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

by George Bird Grinnell

The sun had set, and in the growing dusk they walked across the wide circle to the head chief's lodge. Just before reaching the door, they passed an old woman, who, as she saw Hugh, gave an exclamation of surprise, and spoke to him, shaking hands with him as she did so. Then, after a moment's talk, she turned and shook hands with Jack, and passed on. "Now, you notice that, son," said Hugh; "that old woman shook hands with both of us, but you mustn't expect other women to do that. She's old, and her husband's a great friend of mine, so she knows me well; but most women won't look at you nor speak to you, much less shake hands with you, until they get to be mighty well acquainted with you. They're shy like."

When they reached the lodge door, Hugh bent down and passed in first, closely followed by Jack; then turning to the right he advanced a few steps, and spoke to the old man who was sitting at the back of the lodge. The Indian placed his right hand over his mouth, as he gave an exclamation of surprise, and then clapping his hands together, motioned Hugh to come and sit by his side. Jack followed, and sat down, and in a moment the old man leaned over and shook hands with him. "Ironshirt says he's right glad you've come to the camp, son, and that he heard this afternoon what you had done, and it's good. He hopes you will stop here for a while; all the people will be glad to have so friendly a person living with them."

Hugh and the old man talked together for a long time, while Jack sat on the bed before the flickering fire, and watched what was going on in the lodge. In that half of it which was to the left of the door, there were three women, and an uncountable number of little children. Two or three of the smallest were babies; two of them confined on boards which stood against the lodge poles, while one, a little older, and absolutely naked, rolled on the floor, so close to the fire that Jack felt a little nervous lest it should crawl into it. Two little girls, six or eight years old sat on the bed between two of the women; each one had a little robe about her, and above this robe, and looking over the little girl's shoulder, was the head of a little puppy, which every now and then squirmed and struggled, seeming to make frantic efforts to get free. There were two boys, ten or twelve years old, each of whom held in his hand a bow and some arrows, but soon after Hugh had entered, these two passed out of the lodge, and were not seen again. The women were cooking some dried meat which looked to Jack like strips and fragments of black leather, which one threw into the pot which hung over the fire, while the other occasionally stirred this pot with a stick, and watched another which was partly full of a dark bubbling mass, which looked like jam.

The talk between the two men lasted a long time, but Jack did not grow weary of watching what was happening in the lodge. Suddenly from without, and very far off, came a long, shrill, quivering cry, and every one ceased talking. One of the women swiftly passed out of the lodge, and, after a moment or two, returned to the door and called out something to those within. Hugh turned to Jack, and said, "Somebody has been wounded by enemies. Let's go out and see what it is;" and they rose and passed out of the lodge into the darkness. There was much excitement without, and many people were hurrying from all quarters toward the lodge where Jack and Hugh were to pass the night.

"What do you suppose it is, Hugh?" said Jack.

"I don't know," said Hugh, "no more than you do; only what the woman said; what I told you." As they walked along, they saw before them a throng of people on foot crowding around several men on horse-back, who were riding toward Little Plume's lodge. As Hugh and Jack pushed their way through the crowd, they saw these men alight, and two of them helped the third into the lodge. Then, presently, when they had elbowed their way through the crowd of men, women and children, and had nearly reached the door, a man stepped out of the lodge, talked for a few moments in a loud voice, and the crowd dispersed as rapidly as it had gathered.

Hugh and Jack entered the lodge, and saw there, old John Monroe, and a small, slender, handsome Indian sitting on one of the beds, eating, while on another bed a third man was stretched out, and an old Indian knelt by him, washing a wound in his shoulder.

"Why, hallo, Hugh, h' ole man! You was come. My glad my see you. Hallo, Jack! You come too. That good."

"Yes, John," said Hugh, "son and me made up our minds that we couldn't get through the summer without coming up to visit with you folks for a little while, and here we are. But what's the trouble? How did the young man get hurt? Hallo, Little Plume! How are you? Ok'yi." Jack shook hands with John and Little Plume, and for a few minutes all the men talked earnestly; then Hugh turned to Jack and said, "Well, I expect you want to know what this is all about, son, so I'll tell you, but you'll have to start in and learn Piegan for yourself, if you're going to stop all summer in this camp, because it's mighty slow work to have to have everything interpreted to you. It seems that John, Little Plume and Yellow Wolf—this young fellow here—started out early this morning, up into the hills, to try to kill some buckskin, for Little Plume's wife wanted to make some leggings. They had left their horses and were hunting along on foot, pretty well spread out, John to the north, Yellow Wolf in the middle, and Little Plume to the South, when suddenly Yellow Wolf walked into three Crows that were lying hid in the pines. They must have heard him coming, or anyhow, they saw him before he did them, and two of them let drive at him with their arrows, and one shot at him with a gun. The first arrow, he thinks, hit him in the shoulder, striking the bone, and kind o' turned him around, and he dropped. The other arrow and the gun missed him. When he fell, the three Indians jumped forward to strike him, but he raised up and let fly with his old fuke, and killed the leading man, and then he pulled his bow and arrow and shot at the second man. This made 'em see that he wasn't dead, and both the Crows dodged into the brush. When John and Little Plume heard the two shots so close together, they knew that Yellow Wolf had been attacked, and they both came down to see what was the matter, and when the two Crows heard them coming, they got up and skipped out as lively as they knew how. John got a shot at one of 'em, but he don't think he hit him. The country there is rough and broken with lots of pines, and they didn't know but there might be a big party of Crows somewheres near, and the boy here was wounded, so they struck the enemy and took his scalp, and got the boy back to the horses and brought him in. Little Plume's going to take a lot of young men out there in the morning, and see if they can find them Crows. I expect likely it was just a little party coming down to steal the Piegans' horses. Likely they'll travel all night and be far enough away before morning comes. Little Plume says that there may be a big war party not far off, and thinks that the young men ought to stand guard over their horses to-night; but I expect they won't do it. An Indian will take all sorts of precautions to avoid being surprised, except the precaution of staying awake. They have got to be pretty badly scared before they'll do that. They're great fellows to take their natural rest."

"Well, how is the young man, Hugh," said Jack; "is he badly hurt?"