He Was A
Dakota From The Missouri, A Reputed Son Of The Half-Breed
Interpreter, Pierre Dorion, So Often Mentioned In Irving's "Astoria."
He Said That He Was Going To Richard's Trading House To Sell His
Horse To Some Emigrants Who Were Encamped There, And Asked Me To Go
With Him.
We forded the stream together, Paul dragging his wild
charge behind him.
As we passed over the sandy plains beyond, he
grew quite communicative. Paul was a cosmopolitan in his way; he had
been to the settlements of the whites, and visited in peace and war
most of the tribes within the range of a thousand miles. He spoke a
jargon of French and another of English, yet nevertheless he was a
thorough Indian; and as he told of the bloody deeds of his own people
against their enemies, his little eye would glitter with a fierce
luster. He told how the Dakota exterminated a village of the Hohays
on the Upper Missouri, slaughtering men, women, and children; and how
an overwhelming force of them cut off sixteen of the brave Delawares,
who fought like wolves to the last, amid the throng of their enemies.
He told me also another story, which I did not believe until I had it
confirmed from so many independent sources that no room was left for
doubt. I am tempted to introduce it here.
Six years ago a fellow named Jim Beckwith, a mongrel of French,
American, and negro blood, was trading for the Fur Company, in a very
large village of the Crows.
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