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

by George Bird Grinnell

The sun had but just risen when they started, and the air was cool and delightful. The grass of the prairie, which had long before turned yellow, was covered with a white frost, and the insects, which all through the summer had been enjoying life, were stiff with the cold and unable to move. Near a great butte, on the vertical sides of which could be seen the mud homes of many cliff swallows, Jack was surprised to see a great number of these birds on the ground, and when he came to the place and they had flown away, he could see that they had been feeding on some very small beetles, with which the ground was fairly strewn. From a shelf on the side of this butte, as they were passing along, a great lanner falcon swooped down to the prairie close before them, and rose again with a squeaking ground squirrel in his talons, and when it returned to the shelf, was saluted by the whistling cries of two full-grown young, perched there. The time for singing birds had passed, and already the different broods of the little prairie sparrows and the white-winged black birds, were beginning to get together in small flocks. But the meadow-larks, more cheery than their fellows, still whistled with mellow call from sage brush and boulder on either hand. Now and then a coyote barked at the riders from the top of a near-by hill, and perhaps a jack-rabbit sprang from the grass and galloped off, or a badger waddled slowly to one side and disappeared in his hole. Hugh and Fox Eye rode side by side ahead, and the two boys followed.

As the men rode along, they talked, and this was the report of their conversation, which Hugh afterward gave to Jack. "My friend," said Fox Eye, "I have something to tell you. If you were like other white men I should not say it to you, but you are like our own people and I can tell you what is in my mind. This morning I do not feel well, I am afraid. I think something is going to happen; something bad. This is why I think so. Last night my dream came to me while I was asleep, and spoke to me saying, 'My friend, this day you will be in great danger. It may be that you will lose your body. Look out carefully then, and try to see that nothing bad happens; for I tell you that danger is close to you, although I cannot see what it is, nor how it will come.' After my dream had spoken thus, I awoke and the woman was just beginning to build the fire. Ever since then I have thought of this. It troubles me. This morning I could not eat. I do not know what this means, but I know that something bad is likely to happen."

"Well," said Hugh, "I think that you ought to do just what your dream tells you. You must look out carefully, do not go far away, nor into any place where enemies may be hidden. Do not, to-day, run your horse even if they should chase buffalo; it might be that your horse would step into a hole and throw you and hurt you, or a cow might catch you and kill you. Travel quietly wherever you go, and if the day passes without anything happening, then you may feel that by listening to the words of your dream, you have escaped this danger."

"I take your words," said Fox Eye, "you speak well. But I should like to know what this danger is, that is likely to come. It does not seem as if it could be any of the things that you speak of. The prairie is bare of buffalo; they will not chase them. Our young men have travelled far in these days, and no signs of enemies have been seen."

"Well," said Hugh, "you can't tell. Often danger comes from the places that seem least likely, and of course, if enemies should let us know they were coming, before they made the attack, there would not be much danger from them."

"It is true, it is true;" said Fox Eye.

For some hours they travelled on and at length climbed a high butte, from which, Fox Eye had told them, that the Milk River could be seen. He was right. Far away to the northward was the winding green line where the sluggish stream flowed, showing, now and then, a larger patch of green, which marked the growth of a bunch of willows or other shrubs. From this point, too, they could see that there were here, some buffalo; not many, but near them a few scattering bulls, while toward the river the black dots were thicker on the prairie. Looking back over the country they had traversed, they could see, miles away, the dark winding line, which showed where the camp was coming. After a time they started on, and as the sun began to fall toward the west, they saw from time to time, quite near them, a few bulls. One of these was lying on a broken hillside not far from the course they were to follow, and as they approached it, Fox Eye said to Hugh, "I think I will go and kill that bull. My lodge has no fresh meat and I can kill this animal without going far. You go on, and I will kill it and bring some of the meat, and soon overtake you." Presently they passed out of sight of the distant bull, and soon Fox Eye left them, and rode off toward it, while the others went on their way. After a little they heard a distant report of the gun, and Hugh, turning to Jack, said, "Well, I guess the old man got him." Before they had gone very far, however, they heard very faintly, two reports, almost together, and then a third, and Hugh, wheeling his horse, shouted, "Come on, boys, Fox Eye has been attacked;" and in a moment all three were riding as hard as they could, back toward where the bull had been seen. The distance was not great, but to Jack and Joe it seemed as if their horses had never gone so slowly. In a very few minutes, however, they crossed a ridge from which they could see the bull lying on the hillside, and near it, another large animal, but nothing was seen of Fox Eye. A very few minutes more brought them close to the bull, and then they could see that the other animal was Fox Eye's horse lying dead, and a moment later Fox Eye, himself, raised his head from behind the bull's body. As they stopped by him, he spoke to Hugh and said, "You see that the words of my dream came true, friend;" and as he struggled to his feet, they saw that he was wounded in the leg, and was bleeding badly.

Hugh quickly dismounted and looked at the wound, which had been made by a big trade ball that had passed through the fleshy part of the thigh, fortunately without breaking the bone or cutting any important blood vessel.

"Well," said Hugh, "we must fix you up, friend, you are bleeding badly."

"Yes," said Fox Eye, "I was surprised. I did not listen to the words spoken to me in sleep, and have acted foolishly, but first ride to the top of the hill and see where these enemies have gone, I saw three of them and there may be more."