Benny pushed forward and said, “Let me go first alone.” Then he handed Ely the lead rope to the pack horses and went to the river’s edge.
Grub yelled from the rear, “If’n ya get in trouble grab yer horses mane or tail and let him pull ya.”
Benny nodded and with a worried look urged his horse out into the cold green water. He was quartering into the current and in water that was moving much faster than it looked. His horse was nervous and tried to turn around, but Benny was an excellent rider and kept his mount going forward. The water was hitting the horse about mid chest getting Benny wet just above the knees when the bottom just went out from under them. His horses head went under taking Benny under with him. The cold water completely took his breath away.
He was now under the icy water and the current swept him off to the side of his mount. He remembered what Grub had said so he grabbed hold of his horse’s mane and just held on. It seemed he was under water forever trying to stay with the now swimming horse. His lungs felt like they would burst in his chest from the lack of air and when he was at his absolute limit of holding his breath, he realized all he had to do was raise his head and it would be above the water.
His head broke the surface and he gulped in the life saving air. Just then the horse stumbled, his hooves hitting the bottom. Then the hooves caught on solid footing and Benny could see they were climbing up out of the river. With solid footing his horse lunged for the bank and that broke Benny’s grip, leaving him swimming for his life in the cold current. He was only a few feet from the bank but his wet heavy clothes where pulling him down. He kicked with all his might and finally his fingertips hit a rock. A couple of more strokes and he was in water shallow enough to climb up and on to the bank.
He collapsed on the rocks being totally exhausted, his feet where still in the cold water and he just laid there thankful to still be breathing. On the other side of the river Grub and Ely had not said a word. Both were standing in their stirrups watching, wanting to help but knowing there was nothing either of them could do.
Once they could see Benny had actually made it, Grub said to Ely, “Well Pard, I don’t reckon I want to try that right here.”
Ely turned looking up and down the river then answered, “You figure yer gonna find a better spot? Water’s gonna be movin’ even faster if’n we go up the canyon and I cain’t see no spots looks any shallower.” Grub knew his partner was right, he didn’t like it but he knew they didn’t have a choice, they had to cross.
They removed the bundles of plews and tied them on seven or eight foot ropes to the pack saddles so the horses could just pull them across the river. If they left them tied on their backs the large heavy packs could pull the horses down and they might not make it. They tied the lead rope of the pack horses to Ely’s saddle and hoped all the horses would follow without much of a fight. Once they were ready Ely led his horse out into the water until he was in deep enough he couldn’t stand in the current any longer. He urged his horse forward, over the drop off and held on to the lead rope as his horse pulled him across.
These pack horses were used to the trail and they knew to follow one another, so they each entered the water without any trouble. The heavy bundles of furs swung with the current and was pulling them all further down river. By the time they reached the other side they were over a hundred yards downstream from where Benny had made it out.
Ely finally got up on dry land with his horse mostly pulling him out of the water and watched as each of the two pack horses with him come out with the heavy wet bundles of plews being drug behind. Once Grub saw Ely had made it he started across just as Ely had, staying on the upstream side of the horse so he couldn’t be pulled down stream with the current the way Benny had been.
Ely was shivering from the cold and started walking up to where he had last seen Benny but Benny was no-where to be found. Grub was now out in the current and being pulled downstream just as Ely had been and Ely left his horses to go see if he could help Grub out of the river. Ely saw Grub’s horse had a wild look in his eyes just as he was hitting the shallower water and when his hooves hit bottom he started to jump to get out of the river. That jumping broke the rawhide rope holding the bundle of plews and all either of them could do was watch as the plews disappeared into the deep water of the river.
Not a word was spoken between the two of them as they watched a half year’s work disappear. Neither of them were happy or in a good mood but they had been trappers long enough to know this is all part of living in this unforgiving wilderness.
They were cold and they both knew they had to get out of their wet buckskins. Grub looked up and asked, “Where’s Benny?” As they looked around they could see a trace of smoke coming from the trees about two hundred yards to the south.
Ely cut the packs loose from his two pack horses and they headed for where Benny had a fire started, leaving the heavy soaked packs right there. As they entered the edge of the trees they could see Benny standing there naked by the fire. He had his saddle and all his supplies setting around the fire and his clothes hanging on sticks over the fire.
He stepped forward to help strip the saddles of the other horses while Ely and Grub got out of their cold wet buckskins. As Grub pulled off one moccasin and stepped on the ground he nearly stepped on a dead porcupine and he looked over at Benny and asked, “Where this come from?”
Benny answered, “He was just startin’ to climb that tree when I walked up here so I just picked up a stick and got us some supper.”
Ely smiled and said, “Well boy, I figure you made at least one old trapper happy.”
Grub replied, “Damn right he did. I’s is gonna get him to roastin’ here in just a few minutes.
It was good and dark by the time they had the porcupine on the stick over the flames. A breeze had started and it was downright cold for the three of them. Everything they owned was wet including their powder. They wouldn’t be able to even defend themselves until they could get their powder dry and their rifles cleaned and dry. With nothing at all dry all they could do was keep the fire going to keep from freezing throughout the night.
By morning their buckskins were dry enough to wear and as they were getting dressed Ely looked up and standing just twenty feet away were two Indians with rifles pointed right at them.
26 Almost Gone
Ely froze right where he was, neither Grub or Benny had seen the two Indians and for the first time since they lost the bundle of plews in the river crossing, Grub said, “Ely, ya think they’s might be a chance we could snag them plews, that was half a year’s work. It’d sure ‘nough be worth a day or two tryin’.”
Ely replied, “Pard, I think we got us bigger troubles right now.” At that both Grub and Benny looked up. None of the three had rifle in hand and Grub thought to himself that was a greenhorn’s mistake and one that just might be their last.
Ely had been watching these two Indians for a minute now, they were silhouetted against the pale sky. He couldn’t see colors or markings but from what he could see he didn’t figure they were Blackfeet. Benny was young, he was fast and at times overly confident. Grub could tell he was getting ready to try for his rifle and softly spoke, “Easy Benny, they is cocked and ready.”
The Indian on the right then stepped forward and in very accented English said, “You come, talk Campbell.” As this very fierce-looking warrior stepped forward Grub got a much better look at him and said, “Why, I believe they is Flathead.”
Ely nodded asking, “You don’t figure he means Robert Campbell do ya?” At that the Flathead warrior said again, “You come now, talk Campbell.”
Ely reached down to pick up his rifle and the Indian shouted, “No, you leave!” None of them could see any other option, Ely finished tying his belt and started out on foot the way the Indian was pointing.
They started heading south west toward the Salt River. When they broke out into the open they could see a smoke haze from several fires not more than a mile in front of them.
It looked from where they were to be an Indian village, but Ely kept going over in his mind the warrior’s words, speak Campbell.
Grub had a totally different thought in his mind, he was thinking back to the massacred Flathead village. He was sure these two behind him were Flathead and he also knew that although unlikely their tracks could have been followed right from that Flathead village. If that was the case, he didn’t figure all the explaining in the world would get them out of a very unpleasant death.
They were less than a quarter mile from the camp walking through some tall brush along the river when another man appeared in the trail right in front of them. The first thing Grub noticed was his beard. He was the trapper, a white man. The man was startled and just stared for a minute then smiled and shouted, “Lame Deer, what have ya found?”
Lame Deer, the Flathead who had been doing what little talking had been done answered, “Hunting, smell smoke, white man talk to Campbell.”
The trapper came forward smiled and held out his hand to Ely and said, “Names Jedidiah Hamblin but they just call me Jed and this here gabby Injun behind ya is Lame Deer and his partner is Gray Feather, they is our Flathead guides.”
Ely shook his hand saying, “I’s mighty glad to know ya, I’s Ely Tucker and these two is Grub Taylor and Benny Lambert. Are ya with Robert Campbell’s brigade?”
“Sure ‘nough, let’s go see ‘em.” Lame Deer and Gray Feather didn’t change their expression at all and they didn’t lower their rifles either, not until they were all standing before Robert Campbell and he signaled to them it was alright.
Robert Campbell explained that he and his men had spent the fall trapping season to the north in Flathead country and had spent the winter with the Flatheads. For the spring season they had been slowly moving south trapping as they went. The Flathead guides were showing them areas to trap that they were not aware of and had been very helpful in avoiding the Blackfeet.
The Blackfeet were out for revenge against any and all for the death of Thunder Cloud their famed War Chief who was killed by the white trapper called Grizzly Killer last year. Not only that but they had been defeated attacking some Shoshone villages before that by Spotted Elk the Shoshone War Chief. It now seemed that the Blackfeet was under the influence of another war chief, a young man called Strong Bow and he was out not only to prove he has powerful medicine but also to avenge his people of the defeats they had suffered last year. Ely told Campbell that they were coming from up around Pierre’s Hole and that they had been dodging a large Blackfoot war party for the last week now and finally figured they had lost them.
Robert Campbell asked if they would like to join with his much larger group to go on down to Rendezvous and without hesitation Ely, Grub and Benny all nodded and Grub spoke for the first time saying, “Mr. Campbell, we’s right beholdin’ to ya fer the offer, only if yer goin’ on today we might need a day or so to catch up. Ya see, we lost a whole bundle of plews crossin’ the Snake last night. Now I don’t figure we got much of a chance findin’ ‘em but we gotta give it a try.”
Ely nodded and added, “We won’t be no more’n a day or day and half behind ya, If’n we ain’t found ‘em by then we ain’t gonna.” Robert Campbell nodded and told them they wasn’t planning on leaving this camp on the Salt for another day or so anyway, they needed to make meat and several of their men were out hunting now. He told them to be back here by first light day after tomorrow and we’d all go to Sweet Lake together.
Before they left, Ely looked at Lame Deer the Flathead that spoke just a little English. He then turned back to Robert Campbell and told him about the Flathead village that had been massacred, telling Campbell that he figured his guides had a right to know.
Campbell called his guides over and they all sat down, then Ely told their story of finding the Flathead Village. He was as accurate as possible in describing the location and Lame Deer with extreme sadness asked several questions with Robert Campbell acting as an interpreter. Neither Ely nor Grub spoke Flathead, but it was plain to all of them that Lame Deer and Gray Feather were sad and upset.
Ely told them it appeared the Blackfeet were covering as much territory as possible looking for anyone that wasn’t Blackfoot to take their revenge on. Grub added that they couldn’t tell for sure how many Blackfeet were in this raiding party but it was big, could be one or even two hundred warriors, maybe more.
Lame Deer and Gray Feather stood and turned to Ely, Grub, and Benny made the sign for friend then turned and left. Campbell then said, “It was not their village the Blackfeet wiped out, but it was friends and family. Their village is also traveling to Sweet Lake to the Rendezvous so they are leaving us to find their people to warn them of the Blackfeet being on the trail for war.”
Campbell offered to have a couple of his men go and help try to find the lost bundle of plews but Ely replied, “Thanks, but we don’t want to waste anyone else’s time, we really don’t think we got a chance of findin’ ‘em, but we got to try.”
Campbell nodded he understood and wished them luck, saying he would see them day after tomorrow.
As they were walking back to camp Benny commented, “I was scared when them two Injuns showed up, I thought for sure we were goners.”
Grub shook his head and said, “Boy, you ain’t the only one, ‘til Lame Deer walked up I figured for sure they was Blackfeet.”
Ely joined in saying, “Ya jus’ never know what’s gonna happen, but I know this, we is some lucky bastards today. Let’s see if’n were lucky ‘nough to find that bundle of plews.”
Everything in camp was just how they had left it, they saddled the horses and went right down to where they had cut the plews lose and opened up the bundles separating them to dry. They then went right to the river’s edge and looked out into the cold green water.
About two hundred yards downstream the river started flowing much faster as it fell over large rocks that were out in the river from some ancient slide that had come off the mountain. Benny was riding the river bank just staring out into the water and when he got to the first of the large rocks that was above the surface of the water he could see something was wedged up against it. He couldn’t tell what it was but it just didn’t look like it belonged there. He waved his arms and got Grubs attention. When Grub rode up to him he just pointed out into the river. Grub stared at the spot for several minutes then said, “Go get Ely, let’s see what he thinks.”
After the three of them talked they figured it just about had to be their plews, but how were they going to get them? There was just no way to throw a rope that far and the current would sweep a man away if he was to try and swim out to it. It was then that Benny said, “Let’s go get all our ropes, tie ‘em together then I’ll tie ‘em around my waste. If I start swimmin’ up stream quite a ways I can be out in the river far enough by the time I get to those plews, and if I get in trouble you two can pull me in.”
Ely looked at Grub and Grub looked with disbelief at Benny. Ely said, “Damn, that just might work.”
Grub staring right into Benny’s eyes asked, “You pert-near drowned in that river yesterday and now you want to get back in?”
“No I don’t, I’ll be glad to hold the rope for you, only I’m younger and a stronger swimmer than either of you” Benny replied.
Grub looked at Ely and asked, “Do you think we kin do it? That bundle of plews ain’t worth a life.”
Benny then said, “Yesterday these here wool clothes was dragging me down, I ain’t gonna be wearin’ ‘em today. An’ if you two cain’t pull me outta there, tie the rope on my horse, he can fer sure.”
They got all the ropes they had and got them tied together then Benny stripped down, smiled and said this was just like skinny dipping in the pond back home. Benny entered the water upstream a full hundred yards from where the bundle of plews was wedged up against that big rock. He was swimming straight out into the current. Grub and Ely was feeding out rope and having to run along the river bank to keep up with the speed of t
he current. Benny could see he was moving much faster than he expected and with all his might stroked farther out into the river.
He was only a few yards from the plews when he could see he was far enough so he just turned to face the rocks and prepared to hit them. He hit with such force it nearly knocked the wind out of him. The water was pushing against his back and had him pinned up against the bundle. He had to fight the current to keep his head above the water and that took every bit of strength he had.
He finally fought his way up on top of the bundle and out of the force of the water, he looked down stream at the jumble of rocks and white water for the next several hundred yards and knew he would never survive if the current swept him away.
Shaking from not only the cold but the exertion he looked at what he would have to do to tie the rope onto the bundle. He didn’t think he had the strength left to fight the current of the water again, so getting the rope all the way around it was no option. He looked over to the bank at Ely and Grub who was intently watching. Ely shouted something but Benny couldn’t hear a thing over the roar of the white water.
He could see where the braided rawhide rope was tied around the plews so he figured the best he could do was tie onto that. He was kneeling on top of the bundle as he untied the rope from around his waist and reached into water, working it under the bundle’s tie rope. Once he had it secure he wrapped the rope around his arm a couple of times, got as good a grip as he could then motioned for Ely and Grub to pull.
They had their end tied onto Benny’s saddle and as Ely led the horse Grub was intently watching as Benny plunged back into the cold fast running river. The rope tightened up on Benny’s arm so tight it was extremely painful and was fighting not only the rope but to keep his head above water. He finally felt the bundle break lose but then the current caught it, he could feel himself being pulled through the water and swinging toward the bank at the same time. His head was under water most of the time. He felt like his lungs was going to burst but there was nothing he could do but concentrate on not sucking the cold water into his lungs. He tried to let go of the rope but the wrap on his arm was too tight.
Grizzly Killer: The Medicine Wheel Page 21
