After Advancing For Some
Time, I Conceived Myself To Be Entirely Alone; But Coming To A Part
Of The Glen In A Great Measure Free Of Trees And Undergrowth, I Saw
At Some Distance The Black Head And Red Shoulders Of An Indian Among
The Bushes Above.
The reader need not prepare himself for a
startling adventure, for I have none to relate.
The head and
shoulders belonged to Mene-Seela, my best friend in the village. As
I had approached noiselessly with my moccasined feet, the old man was
quite unconscious of my presence; and turning to a point where I
could gain an unobstructed view of him, I saw him seated alone,
immovable as a statue, among the rocks and trees. His face was
turned upward, and his eyes seemed riveted on a pine tree springing
from a cleft in the precipice above. The crest of the pine was
swaying to and fro in the wind, and its long limbs waved slowly up
and down, as if the tree had life. Looking for a while at the old
man, I was satisfied that he was engaged in an act of worship or
prayer, or communion of some kind with a supernatural being. I
longed to penetrate his thoughts, but I could do nothing more than
conjecture and speculate. I knew that though the intellect of an
Indian can embrace the idea of an all-wise, all-powerful Spirit, the
supreme Ruler of the universe, yet his mind will not always ascend
into communion with a being that seems to him so vast, remote, and
incomprehensible; and when danger threatens, when his hopes are
broken, when the black wing of sorrow overshadows him, he is prone to
turn for relief to some inferior agency, less removed from the
ordinary scope of his faculties. He has a guardian spirit, on whom
he relies for succor and guidance. To him all nature is instinct
with mystic influence. Among those mountains not a wild beast was
prowling, a bird singing, or a leaf fluttering, that might not tend
to direct his destiny or give warning of what was in store for him;
and he watches the world of nature around him as the astrologer
watches the stars. So closely is he linked with it that his guardian
spirit, no unsubstantial creation of the fancy, is usually embodied
in the form of some living thing - a bear, a wolf, an eagle, or a
serpent; and Mene-Seela, as he gazed intently on the old pine tree,
might believe it to inshrine the fancied guide and protector of his
life.
Whatever was passing in the mind of the old man, it was no part of
sense or of delicacy to disturb him. Silently retracing my
footsteps, I descended the glen until I came to a point where I could
climb the steep precipices that shut it in, and gain the side of the
mountain. Looking up, I saw a tall peak rising among the woods.
Something impelled me to climb; I had not felt for many a day such
strength and elasticity of limb. An hour and a half of slow and
often intermittent labor brought me to the very summit; and emerging
from the dark shadows of the rocks and pines, I stepped forth into
the light, and walking along the sunny verge of a precipice, seated
myself on its extreme point. Looking between the mountain peaks to
the westward, the pale blue prairie was stretching to the farthest
horizon like a serene and tranquil ocean. The surrounding mountains
were in themselves sufficiently striking and impressive, but this
contrast gave redoubled effect to their stern features.
CHAPTER XIX
PASSAGE OF THE MOUNTAINS
When I took leave of Shaw at La Bonte's Camp, I promised that I would
meet him at Fort Laramie on the 1st of August. That day, according
to my reckoning, was now close at hand. It was impossible, at best,
to fulfill my engagement exactly, and my meeting with him must have
been postponed until many days after the appointed time, had not the
plans of the Indians very well coincided with my own. They too,
intended to pass the mountains and move toward the fort. To do so at
this point was impossible, because there was no opening; and in order
to find a passage we were obliged to go twelve or fourteen miles
southward. Late in the afternoon the camp got in motion, defiling
back through the mountains along the same narrow passage by which
they had entered. I rode in company with three or four young Indians
at the rear, and the moving swarm stretched before me, in the ruddy
light of sunset, or in the deep shadow of the mountains far beyond my
sight. It was an ill-omened spot they chose to encamp upon. When
they were there just a year before, a war party of ten men, led by
The Whirlwind's son, had gone out against the enemy, and not one had
ever returned. This was the immediate cause of this season's warlike
preparations. I was not a little astonished when I came to the camp,
at the confusion of horrible sounds with which it was filled; howls,
shrieks, and wailings were heard from all the women present, many of
whom not content with this exhibition of grief for the loss of their
friends and relatives, were gashing their legs deeply with knives. A
warrior in the village, who had lost a brother in the expedition;
chose another mode of displaying his sorrow. The Indians, who,
though often rapacious, are utterly devoid of avarice, are accustomed
in times of mourning, or on other solemn occasions, to give away the
whole of their possessions, and reduce themselves to nakedness and
want. The warrior in question led his two best horses into the
center of the village, and gave them away to his friends; upon which
songs and acclamations in praise of his generosity mingled with the
cries of the women.
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