On The Last Day Of Our Stay In This Camp, The Trappers Were Ready For
Departure.
When in the Black Hills they had caught seven beaver, and
they now left their skins in charge of Reynal, to be kept until their
return.
Their strong, gaunt horses were equipped with rusty Spanish
bits and rude Mexican saddles, to which wooden stirrups were
attached, while a buffalo robe was rolled up behind them, and a
bundle of beaver traps slung at the pommel. These, together with
their rifles, their knives, their powder-horns and bullet-pouches,
flint and steel and a tincup, composed their whole traveling
equipment. They shook hands with us and rode away; Saraphin with his
grim countenance, like a surly bulldog's, was in advance; but
Rouleau, clambering gayly into his seat, kicked his horse's sides,
flourished his whip in the air, and trotted briskly over the prairie,
trolling forth a Canadian song at the top of his lungs. Reynal
looked after them with his face of brutal selfishness.
"Well," he said, "if they are killed, I shall have the beaver.
They'll fetch me fifty dollars at the fort, anyhow."
This was the last I saw of them.
We had been for five days in the hunting camp, and the meat, which
all this time had hung drying in the sun, was now fit for
transportation. Buffalo hides also had been procured in sufficient
quantities for making the next season's lodges; but it remained to
provide the long slender poles on which they were to be supported.
These were only to be had among the tall pine woods of the Black
Hills, and in that direction therefore our next move was to be made.
It is worthy of notice that amid the general abundance which during
this time had prevailed in the camp there were no instances of
individual privation; for although the hide and the tongue of the
buffalo belong by exclusive right to the hunter who has killed it,
yet anyone else is equally entitled to help himself from the rest of
the carcass. Thus, the weak, the aged, and even the indolent come in
for a share of the spoils, and many a helpless old woman, who would
otherwise perish from starvation, is sustained in profuse abundance.
On the 25th of July, late in the afternoon, the camp broke up, with
the usual tumult and confusion, and we were all moving once more, on
horseback and on foot, over the plains. We advanced, however, but a
few miles. The old men, who during the whole march had been stoutly
striding along on foot in front of the people, now seated themselves
in a circle on the ground, while all the families, erecting their
lodges in the prescribed order around them, formed the usual great
circle of the camp; meanwhile these village patriarchs sat smoking
and talking. I threw my bridle to Raymond, and sat down as usual
along with them. There was none of that reserve and apparent dignity
which an Indian always assumes when in council, or in the presence of
white men whom he distrusts. The party, on the contrary, was an
extremely merry one; and as in a social circle of a quite different
character, "if there was not much wit, there was at least a great
deal of laughter."
When the first pipe was smoked out, I rose and withdrew to the lodge
of my host. Here I was stooping, in the act of taking off my powder-
horn and bullet-pouch, when suddenly, and close at hand, pealing loud
and shrill, and in right good earnest, came the terrific yell of the
war-whoop. Kongra-Tonga's squaw snatched up her youngest child, and
ran out of the lodge. I followed, and found the whole village in
confusion, resounding with cries and yells. The circle of old men in
the center had vanished. The warriors with glittering eyes came
darting, their weapons in their hands, out of the low opening of the
lodges, and running with wild yells toward the farther end of the
village. Advancing a few rods in that direction, I saw a crowd in
furious agitation, while others ran up on every side to add to the
confusion. Just then I distinguished the voices of Raymond and
Reynal, shouting to me from a distance, and looking back, I saw the
latter with his rifle in his hand, standing on the farther bank of a
little stream that ran along the outskirts of the camp. He was
calling to Raymond and myself to come over and join him, and Raymond,
with his usual deliberate gait and stolid countenance, was already
moving in that direction.
This was clearly the wisest course, unless we wished to involve
ourselves in the fray; so I turned to go, but just then a pair of
eyes, gleaming like a snake's, and an aged familiar countenance was
thrust from the opening of a neighboring lodge, and out bolted old
Mene-Seela, full of fight, clutching his bow and arrows in one hand
and his knife in the other. At that instant he tripped and fell
sprawling on his face, while his weapons flew scattering away in
every direction. The women with loud screams were hurrying with
their children in their arms to place them out of danger, and I
observed some hastening to prevent mischief, by carrying away all the
weapons they could lay hands on. On a rising ground close to the
camp stood a line of old women singing a medicine song to allay the
tumult. As I approached the side of the brook I heard gun-shots
behind me, and turning back, I saw that the crowd had separated into
two lines of naked warriors confronting each other at a respectful
distance, and yelling and jumping about to dodge the shot of their
adversaries, while they discharged bullets and arrows against each
other. At the same time certain sharp, humming sounds in the air
over my head, like the flight of beetles on a summer evening, warned
me that the danger was not wholly confined to the immediate scene of
the fray.
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