Jack Among the Indians; Or, A Boy's Summer on the Buffalo Plains

by George Bird Grinnell

  CHAPTER XV.

  INDIANS AT HOME.

  When Hugh and Jack went out of the lodge together, the sun was alreadytouching the sharp peaks of the distant snow-patched mountains. The airwas cool, and the sky still clear and bright, only toward the east itwas beginning to take on the shade of dark blue which foretells thenight. The camp was active. Women were hurrying up from the stream, eachcarrying one or two buckets of water. Men were walking here and there;boys racing to and fro, chasing each other, wrestling and shouting; fromthe piles of wood which stood near the door of each, little girls werecarrying sticks into the lodges; boys and women were tethering horses topins driven in the ground close in front of the lodges; a few men werecoming into the camp, with red meat piled behind them on their horses.From different lodges, near and far, came loud voiced callings, while,riding around the circle of the camp, just within the lodges, passed anold man, who constantly shouted with powerful voice. From the smoke holeof every lodge, smoke was rising, and toward some of them, naked menwere directing their steps.

  "Oh, Hugh, isn't this great?" said Jack. "Hold on a minute; let's lookand listen. Isn't this wonderful! I feel as if I wanted to stop righthere, and ask you what every one of these things mean."

  "Well," said Hugh, "I expect likely you never did see anything like thisbefore, and maybe you never had no idea of what an Indian camp is.'Course, it's all a pretty old story to me, but I'd like right well totell you all I know about it."

  "Well," said Jack, "let's begin right now. What is that old man doingthat's riding around on the white horse, holloaing so?"

  "Why that's the camp crier," said Hugh; "he's telling the news, andmaybe giving the chief's orders; telling the people what the camp is todo to-morrow. Listen a minute, and I'll see if I can tell what he'ssaying." He held up his hand for Jack to keep silence, and afterlistening for a moment or two, he smiled and said, "Why, son, he'stalking about you, now."

  "WHY THAT'S THE CAMP CRIER."--_Page 146_]

  "About me!" said Jack.

  "Yes, he's telling how you fished Little Plume's girl out of the creek.You see, he's kind o' like a newspaper to the camp here; he tells themeverything that's happened, and what he was saying then was, that thewhite boy that came into the camp with White Bull--that's me--had riddeninto the river and pulled out the child of Little Plume, after she hadfallen off her horse and cut her head."

  "Well, that's funny," said Jack; "I never supposed that anything thatI'd do would be worth telling a lot of people about."

  "Well," said Hugh, "that's what he was saying then; he's getting so faroff now I can't hear much of what he says. That shouting that you hearfrom these different lodges is men inviting their friends to come andeat and smoke with him. That's a great thing among these people; theylike to have their friends come and see them, and eat with them. It'sjust like if I lived somewhere in the east, and asked you and youruncle, and a lot of my other friends to come and take dinner with me."

  "Why," said Jack, "that's just what it must be, a regular dinner party,only, instead of writing the invitations, they shout them out from thelodge."

  "That's just about the size of it," said Hugh. "Well, come on now; let'sgo over to the head chief's lodge, and sort o' report to him; tell himwe've come. He's a good old man, and he'll be glad to see us both, Iexpect."

  The sun had set, and in the growing dusk they walked across the widecircle to the head chief's lodge. Just before reaching the door, theypassed an old woman, who, as she saw Hugh, gave an exclamation ofsurprise, and spoke to him, shaking hands with him as she did so. Then,after a moment's talk, she turned and shook hands with Jack, and passedon. "Now, you notice that, son," said Hugh; "that old woman shook handswith both of us, but you mustn't expect other women to do that. She'sold, and her husband's a great friend of mine, so she knows me well; butmost women won't look at you nor speak to you, much less shake handswith you, until they get to be mighty well acquainted with you. They'reshy like."

  When they reached the lodge door, Hugh bent down and passed in first,closely followed by Jack; then turning to the right he advanced a fewsteps, and spoke to the old man who was sitting at the back of thelodge. The Indian placed his right hand over his mouth, as he gave anexclamation of surprise, and then clapping his hands together, motionedHugh to come and sit by his side. Jack followed, and sat down, and in amoment the old man leaned over and shook hands with him. "Ironshirt sayshe's right glad you've come to the camp, son, and that he heard thisafternoon what you had done, and it's good. He hopes you will stop herefor a while; all the people will be glad to have so friendly a personliving with them."

  Hugh and the old man talked together for a long time, while Jack sat onthe bed before the flickering fire, and watched what was going on in thelodge. In that half of it which was to the left of the door, there werethree women, and an uncountable number of little children. Two or threeof the smallest were babies; two of them confined on boards which stoodagainst the lodge poles, while one, a little older, and absolutelynaked, rolled on the floor, so close to the fire that Jack felt a littlenervous lest it should crawl into it. Two little girls, six or eightyears old sat on the bed between two of the women; each one had a littlerobe about her, and above this robe, and looking over the little girl'sshoulder, was the head of a little puppy, which every now and thensquirmed and struggled, seeming to make frantic efforts to get free.There were two boys, ten or twelve years old, each of whom held in hishand a bow and some arrows, but soon after Hugh had entered, these twopassed out of the lodge, and were not seen again. The women werecooking some dried meat which looked to Jack like strips and fragmentsof black leather, which one threw into the pot which hung over the fire,while the other occasionally stirred this pot with a stick, and watchedanother which was partly full of a dark bubbling mass, which looked likejam.

  The talk between the two men lasted a long time, but Jack did not growweary of watching what was happening in the lodge. Suddenly fromwithout, and very far off, came a long, shrill, quivering cry, and everyone ceased talking. One of the women swiftly passed out of the lodge,and, after a moment or two, returned to the door and called outsomething to those within. Hugh turned to Jack, and said, "Somebody hasbeen wounded by enemies. Let's go out and see what it is;" and they roseand passed out of the lodge into the darkness. There was much excitementwithout, and many people were hurrying from all quarters toward thelodge where Jack and Hugh were to pass the night.

  "What do you suppose it is, Hugh?" said Jack.

  "I don't know," said Hugh, "no more than you do; only what the womansaid; what I told you." As they walked along, they saw before them athrong of people on foot crowding around several men on horse-back, whowere riding toward Little Plume's lodge. As Hugh and Jack pushed theirway through the crowd, they saw these men alight, and two of them helpedthe third into the lodge. Then, presently, when they had elbowed theirway through the crowd of men, women and children, and had nearly reachedthe door, a man stepped out of the lodge, talked for a few moments in aloud voice, and the crowd dispersed as rapidly as it had gathered.

  Hugh and Jack entered the lodge, and saw there, old John Monroe, and asmall, slender, handsome Indian sitting on one of the beds, eating,while on another bed a third man was stretched out, and an old Indianknelt by him, washing a wound in his shoulder.

  "Why, hallo, Hugh, h' ole man! You was come. My glad my see you. Hallo,Jack! You come too. That good."

  "Yes, John," said Hugh, "son and me made up our minds that we couldn'tget through the summer without coming up to visit with you folks for alittle while, and here we are. But what's the trouble? How did the youngman get hurt? Hallo, Little Plume! How are you? _Ok'yi._" Jack shookhands with John and Little Plume, and for a few minutes all the mentalked earnestly; then Hugh turned to Jack and said, "Well, I expect youwant to know what this is all about, son, so I'll tell you, but you'llhave to start in and learn Piegan for yourself, if you're going to stopall summer in this camp, because it's mighty slow work to have to haveeverything int
erpreted to you. It seems that John, Little Plume andYellow Wolf--this young fellow here--started out early this morning, upinto the hills, to try to kill some buckskin, for Little Plume's wifewanted to make some leggings. They had left their horses and werehunting along on foot, pretty well spread out, John to the north, YellowWolf in the middle, and Little Plume to the South, when suddenly YellowWolf walked into three Crows that were lying hid in the pines. They musthave heard him coming, or anyhow, they saw him before he did them, andtwo of them let drive at him with their arrows, and one shot at him witha gun. The first arrow, he thinks, hit him in the shoulder, striking thebone, and kind o' turned him around, and he dropped. The other arrow andthe gun missed him. When he fell, the three Indians jumped forward tostrike him, but he raised up and let fly with his old fuke, and killedthe leading man, and then he pulled his bow and arrow and shot at thesecond man. This made 'em see that he wasn't dead, and both the Crowsdodged into the brush. When John and Little Plume heard the two shots soclose together, they knew that Yellow Wolf had been attacked, and theyboth came down to see what was the matter, and when the two Crows heardthem coming, they got up and skipped out as lively as they knew how.John got a shot at one of 'em, but he don't think he hit him. Thecountry there is rough and broken with lots of pines, and they didn'tknow but there might be a big party of Crows somewheres near, and theboy here was wounded, so they struck the enemy and took his scalp, andgot the boy back to the horses and brought him in. Little Plume's goingto take a lot of young men out there in the morning, and see if they canfind them Crows. I expect likely it was just a little party coming downto steal the Piegans' horses. Likely they'll travel all night and be farenough away before morning comes. Little Plume says that there may be abig war party not far off, and thinks that the young men ought to standguard over their horses to-night; but I expect they won't do it. AnIndian will take all sorts of precautions to avoid being surprised,except the precaution of staying awake. They have got to be pretty badlyscared before they'll do that. They're great fellows to take theirnatural rest."

  "Well, how is the young man, Hugh," said Jack; "is he badly hurt?"

  "No," said Hugh, "I reckon not. I haven't looked at him, but from whatthese men say, I judge he'll be all right in a few days. I'll ask RedBear, there; he's doctoring him." He spoke to the old man, who hadfinished attending to Yellow Wolf, and was now gravely smoking a longpipe that Little Plume had passed to him. He spoke a few words, and Hughsaid to Jack, "The old man says that he's not badly hurt; that beforelong he will be quite well."

  A little later, Little Plume spoke to Hugh quite earnestly for somemoments, and then stood on his feet, reached over and shook Jack's hand."He says," said Hugh, "that his woman told him what you did thisafternoon, and he will always remember it; that you will always be likea son to him, because you saved the life of his little girl. He cannottell you much of what he feels, but his heart is big toward you. Hewants you to stop here in this lodge as long as you can, and if you seeanything of his that you want, you must take it, for it is yours."

  "Well," said Jack, "I don't see why they make so much of a fuss over mygetting the girl to shore. If he wants to thank anybody, he ought tothank Pawnee. I could not have done anything without him. Tell him thatI am glad I could help the little girl, and that it makes me feel goodthat he should be friendly toward me."

  For a long time they sat there by the fire, the men talking in alanguage that Jack could not understand, while he listened to the soundswithout, and watched the sights within. Now and then would be heard theswift galloping of a horse, as some one rode rapidly across the circleof the camp. Young men shouted shrilly to each other. From variouspoints came the sound of drumming and of distant singing. Now and then aparty of four or five would pass by on foot, chanting some plaintive,melancholy air. There was a distant hum of voices, above whichoccasionally rose the sweetly shrill laugh of a woman. Within the lodge,the fire snapped and flickered. One by one the women and children laydown upon their beds, and wrapped their brown robes about them, and laystill. The men talked on and the long-stemmed pipe passed from hand tohand. As the men talked, their hands flew in the graceful gesticulationsof the sign language, and sometimes Jack imagined that he could tellwhat it was that they were talking about. Jack watched and listened, andlistened and watched, but by and by his eyes grew dim, and he began tonod.

  Hugh noticed this after a little, and turning to him, said, "Well, son,I reckon you're tired. We've had a long day, and I expect you'd like togo to sleep. There's your bed," he added, pointing, "under where yourclothes hang. You'd better turn in in them buffalo robes, and get a goodnight's rest." Jack was glad to do it, and before long had forgottenwhere he was.