“By this time it was sun-down. The chief then mounted his horse, and desired me to mount mine and accompany him, telling one of his sons to take my men and property under his charge till our return. Being acquainted with Indian habits, I knew there would be repeated calls upon my purse, so I put some trinkets into my pocket, and we started on our nocturnal adventure; which I considered hazardous but not hopeless.
“Such a night we had! The chief harangued, travelled and harangued, the whole night, the people replied. We visited every street, alley, hole and corner of the camp, which we traversed lengthwise, crossway, east, west, south, and north, going from group to group, and the call was ‘Deliver up the horses.’ Here was gambling, there scalp-dancing; laughter in one place, mourning in another. Crowds were passing to and fro, whooping, yelling, dancing, drumming, singing. Men, women, and children were huddled together; flags flying, horses neighing, dogs howling, chained bears, tied wolves, grunting and growling, all pell-mell among the tents; and, to complete the confusion, the night was dark. At the end of each harangue the chief would approach me, and whisper in my ear, ‘She-augh tamtay enim’—I have spoken well in your favour—a hint for me to reward his zeal by giving him something. This was repeated constantly, and I gave him each time a string of beads, or two buttons, or two rings. I often thought he repeated his harangues more frequently than necessary; but it answered his purpose, and I had no choice but to obey and pay.
“At daylight we got back; my people and property were safe; and in two hours after my eighty-five horses were delivered up, and in our possession. I was now convinced of the chief’s influence, and had got so well into his good graces with my beads, buttons, and rings, that I hoped we were out of all our troubles. Our business being done, I ordered my men to tie up and prepare for home, which was glad tidings to them. With all this favourable change, we were much embarrassed and annoyed in our preparations to start. The savages interrupted us every moment. They jeered the men, frightened the horses, and kept handling, snapping, and firing off our guns; asking for this, that, and the other thing. The men’s hats, pipes, belts, and knives were constantly in their hands. They wished to see everything, and everything they saw they wished to get, even to the buttons on their clothes. Their teasing curiosity had no bounds; and every delay increased our difficulties. Our patience was put to the test a thousand times; but at last we got ready, and my men started. To amuse the Indians, however, till they could get fairly off, I invited the chiefs to a parley, which I put a stop to as soon as I thought the men and horses had got clear of the camp. I then prepared to follow them, when a new difficulty arose. In the hurry and bustle of starting, my people had left a restive, awkward brute of a horse for me, wild as a deer, and as full of latent tricks as he was wild. I mounted and dismounted at least a dozen times; in vain I tried to make him advance. He reared, jumped and plunged; but refused to walk, trot, or gallop. Every trial to make him go was a failure. A young conceited fop of an Indian, thinking he could make more of him than I could, jumped on his back; the horse reared and plunged as before, when, instead of slackening the bridle as he reared, he reined it tighter and tighter, till the horse fell right over on his back, and almost killed the fellow. Here Eyacktana, with a frown, called out, ‘Kap-sheesh she-eam’—the bad horse—and gave me another; and for the generous act I gave him my belt, the only article I had to spare. But although the difficulties I had with the horse were galling enough to me, they proved a source of great amusement to the Indians, who enjoyed it with roars of laughter.”
When Ross got out of the camp he rode hard and took a short cut in the effort to overtake his people, but could not find them. Presently, however, from the top of a ridge, he saw three horsemen coming toward him at full tilt. He made preparation for defence, and hiding behind a rock awaited the onslaught, but before they got close to him he discovered that these were the friendly Pisscows, who before had warned him to turn back, and with them he went on. At last they saw Ross’s people, who were driving their horses as fast as they could, but when they saw Ross and his companions behind them they thought them enemies, and stopped to fight. All were glad enough to get together, and at last, after various adventures, they reached the fort at Okanagan.
II
WORK OF A FUR TRADER
A little later Ross went north to his own post at the She-Whaps, where he made a good trade. From here he decided to go west to the Pacific coast on foot, believing that the distance was not more than two hundred miles, but before he reached the coast a destructive hurricane passed so close to his party that his guide, altogether discouraged by fatigue and failure, deserted during the night, and Ross was obliged to return.
One winter, much alarm was caused among the Indians by the depredations of strange wolves, reported to be hundreds in number, and as big as buffalo, which were coming into the country, and on their march were killing all the horses. The Indians declared that all the horses would be killed, for men could not go near these wolves, nor would arrows or balls kill them. Shortly after the head chief of the Okanagan Indians had told this story to Ross, wolves killed five of the traders’ horses. Ross took up those left alive, and then put out a dozen traps about the carcass of one that had been killed. The next morning four of the traps were sprung. “One of them held a large white wolf by the fore leg, a foot equally large was gnawed off and left in another, the third held a fox, and the fourth trap had disappeared altogether.” Unable to get away, the captured wolf was quite ready to fight. It had gnawed the trap until its teeth were broken and its head was covered with blood. When killed it was found to weigh one hundred and twenty-seven pounds, an enormous animal. The one that had carried off the trap was at last discovered making the best of its way over the country, and pursuit resulted in its capture. The animal had dragged a trap and chain weighing eight and one-half pounds a distance of twenty-five miles, without appearing at all fatigued. Ross wanted the skin, but had left his knife behind him. However, it was not for nothing that he had been for years associated with Indians, and he took the flint out of his gun, skinned the animal, and went home with skin and trap.
The killing of these two wolves and the crippling of the third put an end to the destruction, and not another horse was killed in that part of the country during the season.
Ross comments interestingly on the methods used by wolves in decoying horses.