CHAPTER XXI
TROUBLE WITH WHISKEY TRADERS
The travelers remained here for several days, climbing the mountains tohunt, fishing and leading a generally lazy life. The weather was brightand clear, with a warm sun, and these idle days were greatly enjoyed.
In some of the deep holes in the inlet were great schools of monstertrout, to the capturing of which Jack gave much time. Crossing the inletand going up on the flat to where the great river left the lakes, hefound several places where he could cast his flies over theswift-running water, and from behind the great rocks over which thestream flowed in a deep smooth current he took some goodly fish.
Joe delighted to sit on the bank and watch the casting, for he said,"Jack, some day you'll get one of those big fellows, and he'll smashthat little limber pole of yours all to pieces. That's what I'm waitingfor."
On one or two occasions Jack almost feared that Joe was to have hiswish; the biggest fish that he caught came very near taking away histackle, for the fish was so powerful that when he ran down stream Jackwas obliged to race along the shore as hard as he could, jumping fromrock to rock, and plowing through shallow water before he got to a deeppool where the fish stopped of its own accord, and he was able torecover his line.
It seemed to Jack a full hour before he had tired the fish sufficientlyto tow it on its side into the shallow water of a little bay.
Joe, who had followed him in much excitement, went around and verycautiously approached the fish from the water and at last threw himselfupon it and getting his fingers into its gills dragged it triumphantlyashore.
When it was fairly landed Jack was astonished at its size, for it seemedto him bigger than any Hudson River shad that he had seen, and when hetook it to camp, Hugh, lifting it with one hand, declared that itweighed more than eight pounds.
They had all talked several times about starting for the Agency, butwere reluctant to leave this charming spot, and still remained. Oneafternoon when Jack and Joe returned from fishing at the head of theinlet stream, they saw just below their own tent another, about whichtwo or three men were moving. Moored to the shore of the inlet was aflat-bottomed boat by which the men had come, though Jack could notunderstand how they had pushed it up the swift stream to this point.
As they came to the border of the stream and were about to ride in, Jacksaid to Joe, "Do you know any of those men, Joe?"
"Yes," said Joe, "two of them I know, that white man and the half-breeddown by the water. The white man is John Williamson and the half-breedis Louis Legros. I don't know that other big man."
When they unsaddled, Jack noticed that Hugh, who had come out of thetent, looked rather grave, and after the horses had been turned loose,he said to the boys in a low voice, "Those fellows down below here lookto me like whiskey traders. There has been a bunch of Bloods up hereto-day, and when they went away some of them were drunk, I think. Thesemen have been singing and making plenty of noise this afternoon, andthey may give us a little trouble. I want you boys to be careful and nothave any words with them, no matter what they do. If there's going to beany rowing or jawing let me do the talking."
While supper was cooking, the neighboring tent grew more and more noisy.The men there were singing and shouting and sometimes giving Indianwarwhoops, and once or twice the big man came out of the tent and,calling out, invited the three travelers to come over and have a drinkwith them, but they returned no answer to the invitation.
The sun was still an hour or two high, and Hugh, Jack and Joe wereeating their supper, when suddenly a shot sounded from the neighboringtent and at the same time a chip flew from the front tent pole, showingthat the ball must have passed three or four feet over their heads.
Hugh called out, "Be careful with your shooting irons over there. Youcame pretty near hitting one of us," but the only reply was a volley ofangry curses from the adjoining tent.
A few minutes later the big man came out and stood not far from his owntent and raising a revolver which he held in his right hand, fired twoshots in quick succession over the heads of the three who were stilleating. The boys did not know what to do, but Hugh slowly rose to hisfeet, and saying to the boys, "Keep quiet now and don't mix up in thisunless you are told to," walked over to the big man.
As Hugh walked up close, the big man began to abuse him violently andonce or twice half raised his hand to point the revolver at him, butevidently thought better of it.
Meanwhile, the man's two companions had come out of the tent, the whiteman laughing in a silly fashion and the half-breed more or lessfrightened and earnestly imploring his companion, whom he addressed asTony, to come away.
The latter, however, seemed fascinated by Hugh, and no longer moved norspoke, while Hugh took hold of his wrist, wrenched the revolver awayfrom him and threw it on the ground, where Jack picked it up. Thenturning Tony about, so that he faced his friends, Hugh said: "Now youthree men break camp quick and get out of here. I won't have you roundany longer."
Hugh's speech seemed to break the spell under which the man had beenlaboring, for he raised his fist and struck at Hugh. Before the blowreached him, however, Hugh had thrown his arms about the big man justbelow the shoulders, pinioning both his arms to his sides.
Tony tried to free himself, but he could not. He struggled violently andthen tried to kick, but Hugh stood firm, seeming to hold the man tighterand tighter to his chest, and in a moment Tony had forgotten all aboutfighting and was screaming with the pain of the pressure.
"HUGH TOOK HOLD OF HIS WRIST AND WRENCHED THE REVOLVERAWAY FROM HIM."--_Page 292_]
It was exciting to both the boys, and they waited, not knowing whatto do, astonished to see this man, who looked like a giant, held as ifhe were a little child by Hugh, who, though tall, was rather slender,and on account of his white hair and beard appeared to them venerable.
After a few seconds Tony was weeping and praying to be released, andpromising to do anything he was told to if only he were set free. Hughsomewhat relaxed his embrace and said, "Now, you Williamson and youLouis, are you ready to go?"
"Yes, Hugh," said the white man, "you bet we'll go quick;" and Louisassented.
"Have you got any arms, any pistols or guns?" said Hugh.
"Yes," said Williamson, "I've got my rifle here and Louis has a sixshooter."
"Well," said Hugh, "bring 'em out and put 'em on the ground here, withall your ammunition, and we'll take 'em into the Agency and leave themthere for you." Then, raising his voice a little, he called, "Boys, comeover here."
Jack and Joe came up and Hugh said, "Now, take these men's guns andammunition and carry them over to our tent and then come back."
The men gave up their arms and cartridges, and the boys took them awayand then returned.
"Now," said Hugh, "take down that tent and get everything you've gotinto the boat. Now, Tony," he said, addressing the man whom he held, "ifI let you go, will you be quiet, and go and get into that boat and goaway?"
"You bet I will," said Tony, "I'd like to get as far from you as Icould."
"Go on," said Hugh. "Go down to the boat and sit there," and the manstaggered off.
"Now," said Hugh, "you men are drunk, both of you; and sometimes drunkenmen tell lies. I want to look through your baggage and see if you haveany arms."
He searched their blankets, but found nothing. Then he and the boyshelped the three men take down their tent and carry their property downto the boat, and then before they pushed off, Hugh said, "Now, I knowyou've got some friends down here, Bloods, I think, and you may as wellgo down and camp with them, but don't try to get the Indians to troubleus. You Williamson and you Louis, know me. This man here," and hepointed to Tony, "does not.
"You two men know that I want trouble with no one, but you know alsothat I don't mean to be imposed on by anyone. If I find any of you menlurking around my camp, I shall probably shoot you for horse thieves. Asfor your property that I've taken, I'll leave it at the trader's store,and you can get it when you come in. I suppose y
our whiskey is cached inthe brush somewhere here, but you can get along without it for a day ortwo. We are going into the Agency pretty soon, and after we have goneyou can come and get it, if you want to. Go now, and don't let me seeyou again on this trip."
Hugh loosened the painter from the old log to which it was tied, tossedit into the boat, and when Louis and Williamson had gotten out theiroars, he put his foot against the bow and pushed the boat off into theswiftly running water.
For fifty or sixty yards it went down stream stern foremost, and thenthe two men by clumsy strokes turned it round, and in a few minutes itvanished around a bend, and the last thing the boys saw was the bowedform of the burly man sitting in the stern, still nursing his crushedribs.
Hugh walked slowly back toward their camp, the two boys following him,half awed and whispering to each other; for both were astonished at whatseemed to be a new phase of Hugh's character.
Hugh did not stop at the tent, but remarked that he was going out tolook at the horses, and the two boys sat down by the fire.
"I tell you, Joe," said Jack, "wasn't it wonderful to see Hugh walk upto that man with the pistol and take it from him?"
"Sure," said Joe, "it was fine, but then White Bull is not afraid ofanything. That's what people have said about him ever since I canremember."
"And wasn't it fine to see him take that big man and squeeze him untilhe yelled? I should have laughed myself to death if I hadn't been soscared," said Jack.
"Yes," said Joe, "he must be powerful strong. I should have thought thatthat man could have eaten White Bull up in a minute. He must be powerfulstrong; I should hate to have him get angry with me."
"That's the wonderful thing about Hugh," Jack went on, "that he makespeople do whatever he wants 'em to. Of course, we do what he tells usto, because we know that he knows what's right, but he makes otherpeople do what he tells them. Of course, he doesn't order them to dothings, but he'll say it would be a good idea to do something, and thenhe'll talk for a few minutes and then presently the people will go offand do just what he wants."
"That's so," said Joe, "I've seen that, too. I've seen him talksometimes in a council of old men. Maybe they all think that somethingwas the best thing to do, and then White Bull would get up and say thatit seemed to him that something different ought to be done, and he'dtalk a little while and presently one after another would stand up andsay that he thought that White Bull was right; and then they'd all dojust what he said."
"Yes," said Jack, "he's a great man, and I believe if he'd lived backEast, he would have been a mighty big man among the white people."
"Well," said Joe, "if he lived in an Indian camp, he could be the chiefany time he wanted to."
A little while before dusk Hugh came back and said, "Well, boys, I'vetied up all the horses and I guess maybe to-morrow, if you like, we mayas well start for the Agency. The fact is we couldn't stay out here muchlonger anyhow, because if it came on to rain now, we'd all get wet, ourtent has so many holes in it."
Joe said nothing, but Jack shouted with laughter at Hugh's mild jest,and said, "Tell me, Hugh, were you at all scared when you walked up tothat man with his pistol in his hand?"
"Well, really son, I don't know. I don't think I thought much whether Iwas scared or not. I was a little bit cross with him for acting like afool, and I made up my mind we couldn't have them around here anylonger, and that I would send them off."
"But, good Lord, Hugh," replied Jack, "he might have killed you."
"Yes," said Hugh, "perhaps he might if he had been sober and could havehit me, but I didn't think that he'd try to shoot, and if he had I don'tbelieve he would have hit me."
"Hugh," said Jack, "do you know what I thought of when you were holdingthat man in your arms and he was yelling like a stuck pig?"
"No," said Hugh, "I don't."
"I couldn't help thinking about a story that Mr. Fannin told us when wewere out in British Columbia, about how the bears used to come in andtake a pig out of the pen and hold it in their arms and walk off ontheir hind legs, the pig squealing all the time."
Hugh's eye twinkled as he said, "I believe I do remember that story. Sowhen you saw me holding Tony that way you took me for a bear and him fora pig, did you?"
"Well," said Jack, "not that exactly, but it made me think of that. Itseemed awfully funny for a minute, but I was too scared and too excitedto laugh, although I wanted to."
"Do you suppose those men will come back, White Bull?" asked Joe.
"No," said Hugh, "I don't reckon they will. They'll go down to the headof the lower lake and then they'll go ashore there somewhere, and builda fire and lie down and sleep their liquor off. If we start into-morrow, we'll likely see them across the lake when we stop to get thewagon. I think they'll camp on this side, and to-morrow morning they'llbe feeling mighty mean and mighty cross with each other, and about thetime we get down to the wagon and hitch up, they'll be waking up andquarreling with each other about whose fault it was that they got sentaway from camp the night before."
"You think there's no danger, then?" said Jack, "that we'll have troublewith them?"
"Not a particle," said Hugh. "In the first place John Williamson hasn'tgot the sand of a cotton-tail rabbit, Louis Legros is a good fellow, butfoolish. Who that big man Tony is, I don't know, but I reckon he may beTony Beaulieu. He has a kind of a look of that Beaulieu gang. They'regood enough fellows when they're sober, but mighty troublesome whenthey're drunk.
"We'll never have any further trouble with them; in fact, I wouldn't bea bit surprised if they were to come up to us, the next time we see anyof them, and say that they were sorry for what happened."
It was early next morning when Hugh had the boys up and the start wasmade. The sun was little more than an hour high when they stopped at thewagon, gathered their property together and loaded it, and set out forthe lower end of the lower lake, intending to follow the wagon road upto the Duck Lake Hill, for this would be easier on the horses than thesteep pull up the hill they had come down in approaching the lake.
As they started down the lake, Joe pointed across to the other side,where a spot of white was seen, with two or three small moving objectsabout it, and looking with the glasses, Jack saw three men engaged inthe work of putting up a tent. Before they passed over a low hill whichcut off the view across the lake the boys saw several horsemen ride upto the distant tent. The glasses showed that these horsemen wereIndians.
The drive down the lake was slow, for they crossed many ravines andlittle streams, and in some places the road was very muddy. At length,however, they came out on the flat near where the river leaves the lake,and looking across the stream saw a camp of thirty or forty lodges.
"Do you know who these people are, Joe?" inquired Hugh.
"No," replied Joe, "I don't; I don't think they are our people. Maybethey're Bloods; often they come down to this side after they've gottheir payment from the Government up North. They like to buy things onthis side of the line."
"Well," said Hugh, "we'll know pretty quick, for there's a lot of themstarting across the river, or I miss my guess."
Sure enough, twenty-five or thirty men came out of the lodges and,jumping on their horses, galloped down to the fording place.
The road up the Duck Lake Hill starts not far above where the ford comesout of the river, so that Hugh and his party had to keep on down thestream until they had almost reached the ford, and by that time thehurrying crowd of Indians had ridden up on the bank and presentlysurrounded them and stopped the team.
Most of the men were young, but among them were a few of middle age, andnone were old men or very young boys.
They were quite noisy, some of them yelping in pure fun and highspirits, others shouting aloud in tones that seemed to show anger.
When they got about the wagon, Hugh pulled up his team and sat therelooking and listening, trying to make out what they wanted.
Jack could understand a few words of what was being said, but in theconfusion could not
catch its drift, and looked inquiringly at Joe, whohe thought wore a very solemn face.
During the colloquy that followed, he was in the dark as to what thetrouble was, but it was afterwards explained to him.
After the noise made by the Indians had somewhat subsided, one of themen pushed his horse to the front, and coming close to Hugh, said tohim, "Where is the whiskey?"
Hugh replied, "What whiskey?"
"You know," said the Indian; "the whiskey you took from those men up thelake. We know all about it; that you drove them from their camp and keptthe whiskey, and now you are taking it away with you, but you shall notdo that. That whiskey was brought here for us and we are going to haveit; so give it to us now, or we will take it from you."
"Look here, my friend," said Hugh, "you talk like a child. I took nowhiskey from those men and I have none with me, and I shall give younone. It is true that we had trouble with these men yesterday and that Isent them away from our camp, but I took no whiskey from them, and if Ihad done so, I should not give it to you.
"You know me, for you have often seen me in the Piegan camp, and I knowyou, Wolf Collar, for more than once I have seen you in the Blood camp.
"Why do you come over here to make trouble with people on this side ofthe line? Do you think that you can do over here what you dare not doover there? You know very well that if you were to act like this to anywhite man on your side of the line, the Red Coats would soon take youand put you in the jail, perhaps with irons on your feet. You have livedyears enough to know better than to act so as to get your young men intotrouble.
"Listen to me, my friends," he said in a louder voice, addressing allthe Indians, although most of them were near enough to have heard hisconversation with Wolf Collar, "I have just told your leader that I haveno liquor with me, and that if I had I should not give it to you; but Ihave with me here a boy of your own race, a Piegan, who knows what tookplace last night, and he can tell you, if you do not believe me. Speakto them, Joe," he said, "and tell them what happened last night."
Joe began to tell the story of the trouble of the evening before, butbefore he had said many words, the party was joined by a late comer, whorode up from the river and close to the wagon, crowding his horsethrough those of the young men, and occasionally, if a horse did notmake way for him, striking it fiercely with the quirt, but all theIndians who saw him got out of his way at once.
He was a giant in stature, with a heavy and particularly ferocious face,and rode a beautiful black horse, which seemed too small to bear hisimmense frame. He rode up to the wagon, roughly pushing Wolf Collar outof the way, and then stretching out his hand to Hugh shook hands withhim and said, "My friend, you seem to be traveling. Why do you stophere?"
"Why, hello, Calf Robe," said Hugh. "I didn't stop here willingly, butyour young men got in my way, and crowded about me, and asked me forwhiskey, which I have not got, and which, if I had, I would not give tothem. They get too much whiskey now."
"Why do they ask you for whiskey since all who know you know that you donot drink whiskey, any more than you try to make others drink it?"
"I don't know," said Hugh, "but I reckon some of them have seen thismorning some whiskey traders up the lake, and they have told the Indiansthat I took their whiskey."
"Truly," said Calf Robe, "these Indians are fools, and will believe anylies that the white men choose to tell them."
His evil face worked a little, and then, turning an angry glance on WolfCollar, he said to him, "Go now, go all of you to the camp quickly.After this know better than to trouble this man with your crazy talk.Go, I say," he repeated fiercely, and striking his horse with his quirtit carried him with a bound close to Wolf Collar, whom he lashedsavagely over the head and shoulders.
Wolf Collar darted away and Calf Robe turned toward another man, but ina moment the whole body of Indians were galloping down into the ford,many of them whooping, yelling and laughing; while others, humiliated bythe way in which they had been driven off, followed silently.
"Now, my friend, go your way," said Calf Robe. "No one will troubleyou."
"No," said Hugh, "I think not--when Calf Robe is about," and chirping tohis horses, they began to climb the hill.
During the whole ascent Jack was eagerly cross-questioning Joe as towhat the matter had been, what had happened and what had been said. Joeexplained everything at great length and wound up his talk by saying,"Calf Robe is a great man. All his people fear him."
"Well," said Jack, "from the way he rode at them and lashed them, he wasnot afraid of any of them. How he quirted Wolf Collar!"
"He does not know fear. He had a father and a grandfather who were likehim; I don't mean to say that they looked like him, but they were bigmen, and when they told people to do anything, they did it quick,"replied Joe.
"I have heard lots about Calf Shirt and about Bull Back Fat. They weregreat men. Running Rabbit, who lives in our camp, is also one of hisrelations, and he, too, is a great man. You know he used to be head warchief of the Bloods."
"No, I didn't know that," said Jack. "That little kind man used to behead war chief of the Bloods? I never supposed that he did anythingexcept sit around and tell funny stories and make jokes. It's hard tobelieve that he was a great warrior."
"Oh, yes," answered Joe, "one of the greatest of warriors."
They camped that night by Duck Lake, and there Hugh told Jack somethingabout the fierce wild life of Calf Shirt and of the way in which he wasfinally killed by the white men.
From Duck Lake they kept on to the Agency, which was reached withoutincident four days later.
The morning after their arrival while Jack was dressing preparatory tostarting off to the railroad, Joe burst into the room, calling to him tohurry up and get out, for many horses had been stolen during the night.
The flat in front of the Agency was the scene of great excitement andconfusion. Old men were haranguing in loud tones and women were singingstrong-heart songs to encourage their relatives about to start off inpursuit of the enemy. Men were galloping to and fro, trying to borrowswift horses or arms, with which to make the chase. Every now and then aman would come in from the east, reporting success or failure in thesearch for the trail of the robbers.
At last one man came who had followed the trail so far that thedirection which the thieves would take was pretty well known, andpresently a large body of horsemen, armed with rifles, bows and arrows,and lances, started off down the creek, riding with a certain air ofdignity until they had gone some distance from the stockade, and thenbreaking into a faster run.
"Well, Joe," asked Hugh, "are our horses all right?"
"Yes," replied the Indian boy, "they're all right, and it's mightylucky, too. I would have turned them out last night if there had beenany feed close by, but as there wasn't any, I got Joe Bruce to give mesome hay and locked them up in his stable. Last night somebody tried topry off the chain, but the staples are clinched and they couldn't movethem."
"Well," said Hugh, "that's mighty good. Now you go and hitch up, andwe'll say good-by to the Major and Bruce here, and then we'll roll."
A few days later Jack and Hugh shook hands in the railroad station atHelena and parted, the one going west to reach the ranch, while theother started for his far-away home in New York.
TO-DAY
Up to the time when Jack Danvers, with his two friends, penetrated tothe head of the St. Mary's River and Swift Current, nothing was known ofthe upper courses of either stream. Men who had been longest in thecountry had never ascended beyond the Upper St. Mary's Lake--from itsshape called Bow Lake in early times--nor beyond the large lake on SwiftCurrent, which receives the water from the river's three forks.
What lay beyond these lakes was still unknown. Ancient but long-disusedtrails ran up the rivers; sometimes so dim, so overgrown with grass andweeds, and so blocked by fallen timber, that it was hard to say whetherthey were Indian hunting trails, or merely paths worn by the buffalo andthe elk, which in bygone days had made their homes amon
g the rockyfastnesses at the heads of these streams. What had made these trails,who had traveled them, was unknown.
There is a wonderful fascination in penetrating a new country, inplacing one's foot where perhaps the foot of civilized man never trodbefore.
A century ago there were many such places in the United States, fiftyyears ago there were still not a few, twenty-five years ago there werehardly any, and it is no wonder that Hugh and Jack wished to explorethese valleys and the mountains that walled them in.
Within a few years after the discoveries made by Hugh and Jack at theheads of these rivers, other parties, hearing of what they had found,followed the same trails. Soon it became not unusual for one or twohunting parties to camp each year among these mountains. The fame oftheir beauty and grandeur spread from one person to another and manypeople visited them.
Among these at length came a party of engineers sent out by theGovernment to consider the question of diverting the waters of the St.Mary's River from their natural course to join the Saskatchewan, into anew channel southward across Milk River Ridge, and by a great irrigationproject thus to make fertile a vast area of arid country in NorthernMontana.
Meanwhile, the Government had purchased from the Blackfoot Indians theserough mountains in which many miners professed to believe great mineralwealth was hidden. The country was thoroughly prospected for preciousmetals, for copper, and finally, for oil, but nothing was discoveredthat promised to pay for the working, and the mines and claims wereabandoned.
Finally, in the month of February, 1908, Senator Thomas H. Carter, ofMontana, introduced in the United States Senate a bill establishing theGlacier National Park, to include territory visited and seen by Hugh andJack on both slopes of the Rocky Mountains and to-day lying between theInternational boundary and the Great Northern Railroad on the north andsouth, and the Blackfoot reservation and one of the forks of the FlatHead River on the east and west.
If the measure shall become law, this most beautiful country, with itswonderful glaciers, its rushing rivers, its broad forests and itsabundant game supply, may remain forever as a pleasure resort andplayground for the benefit of the whole people of the United States.Valuable as it will be in this respect, its economic worth to the UnitedStates will be not less great. It will be a mighty reservoir, from whichfor ages an unfailing supply of water may be drawn to give drink tothose thirsty plains, which need only moisture to yield a generousreturn to the farmer.
* * * * *
Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber:
oldest man=> oldest men {pg 48}
Read Eagle=> Red Eagle {pg 48}
fire another shot=> fired another shot {pg 190}
supiciously=> suspiciously {pg 214}
beautful=> beautiful {pg 239}
adressing=> addressing {pg 293}
Jack the Young Explorer: A Boy's Experiances in the Unknown Northwest Page 24
