XII
SPRING ON THE ELK
Spring came early in that latitude, and Curtis was profoundly thankfulthat his first winter had proven unusually short and mild, for itenabled him to provide for his people far better than he had dared tohope. The rations were insufficient at best, and for several days ofeach alternate week the grown people were hungry as well as cold, thoughno one actually perished from lack of food. Beyond the wood contract andthe hauling of hides each month there was very little work to be doneduring the winter, not enough to buy the tobacco the men longed for.
They believed in Swift Eagle, however, for he visited every cluster ofhuts each month, and became acquainted with nearly every family duringthe winter. No agent had ever taken the like pains to shake the oldwomen by the hand, or to speak as kindly to the old men who sat besidethe fire, feeble and bent with rheumatism. The little children all ranto him when he came near, as if he were a friend, and that was a goodsign, too. Some of the old chiefs complained, of course--there was solittle else for them to do; but they did not blame the Little Father.They were assured of his willingness to do whatever lay within hispower to mitigate their poverty. Jennie, who was often at the beds ofthose who suffered, had won wide acceptance of her lotions by an amusedtolerance of the medicine-men, whose mystic paraphernalia interested herexceedingly. The men of magic came at last to sing their curious songsand perform their feats of healing in her presence. "Together we willdefeat the evil spirits," they said, and the health of the tribecontinued to be very good, in spite of unsanitary housing and the evilinfluence of the medicine-men. When the missionaries came to have thenative doctors suppressed Curtis said: "My policy is to supplant, not tosuppress."
The bill which called for the removal of the Tetongs to anotherreservation was reported killed. The compromise measure for buying outthe settlers was "hung up" in the committee-room, and this delay on thepart of Congress exasperated the settlers beyond reason, and at aconvention held early in April at Pinon City, Joseph Streeter brazenlyshouted, "If the government does not remove these Injuns before thefirst of July we'll make it hot for all concerned," and his threat waswildly cheered and largely quoted thereafter as the utterance of a mannot afraid of Congress or anybody else.
Seed-time came without any promise of change, and the white settlers onthe reservation went sullenly to their planting, and the cattlemen drovetheir herds across the boundaries upon the Tetong range as they had beendoing for many years. "We are in for another season of it," they said,with the air of being martyrs in the cause of civilization.
Curtis immediately sent warning commands to all the outside ranchers tokeep clear of the reservation, and also notified Streeter, Johnson, andothers of the settlers on the Elk and the Willow that their cattle mustnot be allowed to stray beyond certain lines, which he indicated. Theseorders, according to Calvin, made the settlers "red-headed aswood-peckers. They think you're drawin' the lines down pretty fine."
"I mean to," replied Curtis. "You original settlers are here by rightand shall have full opportunity to graze your stock, but those on theoutside must keep out. I will seize and impound all stock that does notbelong on this land."
Calvin reported this statement to the outside men, and its audacityprovoked the most violent threats against the agent, but he rode aboutunaccompanied and unarmed; but not without defence, for Calvin said toone of the loudest of the boasters, "The man who jerks a gun on Curtisruns a good chance of losing a lung or two," and the remark took effect,for Calvin had somehow acquired a reputation for being "plumb sassy whenattack-ted."
Curtis had the army officer's contempt of personal injury, and, inpursuance of his campaign against the invading stockmen, did nothesitate to ride into their round-up camps alone, or accompanied only byCrow Wing, and no blusterer could sustain his reputation in the face ofthe agent's calm sense of command.
"I am not speaking personally," he said once, to an angry camp of adozen armed men. "I am here as an officer of the United States army,detailed to special duty as an Indian agent, and I am in command ofthis reservation. It is of no use to bluster. Your cattle _must_ be keptfrom the Tetong range."
"The grass is going to waste there," the boss argued.
"That does not concern you. It is not the fault of the Tetongs that theyhave not cattle enough to fill the range."
In the end he had his way, and though the settlers and ranchers hatedhim, they also respected him. No one thought of attempting to bribe orscare him, and political "pull" had no value in his eyes.
Jennie, meanwhile, had acquired almost mythic fame as a marvellouslybeautiful and haughty "queen." Calvin was singularly close-mouthed abouther, but one or two of the cowboys who had chanced to meet her with theagent spread the most appreciative reports of her beauty and of thegarments she wore. She was said to be a singer of opera tunes, and thatshe played the piano "to beat the Jews." One fellow who had businesswith the agent reported having met her at the door. "By mighty! she'spurty enough to eat," he said to his chum. "Her cheeks are as pink aspeaches, and her eyes are jest the brown I like. She's a 'glad rag,' allright."
"Made good use o' your time, didn't ye?" remarked his friend.
"You bet your life! I weren't lettin' nothin' git by me endurin' thatminute or two."
"I bet you dursn't go there again."
"I take ye--I'll go to-morrow."
"Without any business, this time? No excuse but jest to see her? You'ain't got the nerve."
"You'll see. I'm the boy. There ain't no 'rag' gay enough to scare me."
It became a common joke for some lank, brown chap to say carelessly, ashe rose from supper, "Well, I guess I'll throw a saddle onto mybald-faced sorrel and ride over and see the agent's sister." In reality,not one of them ever dared to even knock at the door, and when they cameto the yards with a consignment of cattle they were as self-conscious asschool-boys in a parlor and uneasy as wolves in a trap, till they wereonce more riding down the trail; then they "broke loose," whoopingshrilly and racing like mad, in order to show that they had never beenafraid. Calvin continued to call, and his defence of the agent had ledto several sharp altercations with his father.
The red people expanded and took on cheer under the coming of thesummer, like some larger form of insect life. They were profoundly gladof the warmth. The old men, climbing to some rounded hill-top at dawn,sat reverently to smoke and offer incense to the Great Spirit, which thesun was, and the little children, seeing the sages thus in deepmeditation, passed quietly by with a touch of awe.
As the soft winds began to blow, the dingy huts were deserted for thesweeter and wholesomer life of the tepee, which is always ventilated,and which has also a thousand memories of battle and the chaseassociated with its ribbed walls, its yellowed peak, and its smoulderingfires. The sick grew well and the weak became strong as they passed oncemore from the foul air of their cabins to the inspiriting breath of themountains, uncontaminated by any smoke of white man's fire. The littlegirls went forth on the hills to gather flowers for the teachers, andthe medicine-men, taking great credit to themselves, said: "See! ourincantations again prevailed. The sun is coming back, the grass isgreen, and the warm winds are breathing upon the hills."
"Ay, but you cannot bring back the buffalo," said those who doubted, forthere are sceptics among the redmen as elsewhere. "When you do that,then we will believe that you are really men of magic."
But the people did not respond cheerfully to Curtis when he urged themto plant gardens. They said: "We will do it, Little Father, but it is ofno use. For two years we tried it, and each year the hot sun dried ourlittle plants. Our corn withered and our potatoes came to nothing. Donot ask us to again plough the hard earth. It is all a weariness to noresult."
To Jennie, Curtis said: "I haven't the heart to push them into doing auseless thing. They are right. I must wait until we have the water ofthe streams for our own use."
The elder Streeter was very bitter, Calvin reported. "But he ain't noidyot. He won't make no move that t
he law don't back him up in; but someo' these other yaps are talkin' all kinds of gun-play. But don't youlose any flesh. They got to git by me before they reach you."
Curtis smiled. "Calvin, you're a loyal friend, but I am not a bitnervous."
"That's all right, Captain, but you can't tell what a mob o' theselahees will do. I've seen 'em make some crazy plays--I sure have; butI'll keep one ear lapped back for signs of war."
The Captain of the Gray-Horse Troop Page 12
