Battling the Bighorn; or, The Aeroplane in the Rockies

by H. L. Sayler

Being a Canadian Sam had another peculiarity. He cared nothing for coffee. Therefore, with his fried steak, came a pot of black tea. Dinner under way at last the story of Old Indian Chief, or the Monarch of the Mountains, again became the center of conversation. Sam was urged to give his version of the tale and he, in turn, was as eager to hear Captain Ludington’s story. With many interruptions and cross suggestions, each man told the legend as he had heard it. The “Monarch of the Mountains,” as related by the English officer—and both stories were unquestionably different versions of the same tale—had its origin among the Kootenai Indians.

“The big Indian in the story, as it was told to me,” said Captain Ludington referring to a little notebook, “was named Koos-ha-nax. He was a Kootenai and his tribe, twenty years ago, was living in the Selkirk Mountains northwest of Kootenai Lake. Koos-ha-nax was neither chief nor medicine man but a mighty hunter in the mountains. In addition he was a thief. Being a skilful hunter his stealing was for a long time overlooked. But, at last, Koos-ha-nax’s thefts overbalancing the food he supplied, the thieving hunter was summoned to trial. Being found guilty he was condemned to die. Thereupon, he made a speech.

“It was then, and is now, a tradition of the Kootenais that the mountain sheep is the king of all animals and that the mountain goat is second in command. In the earliest days the Indians assert these animals did not confine themselves to the peaks and highest ridges of the mountains as now, but ranged the valleys and wooded foothills. Then a war broke out between the sheep and goats and, led by Husha the Black Ram and Neena the White Goat, they separated—the sheep to the north and the goats to the south.

“‘Koos-ha-nax knows this well,’ spoke the hunter. ‘And so long as Husha the Black Ram and Neena the White Goat lead the sheep and the goats, so long will the hunting grounds of the Kootenai know them not. To follow Husha the Black Ram and Neena the White Goat into the sky itself may mean death. But I, Koos-ha-nax, the mighty hunter, have talked with the sheep and the goats; Koos-ha-nax has seen Husha the Black Ram and Neena the White Goat; Koos-ha-nax has seen the great horns of Husha the Black Ram, and they are wide as the span of a man’s arms; Koos-ha-nax has seen the black horns of Neena the White Goat, and they are keen and sharp as the spear of the fisher; Koos-ha-nax asks for his life, not that he fears death, but that he may travel far to the north and to the south and bring to his people the horns of Husha the Black Ram, and of Neena the White Goat.’

“This offer of the great hunter,” went on Captain Ludington, “was gladly accepted on the theory that in the death of Husha and Neena, the sheep and the goats might be reconciled and subsequently return to the valleys—the more convenient hunting grounds of the Indians. There seems to be some basis for this part of the legend,” explained Captain Ludington, “for I am told that the Indians are, even to-day, notoriously bad hunters of these animals and seldom pursue them further than their ponies can ascend the mountains. Having been granted his life on these terms, Koos-ha-nax, armed with his bow and arrows, disappeared and never returned. Wandering Indians brought tales at times of seeing the mighty hunter in the far north; others caught sight of him in the south. When the ice cracked on the glaciers it was Koos-ha-nax in pursuit of Husha; when the snow avalanches fell in the south it was Koos-ha-nax chasing Neena. Children are taught to-day that a loose boulder bounding down the mountain side is hurled by Koos-ha-nax, the hunter. And, whenever a herd of sheep or goats is sighted in full flight, close behind follows the ghostly form of the ceaseless hunter.

“Since every legend has its variation,” continued Captain Ludington, “so has that of Koos-ha-nax. Advanced thinkers among the Kootenais will tell you that Koos-ha-nax never tried to find and kill Husha and Neena. By these wiseacres Koos-ha-nax is credited with the power of understanding and talking to the sheep and goats. They will tell you that the great hunter left his people with no other intent than to live with the sheep and goats. Some have had distant glimpses of the exiled Indian lying with his animal friends on rocky heights, or rushing up almost inaccessible slopes assisted by old Husha or Neena—as the narrator lives in the north or south. But others say Koos-ha-nax will again return and, when he does, that the hunting grounds will again be thick with the now rapidly disappearing mountain sheep and goats. In any event,” laughed Captain Ludington, “they tell me that if you are hunting with Kootenai guides you will always be short of the big prize, unless you can capture old Husha the Black Ram, or Neena the White Goat.”

It was now old Sam Skinner’s turn, but the old man hesitated.

“I never heard no such tale as that,” he said at last being plentifully urged to give his version. “All I ever heard was some Sioux Indians chinnin’, but it wasn’t about no Koos-what-do-you-call-him. And I never heard ’em have no names like what you said for the rams and goats. But they was an Old Indian Chief that they used to talk about that had some trouble and was kicked out o’ the tribe, and they make out as how he took to the mountains and lived like a hermit. And they do say he got on such good terms with the mountain animals that the sheep and goats all followed him and that that’s why there ain’t no more sheep down there in the buttes o’ Montana. But the stories are sort o’ like in one way. Whenever a Sioux gets sight o’ a Bighorn ram with shiny black horns they say it’s Old Indian Chief, and I reckon they is some o’ them Indians yet livin’ who think Old Indian Chief that was kicked out o’ the tribe is a livin’ up in the Columbia Rockies.”