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

by George Bird Grinnell

When Hugh and Jack went back to the bunk-house, after dinner, the snow had ceased falling, and the sun was shining brightly. The little birds that had been hidden in the brush during the storm had come out, and were now hopping about on the wet ground, feeding, while some were cheerily singing from the tops of the fence posts. The mellow whistle of the meadow lark was heard alike from far down the valley and from the hillsides above them, and the black-birds were gurgling in the aspens behind the house. Jack stopped before entering the bunk-house and looked at the mountain, still white with snow, and stretched out his arms and drew a deep breath, and yelled aloud with pure delight. Hugh turned and looked back at him through the open door, smiling, as if greatly pleased, and said, "Seems good to get back, don't it? I tell ye there's no place like the mountains, and the longer ye stay among them the longer ye want to be there."

"I guess that's so, Hugh," said Jack; "it seems to me I never was so glad to be anywhere as I am to be here. Somehow I can't say what I feel, but I just seem to be all full in here," and he placed his hand on his breast.

"Yes, I know what you mean, although I can't say it no more than you can."

A few moments later the two were kneeling on the floor, unpacking the contents of a large box which had come to the ranch some time before. Hugh and Mr. Sturgis had thought that it might be a good thing for the travellers to take with them some articles to trade with the Indians. Of course a few presents would be needed, for, although Hugh, from his old acquaintance with the tribe, was sure of a hearty welcome, and Jack, as a friend of Hugh and John Monroe, would be gladly received, there would be times when it would be desirable to make to certain men small gifts; but besides this, it had occurred to Mr. Sturgis that perhaps they might buy a few horses, and furs enough to load them, and might bring them back on their return journey. Thus, the trip would be one of mingled business and pleasure, and there certainly was no possible objection to making a trading journey of the visit.

The different bundles that were taken out were labeled, and were put in piles on the floor. There were bolts of red and of blue cloth; and of gaily figured calicos; two or three bundles of bright handkerchiefs; boxes containing beads, selected with care as being the kind most prized by the Indians; there was quite a large bundle of cans of dry paint of different colors; and last, and perhaps most important of all, if one might estimate its value by the amount of pleasure it would give, a large bundle of tobacco.

"Quite a bunch of stuff, ain't it, son?"

"Yes, indeed," said Jack; "there's more than I thought there was. How are you going to divide it up?"

"Well," said Hugh, "these things look like more than they are. A lot of these bundles are bulky, and don't weigh much. I guess we'll get it all on two horses, and that will leave one horse for the grub and one for our beds and the mess outfit. Now, I expect the best thing we can do is to go up and see if we can't get Mrs. Carter to give us three or four seamless sacks, and make up packs of all this stuff, so that we can throw 'em right on and off the horses. Then we won't have to be gathering up a lot of little, small bundles every time we start to pack in the morning. Of course gunny sacks would do, but we want to keep all this stuff as clean as we can, so that when we get to the Indian camp and open it, even the outsides of the bundles will look pretty fresh and new; and besides that we've got to get a couple of mantas for these packs, for likely we'll have plenty of rain storms while we're on the road, and we want to keep these things dry if we can. The best way we can work it, we'll likely get them wet crossing some creek between here and the north, for all the creeks will be full now for the next month, and we'll likely have to do some swimming." Hugh went back into the dark store room and rummaged about for awhile, and then came out, carrying three or four nearly square pieces of canvas, which he threw on the ground.

"I thought we had some," he said in a satisfied tone, "but they ain't been used for a long time, and I didn't know but the boys had lost 'em."