Jack in the Rockies: A Boy's Adventures with a Pack Train

by George Bird Grinnell

  CHAPTER V

  BUFFALO HUNTING WITH THE BLACKFEET

  Early next morning the camp was in motion, and they travelled southall day, making a long march. Hugh left the pack horses in chargeof Fox Eye's people, who drove them along with their own, whilehe and Jack and Joe joined the flankers, who marched off to oneside, and who killed a few antelope, a few bulls, and hunted outthe stream bottoms that they passed. Each day these hunters killedjust about fresh meat enough to support the camp, which as yet hadplenty of dried meat, so that there was no suffering. That nightHugh told Jack that the next day they would strike the Musselshell,and very likely buffalo, but if not, they would cross the river andmove on down toward the Yellowstone, where, on the Dry Fork, orPorcupine, they would be sure to get what they wanted.

  "We can't stop very long with these people, son," he said; "notif we're going into the mountains, and going to work our way downthrough them back to the ranch. Of course we've got lots of time,but then we don't want to stay up here too long, and be rushed atthe last, so that we'll have to hurry along and make our horsespoor, and keep ourselves tired all the time. We can stop here fora while and kill buffalo, and then we'll leave the people, andstrike west into the mountains."

  The next night they camped on the Musselshell, and word was broughtthat about twenty or twenty-five miles to the south buffalo wereplenty. Orders were given that from now on no one should killbuffalo, and camp was moved a day's march still further south,to the neighborhood of the herd. The next day a bunch of buffalowas located in a place suitable for a surround. That night theold crier, as usual, rode around through the camp, telling allthe people to get in their horses, to tie up their running horsesclose, ordering the women to sharpen their knives, and the men towhet their arrow-points, because the next day they were going tochase buffalo. The following morning, very early, Jack heard himshouting through the camp, calling to the people to "Get up! getup!" It was still black night; the stars shone brilliantly in thesky, the light of the fire showed through the lodge-skins, andsparks were rising with the smoke, when Jack went out to saddle upPawnee. Hugh had had offers of buffalo runners from several of hisfriends. Last Bull had asked him to ride the spotted horse that hehad several times used the year before, while Jackson had pressedupon him a beautiful buckskin that he declared was the best buffalohorse in the camp. The excitement which always precedes a buffalochase pervaded the camp, and every one seemed to be hurrying in theperformance of whatever task was at hand. It was still long beforedaylight when Jack and Hugh, following the men who were startingout, found at a little distance from the camp the group of hunterswho were being held there by the soldiers.

  The sky was just becoming gray in the east when the soldiersstarted off, and the hunters followed; and just after the sun hadrisen, the halt was made behind a hill which hid the herd fromthem. After a little pause, and a few low-voiced directions, horseswere changed, the line spread out, and at first going slowly, rodeup to the crest of the hill, pushed over it, and hurried downtoward the unfrightened buffalo. These were slow to see theirenemies, and the horsemen were close to them before the herd gotstarted. Jack held back Pawnee until the word came for the charge,and even after that he still restrained him, not wishing him to runtoo hard at first, for the horse was fat, and might lose his windif pushed at the start.

  He gave no thought to the whereabouts of his friends; Joe and Hughwould no doubt take care of themselves. Just before he overtookthe last of the bulls, however, he was aware of a man riding closeto him, and turning saw Billy Jackson, riding the little buckskin,without a saddle, and carrying in his hands a bow and some arrows,while he had a quiver on his back.

  Jack laughed at him, and signed to him that he was armed with goodweapons, and Jackson nodded. A moment later they were mixed upwith the dust of the flying herd, and surrounded by buffalo, andJack bent his energies to killing a couple of cows. The bulls weresoon passed, and Pawnee, running free and easily, forged up tothe cows. Two fat ones were running just ahead of him, lumberingheavily, and with their tongues out, yet getting over the groundwith surprising speed. He drew up alongside of one, and shot it,and it turned a somersault; then touching Pawnee with his heel, hewas soon riding close to another, which also he killed by a singleshot. Then turning, he rode back to the last cow, and looked ather. She was quite dead.

  The task of butchering seemed rather a heavy one, but he went tothe cow first shot, and, with some trouble split her down thebelly, and then re-mounting, went back to the other cow, which hetreated in the same way. Then he sat down on the ground in theshade of his horse, and waited.

  An hour later the women and girls and children were seen comingover the hills with their travois, and scattering out to look atthe dead buffalo, over many of which men who had returned were nowworking. When Fox Eye's family came along, Jack spoke to the wife,and made her understand that these two were his buffalo, and withtwo of the other women she set about skinning and cutting them up.

  That night in the lodge, as they were getting ready for bed, Hughsaid to Jack, "Son, have you ever been through this country before?Do you see anything that you recognize?"

  "Why yes, Hugh, of course, we came through it last year when wewere coming north, but I haven't seen anything to-day that I knew."

  "Well," said Hugh, "I'm not very much surprised at that, but rightalong here somewhere is where we passed last year, the second orthird day after we crossed the Yellowstone River, coming north.Now, I ain't never forgot that sheep's head that we left up in thetree down there. As I told you then, it's a better head than most,and likely a better one than you'll ever kill again, and I wasthinking that it wouldn't be a bad idea for you and me to ride downthere and get it. We can go in a day, and come back in another, andwe can easily enough carry the head with us, and take it back tothe ranch. What do you say?"

  "Why, sure Hugh;" said Jack, "I'd like to do that mighty well. I'vealways felt sorry that we lost that sheep head, and felt that Iwanted it to take back east. I never thought of our getting it thisyear; in fact I never expected to see it again. I'd like very muchto get it, if you feel like it."

  "Well, say we do it. We can start to-morrow or next day; theIndians'll be here now two or three days at least, killing anddrying meat, and we can easily enough go there, and come back andcatch them before they leave these parts. You and I can go alone,or we can take Joe; or if you like, we can ask anybody else that wewant to go down there with us. It'll be a nice little trip."

  So it was arranged that within a day or two they should start forthe Yellowstone River, to get the sheep's head.

  It was the second day after that they finally got away. Joe wantedto go with them, and when they told Jackson what they intendeddoing, he said that he too would like to go. This made a partyof four capable men, to whom no danger could come. They took acouple of pack horses, to carry their bedding and provisions, butno shelter, for the weather was bright and dry, and there seemedno prospect of rain. On their way to the Yellowstone they rodeconstantly through buffalo and antelope, tame and unsuspicious, andjust moving aside from the track of the travellers as they passedalong. That night they camped on the little stream just where Jackhad killed the sheep, and reaching camp before sundown, Hugh andJack rode up the stream to the tree where the sheep's head had beenplaced, took it down and brought it to camp. The ashes of the fireof the year before, and the bones of the sheep from which they hadcut the meat called up old memories. Even the places where thelines had been tied for drying the meat were remembered.

  Jack was glad enough to get this head again. As Hugh had said, itwas a very fine one. The great horns swung around in more than acomplete curve, and although near the base they were more or lessbruised and battered by the battles the old ram had fought, thetips of the horns were very nearly perfect. The skin of the headand neck had been picked by the birds and bleached by the weather,and Hugh said; "I'm not sure that it will do to use in coveringthe skull, son; but even if it is too hard and sunburned to makeanything out of, I'd take it
along. If we get another good ram onthe trip you can take his scalp; but if we don't, maybe the manthat puts up your head can make something out of this."

  The next morning before starting back, they rode down to theYellowstone River, and looked up and down the valley. There weresome buffalo here too, and a few elk; but there was nothing tokeep them, and they turned about and returned to the Piegan camp,which they reached that night.

  For some days longer the camp remained here, killing buffalo anddrying the meat. Then they moved east, one day's journey, toanother little stream, and again hunted from here. By this timemany buffalo had been killed, and many robes made. The parflecheswere full of dried meat and back fat; and now presently the chiefsbegan to consult as to whether they should not go north again tothe neighborhood of the mountains, for the women wished to gatherroots and berries for the winter.

  One evening when Jack came in from the hunt he saw a great crowdof people, men, women and children, gathered just outside ofthe circle. They seemed to be having a good time, for shouts oflaughter and shrill screams from the women told that something washappening which amused them all.

  Riding up to the edge of the crowd, Jack saw in the midst of it alittle buffalo calf, standing there with its head down and tail inthe air, facing with very determined attitude two or three smallboys who were trying to approach and get hold of it. Every now andthen one of the little fellows would get up his courage and ventureclose to the calf's head, when the calf would charge him and theboy would jump out of the way; but just as Jack came to a placewhere he could see, one of the boys went slowly forward towardthe calf, and just as the calf began to charge, one of the boy'scompanions gave him a push forward, so that instead of dodging thecalf he met its charge, and was knocked sprawling on the ground.Then everybody screamed with laughter, and the boy scrambled out ofthe way as fast as he could.

  At one side of the ring of people, Jackson was standing, evidentlymuch amused at what was going on. Jack called out to him, "What arethey doing, Billy?"

  "Why, I roped this calf to-day and brought him in to try to takehim back to the river, where there are some cows, and raise him,but some of these small boys got bothering and teasing him, andI told them if they didn't let him alone I'd turn him loose, andlet him take care of himself, and now it seems to me he's doing itpretty well; he's knocked a half dozen of 'em out of time already,and once in a while, if he gets real mad, he charges into thecrowd, and I tell you they scatter."

  The fun went on for a little while longer, and then Jackson, afterspeaking to the people, put a rope about the calf's neck, and withthe assistance of two young men, dragged it away to his lodge,where it was picketed to a stake firmly driven into the ground.

  That night, Joe said to Jack, "Say, Jack, do you want to see somefun to-morrow?"

  "Of course I do," said Jack. "I always want to be around whenthere's any fun going on."

  "Well," said Joe, "there's going to be some fun to-morrow; at leastI think there is. Some of the young men have been making fun ofEagle Ribs; they say that there's something he dare not do; tojump from his horse to the back of a bull, and ride it. When theysaid that, Eagle Ribs said, 'Why do you talk about doing that?You should talk about something that is really dangerous. I shouldnot be afraid to jump on a bull's back and ride him; but it's tooeasy; I do not care to do little things like that. It would be atrouble to me, and could not do any one any good.' The others keptteasing him, and making fun of him, and at last, after they hadbothered him a good deal, Eagle Ribs said, 'It will be a littletrouble to do this, but if you want to see me I will do it. I willride a bull; the fastest and strongest that I can choose. Watch meto-morrow, and see whether I do it or not.' So to-morrow we're allgoing together, to see whether Eagle Ribs will ride the bull."

  "But isn't there danger that the bull will throw him off, and catchhim and kill him?"

  "No," said Joe, "I guess he can stick to it; or, if he can't dothat, why he'll have to be quick on his feet if the bull does throwhim; they can't turn very quickly, you know, and Eagle Ribs, ifhe's smart, can get around and keep out of the way of his horns.Besides that, there'll be a lot of us there, and we can tease thebull, and get him to chase us, if Eagle Ribs should be in anydanger."

  "Well," said Jack, "it's going to be a regular circus, I guess, andI'll have to be there."

  "Yes," said Joe, "you want to be there if you can; and a lot of usyoung fellows are going to keep pretty close together, and I thinkwe'll have a real good time, even if we don't kill any buffalo. Thecamp has got about all the meat now it wants, anyhow."

  The next morning before the chase began, Jack and Joe foundthemselves among a lot of boys about their own age, many of whomwere making fun of and teasing Eagle Ribs. When the chase startedthe boys did not ride as usual to try to catch cows, but instead ofthat singled out some old bulls that made up the rear of the herd,and turned them off on to the prairie.

  Then they all began to whoop and yell, and call out Eagle Ribs'name, and say to him, "Now is the time to show us what you can do.Here is your horse; now ride him." Eagle Ribs was riding a goodhorse, and at once accepted the challenge. He pressed the animalclose up to a bull, and when he was so near that his horse's sidealmost touched the buffalo's side, he reached far forward, graspedthe long hair on the buffalo's hump, and threw himself from hishorse onto the bull's back. The bull was frightened, and for a fewminutes it ran faster than all the horses; and then forgetting thatit was being chased, and only anxious to get rid of the terribleburden that it was carrying, it stopped, and began to plunge andbuck, and skip around, and acted as if it were a calf instead of ahuge old bull. Eagle Ribs clung to it with both hands, and with hislegs, but the bull jumped so high, and came down so hard, that twoor three times he was shaken from his seat. The boys all about himwere shouting with laughter, some of them calling out encouragingwords to the bull, and some to the rider.

  "HE REACHED FAR FORWARD, AND GRASPED THE LONG HAIR ON THE BUFFALO'S HUMP."--_Page 82._]

  The bull seemed very strong, and for a long time did not get tired,and two or three times Jack feared that the boy would be thrownfrom his back. Presently, however, the bull stopped, and stoodwith his head down, glaring at the horsemen about him, as if hewanted to fight. Now the boys began to ask Eagle Ribs why he hadstopped; why he did not ride further; and one of them threw hisquirt to him, telling him that he should use this to make his horsego better. Others ran their horses close by, in front of the bull,trying to make him charge. Toward one of these horses he rushedfuriously, and as he did so, Eagle Ribs slipped from his back andran away in the opposite direction, and got behind a horse riddenby one of the boys. Jack rode up to him, and signed to him to geton behind him, and then they went back to where Eagle Ribs' horsewas feeding, and he mounted him. Meantime, the bull had run on, andsome of the boys had killed him.

  The next evening the old crier rode about the camp, shouting outthe orders of the chiefs; telling the people that the next day,early, the camp would move back to the great river.

  On the evening of that day Jack was awakened by a shot in the camp,and then another, and then a rush of people, followed by a swiftpounding of horses' hoofs on the prairie. He scrambled from hisbed, put on his moccasins, and seizing his gun and cartridge belt,rushed out-of-doors. Joe was standing in front of the lodge, havingjust come out, and Jack asked him what was the matter. "I don'tknow sure," said Joe, "only horses have been stolen."

  "Well," said Jack, "why don't they go after the thieves?"

  "Oh," said Joe, "that would not do; that is too dangerous. Supposewe were to run out onto the prairie, chasing the thieves, theycould stop behind any sage brush, or the edge of any hill, andshoot us as we came up to them, before we could see them. We'llhave to wait until to-morrow, until it gets light, and then takegood horses and try to catch them."

  The whole camp was now thoroughly awake, and the fires were madeup in every lodge, while people went about visiting each other,and trying to find out what the extent of the loss had been. I
tappeared that only three good horses had been taken; but more wouldhave been stolen if it had not happened that a man coming backlate from a gambling game, and seeing somebody cutting the rope ofa horse in front of his lodge, had shot at him with a pistol thathe carried. The enemy threw himself on the horse and rode swiftlyaway, and at the sound of the shot a half dozen men rushed fromtheir lodges and fired at the retreating sound.

  It was several hours before the camp quieted down again, and beforedaylight next morning forty or fifty men on good horses wereprepared to follow the trail, and try to overtake the thieves.Both Jack and Joe wished to accompany the pursuing party, but Hughadvised them not to. He said, "If we had come up here to spend thesummer with these people, maybe there'd be no harm in your goingoff, but now in the course of a few days we're going to leave themand go into the mountains, and if you run your horses down, or ifeither of you should get hurt, why it might spoil our whole tripback to the ranch. These Indians ain't likely to overtake thosefellows, and 'twill just be a long hard ride for nothing. We'dbetter stop at the camp for two or three days more, and then strikeout for the mountains, just as we intended to, and go on downthere and see that place they used to call Colter's Hell, and thengo on down through it, and back to the ranch." The boys, ratherunwillingly, agreed to do this.

  Three days later the Piegan village was once more camped not farfrom the Judith Mountains, and all the pursuing warriors hadreturned, not having overtaken their enemies. Dire were the threatsthat they made against the Crows who had stolen the horses, and anumber of war parties were made up to go south and make reprisalson that tribe.