When the tree flowered

by John G. Neihardt

“There was a high hill that was almost a mountain, and on it scattered pine trees grew to the top. And I said, ‘From the top of that high hill yonder we can see everything. Let us go up there to look. Maybe there will be a Crow village.’ And Kicking Bear said, ‘Cousins, that is what we are going to do.’ And High Horse said, ‘There may be a valley full of horses.’ And Charging Cat said, ‘We can eat what is left of the meat up there while we are looking.’ So we went.

“When we stood breathing hard on the very top, there was a wide empty land to the end of the world—valleys without smoke and hills with pines upon them; and then beyond the hills of pine, the mountains. So we made a little fire where it could not be seen and roasted what we had left of the meat. When we were eating and talking about what we could do next, High Horse said, ‘Look, cousins! Something is coming down that valley. See? It is coming this way.’ We looked hard where he pointed, and Kicking Bear said, ‘Maybe it is some deer or maybe elk coming.’ After we had looked awhile longer, I said, ‘It is neither elk nor deer. I think it is an iglaka coming.’ And Kicking Bear said, ‘I think it does look like an iglaka.’ And Charging Cat said, ‘It is an iglaka, cousins; and there are some loose horses following.’ And High Horse said, ‘Now we shall have horses to ride, and then it will be easier to get all we want.’

“So we made a plan for attacking the iglaka. I would go with Charging Cat down the left side of the hill, Kicking Bear with High Horse down the right side. We did this because High Horse and I had guns that loaded from behind. The iglaka was coming from the right side. I would shoot when the man in front came close to me. The others would hear. High Horse and Kicking Bear would shoot then, and all of us would charge, coming from in front and behind the iglaka.

“Then we started down the hill. When we were at the bottom, Charging Cat and I hid behind some rocks where we could see the valley in front of us, and afterwhile we could see the iglaka coming. There was a man in front, not young but not very old; and when I saw the horse he was riding, I whispered to Charging Cat, ‘There is the horse I have been looking for.’ And he said, ‘I have been looking for the same horse.’ It was gray-spotted and taller than Whirlwind, and it held its head high and kept looking all around as it came. Back of the man on the fine horse was an old woman riding on a pony-drag, and she was driving the pony with a long stick. She made me think of my grandmother, and I whispered to Charging Cat, ‘Be careful and do not shoot the old woman.’ And he said of course he would not shoot her. I thought more about this when I was older. When the man was in front of us, he was close enough for a good bow-shot. I put my gun on top of the rock and took a good aim. I must have hit him in the spine, for he fell back screaming; and while he was falling Charging Cat’s arrow stuck in his shoulder. All at once there was shooting over there where Kicking Bear and High Horse were—one shot, and yelling; another shot, and more yelling, and horses squealing and the sound of hoofs. The old woman’s pony started running away with her as we came out of the rocks yelling, ‘hoka-hey! hoka-hey!’ She was bouncing and holding on tight and screaming. When we came to the man on the ground he was not through dying yet. I let Charging Cat count the first coup, because I had killed. When I leaned down to take the man’s scalp he looked at me once and then died. I think I did not see that look until I was older. There was more yelling over to the right, and there were horses milling around in the valley, maybe eight or ten. The old woman’s pony was running in a big circle off yonder to our left. She was fat and she looked funny bouncing that way, but we did not laugh. Then the drag hit something, maybe a rock, and she rolled over and over on the ground. When she got up, she just stood screaming and shaking her long stick at us. Then there was a horseback coming fast from over on the right. It was a young Crow, and we shot at him as he passed, and he shot back, but we all missed, and he did not stop to fight. He was going over there to help the old woman. Then High Horse and Kicking Bear came running, and High Horse had a scalp, for there were two driving the Crow horses, and one of them died.

“By now the Crow that rode past us was waiting over there with the old woman behind him. He just sat on his horse and waited. And Charging Cat said, ‘When we have caught some horses, we can go over there and kill him.’ And I said, ‘Maybe that is his grandmother.’ And High Horse said, ‘Maybe it is; and he is a brave man to wait for four of us.’ And Kicking Bear said: ‘We will let him go if he does not charge us while we are catching some horses. That is what we are going to do. If he wants to die, he can charge us.’

“So we spread out and began trying to round up the horses. It was not easy, because they were still frightened. They would sniff and snort at us and then start running. But afterwhile we got three of them in some brush up against a steep place, and Kicking Bear caught one. Most of them had thin rawhide lariats looped around their necks for staking out. Kicking Bear tied the lariat around the horse’s jaw and rode after some more. When he caught one, I rode and helped him; and in a little while we were all riding. The fine horse the older man was riding got away. I chased him, but he ran like a high wind blowing. I think he was the best horse I never had.

“By that time we could see the old woman was on her drag again and we could hear her mourning. The young Crow was riding beside her pony and leading it. We watched them going and listened until they were out of sight around a bend in the valley. Then Kicking Bear said, ‘I think there is a Crow village up yonder and they were going visiting with some horses to give away.’ And I said, ‘They will have a story to tell, and the village will be looking for us.’ And High Horse said, ‘If they were going to visit, maybe they came from another village and that is the one we can attack, for they will not hear the story.’ And Kicking Bear said, ‘That is what we are going to do, cousins.’

“So we started up the back trail of the iglaka, and Charging Cat said, ‘We ought to take the other horses with us.’ And High Horse said, ‘There are only four and I have so many cousins that one more horse would not be much.’ And I said, ‘If there is a village, there will be a herd of horses, and these here will only bother us.’ And Kicking Bear said, ‘You are right, cousin; we will find the village and drive off the whole herd. The Crow can have his four horses when he comes back for the old man and the other young man yonder.’

“So we rode on up the back trail of the iglaka, and we were careful when we came to a bend, for there might be a village. But there was no village, and we rode on; and still there was no village, and the sun was getting low. So Kicking Bear said, ‘Cousins, we must find that village before it is dark. Eagle Voice can climb up that hill yonder and High Horse can climb up this one here. Maybe they will see something and they can hurry back and tell us. Charging Cat and I will keep the horses here in the brush.’ So we did this, and when I was on the top of my hill, there were smokes yonder below me. There were many smokes in a circle, for the night is not warm in that country and it was getting time to eat. On the other side of the smokes there was a valley sloping up to a big gulch through the hills towards where the sun comes up; and in the valley and up along the slope there were horses, horses. My heart was drumming, and I looked all around to see how we could get in there; and I saw another deep gulch through the hills that stood between the valley of the village and the valley where Kicking Bear and Charging Cat had our horses. When I saw this, I knew again that Wakon Tonka had heard us when we made our vow and dedicated the pipe. We could go in through that gulch and come out right between the village and the herd. Then we could scare the horses and drive them through the other gulch towards our home.

“I ran down the hill and told the others; for High Horse was there by now and he had not seen anything. So we rode on up the valley until we came to the gulch I saw, and there we waited in some brush. The sun was under a hill and there were shadows. We waited, and it was getting dark. We waited, and moonlight was beginning to show over the hill ahead of us. When the moon looked over into our valley, High Horse said, ‘Let us go in now.’ And Kicking Bear said, ‘Cousins, we must wait until the village is asleep and the horse-guards are nodding. That is what we are going to do.’ And I said, ‘Yes, we will do that.’ And Charging Cat said, ‘I could eat the hump of a fat bison cow.’ And I said, ‘The four of us could eat the cow.’ And High Horse said, ‘We can eat tomorrow when we are far away with all those horses.’ And Kicking Bear said, ‘We are men, and that is what we can do.’