Jack Among the Indians; Or, A Boy's Summer on the Buffalo Plains

by George Bird Grinnell

"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."