CHAPTER XX. WHITE WARRIOR, PIEGAN.
Early next morning, Joe put his head in at the lodge door with a look of some importance on his face, and seeing Jack sitting by the fire, beckoned to him and then went out again. Jack followed and joined him a few steps from the lodge, and they walked out away from the circle, toward the prairie. Before they had gone far, Joe said: "Say, Jack, I started out this morning to tell you that I'd made up my mind that I wouldn't go on the war party, but would stay here in the camp. If you can't go, I don't want to go either. I'd rather stop here with you."
"That's good of you, Joe," said Jack, "I'd be mighty lonesome if you were to go off; it's kind of you to give up the trip for me."
"Hold on," said Joe, "I ain't got through yet. As I was coming around this morning to tell you about this, I met Bull Calf, and he says the whole party has been given up. Skunk Bear, he was the leader you know, had a bad dream, and now they're all afraid to go. They're afraid bad luck will happen, so they're none of 'em going."
"How do you mean a bad dream, Joe?" said Jack. "What's that got to do with their going to war?"
"Why," said Joe, "it's got a whole lot to do with it. Don't you know that dreams come to us to tell us what is going to happen? And if a man dreams that some bad luck is coming, he's got to look out, for if he isn't careful, the bad thing will happen and maybe he'll get killed, or hurt himself, or get sick."
"Well," said Jack, "that seems queer. I never heard of anything like that before. Doing things because dreams tell you to, or not doing them because dreams tell you not to!"
"Well," said Joe, "it's so. You ask any of the old men, they'll tell you. There have been lots of times when men have started off on the war-path, and dreamed they saw themselves wounded, and then have been wounded, and sometimes men have dreamed that they saw one of the party lying dead on the ground, and a little while after, the man that they dreamed about was killed by enemies. I tell you, the Indians depend a whole lot on dreams."
"Well, son," said Hugh to Jack later in the day, "don't you want to try your new horse? Let's saddle up and ride a few miles up the lakes and see what sort of a beast he is. I asked John Monroe about him, and he says he's a running horse, a good buffalo horse or a good pony for war."
"Yes, Hugh," said Jack, "I'd like to try him first-rate."
The two went out and saddled their horses and crossing the river, rode along the trail up the lake. When they came to one of the little open parks they ran a short race, and Jack's horse proved to be very fast. They kept on up the lake for five or six miles, and then, as the mosquitoes were bad, turned about and rode back to the camp.
As they drew up in front of the lodge, Jack saw sitting there, a man, whom at first he took to be very old, but after they had unsaddled and had walked up to him, he saw that he was not such a very old man, but that his hair was white, all except two black locks on the right side. He was extremely tall and very thin. Hugh seemed very glad to see the man and shook hands with him most cordially; then after speaking to him for a few moments, he called Jack to him and said, "Son, I want you to know this man; this is Last Bull. He is one of the best men of the tribe. He is getting old now, but in his time he has been a great warrior. He is not such a very old man as you would think from his white hair, he is one of those gray-haired people such as you see lots of in the tribe, and his hair has always been this colour since he was a little child. I'd like to have you know him well, and I want to have him like you. He is a good man."
Jack shook hands with the man who smiled in a most kindly way, and then turning to Hugh spoke at some length. Hugh looked greatly pleased and said, "Why, son, Last Bull has always been a great friend of mine, and he says that hearing that you had come to the camp with me, and hearing, too, about the good things that you have done since you came, he wants to give you a name; probably it will be some name that he has borne himself when he was a young man. What do you say, would you like to have him do so? If he gives you a name he will always regard himself as your adopted father, and will think a great deal of you."
"Why!" said Jack, "that would be splendid. I would love to have him do that, and I'd think it a great honour. It would make me feel mighty proud."
When Hugh had interpreted to Last Bull what Jack had said, the Indian seemed pleased. Stepping up to Jack, he took him by the right arm and led him a little way forward, turning him so that his face looked toward the sun, and stretching his own arms upward toward it, and then closing his hands as if grasping the sunlight, he turned again to Jack and rubbed them over his head, his shoulders, and down his arms, and over his body. Then Last Bull made a prayer, which Hugh interpreted to Jack afterward. He said:—
"O Sun, Old Man, Creator, look down. Have pity; have pity. Listen. Look down on this my son and on me. Pity us.
"I am old, but all my life you have looked after me. This, my son, is young, he is just beginning; care for him all through his life. Give to him, always, plenty of all those things that all men desire. Increase his body, so that he may grow strong. Harden his flesh, so that he may always be well. Give him health; give him full life; let him live to great age. Watch him as he journeys to and fro over the country; guard him against all dangers and against all harm. Protect him in battle. Let neither the arrows nor the bullets of the enemy strike his body, or if they must strike it, let them not pierce his flesh, but turn them aside, so that they shall do him no harm. Grant that he may always have good sense, and may act wisely; make his eyes keen to see danger at a distance, and his ears quick to hear the enemies that are creeping up on him. Let his wisdom be that of the raven, his craft that of the wolf, his sight like the eagles, and his hearing that of the little prairie fox. Give to him the strength of the buffalo bull, so that when he rushes upon his enemies, he will overthrow them as the bull overthrows his.
"Oh Sun, Old Man, Creator, look down. Have pity. Listen. Many years ago, when I was a young man, I went to sleep for power, up on the top of the pinnacle of a high mountain, where all men feared to go. For four days without food or drink, I slept there; for two days and two nights lying on my right side, and for two days and two nights on my left. On the fourth night my dream came to me and said, 'I have heard your prayers and your cryings, and I have taken pity on you, and henceforth I will be with you always, and now I will give you a name. You shall be a great man for fighting, and your name shall be Fighter, and, because, though you are yet young, your head is white, you shall call yourself White Warrior, and when your enemies see your white hair coming towards them, they shall be afraid.'
"My Son, for many years I had this name, but now I am growing old, and I no longer go on the war path. Now I do not need this name, and so, my Son, I give it to you. To me it has been fortunate and I can see that it will be so to you also."
Then Last Bull, again stretching his arms towards the sun, and again seeming to grasp the sunlight in his hands, passed them over Jack's head, and shoulders and body, then he turned away and walked to the lodge and sat down on the ground.
Jack had most curious feelings while this prayer was being made. The man, who was speaking, was so earnest, and so moved by the prayer that he had made, that Jack could not but be moved himself. He felt solemn, as if he were in a big gloomy church and the organ were playing solemn music that thrilled him. When Last Bull turned away from him and walked towards Hugh, Jack picked up his hat from the ground, where he had thrown it, and followed with his head bent down, and feeling as if he had just come out of the church.
Last Bull and Hugh talked together for some time, and Jack sat there and listened, though of course, he understood nothing of what was being said. At length Hugh went into the lodge, and after a few moments came out and handed a package to Last Bull, who presently arose, and after shaking hands again with Jack, stalked off across the camp.
"Gracious! Hugh," said Jack, "I wish you would tell me all about Last Bull and what he did, and what he said, and what you were talking about. I never saw such an interesting person, and it seems as if he must have a wonderful history, if it could only be told."
"Well, son, that's so," said Hugh, "he is a mighty queer man in some ways, but a mighty good man. There isn't an Indian in the camp that I'd rather have take an interest in you, than Last Bull; he is certainly the bravest man in the whole camp. He might easily enough be head chief, but he never would take it. When he was young, all his pleasure was going to war, and in his time he has killed a great many of his enemies. He has also had one big trouble that I know about and can tell you of. One time, a good many years ago, he was travelling with a party—just a few lodges; they were charged by the enemy and ran, but Last Bull's wife was on a slow horse and while he was trying to fight the enemy off, she was captured. He charged back into the thick of the enemy three or four times to try and rescue her, but couldn't, though his bravery stopped the pursuit, and the enemy drew off on a hill. Some of the attacking party could talk Piegan, and they asked the captive woman who she was. She was brave, too, and she laughed at them and told them that she was the wife of that brave man that had charged back on them so often, and that had killed three of their party. And when the enemy understood that, they pushed the woman out in front of their line, and shot her full of arrows, right there in Last Bull's sight. Last Bull was a young man when that happened, and I often thought, maybe that was one of the reasons why he was always going on the war-path. The people that killed his wife were Snakes, and I've always heard that he cared a great deal more to go on the war-path across the mountains looking for Snake camps, than he did for going to war on the prairie."
"Well," said Jack, "I don't wonder that he was a fighter after that."
"No," said Hugh, "these Indians are great hands to get revenge if they think they have been injured. They always want to get even.
"There was another queer thing happened to Last Bull," said Hugh. "He didn't know about it at the time, but he heard of it afterward, and I expect it must have made him feel pretty bad. When he was a little fellow, he had a brother two years older than himself, and one time, in a big fight that they had with the Snakes, this older brother was captured by the Snakes and was raised in their camp. Of course that made him a Snake in his feelings, and when he grew up and went to war, he fought with the enemies of the Snakes, and so with the Blackfeet tribes. After Last Bull had become a man and a good warrior, the Snakes and the Piegans one time had a big fight on the prairie. The parties were pretty evenly matched, and it was about a stand-off between the two. The fight was over and the Snakes were slowly drawing off; not running, but just moving off slowly, and the Piegans didn't dare to follow them, but just as they were getting out of range, Last Bull stepped out in front of the line and fired a last shot at the enemy. It was done more for brag than for anything else, but he happened to hit a man and kill him. Two years afterwards, the Snakes and the Piegans made peace for awhile, and then the Snakes told them that the man that was killed by that last shot was Last Bull's brother. Of course, Last Bull didn't know that his brother was in the fight, and in fact, never had known anything about him except that he had been captured by the Snakes; but I expect, likely, it made the old man feel pretty bad."
"I should think so," said Jack.
That afternoon, John Monroe told Hugh that he was going to give a feast that night, and was going to invite a number of the principal men of the camp to eat and smoke with him. He told Hugh, that although Jack was only a boy, he wanted him to sit in the circle with the feasters. And when Hugh heard this, he said to John, "Look here, John, why don't you ask Blood Man to come too? Jack will feel pretty lonely sitting there with a lot of old men and not understanding anything that's said, and with nobody to talk to; if you ask the other boy it will be a heap pleasanter for Jack, and I don't reckon the old men will mind it if you explain to them why you did it." John said that he thought that this would be good, and told Hugh that he would call Joe to the feast.
Jack was very much interested to hear what was going to take place, and greatly pleased to know that Joe was coming too, for he knew that if Joe sat by him he would at least get the general drift of what was said by the old men when they made their speeches, after eating.
All through the afternoon John's wife and her two sisters were busy cooking food. Bread was baked from flour which came from Hugh's supply, and he also provided enough coffee and sugar to make coffee for the guests. Besides this, the women boiled and cooked great kettles of antelope meat, and of dried buffalo tongues, and of back fat, as well as other kettles of sarvis berries. A little before sundown, all was ready, and John, going out in front of the camp, called out the names of the various guests, sometimes repeating the invitation over and over: "Last Bull, you are asked to eat. Last Bull, you are asked to eat. Last Bull, you are asked to eat; and you will smoke." In this way he called out names of fifteen of the important men of the camp, and not very long afterward the guests were seen approaching from different parts of the camp. John Monroe sat at the back of the lodge, with Hugh at his left hand and Jack and Joe on his right. The others, as they came in, had their seats pointed out to them by the host; the more important men sitting furthest back in the lodge, while the younger ones were nearer the door. It took some little time for the whole party to assemble, but when all were there, the women, at a sign from the host, passed around, first the dishes and cups, and then the food.
The dishes were a curious mixture of the ancient and the modern. There were some tin plates and spoons, but most of the dishes were great bowls hollowed out of wood, though two or three were made of strips split from the buffalo horn, and sewed together with sinew. Such dishes, though serviceable enough for holding meat, of course, leaked and could not be used for anything that was fluid.
Little was said until the meal was over. Occasionally a man chatted in a low voice with his neighbour, or some more loudly spoken jest was uttered, at which all laughed. Jack was surprised to see that the host was not served with food. He did not eat anything, but occupied his time during the meal by cutting up tobacco on a board in front of him, and mixing it preparatory to filling the great stone pipe, which was to be smoked after all had finished eating. As the dishes were cleared away by the watchful women, Pis'kun pushed the tobacco and the pipe over to Joe, and made a sign to him. The boy cleaned out the pipe, filled it, and passing it back to the host, reached over, and with a pair of tongs made from a forked twig, drew from the fire a coal which he placed on the pipe. The host smoked until the pipe was well going, then blew a puff of smoke to the sky, turned the stem toward the earth, and made a low voiced prayer. Then he handed the pipe to the man on his left, who, without smoking, passed it to the next one, and so from hand to hand it passed along until it reached the guest nearest the door. He smoked as the host had done, made a prayer, passed the pipe back to the man on his right, who in turn smoked, and so the pipe passed round the circle, until it reached the host again.
Soon after the pipe had passed him, the oldest man present, Calf Robe, rose to his feet and spoke for some little time. When he had finished, Joe whispered to Jack that the man had been praising John Monroe, and had also spoken of Hugh's return to the tribe, and of the young man that he had brought with him. Calf Robe's speech was followed by others, and Jack waited for Joe to tell him what they were talking about; but, although he nudged Joe two or three times to try to get him to look at him, Joe seemed to be so much interested in the speeches, that he paid no attention to Jack, who sat there, altogether in the dark as to what was going on. Presently another one of the elder men, whom Jack recognised as Iron Shirt, the head chief, stood up and said a few words, and then, to Jack's surprise, Hugh turned to him and said, "Son, Iron Shirt wants me to interpret to you what he is going to say." Then Iron Shirt went on, speaking slowly, a sentence at a time, and waiting until Hugh had interpreted it to Jack, and this was the speech he made:
"My Son, you have come here from a far country with this white man, who is our old friend, White Bull. We have known him for many years. He tells us that you have come from the edge of the world, from where the earth runs down to meet the salt water. He has told us about you, that you are a good young man, true, speaking only the things that are, and neither talking foolishly nor falsely. Before you had come into our camp, but while you were yet in sight of it, you did a brave thing and saved from death the child of one of those sitting here. Since you have been with us, we have watched you in the camp. We have seen that you are quiet and orderly, and we have found too that you are brave. A few nights ago, when our people, with whom you were camped, were attacked by enemies, you defended them and killed one of these enemies. I am glad that so good a person has come to stay with us, and all the camp are glad too. I should like to have you stay with us always, and become one of my children. Sitting about you to-night there are chief men of the camp and we all of us wish to have you become a Piegan, and to be in fact, what I think you are in your heart, one of our people. Therefore, now this day, although your skin is white, we have chosen you one of us, and from this time you belong to the tribe of the Piegans. What I say to you now, I do not say for myself alone, but I say it for these who are sitting here, and also for the whole tribe."
The old man ceased speaking and sat down. Jack had grown red and white alternately, as he had heard Hugh's interpretation, and his feelings were so strong, that for a moment he had almost felt like crying. He turned to Hugh and said:
"What shall I do, Hugh? Shall I say anything?"
"Why," said Hugh, "I expect they'd like to have you say something, even if it is only a little, in answer."
It was the first time that Jack had ever spoken in public, and as he stood upon his feet, his knees shook, and his tongue seemed dry. All he could say was, "Hugh, I wish you would tell them how proud I feel to have them talk as they have talked, and how glad I am to be a member of the tribe. Tell them I'll never forget this night, if I live to be a thousand years, and that when I go back East, wherever I may be, I'll always think of the members of the Piegan tribe as my friends and my brothers."
Jack sat down with his ears ringing from the effort that he had made, and overwhelmed with shyness and embarrassment. At the same time his heart swelled with pride at the honour that had been done him and he squeezed Joe's hand, which had sought his, with a fervent clasp. Soon after this, the guests rose, one by one and filed out of the lodge, and the last to go was Joe, who, dragging Jack with him, rushed out of the lodge, and standing in front of it, gave vent to a series of shrill whoops and yells, and then he and Jack, throwing their arms about each other, wrestled in the darkness until both were exhausted.