CHAPTER XXII. RUNNING BUFFALO.
Just before sundown one evening, as Jack and Hugh sat in front of the lodge, the now familiar voice of the old crier was heard shouting the news to the camp. At first the words uttered at a great distance had no meaning, but as the old man drew nearer, Hugh nodded his head as he listened, and Jack asked, "What is he saying, Hugh?"
"He is calling out the orders of the chiefs," said Hugh, "and this is what he says: 'Listen, listen, everybody pay attention. To-morrow we will chase buffalo. All must get in their horses. Men whet your arrow-points, women sharpen your knives. To-morrow morning early, everybody will start out. So the chiefs have ordered.' That's just about what he says and he rides about the camp repeating this over and over again. You see, it is necessary that everybody should know just what is going to be done, so that all may get ready, and every person in the camp may have an equal chance to get food to-morrow."
"Oh!" said Jack, "there go the boys and men now to gather in the horses." For he had seen young men and boys on foot, starting for the hills, which in all directions from the camp, were dotted with the feeding Indian ponies.
"Yes," said Hugh, "and as you are the youngest person in this lodge, you might as well get on your horse and go out and bring in ours. What horse are you going to ride to-morrow, Pawnee or your new runner?"
"Why, I think I'll ride Pawnee," said Jack, "as this is going to be my first chase. I know him and he knows me, and until I get a little bit used to running buffalo, I thought I'd use him."
"Well," said Hugh, "I expect that's what you'd better do. But if I was you, I'd bring in the new horse too and tie him up close to the lodge. You don't want to leave a fast horse like that out on the prairie, nights, for most any time, you know, a little war party might come along, and take a lot of the horses that are in the hills, and it would be a pity to lose a running horse."
"I'll remember that, Hugh," said Jack, "but I thought anyhow, I'd bring the new horse in to-night, and lend him to Joe to-morrow. You see, he hasn't got any good horse, and he was telling me that he had never yet killed many buffalo in a chase, because he had to ride slow old horses that couldn't catch buffalo."
"Good idea," said Hugh, "it'll give him a lot of pleasure, and maybe get him some credit, and it won't do you no harm."
It was dark before the horses had been brought in, and picketed close to the lodge, and yet the hum of unusual bustle pervaded the camp. As they sat about the fire in the lodge, just before going to bed, Hugh said to Jack, "You see, son, how the very noises in the camp show that something unusual is happening. You notice to-night there is no singing and no drumming, but the people are talking more than usual and more horses are moving around through the camp, and people too. Everybody is getting ready. Now, if you could go around and look into the lodges, you'd see that in a good many of them men are praying. Some of them have got out their sacred things and they're burning sweet grass and sweet pine and purifying themselves, and praying to the Sun to give them good luck to-morrow; to let their horses run fast, so that they can catch the fattest of the cows; not to let them stumble or step into holes, so that there will be no falling; and to make their arrows go straight, so that they shall kill plenty of food. You see, it is kind o' hard for us white folks to understand what a buffalo chase means to the Indians. These buffalo are just about all they've got to live on, and if the buffalo should be taken away, all the people would starve to death. The most important thing for every man, woman and child in the camp, is to have plenty of food. So when these people start in to chase buffalo, they pray hard for good luck.
"I mind when I was a kid, back in the States," he went on, "that we used to have prayers, sort o' like this; only there, we called it Thanksgiving. The preacher used to thank the Lord for all the good that had come during the past year, and to pray for all the good the Lord would let us have next year. What they talked about there was, big crops, lots of corn and pumpkins and a good mast year, so that the hogs would be fat, and plenty of rain to make the grass grow, so that the critters would have lots of feed. Lots of times my old mother has took me to such preachings, and I used to sit there on the bench next to her, with my little legs not half reaching to the ground, and listen to what the preacher said."
"Oh yes, Hugh, of course I have been to church on Thanksgiving Day lots of times, but I think in New York the minister preaches about what has gone before more than about what is to come next year."
It was still dark next morning when the crackling of the fire roused Jack from his slumbers, and in a few moments after he had thrown off the robe which was his covering, he was outside the lodge looking up into the clear black sky, which sparkled with thousands of brilliant stars. The camp was awake, and through the covering of each lodge, Jack could see the glimmer of fires, and from every smoke-hole, sparks flew upward. While the men were eating breakfast, the smiling face of Joe showed itself in the doorway, and he entered and sat down by Jack.
"Hello, Joe," said his friend, "did you bring your saddle? I've got the new horse tied out here and he's all ready for you to ride to-day in the chase."
"Oh!" said Joe, "I don't need no saddle, I'm going to ride bareback same as all the other Indians do. It is only white men that use saddles, and now you are a Piegan, you'll have to learn to hunt buffalo as the Piegans do."
"All right," said Jack, "that'll suit me too well, but I guess until I've been through one or two chases, I'll stick to the old-fashioned saddle. It seems to me a man has got to have a whole lot of practice before he can ride a day bareback. I used to try it sometimes down on the ranch, and I'll tell you it didn't take me long to get tired."
"Yes," said Joe, "you've sure got to practice." And Hugh added, "And the sooner you start in to do it the better. You ought to learn to ride bareback, and you ought to learn to use the bow and arrows. You can use that Assinaboine's bow and arrows that you captured. That's a right good bow, but you'll need some more arrows. We'll try to get some after we get back."
"Oh, Hugh!" said Jack, "are you going with us?"
"I reckon I'll have to," said Hugh. "You see, we've got to kill some meat for the old woman here. We're stopping in the lodge and eating her food right along, and we've got to hunt and kill our share. I expect likely you'll kill a plenty to-day, but anyhow, I thought I'd go along too."
"That's fine," said Jack, "I wish we could ride together, but I guess Pawnee will run away from old Baldy."
"I guess likely he will," said Hugh with a twinkle of fun in his eye, "but maybe when you see the horse I'm going to ride to-day, you'll think Pawnee has his work cut out for him."
"Why," said Jack, "what horse are you going to ride?"
"Never you mind," said Hugh; "you'll see after a while."
When they went out of the lodge, the dim light in the eastern sky showed that the day was about to break. At one end of the camp there was a continuous trampling of hoofs, which Hugh said was caused by the hunters beginning to leave the camp. Jack hurried to Pawnee and put the saddle on him, and Joe brought up the new horse, naked except for a thong knotted about his lower jaw, and stood by its right side ready to mount. When Pawnee was saddled, Jack looked around for Hugh, but he was nowhere to be seen.
"Come on," said Joe, "let's go over to where the hunters are gathering; Hugh told me that we should go on and that he would join us there."
The boys mounted and galloped to the end of the camp, joined a throng of men and boys, who, passing across the valley, climbed the bluffs, and on the upper prairie stopped with the crowd that was waiting there. Most of the men were sitting on the ground holding the ropes of their horses which fed close to them. Out toward the prairie sat a line of twenty men, and Jack noticed that no one passed these men. All the hunters stayed between them and the stream.
"Why don't they start, Joe?" he said.
"They can't," said Joe, "until the soldiers tell 'em to go. You see those men sitting there on the outside of the crowd, they are the soldiers, and everybody has to do just what they say. If a man gets in front of them they drive him back right off, and if he don't go when he is told, three or four of them will take their quirts and give him a mighty good licking."
"What's the sense of that," said Jack. "If I want to go ahead, why can't I?"
"Well," said Joe, "you see if everybody could start off when he wanted to, and began to chase buffalo, the first few men would scare them, and they'd begin to run, and the men that came after might not get any chance to kill. You see some people are riding fast horses, and some people slow ones, and the soldiers try to keep everybody back until the time comes for the charge, so that every man will have nearly the same chance."
"Well," said Jack, "that does seem fair."
"Yes," said Joe, "I expect it is the way to get the most meat, and of course, that's what we are trying to do; to kill all the food possible. A good deal of it will be eaten fresh, and all the rest will be dried and eaten when the buffalo are scarce."
As they were talking thus, a man came swiftly trotting up to them, riding a beautiful white horse with black spots, and as he drew near them, Jack saw that it was Hugh.
"What do you think of this horse, son?" said Hugh.
"Why, he's a beauty," said Jack. "What an awful queer colour, but what a splendid horse he looks like."
"Yes," said Hugh, "old Last Bull, when he heard that I was going to run buffalo to-day, offered me this horse to ride. They say he's fast, and one of the best buffalo horses in the tribe."
"Well," said Jack, "if horses count for anything, seems to me that we three ought to kill a lot of buffalo to-day."
"Yes," said Hugh, "I expect we ought to, but come, let's get on up toward the front, I see the soldiers are beginning to get on their horses."
Almost as he spoke, the young men began to mount and as they did so, all the other hunters sprang on their horses and crowded up close behind the line of the soldiers. By this time it was plain daylight, though the sun had not yet risen. Jack looked up and down the line of the hunters, with the greatest interest. To his surprise, he saw that almost all of them were naked, and wore nothing but their moccasins and their bow cases and quivers slung on their backs. Here and there were men who rode on curious saddles, which looked like soft pillows of buckskin, astride of which the man sat, a little ridge rising in front of and behind him. Many of the men were not mounted, but ran along beside their horses with an arm stretched across the withers or back of the animal. Here and there would be seen two men mounted on a single horse, and leading two naked horses, which would thus be fresh when the time came to make the charge on the buffalo. To Jack's great surprise, very few of the men carried guns, and bow and arrow seemed to be almost the universal weapon.
The soldiers had started on a brisk trot with an even front, and the crowd of hunters pressed close behind them. Running his eye up and down over the company, Jack tried to estimate how many men were there, but he could form no idea. He called out the question to Hugh, who was riding close beside him, but Hugh shook his head as if he didn't know. Little by little the pace increased, and soon the horses were going at a brisk gallop. Before long, as they approached the top of a hill, one of the soldiers who rode in the middle of the line, raised his hand, and at once the whole company halted. Two of the soldiers then dismounted and crept up to the top of the ridge, and after looking over, returned, mounted again, and calling out some words, all set forward at a smart gallop. As they paused over the crest, Jack saw before them, a wide level plain on which were feeding a great herd of buffalo. Again he tried to estimate how many there were, but he couldn't tell whether there were a thousand or five thousand.
The mounted men swept down the hill at a good run, yet each man was obliged to hold in his horse in order to keep it back of the line of the soldiers. At first the buffalo did not appear to notice the hunters, but as they drew nearer and nearer, some of the great beasts began to raise their heads and look, and then to turn about and run toward the herd; and in a moment all the animals had taken the alarm, and, throwing down their heads and raising their tails, were racing off over the prairie. Just before they started, the chief soldier gave a shrill yell, and at this signal, each man pressed forward as rapidly as he could. There was no longer order or discipline, but every rider did his utmost to get among the buffalo.
At the signal Jack had loosened Pawnee's reins, and pressed his heels against the horse's side, and a splendid race began. There were only half a dozen men in front of Jack, and before they had gone very far, he could see that he was over-hauling most of these, but he could also see that Hugh on his right and Joe on his left were holding their own with him. These three horses seemed to be nearly the swiftest of all. Little by little they drew up on the heels of the herd and in a few moments were riding in a cloud of dust and flying gravel thrown up by the feet of the buffalo. Through this dust Jack could now see the huge forms not more than twenty or thirty yards ahead of him. He threw a cartridge into his gun to be ready to shoot, and presently, when he was within five or six yards of the nearest bull, fired, and to his great delight the beast fell. As he loaded his gun again, he heard a shout from Hugh, but couldn't understand what he said. He shot again, and another buffalo fell and then from out of the dust by which he was surrounded, Hugh rode up close to him and called out, "Don't bother with these bulls, push on ahead and kill cows."
This advice rather dampened Jack's spirit, for he remembered now, how much talk he had heard about killing cows, and here he had been wasting cartridges on the bulls, which as he had been told, always brought up the rear of the herd. He threw his gun into the hollow of his arm and spurred Pawnee, and before long the bulls had been left behind, and he was riding across a part of the plain where there were scarcely any buffalo, but before him he could see a dark mass rising and falling, which he was sure must be the cows. Hugh had drawn away from him and a little ahead, and was now close on the heels of the herd. Pawnee, too, was rapidly drawing up to them, but before he had got among them, Jack heard Hugh shoot twice. A moment later, Jack was galloping along surrounded by buffalo, which drew away from him on either side and ahead, but still were so close to him, that it made him feel a little bit nervous. Over the billowing brown backs of the buffalo, he could see, dimly, other riders who went in silence, but often leaned down from the backs of their steeds and pulled the bow to the arrow's head. Jack shot again and again, but no buffalo fell. After two more ineffective shots, he began to wonder what was the matter; then suddenly it flashed across him that he was excited and was shooting without using care and taking aim. He remembered what Hugh had said about the importance of shooting low, and he realised that the excitement of the chase and the crowd of cows all about had made him forget the care that he should have exercised. His next shot was a careful one at a great cow running along just before him, and swinging her huge head from side to side; at the shot she went down, and so did the next one he shot at and the next. Then Jack noticed that most of the buffalo had disappeared. There were still half a dozen running near him, but these were turning off in one direction and another. He noticed, too, that Pawnee was running more slowly than he had been, and he made up his mind that he would stop. He had done well enough and he did not want to overtax his horse.
"Pulled the bow to the arrow's head."—Page 234
As he drew rein and Pawnee slackened his pace, at first to a gallop and then to a trot and a walk, he had an opportunity to look about him. In many directions, in front and on both sides, he could see scattering bunches of buffalo climbing the hills; some of them were still pursued by Indians, and looking back over the plain he could see many brown dots which he supposed were carcasses lying there, and many Indians riding hither and thither in confusion. A few buffalo were to be seen standing about, and near each were one or two riders.
At a little distance to his right he recognised Hugh, who was trotting toward him. When he came up, Hugh said to him, "Well, son, you done pretty well after all. You kind of lost your nerve one while though, didn't you?"
"Why yes, Hugh," said Jack, "I did. I couldn't hit anything. But where were you? I didn't see you."
"Oh well," said Hugh, "I wasn't so far off but I could see what was going on. I saw, though, that you caught yourself after a while and killed two or three cows. I expect likely, them you wounded has all been killed before now, but let's ride back and see if we can pick out the buffalo we killed."
They started back and Jack pointed out what he thought were the three cows that he killed, and Hugh examined the wounds and said that Jack was right. Crossing a little gully through which flowed a tiny stream, which in the excitement of the run, Jack had wholly failed to notice, Hugh pointed to a low clump of bushes to their right, and said, "Ride over and kill that cow, son." Jack then saw, standing among the bushes, a buffalo cow evidently wounded, and riding over near to her, was about to dismount, when Hugh said, "Hold on, shoot from the saddle, don't never get on the ground near a wounded cow; if she were to make a charge, she might scare your horse and if he ran off you wouldn't have a good time dodging the cow." Jack shot from the saddle and the cow fell, and when they went up to her, they found that her previous wound was made by a rifle ball, so that she was undoubtedly one of those that Jack had shot at.
As they passed on over the plain where the buffalo lay, they saw many men at work butchering, and before they had come to the last of the dead buffalo, a long line of women with their travois, their children and their dogs had reached the killing ground, and begun the work of carrying the meat and hides to camp.