The Poor
Little Heathen Was Distracted, But When He Saw Faye He Instantly
Became A General And Said At Once, "You Hole-Ee Him - Me Takee
Bleckfus." So Faye Having A Desire For Breakfast, Held Down The Stove
While Charlie Got Things Together.
The Saratoga chips were delicate
and crisp and looked nice, too, but neither the doctor nor I asked
Faye if they were some of the "rose leaves" or just plain potatoes
from a dish!
Charlie is splendid and most resourceful. Very near our tent is a
small stream of cold, clear water, and on one side of this he has made
a little cave of stones through which the water runs, and in this he
keeps the butter, milk, and desserts that require a cool place. He is
pottering around about something all the time. There is just one poor
cow in the whole camp, so we cannot get much milk - only one pint each
day - but we consider ourselves very fortunate in getting any at all. I
brought over fourteen dozen eggs, packed in boxes with salt. We are to
start back the first of November, so after we got here I worked out a
little problem in mathematics, and found that the eggs would last by
using only two each day. But Charlie does better than this; he will
manage to get along without eggs for a day or two, and will then
surprise us with a fine omelet or custard. But he keeps an exact
account and never exceeds his allowance.
The doctor is still with us, and shows no inclination to join the
officers' mess that has just been started. He seems to think that he
is one of the family, and would be greatly surprised, and hurt
probably, if he should discover that we would rather be alone.
FORT MAGINNIS, MONTANA TERRITORY,
September, 1880.
THERE is a large village of Cree Indians in the valley below, and for
several days they were a great nuisance in the garrison. One bright
morning it was discovered that a long line of them had left their
tepees and were coming in this direction. They were riding single
file, of course, and were chanting and beating "tom-toms" in a way to
make one's blood feel frozen. I was out on one of the little hills at
the time, riding Bettie, and happened to be about the first to see
them. I started for the post at once at a fast gait and told Faye and
Colonel Palmer about them, but as soon as it was seen that they were
actually coming to the post, I rode out again about as fast as I had
come in, and went to a bit of high ground where I could command a view
of the camp, and at the same time be screened by bushes and rocks. And
there I remained until those savages were well on their way back to
their own village.
Then I went in, and was laughed at by everyone, and assured by some
that I had missed a wonderful sight. The Crees are Canadian Indians
and are here for a hunt, by permission of both governments. They and
the Sioux are very hostile to each other; therefore when four or five
Sioux swooped down upon them a few days ago and drove off twenty of
their ponies, the Crees were frantic. It was an insult not to be put
up with, so some of their best young warriors were sent after them.
They recaptured the ponies and killed one Sioux.
Now an Indian is shrewd and wily! The Sioux had been a thief,
therefore the Crees cut off his right hand, fastened it to a long pole
with the fingers pointing up, and with much fuss and
feathers - particularly feathers - brought it to the "White Chief," to
show him that the good, brave Crees had killed one of the white man's
enemies! The leading Indian carried the pole with the hand, and almost
everyone of those that followed carried something also - pieces of
flags, or old tin pans or buckets, upon which they beat with sticks,
making horrible noises. Each Indian was chanting in a sing-song,
mournful way. They were dressed most fancifully; some with red coats,
probably discarded by the Canadian police, and Faye said that almost
everyone had on quantities of beads and feathers.
Bringing the hand of a dead Sioux was only an Indian's way of begging
for something to eat, and this Colonel Palmer understood, so great tin
cups of hot coffee and boxes of hard-tack were served to them. Then
they danced and danced, and to me it looked as though they intended to
dance the rest of their lives right on that one spot. But when they
saw that any amount of furious dancing would not boil more coffee,
they stopped, and finally started back to their village.
Faye tells me that as he was going to his tent from the dancing, he
noticed an Indian who seemed to be unusually well clad, his moccasins
and leggings were embroidered with beads and he was wrapped in a
bright-red blanket, head as well as body. As he passed him a voice
said in the purest English, "Lieutenant, can you give me a sear spring
for my rifle?" The only human being near was that Indian, wrapped
closely in a blanket, with only his eyes showing, precisely as one
would expect to see a hostile dressed. Faye said that it gave him the
queerest kind of a sensation, as though the voice had come from
another world. He asked the Indian where he had learned such good
English and technical knowledge of guns, and he said at the Carlisle
school. He said also that he was a Piegan and on a visit to some Cree
friends. This was one of the many proofs that we have had, that no
matter how good an education the Indian may receive, he will return to
his blanket and out-of-the-pot way of living just as soon as he
returns to his people.
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