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

by George Bird Grinnell

  CHAPTER XXVII.

  BAPTISTE LAJEUNESSE.

  The slow return of the village to the Marias River, and their journeyalong it to the camp, was uneventful. Hugh had let it be known among hisfriends, that on reaching this camp he and Jack would leave them, andthe evening before this took place, a great feast was given by the headchief, Iron Shirt, to which a considerable number of the principal menof the village were asked. Out of compliment to Jack, Joe and HandsomeFace were invited, and it was between them that he sat on the right ofthe chief on this great occasion. The speeches made were many, and ineach one of them were friendly allusions to the two white men, who forsome months past had dwelt in the camp. During the smoking of the lastpipe, Hugh stood on his feet and made a speech in Piegan, in which heacknowledged all the kindness that they had received. Then, as they hadpreviously arranged, the three boys got up and went about the circle,putting down before each one of the guests a package containing somepresent, which should be a slight memorial of their visit.

  The making up of these bundles had occupied Joe and Jack for twoevenings, and they contained about all the trade goods that they hadbrought from the South, so that when the bundles had been prepared, allthe red cloth, the beads, the tobacco and the handkerchiefs were gone,and of all the property that they had brought into the camp, thereremained only a little food.

  The next morning, long before they were up, presents from differentpeople in the camp began to arrive at the lodge. There were great pilesof buffalo robes, beautiful moccasins, shirts ornamented with beads orporcupine quills; skins and furs of one sort and another. More, as Hughsaid, than they could pack on their horses. However, they made up theirbundles and by borrowing a couple of pack horses from John Monroe,managed to load all their possessions, and set out for Benton. The floursack, which contained the gold, was wrapped in a bear skin and placed onthe bucking dun, under a great pile of robes.

  Jack had arrayed himself in a suit of new clothing throughout. Abeautiful shirt of antelope skin, heavily fringed and ornamented withquills, buckskin trousers, bead worked, and a pair of handsomelyornamented buckskin moccasins, with parfleche soles. About his hat was astrip of otter fur. His knife sheath was a large one of Indian make,studded with bright brass headed nails, and from a buttonhole of hisshirt hung the gold powder charger by a buckskin string.

  They started late, and it was night when they reached Fort Benton.However, Hugh managed to find his friend who owned the stable, and theyput their possessions in it, their horses into the corral, and slept onthe fragrant hay. At daylight next morning they were up, and after atime had breakfast. Hugh inquired when the bank would be open, andlearned that this would not be for three or four hours yet. He told theboys, therefore, to go out and wander about the town if they wanted to,and said that he would stay with their property in the stable, until thetime came to go to the bank with the gold.

  Joe's childhood having been spent in Benton, he was a good guide for thetown; yet concerning the old fort and the interior of the trading posts,he knew little or nothing. For some time they wandered through thestreets and down along the river bank, and at length turned about toreturn to the stable. As they were passing along the street, Jackstopped before the window of a saloon to look at a mountain sheep's headwith immense horns, and after he had looked at it for a while, andspoken with Joe of its great size, he turned to walk away, and as he didso, found himself standing face to face with a very tall man, whose longwhite beard reached nearly to his waist. The stranger was not only verytall, but very broad as well; but seemed thin, almost to emaciation, yetgave one the idea of a person possessing great strength. He was neatlydressed in buckskin, which, though not new, was clean and in goodcondition, and was without any ornament of beads or quill work. As Jackstepped aside to avoid the old man, he spoke to him in a low, pleasantvoice, and said: "The head is large, my friend, is it not?"

  "Yes, sir," said Jack, "it's immense. I never saw anything so big, butthen I haven't killed many sheep, in fact, I have only seen a very few."

  "You are young," said the stranger. "You have not lived long enough tosee many things. Do you belong in this country?"

  "No," said Jack, "I come from back in the States. I am just out here fora little while, and have been living this summer with the Indians upnorth."

  "You are along way from home. How do you come to be here?" said the man."Young boys do not usually travel that great distance alone."

  "Oh," said Jack, "I came with a friend, Mr. Hugh Johnson, maybe you'veheard of him. He's been a long time in the country, more than fortyyears." The man seemed to ponder.

  "Many years ago I knew a man so called; those were in the trapping days.We used to call him then, Casse-tete, because, once with a stone, hesmashed the head of a wounded cow that was charging him. He had a strongarm and good luck." Jack was interested, and wondered if it were Hughwho had done this. He would have liked to ask more questions, but by theclock in the saloon, he saw that it was time to meet Hugh, and hethought, perhaps, that he could find this old man again, later, and talkto him, so he took off his hat politely and said good morning, andstarted to go on. But as he moved, the old man touched him on theshoulder and said: "Wait, friend; you have there," pointing to Jack'sbreast, "property that I lost long ago. Where did you get it? If youlook at it, you will find scratched in the metal, my initials, 'B. L.'"

  For a moment, Jack was almost dumb with astonishment, and then he said:"Are you Baptiste Lajeunesse?"

  "That is my name," said the old man, "where have you heard it?"

  "Oh, Mr. Lajeunesse, wait until we find Hugh, then we must have a longtalk with you. Were you chased by Indians once, long ago south of theBear Paw Mountains? And did you lose a mule there?"

  The old man smiled rather sadly, and said: "Truly, my son, I was chasedthere, and I did lose a mule and many other valuable things which I havenever been able to find. But one of them I see now on your breast."

  Jack quickly untied the powder charger and offered it to Baptiste whowaved it away. Then Jack asked him: "Where can we find you in an hour ortwo? We will come back here with Hugh, I'm almost sure that he is theman that you call Casse-tete."

  "I'll be near here all the day," said Baptiste, "and if I'm not insight, the man in the saloon can tell you where I have gone." Without aword more, Jack and Joe started on a run toward the stable.

  When they reached the stable, there was no one there, but a manloitering in the street near by, told them that he had seen "theirpartner" going up the street a little while before, with a sack of flouron his shoulder. At once, Joe led the way to the bank nearby, andentering it, they could see, behind the counter, Hugh and another man,in earnest conversation. As soon as Hugh saw them he introduced them toMr. Finley, the manager of the bank, as his two partners. Hugh hadalready taken out the gold. It had been examined and weighed, and threedrafts, each for $2,520.00 were now being made out, one to the order ofeach of the three.

  Hugh told Jack that a few miles below the town, there was a steam-boatloading, on which they could get passage for Bismarck, and that he hadmade arrangements to have all their baggage hauled down to it.

  "I reckon, we'll leave all the horses, except maybe Pawnee and your newhorse, up here in charge of Joe. We can trust him to look after themcarefully, and I reckon it's more than likely, that you may come backhere again next season; and if you do, it will be a lot shorter for youto come direct and find your horses here, rather than to go to the ranchand have to ride up across country. That takes a lot of time.

  "Of course, if you want to, you can leave all the horses here, we won'tneed them going down. And now, I reckon," he added, "we'll go out andbuy some things. We'll stop in again to shake hands with you, Mr.Finley, before we quit the town."

  They were scarcely outside the door, when Jack, who in his excitement,had hardly been able to keep quiet, exclaimed, "Oh! Hugh, we've foundBaptiste Lajeunesse."

  "Sho," said Hugh, "you don't mean it."

  "Yes we have. He saw the powder cha
rger and before looking at it, saidit was his and that he had lost it a long time, and that it had hisinitials on it. He had not told us what his name was, and I asked if hewas Baptiste Lajeunesse, and he said yes. Let's go and see him and findout all about what happened when he lost the powder charger; and oh!Hugh," he said, his face falling, "suppose that gold belongs to him."

  "Well, son," said Hugh, "if it's Bat, and he lost the powder charger andhe lost the gold too, we are all just as poor as we were before youfound it."

  "Oh!" said Jack, "won't that be a shame, when we have been thinking thatwe were all so rich, and when Joe needs so many things, and you and metoo, Hugh."

  "Well," said Hugh, with a comical look of disappointment on his face, "Iguess we all think we need lots of things that we haven't got, butsomehow or other, if we can't have 'em, we manage to just live along inabout the same way, and I don't know as it makes much difference, but Iwould like to see Joe with a good gun and I reckon we'll have to try toget him one somehow, whether we have the gold or not."

  CHAPTER XXVIII.

  THE LOST GOLD.

  It was but a short walk to the place where Jack had left the stranger,and in a few moments they saw him sitting in front of the door. Hughstopped in front of him, looked at him closely and said: "Well, Bat, howare you?"

  "All right Casse-tete. And you?"

  "It's a long time since you lost your charger, friend," said Hugh.

  "Ah, yes," said Baptiste, "I never shall have another one as good. Theone you saw me make and that the boy has on his shirt, was good fornothing. I have had no luck since I lost the old one. At first thingswent well, and I thought I should be rich, but soon trouble came, andhas been coming ever since."

  "How did you lose the charger?" said Hugh.

  "That morning when I left the fort, I went north to the big lakes andtrapped along them, and one day, on one of the little streams, I found apiece of gold; a small piece as large as my finger nail. I began to lookfor more, and to wash the bars, and there, for a little while and in oneplace, I found much gold. I stayed there until my grub gave out and myammunition too, for in crossing a stream my animal fell and wet mypowder. I started to come in for supplies, and one day, as I wastravelling along, the Indians jumped me and I had to run. They had cutme off from the fort, and I ran east keeping ahead of them during theday, but at night they would catch up. At last, when I was southeast ofthe Bear Paws, my horses were getting tired and the Indians came soclose to me, that they began to shoot. I had but a few charges left inmy horn, and couldn't fight. Finally, they came so close that theykilled my pack animal, and an arrow went through my shoulder. One or twoof them had guns and kept shooting at me, but they did not hit me; theycrowded me though, and now I had to run to the river to hid in thebreaks, where I could slip away on foot without being trailed.

  "This I did, but when I got in among the _mauvaises terres_, the Indiansstopped behind, and then I found that my gold, which I had been runningto save, was gone. I had had it on my saddle, and a ball had cut thestrings and it had dropped off; also my horse had been wounded and couldtravel no more, and I was bleeding and growing weak. Along the shore Ifound a drift log, and that night, tying my gun to it, I pushed it offinto the deep water and got on it, and floated down the stream.

  "That was the last I knew for a long time. When I next had sense, I wasin the camp of two trappers at the mouth of the stream, they call'Judith.' They told me, that one day, weeks before, they had seensomething queer coming down the stream, and at length, saw that it was aman on a log; one of the men swam out with a rope and brought the stickto shore, and me with it. But they said I was crazy. They said, too,that I had many wounds that I had not known of and one of them was a cuton the head where a ball had glanced.

  "Since that time my mind is no longer good. Sometimes, for a long time,I don't know anything. Sometimes I can't remember the things thathappened yesterday, but the old things, those that happened before thattime, I remember well; and so it is, Casse-tete, that I know you, evenif your hair is white; but I have always thought of you as young andstrong and a breaker-in of bulls' heads;" and the old man laughedpleasantly.

  Jack and Joe did not understand everything of what was said, but Hugh,as he listened to this story, seemed to become very grave and sad.

  "And what do you do now, Baptiste?" he asked. "We no longer trap beaver.How do you live?"

  "Sometimes I ask myself that question, friend," Baptiste replied, "and Ido not always know how to answer it. In the summer, when the boats areloading, sometimes I help to pack the robes. Sometimes, when the fursare brought in, they get me to come and help them look at them and saywhat they are worth; in that way I earn a little money, and my friendhere, who owns this house, is kind to me. I sleep here always andsometimes when he goes away, I stay and answer questions for him."

  "Friend," said Hugh, "when these Indians were chasing you, and when atlast you turned to the river, did you have your charger with you?"

  "I don't know," said Baptiste, "I did not know it was lost until I gotwell in the camp at the mouth of the Judith; then I saw it was gone."

  "And do you know when you lost your gold?"

  "I don't know," said Baptiste. "When my mule fell, and I turned to runstraight for the river, the gold was still on my saddle; before I got tothe edge of the breaks, a bullet struck the horse, or the saddle, andwhen I stopped near the river the gold was gone. I can tell you no morethan that."

  "But, Bat," said Hugh, "did you never go back there to look for it?"

  "I went back," said Lajeunesse, "but I could never find the place. WhenI got near it, things were always confused in my mind and I could seenothing that I knew again, although I had travelled over the countrymany times, and knew it well."

  "Listen to me, friend," said Hugh, "Not long ago, these two young menand I were down in that same country. We found, close together, a mulethat had been killed long ago with an arrow, this charger," touching thegold on Jack's breast, "and an old buckskin sack full of gold. It may bethat these things were yours."

  "That is curious," said Lajeunesse. "The charger was mine for I know itwell, perhaps the mule also was mine, but about the gold, who can tell.Perhaps it was mine, perhaps another's."

  "Oh! Hugh," burst out Jack, unable longer to contain himself. But Hughraised his hand for silence, and Jack stopped, though he was eager totry to prove to Lajeunesse that the gold was his, and that none of themhad, or wished to have, any claim on it.

  "As you say," said Hugh, "the gold may have belonged to any one; golddust is much alike and a buckskin sack in the course of years, rots anddisappears. Yet, after all, it seems likely that this may have beenyours, since it was found near other things that were yours, and sinceyou lost your gold at that place."

  "Truly," said Lajeunesse, "it may have been mine, but it was lost longago and could not be found, and now if you men have found it, it isyours."

  "That is what we must now determine;" said Hugh. "We are here together,four persons, the only four, so far as we can tell, that know anythingof this gold, or have a claim to it. Suppose, now, that we four were todecide that the gold belonged to you, what would you do with it?"

  "Truly," said Baptiste, "if it belonged to me, I should not know what todo with it. I think I should give it to some one to take care of for me,for since my head has been bad, I might lose it or forget where I hadput it, and then it would do me no good. If it belonged to you,Casse-tete, what would you do with it?"

  "Well, Bat, I'm good deal like you, I don't know what I would do withit. I never had much money, not more than enough to buy supplies andhave a good time, and this is more than one would need for that." Hughstopped speaking, and thought for a little while and then said: "I'lltell you what I think would be fair: Suppose we divide this gold in twoparts, and you take one part and the two boys will take the other; thenwe'll put yours in the bank and they will hire it of you and pay yourent for it as long as they keep it. I think they ought to pay you,maybe forty or fifty dollars a month.
If they'd pay you as much as thatand gave it to you every month, you'd get along all right, wouldn'tyou?"

  "Indeed, Casse-tete, I should think that I were rich if I had so muchmoney as that every month, but you see this gold is not mine, even if itis the same gold that I lost; it has stopped being mine when I lost it.If I had lost gold pieces on the prairie and you had found them, theywould be yours, and so it is with this dust. Why, then, should you makeme a present of one half of it?"

  "Partly because I feel sure you lost it," said Hugh, "and partly onaccount of old times; and partly because you now have nothing, thoughtwenty-five years ago, there was no man on the prairie that was richerthan Baptiste Lajeunesse."

  "Truly," said Baptiste, "it is pleasant to think of the old times, andto meet one who remembers them. I have thought of you many times,Casse-tete, since I saw you last, and I am glad that we meet again. Butwhat about these young men?" he said. "They partly own this gold, whatdo they say about giving it away?"

  "Why," said Jack, "I say you ought to have it all, and not half of it,as Hugh says." Joe said nothing, but smiled as if he agreed with Jack.

  "Now," said Hugh, as he rose, "that gold was left at the bank; I'll goup there and see that it is divided in two parts, and we'll find outwhat the people there will pay you for the use of yours, then I willcome back here and let you know." Lajeunesse waved his hand, and theywent out.

  On the way to the bank, Jack said, "But, Hugh, why didn't you make himtake all the gold?"

  "Well, son," said Hugh, "you see, he had lost it for good and he neverwould have heard of it again if you boys hadn't found it, and we hadn'tbrought it in. I think that luck and that work entitles us to half ofit, but there is another thing more important than that. You see, theold man has partly lost his mind, he isn't fit to take care of anyproperty, and if we would give him that sack of gold, it would be justas he says; he'd leave it lying out on the sidewalk some time, andsomebody would pick it up and walk off with it, or he would put it downsomewhere and forget where he left it, or he'd give it away. It wouldn'tdo him no good nor us neither. What I'm going to do is this, if you boysagree; I'm going to deposit half these drafts that we got for the goldto your credit but we'll see that the interest is paid to him everymonth. Then as long as he stays here, he'll have a living and yet hewon't be able to spend the principal. Then if ever he dies the moneywill be here to the credit of you two boys, one half to each."

  "Well, but," said Jack, "suppose he's got any children or a wife?"

  "Well," said Hugh, "he ain't got neither, without he's married since Iknew him and that ain't noways likely. But we can find out about thatanyhow."

  When they reached the bank, Hugh explained the matter in detail to themanager, who was an old resident of Fort Benton and knew Lajeunessewell. One half the money was deposited in the name of Jack and Joe asjoint owners, the interest to be paid monthly at the rate of one and aquarter per cent. per month to Lajeunesse. This would give him nearly$50 a month. Returning to Baptiste, they told him what had been done,and while he and Hugh were talking it over, Jack untied from his shirtthe gold charger and when the opportunity came, offered it to the oldman.

  "There can't be any doubt," he said, "Mr. Lajeunesse, that this isyours, for it is marked with your name and you should take it." The oldman smiled kindly as he took it in his hand and looked at itthoughtfully, then he handed it back and said, "No, my friend, in thesedays I don't use such things, and besides, it brought me bad luck. Ifyou like it, keep it always to remember a man to whom you were kind. Ishall think of you, Casse-tete, and of your boys, many times from thison. Every month I shall have a good reminder of you."

  They sat all day chatting together, Hugh and Baptiste doing most of thetalking, though sometimes they addressed the boys. About the middle ofthe afternoon, Hugh rose, and shaking hands with Baptiste, said that itwas time to go. The two old friends walked slowly toward the stable,while the boys ran ahead and found a wagon hitched up and their propertypartly loaded in it. It was arranged that all the horses should be leftin Joe's care, to be kept in the Piegan camp, and that Hugh or Jackwould write him, to say what should be done with the stock; if he heardnothing from them, he was to keep the animals until next summer, when itwas hoped Jack and Hugh would again go to the Piegan camp.

  The ride down to the point where the steamboat was tied up was rather amelancholy one. Jack and Joe sat together on the back seat not sayingmuch, but holding fast each other's hands. When the boat was reached,all were busy for a little while transferring the goods to the deck andthen the captain came to Hugh and said, "Well, you got here just intime; there's a little more water coming down to-day, and I'm going tostart now just as soon as we can cast off the lines."

  "Well, Joe," said Jack, "I'm awful sorry to go, I've had the best time Iever had in my life, and a good part has been owing to you. I'll neverforget you nor the Piegans, and if I possibly can, I'll come back againnext summer."

  "Good-bye, my friend," said Joe, "I wish I were going with you, I hateto have you leave me. I feel like crying. Come back next year if youcan."

  "Hurry up," said Hugh, from the deck of the vessel, "they're casting offthe lines."

  Jack turned and ran over the gang plank and stood beside Hugh, and asthe vessel passed out into the stream and slowly moved around the point,the last things that he saw were the tall figure of the old trapper andthe slender one of the Indian boy, standing side by side with theirbacks toward the sinking sun.

  END.