Our friends stayed one night at the Echeloot or Upper Chinook village, which they had visited when coming down the river. You will remember that it was there they first saw wooden houses made by Indians. The explorers were treated as hospitably as before, but, as you will also recall, the natives were Flatheads, and the sight of the misshapen skulls, towering at the rear like the ridge of a roof, was so disagreeable that the travelers were glad to turn their backs upon them.
You have not forgotten the thrilling descent of the Falls of the Columbia, where all the skill of Deerfoot and Mul-tal-la was needed to save the canoe from being dashed upon the rocks.
“Are you going to paddle through them again?” asked Victor.
“Deerfoot does not wish to see his brother scared so bad as he was before.”
“I was about to say that if you and Mul-tal-la don’t feel equal to the task, George and I are ready to take it off your hands.”
“The heart of Deerfoot is made glad to hear the words of his brother,” replied the Shawanoe, handing his paddle to the youth. Not expecting that, Victor scratched his head and looked quizzically at George.
“Shall we show those fellows how to do such things?”
“I don’t think it is worth while; they won’t appreciate it.”
“Deerfoot is sorry,” was all that was said by the Shawanoe, as the boat was drawn out of the waters and hoisted upon the shoulders of the party.
The Shawanoe gave another illustration of his stern principles when, at the close of day, the canoe was run into shore at the point where the travelers had encamped beside the pile of lumber from which they were led to take what fuel they needed through the misrepresentation of the three Indians who called upon them. The night was one of the coldest of several weeks, and at their elbows, as may be said, was enough fuel to make them comfortable for months.
The brothers looked longingly at the mass of lumber, but did not dare touch it in the presence of their friend.
“I wonder if we can’t persuade him to look the other way for a little while,” said Victor in a low tone to George.
“It wouldn’t make any difference if he did—he would see us just the same; the only thing to do is to appeal to his common sense.”
“You try it; he won’t pay any attention to me.”
“See here,” said the shivering lad; “it seems to me, Deerfoot, that since we have already stolen some lumber from that pile, it can’t be any harm to steal a little more; you see, with your good sense, that it will be only taking two bites from the same apple.”
The Shawanoe looked gravely at his young friends, whom no one understood better than he, and abruptly asked:
“How much do two and two make?”
“As near as I can figure out,” interposed Victor, “the answer to that problem is four.”
“When we used the wood we thought we had the right to take it; we should pay the owner if we could find him. If we use any of it now it will be a sin, as sure as two and two make four, for we know it belongs to another; it is better to freeze than to steal wood. Deerfoot does not wish to hear his brothers say anything more.”
“I suppose he is right,” growled Victor, “but doesn’t he draw it mighty fine? We may as well prepare to spend one of the worst nights we have had since leaving the Ohio.”
The canoe was drawn up the bank and then turned over, so as to shield the property beneath. Then the blankets were spread so that the four lay near one another and thus secured mutual warmth. The region had become familiar to our friends because of their former visit, and they knew that all the natives were friendly. Deerfoot, therefore, said there was no need of mounting guard. They had eaten enough dried salmon to stay the pangs of hunger, though the boys would have relished something warm and more palatable.
All slept soundly, and the night passed without the slightest disturbance from prowling man or animal. Victor Shelton was the first to awake. He was lying on his side with his back against that of his brother, and his face so covered by his blanket that only a small orifice was left through which to breathe. His first sensation was that of pressure, as if a heavy weight was distributed over the blanket and was bearing him down. He moved his arm and found that the blanket, from some cause, was really heavier than usual. A vigorous flirt freed his shoulder from the wrapping, and he then saw the cause of the peculiar feeling he had noticed: the earth was covered with several inches of snow. Anyone coming upon the camp in the gray light of morning would have noted nothing but the mass of lumber, the flowing river, the overturned canoe and several white mounds. The snowfall had ceased, and fortunately there had been a considerable rise of temperature. The snow was soft and wet, and one could move about without extra protection, and not suffer from cold.
Victor lay still for a minute or two, engaged in thinking. Then he gently pushed the blanket off his shoulder and body, so as to leave his limbs free. With the same stealth he rose to his feet and looked around. There lay his three friends, encased even to their heads and feet in the warm protection.
“I think there couldn’t be a better time for me to settle my accounts with you fellows,” muttered the lad, looking down on the mounds.
“Master George Shelton, you have a bad habit of making slurring remarks about my walking pretty fast from the wounded antelope, forgetting that by doing so I drew him on to his own destruction. You need a lesson and I’m going to give it to you.
“Mr. Mul-tal-la, you didn’t say much at the time I was explaining that little matter to George, but I saw the grin on your face, and I knew you were thinking a good deal more than you had any right to think. You need to be taught better manners.
“As for you, Mr. Deerfoot, you are the worst of all. I can’t forget the scandalous tricks you have played on me. It will take a long time to even matters between us, but I’m going to make a good start today.”
Knowing how lightly the Shawanoe slept, Victor picked his way with great skill until he had taken a dozen or more steps. The down-like carpet enabled him to do this absolutely without noise, a fact which explains why Deerfoot did not awake.
Victor now stooped and began silently manufacturing snowballs. He packed the soft substance as hard as he could while circling it about in his palms and rounding it into shape. When the missile suggested a 12-pound shot he laid it at his feet, with the whispered words:
“That’s for you, Master George Shelton.”
The second sphere was compressed and modeled with the same pains and placed beside the first.
“That’s for you, Mr. Mul-tal-la, and you’re going to get it good! As for you, Mr. Deerfoot, you shall have a double dose.”
Crooking his left arm at the elbow, Victor laid three of the nicely molded snowballs in the hollow, which served as a quiver serves for arrows. The fourth missile was grasped in his right hand, and he drew it slowly back and sighted carefully at his brother. Victor was a fine thrower, and when the ball flashed from his hand it landed on the top of George’s cap and burst into fragments. The sleeper was in the midst of a dream in which Zigzag played a leading part, and the youth’s first impression was that he had received the full force of a kick on his crown.
Paying no further attention to him, Victor quickly let fly at Mul-tal-la, and the throw was as good as the first.
The disturbance, slight as it was, roused Deerfoot, who flung the blanket off his face and raised his head. He was just in time to receive the compact sphere between the eyes, and before he could dodge the second it landed on his ear, packed the passage full of snow and plastered the side of his face with the snowy particles.
“I meant those for you and here’s another!” shouted Victor, who, having exhausted his ammunition, snatched up a handful of snow and began hastily molding a new missile.
“You needn’t scramble and claw about! I’ve got you down and I’m going to pay you for beating me at wrestling, for tickling my nose, for stealing my clothes when I was swimming, and—”
The reason why the lad ceased his r
emarks so abruptly was because a snowball, fired as if from a cannon, crashed into his mouth that instant and half strangled him. Before he could pull himself together he knew his nose was flattened by another missile and Deerfoot was on the point of launching a third shot. This was more than Victor had bargained for, and, wheeling, he “ran for life,” yelling at the top of his voice for George and Mul-tal-la to come to his help.
“Soak him, George! Give it to him, Mul-tal-la; don’t you see he’s killing me?”
Now, there was no reason why the two thus appealed to should heed the prayer, since each had suffered at the hands of the youth who was in extremity. Nevertheless, Mul-tal-la and George attacked Deerfoot, observing which, Victor was unprincipled enough to turn back and join the assailants. Thus the Shawanoe was forced to defend himself against three, every one of whom was a good thrower. Right bravely did the dusky youth do his work—never yielding an inch, but driving his missiles right and left, with the merciless accuracy and the power of an arrow from his bow, or a bullet from his rifle. So lightning-like were his throws that neither the man nor the boys were able to dodge them, unless they widened the space between themselves and their master. Deerfoot’s last missile cracked like a pistol when the ball impinged against the side of Mul-tal-la’s head, and the latter gave up the contest.
This left only the boys. The Shawanoe hastily fashioned a couple of balls, and with one in either hand started for the brothers, who called out, “Enough!” and flung their own ammunition to the ground in token of surrender. He looked from one to the other and said:
“Let us not stop; Deerfoot is beginning to like it.”
“That’s the trouble,” replied George; “you like it too much; I don’t want any more; maybe Victor does.”
“I’ll do my own talking,” replied the latter; “didn’t you see me throw down my snowball? What do you ’spose I did that for?”
“Didn’t you throw it at Deerfoot?” asked the Shawanoe. “The shot came as near hitting him as some of those you threw.”
“We’ll take up the fight again some time,” was the vague promise of Victor, panting from his exertion.
“Deerfoot hopes you will do so.”
But the good-natured contest was never renewed. Not again could the lads expect to have such a golden opportunity, and their defeat was so decisive that they knew better than to repeat it.
The labor of the return grew heavier as they progressed, and the time came when it was so hard to make headway against the powerful current that the effort was given up. The last few miles became a real portage, though when our friends were descending the river the passage could not have been easier.
And so in due time the four reached the Nez Perce village, where they had left their horses and some of their property. Henceforth the journey to the Blackfoot country was to be made by land. The former task had proved one of the severest of their lives, and glad indeed were all when it was over.
CHAPTER II
Lost, Strayed or Stolen
You have already learned something of the Nez Perces, who in our times have produced one of the greatest Indian leaders of the past century. He was Chief Joseph, who gave the United States regulars such a brilliant campaign as to excite their admiration. Perhaps you saw the aged chief on his visit to the East a short time since. He was chivalrous, high-minded and a loyal friend of the whites, and showed this when he handed his rifle to Colonel Miles and said: “From where the sun stands in yonder heavens, I fight the white man no more.”
You will recall that the Nez Perces are large, fine-looking men, of dark complexion, and that the women have attractive features. A century ago they had a rough time of it. They were forced to work hard during the summer and autumn in gathering salmon and their winter supply of edible roots. In winter they hunted deer on snow shoes, and, as spring advanced, crossed the mountains to the headwaters of the Missouri to traffic in buffalo robes. You will see, therefore, that they were kept unusually busy, and red men have never shown a fondness for manual labor. But, beside this, they had numerous fights with enemies from the west, often losing some of their warriors and many of their horses.
At the time of the visit by our friends, Amokeat was principal chief of the Nez Perces. He and Mul-tal-la the Blackfoot were attached to each other, and the confidence of the latter in the dusky leader was complete. Had he not been so warm in his expressions of this faith in Amokeat, Deerfoot would never have left the stallion Whirlwind in his care while the explorers were pressing their way down the Columbia to tidewater.
As it was, the Shawanoe was troubled by misgivings from the hour he parted company with his matchless steed. As the distance between him and the Nez Perce village lessened, it was hard for the dusky youth to suppress his nervousness. He was reserved, speaking only now and then when necessary, and unconsciously hurrying his footsteps, until the brothers were ready to drop from exhaustion. Had the village been a mile farther off they would have been obliged to beg for rest.
The arrival of the party caused less excitement than would be supposed. The majority of the men and women were away, assisting in the harvesting of salmon, while fully a score of the ablest warriors were off somewhere in the mountains, either hunting or scouting, preparatory to some movement the Nez Perces as a tribe had in view. There were enough on hand, however, to give our friends due attention and to welcome them back.
The first inquiry of Deerfoot was as to the horses. To the south of the main village stretched an expanse of undergrowth, bushes, succulent grass and herbage, where the animals of the tribe were turned loose to roam at will when not needed by their owners. The Nez Perces, with gestures and the few words that were understood by Mul-tal-la, said the horses of their visitors would be found at the place described. It was not far off, and Deerfoot broke into a lope, his friends at his heels.
It required but a few minutes to reach the tract, which covered a number of acres. At different points glimpses were caught of horses cropping the grass and herbage. The first animal recognized was Zigzag, who was so near that the moment the party debouched into the space he raised his head, looked at them and gave a neigh of recognition. Then he resumed his grazing, as if he felt that he had done all the honors due from him.
“Yonder is Prince!” exclaimed Victor, running forward to greet his horse, while George Shelton began searching hither and yon for Jack. Mul-tal-la did not see Bug, and showed more interest in Deerfoot’s search than in his own animal.
The Shawanoe had halted on the edge of the pasturage ground, glanced quickly over his field of vision, and then, placing a thumb and forefinger between his teeth, he emitted a blast like that of a steam whistle. It was a signal he had taught the stallion, and he knew that if the horse was within a mile he would come toward him on a full gallop. Deerfoot repeated the call twice and then waited and looked and listened. None of the horses so much as raised his head, and the heart of the youth became like lead.
“Whirlwind is not here,” he said sadly to the Blackfoot. George and Victor hurried back, drawn by the signal whose meaning they understood. In truth, when they left his side it had been more for the purpose of hunting for the stallion than for their own animals. Their hearts ached for Deerfoot, whose face was the picture of disappointment and grief.
“Call to him again,” suggested George.
“It can do no good. If he is near he would have heard Deerfoot; he is gone.”
“He may have wandered beyond reach of your signal,” said Victor. “You know he never felt friendly toward other horses and always kept by himself.”
With a weak hope that his friend was right, Deerfoot walked a hundred yards to where an uprooted tree lay on its side, climbed upon the trunk, and, facing the different points of the compass in turn, whistled so shrilly that in the afternoon stillness the sound awoke the echoes for miles in every direction. Then he stood in the attitude of intense attention. Certain that the stallion had not gone far of his own accord, he knew these calls would bring him dashing to t
he spot, provided no person had had a hand in his disappearance.
But the minutes passed without anything of this nature occurring, and the Shawanoe sprang down from the slight elevation and came back to where his sympathizing friends awaited him. They were silent, for none could say aught to comfort him.
“We will look for Amokeat,” he quietly remarked, leading the way to the village. There the inquiries of Mul-tal-la brought the first definite information of the missing horse. It was of anything but a pleasant nature.
It has been said that about a score of Nez Perce warriors were absent on a scouting or hunting expedition. They were under the lead of Amokeat, who rode away on the back of Whirlwind. They had been gone several days and were liable to return at any hour, or they might be absent for a week or more longer.
When Deerfoot gained this information he was filled with indignation. Without speaking, he turned his back upon his friends and walked to and fro for several minutes. He was striving to gain control of his emotions, and some time passed before he could do so. When he succeeded he rejoined his comrades, several of the Nez Perces gathering round and watching the four with no little curiosity.
“Amokeat did not ask Deerfoot that he might ride Whirlwind,” said the Shawanoe, the flash not fully gone from his eyes, and a slight tremulousness showing in his voice.
“He had no business to do so,” added the impulsive Victor; “I wonder that the horse allowed anyone to ride him except you.”
George Shelton tried to soothe his troubled friend.
“I understand how you feel, Deerfoot, but it looks to me as if it will come out all right. The Nez Perces rode off on their horses, with Whirlwind in the lead. Why should they not come back the same way, with Whirlwind none the worse? Amokeat did not expect you for some time, and who can wonder that he wished to ride such a steed?”
The Edward S. Ellis Megapack Page 244
