'''r't'^'''''^ ^y ^ ^'iff breeze!

"Now that was indeed careless," grieved the
boy. when he had recovered the usdess shift

277 '

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

and seeing him thus repentant, Zintkala said
nothing. "I will save the tooth," said Etapa.
"See, sister, only the wood is broken. I have
only four of the Cree arrows left," he added,
sorrowfully. "I must now be very careful lest
they be lost."

"Why do you not use the gun of Iron Soldier,
seeing that you wish to kill some large animals?"
Zintkala asked. "I do not see that there are
any people in thi^ country who will hear you
shoot."

"Whi! Tanke! That is what I will do," cried
the boy. "It was very silly that I did not bring
that gun this morning. Only think, I could have
sent a bullet — z-z-z-z zani straight through that
bull."

"Then," admitted the sister, "we could have
some buckskin for moccasins."

"Always after this I will carry the gun," Etapa
declared, never doubting that he should meet
another bull at that same place.

Upon returning to their camp, Etapa examined
the buffalo gun for the hundredth time — very
carefully. There was no ramrod attached, as
these guns were usually loaded in the saddle
while the hunter's horse was in motion, and a
rammer could not be used.

The horseman carried his powder in a gradu-
ated horn or flask, the mouth of which would fit
the muzzle of his weapon. When the powder

278

was m he took a wet bullet from his mouth
slipped .t into the smooth-bore op^Lg a^d
nltd ^^.^T'°'^ heavily upon'his s^Lddk
tT K ^^T ^^ P"' * percussion cap upon is
tube as best he could and was ready for action

a ^STe^^"''"'"!!'"'^'^ ^ ^^"^ ramrod C
a piece of iron-wood. Then as Iron Soldier^

powderhorn had no charger attached he ^eS
at a proper amount of powder, pouring ifout In
the hollow of his hand. He knew thfgun 4as
not loaded, for he had tested it, as he had sren
Indian hunters do, by raising the hammer ar"
blowing through barrel and tube. There was ^
box of caps in Iron Soldier's bullet pouch and
so-for an Indian boy has not the self-assurance
to? P^'^^»- '^••"h-s-Etapa foundThe K
mg of a sacred-iron" not so formidable a task as

the fef t'aKad "VT '" '^"' ^^'^ P-"' «
"Siste'r ?1, "° ''"'^ P^''^'^«°^ »»■« exploit.

Of Iroi SnIH- " r'u* «^'^*' "^^'e^ '" the gun
Tf mn. ' .''^ dragged. "Now let uslee

hi^eU °^T^"ferizzly bear) will dare to show
himself at these pines. Huh! I think La^
not care to have a hole made in Ls tad the"!
fore he does not appear."
The sister, who was mending a fresh rent in

l^t^tirswr"'' "•''•^ '^'^ paraded his'gun
with the swaggering airs of a young hunter

i he next morning he carried the weaoon on

their trip to the butte. but they met no bulMk

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

at the head of the cafion trail. On their way
down, however, and near the foot of the cafion,
a half grown bear cub suddenly reared itself,
with a grunt of surprise, among some low bushes
close beside their path.

In frantic hasto the plucky young hunter
cocked and leveled his weapon. The gun
exploded with a roar which echoed like a clap
of thunder through all the gulches. The boy
turned a back somersault and the gun flew far
over his head. Tlie bear rushed away, grunting
in great affright, and Zintkala screamed in ter-
ror, supposing for the instant that Etapa had
been killed. With a hand upon his face the lad
lay, dazed for the moment. Then he arose with
a bruised and bleeding cheek.

"Alas, older sister," he said ruefully, "I have
put too much strong fire-dust into the barrel and
now the gun of Iron Soldier has gone upward
and escaped. I do not know where the sacred-
iron has gone."

But Zintkala had seen the gun fall among the
bushes a few yards distant, and now, having
recovered from her fright, she ran and picked it
up. Etapa forgot his hurt in his delight at find-
ing the weapon uninjured. He had merely dis-
covered one of the peculiarities of the stout and
doubly effective buffalo gun.

"Wa^tel Wa^te!" he cried joyfully, when he
had examined lock, stock and barrel. "Now 1

280

will load this gun more carefullv. ' This he did
upon returning to camp, not charging w ith moie
than half the powder he had used bllorl

For several days he carried the gun io and
from the butte. but saw no more big gfme on t Je
tra.l Dunng th.s time the children subsis ed
upon marmots and grouse, killed with bow and

tlf""' *1^^ ."P?" '"'='' ^"'""^ '^d edible roots as
they could find. They longed for some f,° ven
.son but Etapa yei lacked confidence in hi
ab. hty to handle the buffalo gun. He went sev
erd t.mes after elk or antebpe which strayed
mto the nver valley, but somehow, while he was

KnTrfnVw^r'--^ '-' ''^ ^^^^^ ^^

somethmg also of self-respect and sobeg^n to

tt oZTs' '^'^^T"" "^ fretted bfcaue
Je Oglalas were^so long gone on a buffalo hunt

.ke the place. The mosquitoes were very bad-
hey had scarcely felt a bite among thdr^ines-

snakes m a hole which ran ur !er the ledge

Younger brother, it appears that you are ve.-
w erthli'"^'^'^ said one momin'g. ^^^^
Where there are some very fine red raspberries

go to-day and camp m that place, where we can

281

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

gather a very large quantity. I can dry some
also on the stones. There are many small deer
there, very tame, and perhaps we can take skins
to make us parfl^ches."

Immediately the boy became all animation.
He was filled with delight at the prospect of
change and the taste of red raspberries was
already in his mouth.

"Ho, I will kill some of those deer, surely," he
boasted. "I will shpot them with the gun of Iron
Soldier."

So they decamped, carrying their effects
twenty miles or more up the Smoky River valley
to a deep slash in the mountain tableland, which
has since become known, to freighters and
ranchmen, as "Salt Pork Cafion." This deep
caflon furnishes the only pass for many miles by
which the breaks can be surmounted except by
an expert climber.

Several miles in iength, many hundreds of
feet deep at its mouth, the steep slopes of this
wedge-like gap are thickly clothed with pine and
are cut with intricate mazes of deep ditches,
caiions and ravines.

There is no water in this cafion save in a wet
season, but the river runs under the rock ledges
at its mouth, and its own dry run, having a sand
bed at the bottom, furnishes an easy trail for
nearly the whole length of the gap.

Upon a little bench, sheltered by a cluster of

283

E^ I "S C I L II

S C I L I I"
h^llb«rn. bu.he., the children made their camp
nes. Zmtkala had timed the appearance of
npe fruu very well indeed. They were iust Tn

In!? k J . "^ ***" ''"shes grew, with face,

icIinTuchlt^' \"""'"^ Ak. painted „

m»Ii'!l^K T" I'y ^^PPy « this place Thev

•ng the berries, and Zintkala cured a larle
quantity of them, which the dr, heat of mid
summer enabled her to do perfectly VVhen"
Etapa actually killed a fine young doe with ^h2

ineynow had juicy venison in plenty and th^
tanned sk.n-a feat of leather maW^gwhch
they accomplished in a few days-madTan

trd';ir<;f^f^^^'"-''^^'>---S:ar^^

Doubtless tiiey would have stayed in thi,
cafion contentedly as long as the berries Lte^
but, when the ripeningof these was at hsh7At
ome other people, who knew of the Ogllw
absence came also to gather fruit. ^

Ihe brother and sister had one morninor
mounted nearly to the head of the big cS
and were picking berr^s under a rock-ledge,'

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

within view of the trail above, when a number of
people, on horseback, suddenly rounded a point
and came jogging down toward them. There
were men, women and children among the
riders, and at first view the brother and sister
shouted with delight, believing that the Oglalas
were returning. They even started toward the
newcomers, when an Indian, wearing a strange
head-dress, appeared upon the trail directly
below. This man's approach, because of the
sand in which his pony had traveled, they
had not heard. He was sitting his horse, gun
in hand, looking directly up at them, a scowl of
suspicious inquiry upon his painted face.

"Scilil Scili!" This cry of terror was wrung
from Zintkala, and instantly the little Sioux
turned and fled along the steep slope.

A shot followed by a shrill war-whoop stirred
the deep cafSon's echoes, but the shooter's bullet
aimed at a pair of flying squirrels would have been
about as certain of hitting its mark. With every
nerve thrilling with a just horror of those
Pawnee enemies, the little voyagers sped, scud-
ding like hunted rabbits among the rocks and
trees.' Zintkala had dropped her basket of
berries, but Etapa clung to his gun and so fell
behind at the start.

As they ran they heard the rider below
yelling fierce instructions to those in his rear,
and then, casting a scared backward glance,

384

'S C I L I!

S C I L I!"

a^sT rhe!rH"''"'l" •" " """^"^ ^-"d dust
as ne dashed down the caflon. Instantly the

t^^A^i! ■''f''^''^'^- While his foLers

Tnd otS f .? *"^ «^'^^ '«"^'^ '° those below
and others followed directly upon the heeir^f
he pursued this painted one would nde into

eotT'^."' '^t '-"^ '^^^P cross-cafion o inS!
cept or shoot the runners as they passed It

self and silte" ThrK'^'.''^ ""^ capturing him-
cii ana sister. The boy's mind acted with that

single 'JlfhT u^ ^''°P''^'* *^^ simple-too
simple to have been conceived by a veiling
horde, even of Indians, in hot pursuit Th! k ^
exerted himself to the 'utmost in ^suddln bu ° t
of speed, and in spite of his impediments oveT
'""ii^f P«««d the swift Zintkala. '^'"

Tankel he gasped, "do not run ahead-"

dole at'h J he.',"'' r'^ ^'"^"^^ '^'^ ^ fallowed
Close at his heels. At a turn they descendeH th^

^amoT/J I f'- '-P-^^-m tctt
Half 17 sheltering growth of scrub pine.

to it rf^Jr^n''" ''"i? '^^ ^°y ^"'•"^d sharply
trail L? ur u^" directly toward the caflon

kala followed with the temerity of a mountain

285

TWO WILDE RNESS VOYAGER^ .

goat, Etapa led their flight, quartering the
precipitous steep until they had nearly reached
the bottom of the ravine. Here, in the shelter
of a cluster of pines, he halted and the two
dropped to earth like hunted foxes.

They suppressed their hard breathings and
listened. Upon the sand bed of the cafton, they
heard the muffled thumping of hoofs; upon the
slopes above, the sounds of footmen in pursuit.
Only for a minute dared they wait. As they
heard the lunging ponies go by below they slid
to the bottom of the ravine, shot across the
caRon trail and into the opening of an opposing

Thus for the moment they had dodged the
whole pack of pursuers before any even had time
to reach the tableland heights and thus to mark
their progress. All would be thrown from the
scent until some keen searcher for their trail
should discover their tracks across the sand bed.
This the fleeing ones feared must soon happen,
for their only hope of escape lay in keeping out
of sight, in covering their trail and securing a
hiding place until night should fall upon the
mazes of the big caflon. They could not pass
out at its mouth, nor over the heights above,
without instant discovery and certain capture.

Worse than death, they dreaded capture.
Among all their enemies they knew of none so
wicked and terrible in torture as the Pawnee.

286

altavsTLeH^?. "^'""' ''"'«='''y spoken, had

hew.,, >oor ?h.'„ 'iti:r.,r= ■»=*■■'"•

over pine-clad scarps. They k^ew th^^^^
dodlTht- " '°"8: and difficult and to

ing Of soil. To reach these, without being seen
by their enemies upon the opposite slopefwas
the cunning problem they had tc =oIvp K^f

Wlfh thet ^^n '^^^ '- -etyires ;:
W. h he eyes of running partridges they ken

iunterl 1°'" 7^'^ "°"''' ^'^'^^ ^^em from the
they paLed'intT"- '" ^''^ "'"'^'"^ -"-

anL^siirntrairr^ ^"'^ ^'^ ^--'^

yells frot^'.h''''' performed three times with no

S^'^o"; th^rre^lf vryTT^

-ched the bottom of the thirJ'^U^S

387

TWO WILDERNESS VOYA GERS

like the main cafion, had a dry channel of sand
at the bottom, and they were hesitating to make
tracks across this when a yell greeted their
astonished ears, and from above a horseman
spurred at them in a furious rush and flourishing
a war-club.

Zintkala turned to run, but Etapa, seeing the
uselessness of flight, raised his buffalo gun as
the enemy was almost upon him, and fired.
Horse and man pitched forward and rolled in
the sand. The pony, which had a bullet in its
head, landed upon its side and on top of the
rider. The Sioux boy uttered a whoop of tri-
umph, and, as the Indian struggled to get out
from under his horse, sprang forward and dealt
the Pawnee a crushing blow with his gunstock.
Again and again he struck until the man ceased
struggling and lay as the dead. Then the shrill
clear note of the victor rang through all the
cafion and was repeated by the rocks.

"I have struck a Scilil I, even I, have struck a
Scili! E-e-e-yih! Yi-hiii-yuh!" For the moment
he was wild with excitement, and his barbaric
little soul was lifted to the clouds in triumph.
Then his sister descended upon him. She seized
him by an arm and fairly dragged him away
from the fallen Pawnee.

"Let us fly quickly!" she urged in frantic under-
tone. "All the Pawnees will come and we are
lost!"

288

"I am a soldier-?L / m- °^T^^'^ ^'""^ala.
and his braf'^hi i:" l^t^ '"^ •>-" -n^-
ming as to the rhvthm^ \ ^^ ^^'^ '^"m-

desire to shout Ws own „t^" 'T '''°'''"8^ ^is
deeds to the enemy An.,""^ Proclaim his
whooping thus raThly wai he sw.^r'^'J?™
figure in his front, a re'miSer of tie p^.'^Lt"?
and of the horror of capture ^ ^^'""^

upward t tt 'tr'- '"'^"^ '''^ -"'l bed.

rock bottr^nt^hriL^ts.rg' '^l r

lowing. Thouffh h^r -, "arted. Etapa fol-
sound! she hea?5 no^eronTh: oth'^ " /° ^'
^^^^S^C^n^^- — -^"

much aheaS ThTs'fell '""'^'"7''° ''^'^ '"--^''d
of the chLeley w 71^^^ eT '^"'''"^
shout had soundL rstS,g"?;,hS'tt%-'--
nees r.ight well ha™ »k "»'''' '"^^ the Paw-

TWO WILD ERNESS VOYAGERS

and cross-ravines now favored them, and they
were able to make their way into the pine belt
without further danger of exposure. Thay now
breathed more freely. They would be shrewd
trailers indeed who could catch them within
these wide copses of evergreen. Here was the
hard silent ground, and they threaded the pine-
clad rpvines, walking swiftly, but with great cau-
tion u. % at last, in joyful surprise they found
themselves lool^ing down upon the ledge which
sheltered their little camp.

"Wa^tel Wa^tel" they breathed to each other.
"Stay,Tank6," said Etapa, speaking in a low dry
voice, "I myself will go secretly to get our
blankets and the bow and arrows and some
meat. I will truly leave no trail."

The sister nodded her assent, then she whis-
pered, "There is good water in the basin and I
am so thirsty."

"I will not drink it all, surely," the lad assured
her. "I will fe^ch you some."

Etapa then slipped down the slope, keeping
among the pines, dropping in light leaps from
rock to rock. He was obliged to go in a round-
about way, but at the end of an hour or so he
returned, bringing all their camp effects and
perhaps a half-pint of water in the basin.

"Waite, younger brother, you have indeed
done well," murmured Zintkala, and she swal-
lowed the water like a famished creature.

290

In all this time they had heard nothing of th-
enemy. Doubtless the Pawnees were m.W„

So they reclined upon the pine needles with

should now be allowed to retain the weLn

over again and again in imagination.

bree" s'an 'to' f""' "^f^^ '" * «'« ««on
oreeze, sang to him. and the burden of th,.;,

jug^hmg was/'Akicita-soldier-^oSrerlfl:

301

CHAPTER XXVIII

THE BUFFALO GHOST WOMEN

Whether the Pawnees failed to find the trail
of the fleet runners, or whether they became
fearful lest an Oglala camp was hidden near at
hand, cannot be known. Very likely they dis-
covered the bo^y of the dead hunter and were
incredulous that either of the young Sioux they
had seen should have killed him. At any rate
the little voyagers saw no more of them. Night
came to them in hiding and found them re-
freshed with alternate "sleeps" had during the
afternoon.

Under cover of darkness they descended to the
river bottom, and traveled swiftly all night up
the Smoky. They followed an ancient buffalo
and Indian trail, which was also the route their
people had taken in moving from their village.
They ran upon this deeply rutted road all night,
and morning found them many leagues from the
big cafion and near to the sources of the Smoky
River,

When daylight came they found cover in a
bush grown coul6e at the head of which they
could command a good view of the river valley
and of the upland plains for many miles. At
this camp their native religious instincts stirred

393

THE BUFFALO GHOST WOMKN

!!!r«**"Ji'^' '^'''y *«« •" doubt a. to whether
Jhey ought not to dance a sacred dance to the

Ir'^1.1'^^''- ''"* '^^ '^^ "" know that
th.8 would be acceptable to the Great Spirit. So
they slept but little, and spent the day. somewhat
apart in prayer and fasting. They were very
grateful to all the good spirits for their deliver-
ance from the Pawnees, and they prayed very
earnestly that they might be guided by a splnV

might safely arnve among their people.
iZ^I^f understood the dangers of plunging
hito an unknown country, even upon a fresh and
wdl worn tra^, for who could tell how soon the
Oglalas might become separated into small
bands and so scattered, in the chase of vast
herds, that all traces of their march should dis-
appear. Worse still many war parties of ene-
mies might be on the watch to cut of! any

Th?^KT.''^° '*'.°"1'' "^^^ *° ^^^"'ke them
Ihis had frequently happened on their marches.
Again the Oglalas might make a great circuk
returning to their own country from another
d.recion.and so the voyagers be compelled to
travel on foot until the snows of winter should
overtake them. Truly the brother and sister
had need to pray for guidance.
. On the following night the trail led them away
from the nver and across the more level plains,
rhey no longer had the plainly marked and

293

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

often deeply rutted buffalo paths to follow, but
the Oglalas who had moved were more than a
thousand strong and their herds of horses, and
their numerous travois drags, had worn a broad
smooth trail upon the prairies. This beaten
roadway made good walking for the bare feet,
else they could not have traveled at night on
account of the cactus spears.

Wimimi, the full moon, also gave assistance.
Her yellow light made weird shadow pictures
upon the rough ground, and ghost people flitted
hither and thither, giving one a sinking at the
stomach now and then. Even so her light was
better than darkness. The gfass trail of the
Oglalas could be seen for many steps 'ahead.
Upon this gray fading ribbon of road the voya-
gers trudged until they sank, at a water course,
from sheer exhaustion.

They slept until nearly midday, when they set
forward again, feeling that they were now clear
of danger from the Pawnees, who would not be
likely to follow upon the trail of a great number
of Oglalas. For several days they now traveled
over a rolling plain, cut with numerous small dry
runs and timber-fringed c .eks.

For three days the trail led them steadily to the
north, and they passed, at no great distance, the
Sacred Ground of the pine clad hills where there
were wonderful streams of boiling water— the
springs of Mini-skanskan. The eyes of the

294

hunter, intruded Jdwh.Vh "^ '"'"''"" -■'• "^
good spirits who were Sr* ''"^'^ '° »»«>«
derpeopIeandpivenTthei 'o'T-°' **"= *'>""-
In that silent count^ the e^ll '"^'^'T'*^-
the rocks were of m,„ . "" *** "d and

ful. and thrrwereTuch flo °" '"A^*='^ ''«=*»"•-
as could nowhe^eTsfb^eTu^d' '??"'•""
were many wonderful bird, a^^ •.''*'■ '°°'
no one hunted.andwho Sh . *"""*''' *''°'n
other. There Sn„"tiS Ir'^"' "'"! '='»«=''
mato osansan (the grizzlvW J ^ T^"^ '"'^

TlL^tot^"'^ '^^^^^^^^^^^^ "'

wy;SutifuTa°X"S^;^--.butit

Jn'/dr^rwidTS ri^^°"' ",f^'^ -"«^.

flat valley one day tS"''^'' ""^^^y- O" this

ghost People^whoU^Tene^tir '"^'^'="'-
at first. The earth ar.„ ! J^" ^^ry much
ered with a den J Tow .T'^ '''**,^.»y to be cov-
close upon the SounT T^i, *'''*='' '^^ very
seemed'to be o^dTdisTo J' ^'!,"'''?^ ^hin^
The young Dakotas had c T^ '"isshapen.
the medicine of sSaSje and ^^T- f ««« of

before, and they knew that no '"'^u^ '^'"'^
foolishly follow some hit • °"t' ^'"' ''''1 "ot
ger. was ever harmed J^f ^'""^ ^host into dan-

But on ^hisZ^^oltZir'T^'^-

M5 '""^'^*>'' there sud-

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

denly loomed out of the flat low fog loine
strange and monstrously distorted figures, giant
ghosts who stood against the sky and assumed
such threatening proportions that it seemed they
might, if they should choose, drive off or devour
all creatures on the earth.

Zintkala saw these mysterious and fearful
ones first, and cried out in alarm. "O brother,"
she quavered, "do look — do look! We are surely
lost!"

She pointed directly toward the river, which
ran, at quite a distance, upon their right but
which had been swallowed in the cloud. Etapa
turned and indeed beheld a strange sight. Out
of that low wavering mist, which obscured the
earth, shifting colossal figures were reaching
toward the sky. Some very tall shadow people
seemed to be lifting others upon their heads or
shoulders, and these climbing ones were trying
to touch the cloud spaces.

The boy dropped his bow and gun and gazed
in awed amazement. It did not occur to either
of the children to run, for only very silly persons
would expect to escape if these giant people
should choose to come after them. So the two
stood trembling, astonished, and scared. While
they stared, the immensely tall ghosts moved in
a very mysterious manner. They shifted posi-
tions, grew larger or smaller, and their misty
bodies; moved to and fro in a peculiar fashion.

396

THE BUFFALO GHOST WOMEN

m^u'th"!.' ^;;'8'"««<>>y watched, with open
Si'^p^ll'ht" '=''"-''-• '-™ o^ -ollecti^n.

indeed thfh, ST'"''" »'"'<'"»«=ed. "these are

fnLoH ^'J"'** •""• ' *'° "*" '•'■■"k thaf they
intend to harm anyone. They appear to be

dancing the grass dance."

«Mt h,.r!?''"r* •'*''". "•'•^'^ 2''">'»'»' with a
"'thint^ ? ''^""*^ from her palpitating heart,
think truly, younger brother, now you have
spoken of it, that those very large Tes are
surely dancing. Heretofore I have seen n^
people like them anywhere." "°

assuSedThrK*'"'"''!: ''*"; '^^y '=°'»«' '°^'»^d us,"
assured the boy, "therefore they certainly are
those people whom I have mentioned." ^
treeswhlTJ''" '^^^ t^'^^^V have eaten the
sister, yet feehng much uneasiness.

assented"i t." -u*' '^^ ''^^'^ «»'«" them, ■
assented the boy, "but these people usually avoid

take the buffaloes with them " > "

.w7°r^^^ ^'°'!'^'' '^"'^ « * hill on this other

ttsL bu'ffSr ".''"'"" "''*''" ^° *^''h
Zimkala """""" '^»"« their dance," urgec-

Here and there upon the flat valley arose lone
knobs or small buttes, affording excellent Sw

297

i^;!i*'.

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

points from vvhich to overlook a great scope of
country.

"We will indeed go to that hill," said
Etapa. They picked up their effects and walked
rather hurriedly toward the butte. As they
looked behind now and then their lingering fears
began to fade. The huge bobbing ghosts were at
least not following. When they finally reached
the top of the lone hill a fresh surprise awaited
them. The mysterious tall people had vanished,
and in their places stood a thin fringe of cotton-
woods, their tops showing quite clearly above
the shimmering fog of radiation. These were
the trees they had supposed the buffalo women
had eaten.

The little voyagers were much amazed and
mystified. They wished to look further into this
strange business and to talk about it, and so
they seated themselves cross-legged upon the
knob.

"Whither do you think those people have
gone, brother?" asked Zintkala, her round face
filled with wonder.

"It is very warm," suggested Etapa, "and per-
haps the buffalo women are swimming in the
river."

This seemed not unlikely, and so the two, all
eyes, sat for a while in silence, expecting to
see those colossal ghosts arise from their bath-
ing. After a sufficient time, however, they were

398

THE BUFFALO GHOST WOMEN

forced to conclude that the buffalo women
eared*"' ^ mysteriously as they had ap-

"They have seen us and thus have gone to
give jvarning to their grandchildren, the buffa-
loes asserted Etapa with conviction.

Nakae^ younger brother, it may indeed be
as you say, admitted Zintkala. "Nevertheless
I see other people yonder who, it appears, are
very strange also."

She was looking down the valley in the direc-
tion they had been traveling, and Etapa's eyes,
following hers, alighted upon some quee^
figures. A number of misty creatures, whose
le^ seemed to have been cut . ff near to their
bodies, were moving across the clouded land.
I hese ghost animals were very large in appear-
ance, but their necks were no more than the size
of one s finger, and their heads were far removed
from their bodies. Some of them had queerly
elongated horns, but all-and there were a
dozen or more-were ambling toward distant
hiljs in a curiously familiar fashion.

Ho, I know those people!" said Etapa, after
careful study of the legless figures. "They are
the ghost antelope. Heretofore I have seen
these and they are very harmless, wishing
indeed to meet no one."

"Younger brother, do you not thi-k we may
have come into the Sacred Country?" asked Zint-

399

^^Hj ^

Hi 1

WLm''

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

kala with anxiety. "Therefore these strange
ones may wish us to go away very quickly."

"It may indeed be that you speak truly," said
the boy, struck with the thought. "Neverthe-
less those large ones whom we saw yonder were
certainly the buffalo g?ujst women, and I have
not heard that these live in the black pine
country."

"Do tell me al^out the buffalo women," urged
Zintkala. "Hitherto I have heard nothing of
these people."

"My grandfather only knows about them," said
Etapa. "He only of all the Oglalas has seen
these buffalo women, who are indeed grand-
mothers of the different tribes of buffaloes.

"My grandfather saw these people many win-
ters ago, when he was a young man. The Oglalas
were living in a distant country, and beyond
their village, there was a very big wide river
where the buffaloes crossed, going two ways.
The Oglalas took a great many robes and much
meat each year, for the buffaloes had always
come to that country during the dead grass
moons. Nevertheless one year pte stayed away;
only three old bulls came to that country. When
the Oglalas went out to hunt they found only
these old bulls.

"They came to the river and the hunters went
away in two parties, some going up and some
going down the large river. My grandfather

L^ I ^HE BUFFALO GHOST WOMEN
was of those who went up the river Th^.-
They d.d not find them. They only found S

Sftro'^M" ''""''^ t-ifs were such as t^
make the Oglalas marvel indeed. A cloud lav
°" the ear, , and the trails of the buffaloes wem

ground 'Thi'^'°"'- ""'"'^^^^ "'^ -^ ^-'"he
ground. This was very mysterious. The Oglala
hunters could not understand this matter.

an evnTef^ *'''^' )'" "' ^° ''°'"«^»'-'l 'est
an evil befall some of our party.' They were

tlT:^ Z "'V" ' • '•'"^ '=°""''-y' ^O"- they saTd. 'In
he night what is to prevent these spirit buffaloes

IZnW^r"? *'^ ''"'■ P""'"' Then surely the
Su^un, (Shoshonies) will come and take us!'

said 'Ho ^^'i^^t'^^' ^o"'d not go back. He

before and n' ?'^°'''' ^ ''^^^ ^^^« ^hese things
before, and no harm came. Do as you will but
I will go on to find the buffaloes.'
loes ^Lf^'"^^^'^^' *ent on to find the buffa-
o «o on ,fe' ^T "l''^'""^ ^' '^''l "°t fear
river h; •"' ^ ^"8^ ^^^ "P '^e large

nver. He was going, thus traveling upon the

^ind, and aga n a cloud descended upon the
e.r n, lymg very low and resting on the grass

My grandfather indeed sa^ very' Sge
things. He saw trees danring. Thev were
dancing in the midst of the clfud. Doubdes^

S off fro '*:.''" "^'r ^•'^^ '""^y -'«'" no be
cut off from the earth. Also a ghost elk ap-

801 "^

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

peared, walking in this cloud. My grandfather
prayed very earnestly to this large bull's ghost.
He desired to know where the buffaloes were.

"Very soon thereafter he saw the buffaloes.
There were many of them on some high hills.
My grandfather's horse was tired, nevertheless
he rode swiftly after the buffaloes, desiring
greatly to secure some meat.

"The buffaloes ran down off the hills. They
were going in the cloud, which was lying on the
grass. Then my grandfather saw very mysteri-
ous things. The buffaloes were running in this
cloud and some very tall women appeared driv-
ing them off in a hurry. These women were
taller than the trees, and my grandfather knew
that they were the buffalo ghost women. They
were truly the buffaloes' grandmothers. They
wished to keep the hunters from shooting their
grandchildren, therefore they chased them
swiftly out of that country. They caused a cloud
to cover their grandchildren, so that the buffaloes
disappeared. My grandfather did not see them
again. That winter the Oglalas suffered greatly
for lack of meat."

"Truly those people are very mysterious,"
murmured Zintkala.

She felt no little relief, however, in the assur-
ance that the buffalo women only desired to
protect their grandchildren, and were not likely
to chase and devour two small Dakotas.

303

CHAPTER XXIX

P'e^t 11k!^t°^Jf; '^f '^-«h a land of
■arge nun^bers every davoT ^"' ^^^" '"
rabbits and sage hen, tl '"armots, bush

the warm seasolTs 0„ th^^'''f u""^"^ '^<=k in
.e.w ev,, in. °",S';,--J 'he little voya-

4^^.irr„t:^^^^^^^^^^^ cr^ed .

ran beside a low ranol of * '"■^*'" *h'ch

'he coulees of The I^^t lirr""" ^"""^
plums ripening in great Ih^l^ ^ """^ '°""d
number of days-nroLK. J^ •"'^- "^'^ '«'■ ^
of August-th?y ifngered^ """^ '^^ '^" ^^^ks
It now appeared^tf f ;h:rffarT?ir°"^
son had approached thrnY,'""'"«^ ^^^■
'"deed they'Lre clin^^f^t """''' '^
return upon their trail If th.v '^^^' '°°"
by some other rout^ ;/ .!. 7 "'^''^ '° return
people on fooTtorer'taSem'^^ ''""'^^^'^'^ ^-

butl^Vr^fe'^nt^^^^^^^^^^^^

To tell the truth each '-?''"" /he-r minds.

advance into an unkn. ^^'■^"' "^ f"«her

the return of Sr neonf. • *'"'l' °^'^" ^^out
I tfteir people, saying that they must

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

look for them to appear during the next moon.
A cold rain fell for several days, and drove
them to the rock covert of a coulee. In this
coulee, after the rains, they discovered a lair of
the big yellow cats; and as these great flesh eat-
ers were very mysterious in their actions the wan-
dering ones moved on again, going slowly down
the stream. The now dim trail of the Oglalas
led directly along this river, but so it had fol-
lowed two streams before and the distances
between camps showed that the tribe had abated
nothing of its hurry to go to some far country.

Thus the voyagers loitered aimlessly. Their
only cheer was found in the abundance by which
they were surrounded. The numerous plum
thickets of the river ravines were red with
luscious fruit. The young of the sage grouse
were so numerous and so tame that one could,
at any time, kill a number by knocking them
over with sticks. The cow-men have dubbed
these unsuspicious and apparently witless birds
"fool hens." When quickly dressed, afcer kill-
ing, the meat of the young is excellent.

In spite of disappointments and desperate
uncertainty the little voyagers grew plump and
vigorous upon their diet of fruit and birds.
Yet, as the days wore on, they became surfeited
with eating and the home hunger again gripped
their hearts. They feared to go back to the
Smoky River even more than they dreaded to

304

Because of the war kL" '^"u '^^ °^'^'^«-
gone, and they wh" stav .^f " '^^' '^^y ^^^^
-here they h'a" aSed ThT "^ ''''' "'^'^^
gone far down this river" ^^^V ^^^^ surely

«He 'S^ed'^^l,,^- J^t^^^ 'His a,so. and
on with more speed ^ Proposal togo

Ca^J^^SaS^^-iS^^-'^eed stayed too

upon tt oldTraf ^Dur'^'. "'^'^ ^^P^'^"-
they passed beyond th^To"'^ '^' ""' ^'"•«"°on
and suddenly found thems^ ^"^' °^ "fountains
loes. The trail had ,,7^'^^^ ^'^"^e the buffa-

a narrow Pass of the r ve'^ar! ^^ *'''°"^''
turn, the travelers were Ja "led h' "' ' '''"^^
huge brown cattle which hl^ f^ ^ """^ °f
^lope of a near bLff "^''' ''°^" *''« «eep

Oglalas!" ''^" ^"■"^'v find the

the'r AsfhSuSd dl'^ '''f'-^^y ---d
and kickedupagreat 1st "r'' they bellowed

young bulls h'avfng a frS eZu"' '^"'f"''>'
e-ndawholeh^erdpluie';l£7th^^;-^^

TWO WILDER NESS VOYAGERS

ing and leaping amid clouds of dirt. They acted
so crazily that the voyagers became alarmed.
They sped swiftly across the river— drenching
themselves thoroughly— and ran out upon the
highlands beyond. Fortunately the buffaloes
■ checked their mad stampede and filled the chan-
nel of the stream, jumping against and over each
other, to get into the water. The animals drank
eagerly of a current thick with the mud of their
trampling. '

A litile way out upon the highland stood a
sharp knob or butte of red earth. The voyagers
ran swiftly and climbed this high hill. Upon its
cap they stood and whooped and excla' .led in
joyous wonder. They had seen many bison
but never such herds as now greeted their eyes.
The buffaloes were mostly at that moment to
west and north. Over a great stretch of rough
plain— as far as the eye could reach— their
masses extended. Brown patches upon the hills
and hill sides, dark moving lines on the prairies,
thin veils of dust hanging upon the far horizon,
told of bison, in countless herds, moving into
the river country. It appeared indeed that all
the tribes of buffaloes must have agreed to meet
at this river.

"Wan ho, I think that all the Indians will have
to come to this river to hunt the buffaloes,"
shouted Etapa. "Therefore there will be much
fighting unless they make a peace."

jffi

A_VOYAGE BY BULL BOAT

•They will not wish to fight." said Zintkala
wuh conviction. "They will wi^h to tafi mu h
meat and many robes for the tepees. I Sk

nH?n ., . ^'^f"- ' '^° "«' think that any
Indian hunters will pay attention."

toTllnif'^T-'''' t° ««onable, when one came
t.°on "• " ^'"P* *''«°P'='l -^"h ela-

butTh^J^ff 'i' ^^ "^''.•"th^y will see nothing
but these buffaloes. I also will shoot some of
those vejy large bulls. It is so. If any come up

m/kA" ' '"k''".^'« '^°'" '" their skins. Twill
make holes thus large!"

,.f"l^ ^i!'" l''^ ^"'^^ °^ '•'""'b and forefinger
titeft hdf °"1 ^'^ ^'^'^' ^''^^ perforations
hufffln ^""^'"'e''* ^^P««- He flourished his
buffalo gun and pranced about excitedly, point!

herds ForT '• °"' r '"°'''^' °^ t''^ "--«'
herds. For the time they quite forgot that the

tramplingof such numbers Lst blot out the taH

oi^L^fi^- '1'^""'^ " ^""''l ^^"^ that no

one could have thought of anything but the

vast panorama of animal life. ' ** "' '"^

The armies of Xerxes were doubtless of insig-

muWt'!,?."'" K •".*' '"'"r "'^ '° '^^ fa'-reaching
multitudes which spread upon the plains under

top of the red butte they could command a vast
scope of rough lands and everywhere soo^

807

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

except to southward, were to be seen the mighty
increasing throngs of the bison.

"All the buffaloes are comingi" shouted Etapa.
"All the buffaloes are comingi" repeated Zintkala.

Upon their height the wet and ragged waifs,
unheeding the packs upon their shoulders, stood
for hours, with eyes and ears for nothing but the
march of innumerable herds. Like a vast tidal
wave the throngs of brown humps spread until
only a narrow sttip of unoccupied country lay,
in a fading gray belt, to southward. Still the
herds came on from north and west in undi-
minished numbers. They filled the valley of
the stream, plunged down its steeps in roaring,
bawling mobs and converted the river's current
to a flow of mud in which thousands wallowed in
huge enjoyment.

The Sioux children were filled with strange
and thrilling emotions. Their faces were as the
faces of those who stand above armies. They
were no longer alone. The world was suddenly
peopled with such mighty and crowding hosts as
no hunter's tale had enabled them to imagine.

"All the buffaloes are coming," they repeated
again and again. A breeze which had been
blowing abated, and a fine dust arose,'veiled the
sky and hung upon the horizon. Into this
haze the sun descended and became a vast ball
of blood red fire.

The voyagers, at last tired of standing, sat

SOB

^ I A VOYAGE BY BULL B oTT
upon the butte. The buffaloes did not attempt

Ss n alf the r^.^ °' "» •^"°''' »'"' -Se
cue .n all the world-save upon such high points

-d.d there seem room for two biped travelers

It became apparent as they watched the ap-

t'herr'niX'""''''"u^"l'''^' '^'^ '-" must spend
tneir night upon the butte Pr<>«f>nti„ tu

of hunger and thirst beg^n to'^f J^a S ^^^
red^sun was about to go under the earth. ZinTkala

"Younger brother," she said, "I think vou
should now go down and fetch some wlter and
some sticks. I have two birds in mySche

Place "Y^d", "°'."''!; --y buffaloes at that'
Pla^e. and she pointed to a turn of the river

"Ho. I will do as you have said, for I indeed
can shoot with this gun," said the boy. h" felt
t.m.d about descending the butte, bufwished to

asTnld hT' ''"t" '^^ ^^'-'^ Zlntkal-:
basin and his gun and ran, going in careful leans
on accoum of the cactus, down to the r ver A
band of buffaJoes which had stopped to grazt

.edThYh" f' '^T^^''^'' and'^thus encour-
aged the boy lingered to dip the clearer water
and to gather a good bundle of dry fatots He

thlrr i'bTr ^'^'-^ ^-^^ ass'Irld^h'sis"
a hunter .„J"^^'°"%r'"! ""^'^ "'"<='• '^f«id of
buffi gin'"' ^^P^-^"y °f one who carried a

309

TWO WILDERNESS /OY AGERS

So upon the red butte, which glowed in a ruby
sunset like a huge and dying ember, and in the
midst of marching hosts, the voyagers i lade a
tiny blaze of willow sticks and ate much meat.
As long as the light lasted, however, their eyes
were but little turned from the throngs of
buffalo people. As they ate and gazed, Zint-
kala was struck with an alarming thought.
.. "^°V"*^'' ^'^°*^^"'" »l>e asked with anxiety,
"may it not be that those buffalo women are
driving their people far, far away from the
Oglalas?"

^^ "Yuli-huh,Tankel" cried the lad in amazement,
"those old women "annot drive their grandchil-
dren off until they have made a cloud tu li^ - n
the earth. My grandfather said thus."

The round face of the girl lost its anxious
curves and she finished her meal in content.
She was very sure that the Oglalas would be
found in this buffalo country.

As darkness came on the \, yagers, wrapped
in their blankets, fell asleep to the roar and
murmur of trampling herds.

In the morning there were many buffaloes
grazing upon the plains and hill slopes as far up
and down the river as the eye could reach, but
the vast armies of the day before were scattered,
leaving again the calm and peaceful plains.
.. The voyagers rejoiced greatly for, they said,
"Now indeed, if the Oglalas are not already upon

310

J hey ate a hurried breakfa.f on^
again followed the rive7 f„ u^' " '"""*«•

did not try to keen to ^Ln?';"'*"*'- ^hey
rains and the S, of K°/'f'' '""• '«" 'he

eve^whereobliraSatratoTi: '^J "l"'^
rather to the winding river', con ' I J^fY ^^P'
every turn to see the tep6es of^h^; 1^ "

to meet with Odala h.,„»»^ • " P^°P'e or
bison. They ran-there .r ""^^ '!! ''"''*^ "^ '^e
cactus-much o? the t?„??K''*5 "»' »« -void
then to frighten off bia K ii "J.'"» ""^ »"d
their front SoLtimel^hur'"''' «''''^'^ '"
were saucy and would stHn'^*^!" °^ ^ ^-"d
reared, pawing up dust a„V"^ '■'^^' ^'^"'^
at the small bipeds and th^n .k"°"'"«^ '*^'^-"<=e
behind the river', K,!."."'^'^ ^°"'d dodge

follow on^o^^Co'htsrdf'^ '''' ^'-" -<^

stopped to watch\„7p,efentlv^h '"^'- '^'''y
came together with n'T^ .''^''*' ^"^O' ones

horns clicked HkTJeranlf orb""" ''"' "'^''
cine dance. With swollen "^''^"es at a medi-

flanks they heavL "„" " ^h'" '"' '^""'^''^
wth their hoofr Then "^^! ' '■'PP'"^^ '^^e ^od
useless expense of eLr' '".''''"'" '"P^'ence at
sparred foTrdvlnUgr 'fefnT ^ ^^^•"
'o^ether and their ^orns^^^d^^^^^-"^^^^^^

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

weaved to and fro in frantic buckings. One, the
heavier, seemed now to gain an advantage, and
pushed his antagonist slowly backward, but,
when the latter broke away suddenly, he did not
chase him.

Again the combatants circled and the weightier
bull roared and threatened quite as though
assured of victory. His confidence was vain.
As he pawed and bawled he exposed an incau-
tious flank and, like a stroke of lightning, the
lithe antagonist caught him amidribs. He was
bowled over by the shock and, in a twinkling,
his entrails were ripped from his body and wound
upon the victor's horns.

The Sioux children looked upon this bull as a
great brave — an expert and valiant fighter — and
they would gladly have addressed him paying
their compliments, but prudence forbade and
they dropped behind the river's bank and passed
on out of sight.

Now and then the voyagers climbed a solitary
height to take observations and everywhere they
saw the bunches of brown cattle, but no sign of
human presence. Toward noon the herds began
to come to the river for water, and the children
several times ran narrow races before bands
stampeding off the bluffs. The buffaloes seemed
possessed of a craze to leap, roaring and bounc-
ing, off the river hills.

At something after midday the vtyagers

313

The voyagers looked wildly abonf .1, ^"^
some place of refuge Thlri '''^'" ^'"'

win, a: £.ri,rs.r " '- "-

'heir faces agaSt the banT '°"'"'°"' '"'''"«

313

ill i

I. '

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

i^H

Doubtless the network of willow roots above
their heads alone saved them from destruction,
and the blind heaving mass passed over and
around, leaving them uninjured.

They were muddy, bedraggled and sorry look-
ing waifs who emerged from the debris of the
caving bank. But their half -blinded eyes fell
upon creatures in yet more piteous plight. A
number of buffaloes had been trampled to death
in the stream, and still others, mortally injured,
struggled to keep their nt ocs above water. One
large bull, with a broken shoulder, was trying to
leap upon the low bank opposite. He gave it up
presently and stood sullenly upon a dry bar with
horns pushed into the earth in his front.

It seemed that the hunters must have been
after these buffaloes, but the voyagers neither
heard nor saw any horsemen, therefore pres-
ently they went above where the stampede had
passed and washed their clothes and bodies clear
of mud. The gun of Iron Soldier had been
wetted, but Etapa wiped it dry with the inner
folds of his blanket and put a fresh cap upon the
tube.

Hitherto they had scarcely spoken, but had
taken account of the dead and living buffaloes,
and performed their ablutions in a dazed and
mechanical fashion. But now the boy awoke to
animation.
"Hoye, Tanke," he said, "there is much meat in

A VOYAGE BY BULL B OAT

the river, but we can not easily get it. I will
now shoot that big bull. I do not think any
Indians are at this river now."

"Nakae^l younger brother, do so quickly"
cried the girl. "Shoot tatanka so that he bleeds,
for hen the meat is best. It appears at any
rate, she added, "that we must camp at this
place to rub our clothes. I will also cook much
good meat.

Approaching the bull carefully the lad gave it
a shot behind the shoulders and ran away. The
animal fell upon the bar and struggled, bleeding

fnr^.5''\'n^ ^^l' ^'°°'^ "P°" "^« I'^nk waiting
for the bull to die, two magpies alighted upon
some willows near at hand and talked very
strangely. These birds appeared to be speaking
to them, Zintkala and Etapa, and the young
Sioux watched and listened intently while these
noisy ones flitted from willow to sage bush and
from bush to bank and so passed clear around
where they stood.

After the strange birds had done this, both
alighted upon the bull, which had ceased to
breathe. Sitting upon the dead buffalo they
again called to the boy and girl and acted very
mysteriously. Then, while the two looked and
listened wonderingly, the magpies flew away
down the stream.

These birds were known to be friendly toward

31S

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

all Dakotas. They often conveyed mysterious
information to hunters and to people on the
trail and, as the pair disappeared, a light broke
in upon Zintkala's puzzled brain.

"Wan, younger brother," she cried joyously,
"these birds have indeed told us to make a bull
boat of this bull's skin and the willows and to go
thus to find the Oglalas!"

"It is so! It is so!" shouted the lad, dancing
with excitement. "Now we shall surely arrive
at that place where they are, very quickly. I
indeed know how to make these bull boats."

Instantly the two were alive with energy.
They attacked the carcass of the bull with their
knives which they had kept sharpened by
whetting often upon pieces of sandstone.

Etapa, though less expert than his sister, gave
directions, and cautioned frequently, "Do not
cut the skin, Tanke; it is to make a bull boat."

They had flayed one whole side of the carcass
before the necessity and the difficulty of moving
its huge weight occurred to them. By good
luck, however, the bull had fallen at a point
where its back rested upon an incline of the bar,
and, by a fierce tug at the feet with the legs for
leverage, they were able to roll it more than half
way over, and so to take the immense pelt whole.
As they succeeded finally wichout making a cut
in the body of the skia they were filled with
elation.

316

mornin, their tub-like craft wts launched' ''"■'

the^r;Jrtirr '^^r"""'^'-^ ''''^'-"e„

and they were ealv'abl "TT "" ""'^^ '^-P
here and there where th "'" "''""^ ^^^^'
wade over raJd^hatXir/h? °f'*'^^' ^'^
^n Place of a paddleTnd fh f le^^re VbSlo
make as good, and much less tiresom^

foe. .p^aS "™t'e°x:::;;' ^i""" '<>™-

317

I:;

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

frequently climbed the river's banks to look.
Several times, however, the magpies had talked
to them and flown on down the stream. The
birds thus evidently beckoned them on to find
the Oglalas.

The face of the country had changed, and the
voyagers found themselves in a strange land, a
country of tall buttes and gaping caflons, of
wonderful high rocks of many colors, of colos-
sal formations which appeared to be immense
tep6es of earth and stone. The stream had in-
creased in volume but, with a courage not less
than sublime, they steered their bull boat over
rapids and into the dark forbidding shadows of
the cafions.

318

CHAPTER XXX
A PARADE FIGHT

sefe'rd'i!:l^:fr °^ 0«'^'- together with
Slhered in . Y^nktonais and Brules had

Bad utd " HltreriTad""'"''^" '" '"^^
»!. . """cr iney had come beransp r.t

ntoJf t '"■' ^^^ "°' fled to this coun-
tn from fear but to gain a stronghold for their
women and children, and where they might fight
to advantage should the armies of the bte coat
come against them. '^°"

tn\°° J^.f J^^y ''"^^ "'^^ » Sioux was a Sioux

when tte Gre°at Tl''" ""^°"^ discriminadon
wften the Great. Father sent his angry soldiers
ntothe.r country, and that to be captured was

l^!ZrT. f" '^-th-disease'and sW
starvation And here was much good fighting
ground; here were many cunning hiding £"!
and covered lines of escape. ^mg places

Being a large company of many hundreds the
Sioux d.d not seek to hide their village „or to
Th? !^^"" '^P^^« within natural defences
They depended rather upon their scou's to
nform of the approach of enemies, and held
hemselves m readiness to fortify or to break

rtrd:mardn^"^°" ^'°""°^'-' •'-■d -^^^^^^^

sity demand. So they were camped along the

319

TWO WILDERN ESS VOYAGERS

river, where there was wood and grass, upon an
open flat, surrounded by castellated buttes and
the eroded heights and washouts of the Bad
Country.

This open plain, which extended for several
miles along the stream, became the parade
ground and riding school of their young men.
Here they raced their ponies and practiced the
arts of war. Many posts of half-decayed cotton-
woods and will6ws were set in the earth, and
every day riders hurled themselves past these
lines of dummy men, shooting their arrows and
throwing the lance. Some became very expert in
"hitting the post," and were commended by their
elders who often looked on, enjoying the sport.
The makers of bows and arrows, lances and
other material of war, were uncommonly busy
at this season.

Many antelope and elk also were killed by the
large parties of hunters who, on account of
their numbers, went out fearlessly to the chase.
The summer days at this camp were really gala-
days and the people had not been happier for a
long time. Early in the dry grass moon, too,
buffaloes trailed in large bands, across the Bad
Lands. The Sioux took meat and robes until
their women could no longer handle the stores.
They had enough to furnish meat and clothing
for no one knew how long. When they had
considered this good fortune they said:

PARADE FIGH T

resumed theTaLs the?' "^ '^^ -'ddle-aged

WwaJoartvT'.r''^ ""'^'^ ^'--^d lest a
^rge war party should come against them <;^

them. I^estte be rtr^Td'-'^ '"' '''' "^ '^^^
These people, who lived but a few davs' HH.
distant immediately sent large warTaS! ^

Ter e"Sd s-'' -hf cp;Sg:thit

;HereshorbetrpHrr„"a :cletrA'ca'S

Held rp^^::-^:-:^i^-^^

proceed against the invaders, and thdr voun^
The alhes sent out their most cunning scouts

321

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

to spy upon the Sioux, and these reported great
preparations for war among the enemy. They
were about to go against the Sioux when the
buffaloes came. After a great killing and many
feasts the heaH men said, "Now we must attack
those people and destroy their town."

They again sent scouts to see if the Sioux
remained. Three of these approached the
Dakota town from some heights. They were
mounted upon fleet horses, and wished simply
to look down upon the river valley from some
secluded elevation. They were riding upon the
scarp of a b!<.:fl in a gorge, when they heard
voices of strangers. Looking to the opposing
bluff they saw two riders, who sat upon their
ponies, making signals. The men were Sioux,
and the Crow scouts were fearful at first lest
themselves had fallen into a trap.

But their alarm was quickly disposed of, for
one of the strangers shouted at them in a tongue
which they understood:

"Ho, Kangi ! you indeed imagine that you are
very cunning. You are like your relatives, the
real crows, who fly squalling with a loud noise so
that everyone sees them. If your soldiers are
not all cowards and skunks you will come on to
fight us. If you do not come soon we will send
some of our old women to beat your men with
switches."

This speech, flung at them from across a deep

833

ill

and childfen and your ^e^dV'h' ^""^ "?'"'="
Even then, after we hrvic- ^T" """^'^'v-

coyote, w; wnUoliranVS^oX^^^^

on their ponies cawi„V"h '^-'V ^ "'^ «'
doubled thUlve^SlaSe^"'' '''^'" '"'^

i-ho.rc- ,.,"■ ^"'l 'heir elders said "If

our bodle. .jai„„ S^.^"""' '" ■» ^"""Kr.

At their encampment the tep6es were nWrh.A
^o^ether in compact rows and this so, d vl ^
was surrounded, at a safe distance, by a row o1

323

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

willow posts with stout poles laid against them
and attached with rawhide ropes. Thus they
raised an effective barricade against charging
horsemen. They also built large corrals to pro-
tect their herds from a night stampede. The
posts and poles for this work they had cut at
their leisure during the summer.

When the Crow spies reported this fortified
village to their war leaders and partisans some
said, "We cannot' take this Sioux town, therefore
let us make a stronghold from which we may
harass them."

This counsel was agreed upon and the Crows
and Mountain People camped upon an easily
defended elevation where there was water and
feed for their horses. This war camp was made
above the Sioux town overlooking the river
flats, and where the party could keep open com-
munication with their people on the Yellowstone.

After a day or two of expectant waiting the
Sioux, seeing the enemy hesitate to attack, went
out as before and resumed their games and
shooting at the post. Only now they donned
their war shirts and feathered bonnets.

This open contempt nettled the allies and
they, too, sent their young men down, bedecked
and painted, to display themselves in the valley
above and on the other side of the stream. A
party of Sioux approached some of these within
hailing distance and signaled across the river.

324

PARADE FIGH T

"Koo-6e Kangi!" they shouted. "Come
down on th.s plain and fight us. Let us fight^^

fired them into enthusiasm

a.a.nst,you. See that you do not hide ^U"

frIrX^° their promises the allies ro.le down
from the.r he.ghts in the morning and forded
the stream to a wide open ground Wh»llu
-w these squads of horsern "eaUyYomrng ol

oVihevfaT ^'°"f "" '"^""^^ °^"S^-
town. 1 hey had scarcely credited the boast of

he Crows whom, on the whole, they had bested

.n years of predatory fighting. The bfg village

and war dress. In an incredibt bHetX'"ol
time crowds of pony riders, as gay and amast^
■n appearance as masqueraders at MardrCrl"
went clattering out upon the river flat Thev
were ar„ed mostly with the bow and ar'ow b„t
S:^ '^"^^^ '^'''^' -'" --mer's of

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

Though the writer has been eye-witness to
such scenic display of wild riders as followed,
no pen is adequate to description. These
hostile war parties were not gathered from
agency imprisoned creatures of broken and
dependent spirit. They had never known the
rule of an autocrat who might — or who might
not — issue rations to their starving families as
one throws bread to a dog.

They rode to battle as athletes meet upon the
arena, hardy and > daring in spirit and of iron
endurance of body and limb. The foremost
troops of the opposing bodies approached each
other singing in loud minor strains to the beat
of drums and clack of medicine rattles.

At a point perhaps two miles from the Sioux
town the fighting began. There was no plan of
battle to be noted. Groups and squads of horse-
men, scattered hither and^ thither, were appar-
ently riding aimlessly. Still others were coming
singly and in strings from each of the hostile
camps.

Suddenly, as flocks of birds scatter, a wild
chaotic rout of flying riders spread upon the
plain. Each frantic yelling horseman scurried
at racing speed a.id each seemed bent upon his
own business, quita regardless of the stampede
before and behind.

Chaos reigned, but out of it came order in a
twinkling. As by some trick of legerdemain the

326

PARADE

FIGHT

scurrying formless clouds wheeled into wide
oblong nngs of riders. Viewed from the heights
about the rims of these rings, revolving inappo-
site directions, might have seemed to run
^gether. At the nearest point of contact they
did not. in fact, vary much from fifty yards
for a quarter mile or so the hostile lines, rid-
ing in the same direction, ran neariy parallel to
IT^, "% .^°-^'"^"- "^^"^ ^'»- '"'^i-dual fea^
be de^i'd '"^ '"'' °^ n^arksmanship. could

In this fair and open field-fighting the Crows
and heir cousins of the mountain met the
Oglalas, Yanktonais and Brules and. despite any
prejudice to the contrary, without purpose or
thought of treachery to their young men's agr^e-
ment. s -<-

Theirs was a parade battle which indulged to
the fullest extent the native love for display and
excitement. The faces and bare legs oHhe
wild riders were streaked with brilliant paints
Gorgeous and trailing war-bonnets were the
marks of men of distinction, while the flying
braids of others, their saddle and bridle trap-
pinp. and even their horses' tails were decorated
with gay streamers.

Seven-eighths of each wheeling circuit was
ridden out in safety and, to save the wind of
their ponies, the fighters rode at an easy gallc
displaying feats of horsemanship and whooping

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

and yelling until their noise filled the ears of all
the anxious watchers at the Sioux village.

As each rider approached what may be termed
the firing line, unless he wished to make a brave
show by sitting upright, he threw himself upon
or alongside his animal's withers and rode at
top speed shooting his arrows over or under the
pony's neck. Not many arrows could be dis-
charged in a single dash by even the most
expert of shooters, and usually these flew rather
wide of the mank. But now and then a ruck of
riders massed, and the feathered shafts flew thick
and fast. In these melees happened most of
the casualties. Here and there a pony was
bowled over or a rider stricken and carried, liv-
ing or dead, across the circuit on which he fell.

If a man's horse was killed and himself unin-
jured he loped away, inside his own lines, to
secure a fresh one. As a pony could not run
many times the circuit of these wide rings, and
keep the pace, strings of horses were continu-
ally going to and fro between camp and battle-
field. Many riders replenished their quivers by
riding inside the fighting line, hanging fi-om the
saddle, and plucking the enemies' shafts from the
ground. Some did this, with most admirable
nerve and dexterity, amid a flight of whizzing
missiles.

Thus passed several hours of glorious exercise
and good fighting. A number had been killed

338

PARADE

FIGHT

and wounded on either side, but at midday
neither circle of fighters had shown any marked
superiority, and suddenly signals ran along the
lines and the rings were broken and the riders
fell together, at their centers, as by magic.

The crowds thus grouped flung themselves off
their tired ponies and stretched their bodies
upon the grass for rest and to smoke and eat
and tell of brave exploits. Here food and water
was brought by boys and young men, eager t
be of service. And so for several hours the hos-
tile armies reposed over against each other.

CHAPTER XXXI

THE VOYAGERS ARRIVE

The bull boat had slipped out of a gorge
wherein it had whirled over rapids until the voy-
agers were dizzy, and was floating, between high
and caving banks, well out into some bottom
lands. '

Etapa lay curled like a young fox upon the
bottom of the craft and, within the small re-
maining space, upon the blanket rolls which sup-
ported the sleeper, Zintkala sat upon her knees.
She did not try to propel the boat but used a
light pole merely to keep it from grounding.

Wi, the sun, had sloped half way down in the
west and the day was warm, quite too warm,
within the river's channel, for exertion. He.
and there for a little way the big skin tub would
sail along quite rapidly, whirling around and
around like a floating turtle shell. Again drift-
ing as an autumn leaf drifts it floated, barely
moving against the gray earth banks; and the
young girl's head would droop, nodding sleepily,
until it rested upon her bosom.

Then the pole would drop from her nerveless
fingers and she would awake with a start to
stretch a small brown hand out upon the current.

330

THE VOYAGERS ARRI VE

In one of these quick catches after the pole
the bull boat dipped water, drenching Etapa's
face; and this so pleased Zintkala that she
laughed herself awake. The boy grumbled
sleepily and turned his wet cheek under an arm
Zintkala did not land the boat to climb the
steep banks, for she had done this many days
until she was weary of continued disappoint-
ments. She knew that if the Oglalas were
camped in this strange country they would be
found very near to the river — for most small
streams were dry at this season— and so there
could be no danger of passing their village una-
wares. For days they had seen no sign of
human creatures and they were drifting now
almost aimlessly, their thoughts and labors con-
fined to present needs.

Indians, or people of any sort, were farthest
from the sister's mind when her bull boat
bumped over a shallow rapid and ran plump
upon a washout runway, where a great number
of animals had recently forded the stream. At
first Zintkala supposed a big herd of buffaloes
had crossed the river, but she stopped the boat
and her shrewd eyes detected pony tracks— un-
mistakably Indian ponies; a great number of
them had very recently passed that way
" Mi sun ! "

The word was spoken in an undertone, but
there was in the tone a thrill of startling import

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

which the sleeper's ears responded to, and Etapa
arose, nearly upsetting the bull boat. The boy's
eyes quickly fell upon the trampled sloping banks
of the washout, and he leaped to land with a
sharp exclamation of elation.

"Han! han!" he said. "I think perhaps the
Oglala hunters have been after the buffaloes —
thus we shall very quickly find our peoplel"

After a moment's keen search he spoke again
more guardedly.

"Hoye,Tank61'' he said. "I think indeed these
may have been the Oglalas. I do not see the
travois trail nor any moccasin tracks, therefore
these men were hunters or a war party."

"Let us be very careful, younger brother, lest
we be seen suddenly by some strange people,"
urged the sister, and her breath came quick with
excitement and suspense. She hoped these
many riders had been Oglalas, but she feared
they were enemies.

The boy, despite his mounting hope, exercised
an Indian's caution. He did not mount the
bank upon the pony trail but reentered the
bull boat.

"Tanke," he said, "let us go on further, that
we may climb out in a secret place and see if
any persons are in sight."

So in keen suspense of expectation the two
poled their craft along until they had passed a
curve of the river's bank. Then they landed

THE VOYAGERS ARRI VE

and scrambled up to the cover of a cluster of
green willows. From out this covert they peered
with caution, but could see nothing of human
import save the broad dusty trail which stretched
over a little rise, that formed a second bottom
to the nver lands.

"It ^appears there are no people near this
place, said Etapa, after he had scanned the
ower reaches, "therefore let us go forward to
look at this trail."

They approached, keeping upon the vntrod
ground and examined the trampled surface
carefully, and this time they discovered what
they had missed before— pony tracks leading
back upon the trail.

"Ho! I do not think these men have gone far
from their village," said Etapa. "I think their
town IS among those hills yonder. It appears
that a war party has gone out to meet the
enemy.

"Do you think these people are the Oglalas?"
asked Zintkala, doubt and perplexity clouding
her round face.

Before the boy had reflected sufficiently for
answer a clatter of rapidly approaching hoofs
fell upon their ears. A light breeze blowing
from the northwest rustled the willows and the
tops of nearby cottonwoods, and the startled
pair could not tell from which direction the
horses were approaching. A moment of inde-

333

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

cision, as they held their breath and listened,
cost them an opportunity to hide.

Two horsemen suddenly appeared upon the
rise in their front. These were strange Indians
in paint and war dress, armed with shields and
long lances, a. id one with bow and quiver of
arrows at his back.

To run would have been imprudent as well as
useless, and the voyagers, with Hearts pounding
at their ribs, not knowing whether these were
friends or enemies, stepped back some paces from
the trail. The boy carried his buffalo gun and,
under pretense of shifting the weapon from hand
to hand, secretly drew its hammer back in readi-
ness to fire. His quick eye noted that one rider,
a young Indian, had neither bow nor firearm, and
that the other, a large and fleshy man, had but
few arrows in his quiver. He would shoot this
last man if shoot he must.

The strange riders showed no surprise. They
reined in their ponies at some rods distant and
sat looking at the bare-legged, sun-scorched,
wanderers, who must, at this time, have resem-
bled Feejees rather than Sioux. The horsemen
were evidently puzzled as to the tribal identity
of the pair. They rode forward upon the trail
a little further and suddenly wheeled and faced
the voyagers.

"How?" said the big man, inquiringly. "How,"
answered Etapa, in a far-away voice. The stran-

THE VOYAGERS ARRivk

^?'J^^'"^ *' '*'='' "''*'• Something i„ the
boysvoiceormanner had decided them The

fe'"- K r"*^ ^°™'''-''' indicating by siSs
that he wished to examine the buffalo gun

Etapa and Zmtkala drew back quicklfand the
boy shook his head in decided Skf The
J«g solder suddenly poised his lancfafthoS

Etapa uttered a fierce yell, and leveled his

pi^dTdrLTd^i-fs-t

His shrill defiant war-cry instantly warned the
wild nders that they had to deal with nr. ;^,^-

tSn't'hl- -"^'^^y-'^^ CeT^t
tician. He had not expended his bullet but was

cK 'Vt ^ *='°^^ f"^^ ^'^o' « they shou d
Charge The warriors looked at each other with

appreciative grins. This boy's war-shout had

fo™ Srtw" ' ''°r- ''^^^ wculd?"there-
rore kill these two and wear notched feathers
m their braids. They circled about in a S
dash to cut off retreat to the river's bank

I he man with the bow and arrows then leaned
from his saddle and half concealed himSf
behmd his pony. He fitted an arrow and drew

sUrSd" t'o '° t'^'u '^''^ ^"■^'^'^"-'l Z-tkal!

harn nn.. T' ''"■ ^'^^^ "^^''^^^ ^^^r with a
snarp note of warning.

aati

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

"Hoye,Tank6! Do not run!" he cried. "Keep
looking at this man. Jump quickly on one side
if he shootsi"

The sister faced about palpitating with fear.

"These men will surely kill us if you do not
give them the gunl" she said imploringly.

But the boy stood his ground, aiming carefully
at the bowman. Again the wild riders grinned
appreciation of the young warrior's shrewdness.
They knew his buffalo gun had no sights. They
wished to draw nis fire at a distance.

But Etapa began to back away. He was fright-
ened enough, but he was all Indian, and he
preferred to fight rather than yield to capture.
He did not believe these two men, soldiers
though they were, would rush upon the muzzle
of his gun. Let the bowman shoot his arrows!

The man, as if in response to his thought, sud-
denly, and with a fierce yell, launched a shaft at
him. The boy's leap to one side was apparently
instantaneous. The shaft struck into the higher
ground behind him.

"Run quickly, Tank6, and get the arrow!"
shouted Etapa. Zintkala plucked courage from
her bold defender and obeyed with swift feet.

The strangt -oldiers spoke to each other and
laughed wickedly. They had begun to enjoy
the prospect of fighting these quick-witted ones.
Though they wot not of Tatars this pair filled
the place in their barbaric minds. The bowman

336

"If rshooVhi!'*" ^'V^^^'Tank^I" shouted Etapa.
II 1 Shoot him, get his bow and arrows auicklvl"

the ^Jhtirs- "'"^'"^'^ '""^' -^ '"*= bS of
tne .ighting Sioux was roused in her She r-,n

about .n a dizzy kind of maze iSping iL "
km his ''"' '"•'■^"^ ^""^ ^'^« to sfde and
norseman. This fellow spurred his pony sud-

horse's neck^ ^ 1 1:^^!^ thf ^n '
Sioux ran swiftly backward ;nd secured Z

DnTe' S°h!.T ^^ V''°°P°^«=''»»rinandsur.
wiTike thr "^^^ these spindle-legged dodgers
was hke throwing pebbles at swallows. Adroitly

warrior^n^'""." '"'' "'^''- -"--nies-the young
IZZ, ^'^^V'' ^'''"^ ^°' an opening-awaj
the bufl\"T ^T^ ''^' ^''^y «''°"'d discover
Ir™^! °'' '"'^ ^° ^^^"'= Etapa's bow and

exciting game; their powers were engaged onlv
to outwit that rapidly circling pony ridfr. Again
and^ain, hke a wheeling hawk, the big solS

often rX/!'" ''°''«^i"« "°y^8«"- The man
often made feints to shoot. Although the two

337

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

leaped tirelessly to foil his aim, the suspense
and uncertainty, the peril of those swift close
dashes across his circuit, was like to dizzy and
confuse the young brains.

As they dodged and ran backward the children
kept near to the base of the little elevation
which marked the river's second bottom. This
prevented the rider from shooting at them, save
as he aimed downward or against the rise, and
as he missed one seized, or kicked and broke, the
well lodged shaft". Each time the big man failed
the younger gave a whoop of derision. The
wheeling horseman grew bolder, his sudden
attacks more difficult to avoid, and the voyagers
were tiring. When they were near to despair
Zintkala suddenly found her feet among stones.
Instantly she stooped and caught up several
heavy pebbles. As the soldier again rushed at
them she flung the stones with all her might.
His pony was hit upon the face and nearly
pitched its rider off as it sheered suddenly
to one side.

"Waite-^te!" shouted Etapa, and he, too, shift-
ing his gun, began to throw stones. No horse
would face such a battery, and in vain the rider
tried to force his animal within the circle of their
effective hail of pebbles.

In his anger the fierce bowman halted and
launched two shafts in a fury at the boy.
Etapa was nearly transfixed An arrow passed

338

THE VOYAGERS

A R RIVE

on either side and one of them was splintered
on nis gfun stock.

The shooter reached a hand to his quiver to
hnd that he had expended all his shafts. As
Zintkala seized and broke his last whole arrow
across her knee, the soldier showed his chagrin
so deeply that his companion again whooped
with derision; he slapped his bare thigh and
gave vent to guffaws of laughter.

, J*'f.i7°^T" '^^^'^'^ exertion and looked
.41' '^^1! ^°'" ^"""^ "ne of flight to cover.
Tanke. said Etapa, pointing up the river,
let us go thitherward to yonder high bank. If
this man attacks I will surely shoot him "

Let us do so quickly," replied Zintkala, and
hey now mounted the rise, the boy turning to

SSlllo:.'""^'"^""''''''^^""''^'''^^
"Mi sun I" Zintkala's voice was raised in a
shout of wonder and gladness, "I think, indeed,
the Oglalas are here'"

The boy wheeled and his eyes followed his
sister s. Out upon the prairie, within plain view
were two large camps or armies of soldiers,
rJ .P^^'^^''^ not within hailing distance,
but could be seen distinctly. Some were walking
about, others sat upon the ground and still others
held or tended herds of horses. One series of
groups was nearly opposite the other, some bc^
shots removed from them and further up the

339

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

river valley. And again, beyond these, the
voyagers' eyes fell upon the distant conical points
of many tepees — a big village.

"Tankd!" exclaimed the boy, with sudden con-
viction, "those far ones are indeed the Oglalas
who have been fighting these others!"

"Bui these will take us!" said the girl, in a voice
of yearning and despair.

Etapa could not answer. His heart sank. He
knew why these two, who had come to the
river, were so fierce to kill him and his sister
without calling upon their fellows for help.
They would not seek assistance so long as they
could hope for success, but when they could not,
what chance was there for escape!

"Let us walk, going backward, pretending not
to know anyone," said the boy, in this desperate
strait. "Let us go upon the lower ground to
reach the high bank."

They stepped easily down out of sight of the
soldiers upon the prairie, who had probably
taken no note of them as yet. The voyagers
now walked quickly backward, with their faces
turned toward the two horsemen, their hands
filled with stones to throw if these should chase
them.

The soldiers immediately unslung the bull's
hide shields attached to their saddles; then they
talked together earnestly for a moment. Soon
the younger turned and rode along the river's

340

THE VOYAGERS ARR I VE

bank, and the larger man started directly toward
the nearer soldiers' camp.

"Tanke! Run!" cried Etapa. and the two
turned and sped along the base of the rise, run-
ning as they had never run before. Their days
of rest m the bull boat, and their fears, lent
wings to their supple and much tried legs

In a dash of three hundred yards or more the
horseman who pursued along the river did not
gain more than a third the distance though he
urged his pony at 'op speed. He passed the
fleet runners apparently in:3nding to get between
them and the high bank, at which they were
aiming. Suddenly he wheeled, lowered his
lance, covered his body with his shield and
charged directly at them. In the same instant
they heard a clatter of hoofs over the rise
beyond. The soldiers were charging from
theT"^ '^''^^'ons to confuse and destroy

Neither dared turn either way to throw
stones, lest a hurled lance should transfix the
thrower! The runners halted instantly; with
the instinct of hunted animals, they leaped
aside at the point of contact. The horsemen
came together in a flurry of dust to find the
dodgers again escaped, and some cracking
strokes upon the ribs, as the voyagers hurled
their stones and ran, set their ponies prancing
The soldiers gathered themselves and their

841

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

weapons for a fresh attack, and now the young
Sioux sped up onto the prairie. They knew
they must be nearly as close to the upper war
party as to the enemy, and they ran toward those
whom they believed were friends.

Zintkala raised her voice in a shrill appealing
cry, "At6! At6! Ate!"

The enraged horsemen wheeled again and
charged th'-.m recklessly. These wily and incred-
ibly fleet young Sioux would bring disgrace upon
them should theSr rabbit legs now permit them
to escape.

For another time breathless dodging saved
the voyagers, and still the gun prevented any
other tactics than the cross-charging. There
was a moment of delay in recovery, and again
the riders swiftly circled to position. The voy-
agers were feeling the tremendous strain of
their efforts. Frantic terror had seized upon
them. It was impossible for Etapa to use his
gun — if he should turn upon one rider the other
would run him through. It was impossible also
for the fleeter, less-encumbered Zintkala to leave
his side. They had to hold together.

Again the wicked lancemen charged with
shields in front and spears poised to hurl; and
somehow out of the mdlee the agile ones again
escaped; but a catastrophe happened — the boy's
cocked gun was accidently discharged. He gave
a shrill cry of despair, and fled with both riders

342

THE VOYAGERS

ARRIVE

after him as quickly as they could gather them-
selves. Each was bent upon securing the buffalo
gun for himself. They rushed together and
hindered each other.

The boy dodged their lance thrusts again
and again and the girl, running just ahead, con-
tinued to cry,
"At61 At6! Ate!"

Suddenly a vast chorus of whoops shook the
air and the lancers, with a tired quarry and in the
moment of success, were startled into drawing
rein. They saw before them the two big war
parties, mounted in groups, watching their game,
and they saw also a single horseman from the
Sioux columns coming with the speed of a
prongbuck. He was half way to them, in fact, a
chief in plumes and war-bonnet, lying low upon
a buckskin horse, which ran as the coyote runs-
and they saw the children they had chased
stretch their arms toward this horseman and
heard their shrill cries, which rang above the
clamor —
"At6! At6! Ate!"

As the Sioux warrior whistled down the wind
also they heard his strong voice crying its chal-
lenge.

"I am Fire Cloud of the Oglalas— fight me'
fight me!"

And they understood that they must fight this
famous war-chief to the death, or be stricken

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

as they ran like fleeing dogs. They knew that
in all those watching throngs no hand would be
raised to help or hinder. Their fighting blood
prevailed and they wheeled apart to meet the
attack.

"Come on, dog of a Sioux!" they shouted,
affixing their shields to protect their bodies from
his arrows.

The flying rider passed his glad children with-
out so much as a glance at them. He reined
his horse at fifty paces from the enemy and
loomed large in the saddle, painted, gaily
bedecked, cool of manner and keen of eye, but
carried only a war-club slung at his wrist. He
had not even a bull's hide shield to protect his
half-naked body!

"Ho, Kangi! My cousins, who it seems are
enemies, since you wished to kill my children,
who have arrived; I, their father, am here." He
spoke calmly but with deep fire of excitement
in his eyes.

The Crows looked at each other and laughed.
They understood tha: this man had heard the
cry of his lost children, had discovered them
pursued, and had leaped his horse without wait-
ing to arm himself; that all the others had seen
him come forth and supposed the man wished
merely to adventure his body in battle. Very
well, they would count coup upon his body and
kill his dodgers also if these should stay to wit-

THE VOYAGERS ARRI VE

ness his death. They began to circle rapidly
around him, no longer afraid.

The chief sat his horse, making no move
at first, but as the Crows drew nearer, suddenly
began to whirl his war-club. The stone head of
the weapon swung about his body so that he
seemed encircled by an unbroken ring

The wheeling riders charged him, one from
either side, thrusting at him with lances. Both
their weapons were flung aside by his whirling
club, and the chief executed a swift demi-volt
and again impassively faced them. From the
crowds of onlookers shouts of approval greeted
his successful maneuver.

Out on the prairie a little way Zintkala stood,
with clinched hands, panting from exertion, her
eyes fixed with mingled longing, love and terror
upon the figure of that bold Sioux chief. And
squatted cross-legged upon the ground, Etapa!
without a ramrod, worked frantically trying to
fit a bullet to his buffalo gun.

The two Crows again circled, wheeling like
birds of prey about the Oglala, and again
charged him from opposite sides. The encoun-
ter was sharp and fierce; the Sioux's war-club
seemed to play on all hands at once. Out of this
encounter the big Crow emerged with a broken
lance, but the smaller, with a yell of triumph,
earned away, strung upon his spear, the Sioux
chiefs gorgeous war-bonnet.

345

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

Yet the Oglala soldier faced his enemies a
second time unscathtd, and the prairie was
shaken by the vast shrill chorus which greeted
his exploit.

As the Crows again wheeled into position for
attack the larger, who had exchanged his
broken spear for the tomahawk, yelled a sharp
note of warning to his fellow.

The smaller turned his pony in a sharp circle
to see the boy he had so lately chased rush at
him with a leveled gun. There was no moment
to spare — to retreat was not to be thought of,
and with a wild yell he lowered his shield and
charged.

When the horse was almost upon him, aiming
at the center of that shield, Etapa fired. As
when he had shot at the bear, his gun exploded
with a mighty roar, and knocked him backward
off his feet. The Crow's lance, hurled down-
ward, struck deep into the ground where he had
stood. But this Indian did not stop to fight fur-
ther. His shield fell to the ground, an arm
dangled at his side, and he galloped away to his
fellows, only bearing the war-bonnet, which had
fallen across his saddle pommel.

This time the kicking buffalo gun had saved
Etapa, and very likely the chief and the
girl. The boy leaped to his feet, seized the
fallen shield and wrenched the lance from its
hold.

346

THE VOYAGERS ARRIV E

"I have taken war weapons of the enemy!" he
shouted in a shrill exultant treble, which reached
to all the crowds of horsemen ; and these greeted
his success with cloud-touchinjf yells.

For the first time the Dakota father turned to
one of his children.

"How— how— my son!" he said, and instantly
rode to attack the big Crow, who now waited his
turn.

Fire Cloud rushed his pony at this man with-
out regard to tactics, and they came together in
a duel, such as delighted the souls of a thousand
wild riders.

The two wheeled rapidly about each other,
striking, dodging, turning demi-volts. The Crow
warrior had an advantage in his tough bull's hide
shield, and again and again turned aside swift
and dextrous strokes which would have maimed
himself or horse.

As he wheeled about, this soldier saw that the
chiefs son was not reloading his gun, and so
took heart and fought manfully; while the voy-
agers shouted to their father that now indeed he
should overcome the enemy. Their faith was
justified. Suddenly as Fire Cloud charged, hurl-
ing his horse against that of the big soldier, the
Crow's tomahawk flew from his hand, and his
shield was crushed by a swinging stroke, which
flung him out of the saddle and measured his
length upon the ground.

347

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

The Sioux chief leaped from his hone and
set his foot upon the helpless enemy.

"Ho, Kangi!" he cried. "Now, indeed, I might
easiJy count a coup upon your body and give
your flesh to the dogs, but I will not do so! My
children have arrived. My heart is glad, and I
wish to kill no one."

The bruised and astonished Crow struggled to
his feet and stared unbelievingly at the victor.

"Hoh!" he exclaimed, "hoh— hoh!"

The Sioux stei^ped back. "Yonder is your
horse, Kangi;" he said, "now go."

The man's pony had stopped to graze quite as
though fighting were a daily incident. The
Crow walked slowly to the animal and mounted.
He rode away, shaking his head and muttering.

"Hoh— hoh— hohl" he said. He could not
understand.

Fire Cloud's children now stood together.
They would not approach their father until he
bade them. But their faces shone with such
joy as those may feel who look upon angels.

The victor looked after the rel reating Crow,
and intently toward the hosts of astonished
horsemen for a moment — for the air was rent
with shouts of surprise, of anger, of approval.
Then apparent!, satisfied that no one would
advance to molest, he mounted his animal and
turned to his children.

"My son — my daughter!" he said, and he

34S

THE VOYAGERS ARRIVE

stooped and swung the boy with his war weap-
ons up in front, and lifted the girl to a seat
behind his saddle.

"My children," he spoke again, "you have
come a long wayi^'

, ^"'^ '!)'.° Y'^e^^ ea" the voyagers began to
clamor, At6, the Hohe took us!" cried Zintkala.
We escaped from the OjibwasI" shouted
Etapa.

1^* "" * ^^^ '°"8 ^ay in the woods

The Ojibwas chased us

"We were in a swamp!

"The eagles brought fish!

"We escaped

"Brother was very sick "

"Han— han— hani" said the chief.

"We stole many ponies from the Hoh6l"
/'Han— han!"

"I indeed struck a Scili! I also struck mato-
sapal the boy raised his voice to a shout.

"How— how, my son— my daughtei--my chil-
dren!

To their bewildering cross-fire of adventures
the glad father could only answer by exclama-
tions.

He rode slowly with his double burden, past
the squads of wondering Sioux, but none came
forward to question, though many must have
shrewdly guessed the truth about these slim
young strangers, little as they seemed to

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

resemble the small boy and Rirl their chief
had lost.

When nearly half way to the Sioux town, Fire
Cloud set his children's feet upon the earth.

"LonK enough there has been mourning in
your mother's tep6e," he said. "Run ye hither
quickly." And he turned and rode back to his
soldiers.

At the Sioux village many women, old men
and young people were gathered about the wil-
low railings which surrounded their town.
Others sat in groups out upon the prairie at a
little distance. Many of these were women who
had sat cross-legged and immovable for hours,
and despite the heat, with blankets close drawn
about their heads. Among these were anxious
mothers, wives and sweethearts, and a number
had already lifted their voices in wailing. They
had been glad when the fighting ceased. As
the afternoon wore on and no more runners
arrived it was said among these groups that now
it was evident, of a truth, that the Crows and
Mountain Indians were afraid of their soldiers.

"Ho, ho," they said, "our warriors have indeed
defeated those wicked Kang^!"

Presently, however, they heard a great shout-
ing which seemed to indicate that some excit-
ing move was on foot among the armies. But
away off there on the prairie all the groups of

360

TH£ VOYAGERS ARRIV E

horsemen appeared as blurred patches with no
movement of an intelligible nature. The shout-
ing arose several times like the swell of shrill far-
away music, then all appeared to be quiet again.

At length a young man, standing upon a high
cedar post and acting as crier for the home
groups, shouted in a loud voice that a runner
was coming-a large man upon a white horse.
1 ftere had been no message since a large num-
ber of young men had returned to the soldiers,
beanng loads of dried meat.

There was a hush of expectancy-the people
patiently waited. Presently the young man cried
again that three persons had ridden the white
horse that one was going back with the pony
and the other two coming on foot. These two
were running very rapidly. In a little time all
who craned their necks above their fellows' heads
could see two slim figures leaping toward them.
These are strange soldiers!" shouted the lad
upon the post. '^One has a gun and the other a
lance and shield.

The runners came nearer. They appeared to
be running with marvelous speed, and eagerly,
with tangles of matted hair flying, their thin bare

?l, u',^T"*^ '•'* «™""'* *'''» rabbit-like ease.
Hoh! shouted the crier presently, "these two
arevery young. One is indeed a girll"

There were exclamations of incredulity. As
the strangers drew nearer they seemed to

861

TWO WIL DERNESS VOYAGERS

belong to black people. They were certainly
very dark— they were also illy clothed. Suddenly
the voice* of these two loping ones were raised
in shrill, joyous notes.

"Ina! Inal we are coming— Zintkala—Etapa—
your son — your daughter!"

There was a moment of dead silence then a
chorus of exclamations, which expressed the
single emotion of amazement.

Then there te^W upon the ears of all a wild
yearning cry — a mother's cry — and a woman
rose from one of the outer groups. Her blanket
dropped from her shoulders and she staggered
for a moment, clasping a hand to her forehead.
Then she ran, though unsteadily, toward the
fleet newcomers, and two wee girls, with arms
and hair flying, sped at her heels.

The voyagers dropped their weapons and
came on more swiftly.

"Inal Inal Ina!"

They leaped, panting like blown hares, into the
mother's arms. The woman strained them to
her bosom. She lifted her face and cried, "My
children!— my children!" She could say nothing

more.

Two little -sloe-eyed girls flung themselves
upon the voyagers' bare legs and clamored pite-
ously for attention, shouting that now indeed
they knew that tank6 and Sunkaku had come
back to them.

353

CHAPTER XXXII
THE WARRIOR FATHER'S APPE.M,

The Oglalas among the Sioux hv' i-:a. i« 1 a
conclusion. They had seen Fire Cu . • ^o lio;nr>-
ward with the rescued children, ha ^.r- "^iLarc i
a man who had tried to kill them -liis <...:i .nil
dren doubtless— and they knew that their ihief
soldier's heart had become very soft, ihc,
feared even that some evil spirit, surjf>: !v in
the moment of victory, had made him witko.

Yet they held themselves in readiness to fight
so soon as the Crows and Mountain Indians
should make a move in their direction.

While the head soldiers were consulting
together. Fire Cloud wheeled his horse and
came swiftly back to them. A group gathered
about him.

"My children have arrived," he said simply.
He removed the war-club from his wrist and
tendered it to one nearest. The man took it and
others looked on wondering.

"I wish to talk to these Kangi and Mountain
Crows," he said. "How, how, speak to them,"
said some of the older warriors, well pleased.

Immediately Fire Cloud rode toward the
enemy, who were moving about in a restless
fashion. The chief approached half way, and

TWO WILDER NESS VOYAGERS

made a sifjn of amity. Getting no answer, he
shouted his name, and soon the Crows and their
allies understood that this was the war -chief
who had spared a Crow soldier.

A head partisan of the Crows rode out pres-
ently to meet the Oglala. This one halted
within a few paces of the chief.

"Ho, you that spared the life of War Dog,
what do you seek of us?" he inquired.

"If your chief men will come forward and
talk I will tell thpm why we are come into this
country," answered Fire Cloud. "We did not
come here to fight, unless an enemy should

seek us*

"How, I will tell them what you have said,"
and the partisan turned and rode back to his
fellows. After a while the Crows ?.nd others
signaled their willingness to come forward. Mid
Fire Cloud passed the word to his Sioux. He
also arranged, by signs, for the numbers of each
which should approach.

After a decorous length of time some two
score of the chiefs and partisans of each war-
party were seated— while young men held their
ponies in the rear— in opposite groups upon the
prairie. They did not smoke the peace pipe.
None offered it. They wore the dress and
paints of fighting men, and held their weapons
in hand.
"We will listen to the One-Who-Spares-His-

354

THE WARRIOR FATHER'S APPEAL

Enemy," was the dictum of a Crow chief, and in
a tone which implied that none other need talk.

Fire Cloud arose and walked into the space
confronting the allies. He was shorn of his war-
dress, and carried no weapon. He wore leggins
and moccasins and a tall white feather stood
aslant- from his scalp lock.

He spoke to the Crows and the Mountain
People present in Dakota, which was their
mother tongue, both being apostate tribes. Yet,
had they understood no word of his tongue,
these children of the wilderness could have
followed every thought in his vivid sign language.

"Ho, Kangi, and you Mountain Soldiers, whose
name should be Dakota, I did not think when
you came to attack us that I should indeed wish
to speak with you.

"Listen, last year I sent my children to be
taught of the white people at Traverse des
Sioux. These people treated them with rigor,
trying very quickly to give them white skins.
This was folly, and I have now seen how foolish
I myself have been. My children ran away
from their school and the Hohe took them.
These sold them into a far country.

"When a runner came this spring and told me
this, my spirit was broken. I did not wish to live.
But this runner who came said also that some of
my people in Minnesota were foolishly going to
war against the white people. I said, 'Though I

365

TWO WILDERN ESS VOYAGERS

wish to die, yet my people and their childreu
wish to stay upon the earth,' therefore, I urged
them that we should come far into this broken
country; that we might not be implicated in
war, and that we might as long as possible stand
against our enemies.

"When I was yet young the Dakotas lived in
a land of great abundance. From the falls of
the big river to the Missouri we had all that
land. When the white people came among us
we always treated them with kindness. We
gave them food and many presents. Their set-
tlements seemed a long way off, and we thought
they must be destitute, having come so far.
What happened? Before my younger chil-
dren were born, these people had spread across
the great river and taken our best country
from us. They gave us nothing for the land.
They forgot our kindness, and rudely thrust us
out.

"Ho, you Kangi nd your cousins, you have all
seen the locusts which fly upon us and spread
themselves upon all the land in the grass moons;
how these build their round tepees in the
ground, covering all the earth and destroying
the grass, so that the buffaloes are indeed
driven away, and your hunters cannot find them,
and there is hunger and want in your lodges. So
do these white people spread; but each one
builds his lepee of wood or stone, and abides

366

THE WARRIOR FATHER'S APPEAL

upon his piece of ground and there is no room
for anyone on the earth.

"These are indeed moving upon all the earth
toward us. I myself have seen them. They
will destroy the trees and grass and kill all
things that live with us. We cannot resist
them. Who is so witko as to believe it?

"How silly it appears that we should be fip t-
ing each other, and thus give to these enemies
of all Indians better excuse to seize our prop-
erty! Very soon we shall have nothing to fight
about. We shall be searching for the graves of
our dead, and shall not find them. We shall
inquire whither we may pitch our tepees and no
one can tell us. We shall ask of those who
have despoiled us where we may find meat for
our children.

"Ho, Kangi and you Mountain Soldiers, do
you indeed wish it thus? Do you wish to crawl
upon your bellies that others may feed your
women and children?

"To-day my children arrived, having escaped
from captivity. Because of this battle between
us they were near to death. But the Waniyan
Tanka has indeed saved them, and my heart is
glad. I no longer desire to die. I wish to live.
I wish my people to be at peace, so that we may
save some of our land whereon we may raise
our children and bury our dead.

"Listen, Kangi and Mountain Soldiers. When

367

TWO WILDERNESS VOYAGERS

tlie buffaloes came was there any lack of meat
and skins for you and for us? Are your children
hungtry? If so, we will give them meat. If any-
one among you is in want let him come to my
tep^e and I will feed and clothe him. Thus say
all these my colleagues and partisans. I have
finished."

The Crows and their friends were much aston-
ished at what this Sioux chief had said. They
considered the matter gravely and apart for a
time. At length' an old chief spoke.

"How, Dakotas," he said, "let us indeed pre-
pare the peace pipe. We did not understand
why you had come into this country, or we
would not have acted thus rudely. You are very
welcome to stay all winter at this place."

"How — how, good — good!" cried the Sioux.
Immediately these war-chiefs began to approach
each other and to shake hands. Pipes passed
among them, and they talked for a long time,
telling each other such news of distant wars as
they had heard.

After they had sat, until nearly sunset, thus
talking, two young men of the Crows
approached, bearing a covered vessel between
them. They set this burden at the t<iet of Fire
Cloud, and removed their blankets, discovering
a rude bull boat.

The chief arose to look at this craft, an oblong

368

THE WARRIOR FATHER'S APPEAL

tub with frame-work of bent willows, covered
with a half tanned buffalo pelt. Inside he saw
two small blanket rolls, a parflfiche filled with
small articles and pieces of dried meat, a carca-
jou s skin, a long knife in a leather sheath, a
metal basin much blackened by use, a boy's
horn-tipped bow, and a quiver containing three
strange arrows.

"Han! han!" said Fire Cloud, "it was thus
that my children arrived!"

It is said that these tribes have not fought
each other since, except when treacherous ones
have been hired to go in search of some village
of women and children, which the Great
Father's soldiers wished to attack.

SS9

rcAuam or rraxi north by

Egerton r. Young

land.

PrafiiHir lUutnttd.
»Bo. doth, fi.is act.
■xp«fi««G« wltk laUa*
ud St Bernard doti,
coviiioi yttn of tlvdit
travel la tha froscn wild*
of Brillah America. An
cidtlnf (terr In which
tht marvcU ofdo% Inadact,
Intdiifance and itraaith
pUf tba chief part. Ur.
ToBBj prove* in a nmt
•aicnalaiaf ud Inalnic-
tlvc wajr that each do(,
Jwt aa nnek a* a pcrMn,
kaa Ua Mrn tadlvUsd
character, and mnat be
dedt with accordla(ly.
Terrible perili, woadcrM
escapee and toddcn cmer-
fCDcla Biix with the moM
coadcal aitaadoni.

OathcIi^buiTfalL

Storiea of UlidMMrr
Izpcriences aaien| the
Crat and the Saulteaut
Indiana. Itoriea of Mlt-
alon. iimo, doth, fi.oo.

'He haa a ktffy nM

_ , ,jaint
way rf 4ea*elb<nK the In-
eideata and •nrrawdlap
BTftoniierUfe. HiadMea.
fill, dnoai merry, temper,
whUe rcc«nUD( the d*.
vicea rcvened to la emdar*
in{ or iaa*tedB(pri»nfUaa

and Inatnwdv*."— fj^
l9^MUtmmm.

TheApoilbtf lb

With twenty Ulaiiradoaa
by J. B. LaachUa. laaw,
dothffi.af.

'*A ftaah tfeaae li pre-
■anted here-^c llfeaTa
mladonary In Upper Ca».
»**% aad the aerthOTwd
regleoi aa ftr at Athnfeatca
I^« and even beywd.
Yonof people, naosUy not
attracted to mlaelonary
llteralnre, wiU be later,
ceted In the book. It Ii
well UlnMratod."— rAi
Omth*i.

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