The house in which the family resided was very old, and the name of the house was Plats-ah-chene, the boys were called Plats-ots-ene, and the family was very rich. When the rich bury their dead they often put more less valuables in and on the grave, and they did in this case. The sand is put over the grave and kept dry by a board, so they can at any time by looking at the grave, see if any one has been meddling with it, or robbing the grave of the valuables, which has been done many times. So the other two brothers of the dead boy noticed one day that things did not look just right, and on a close examination they discovered that it had been robbed, and after fixing the grave they kept watch for the person or persons that done it, as there was left a part of the valuables in and on the grave. So early one night as they were sitting close to the grave, they heard a noise and kept very still, soon they saw a man moving along like a shadow in the dark. This wild Indian seemed to feel the presence of the watchers and kept moving stealthily around, but was afraid to come up to the grave. So finally the wild Indian (Oh-mah-hah) left and went down to the river and swam across to the other side, landing just below the Cap-pell village. One of the brothers cautiously followed behind, telling the other brother to go up the river on the north, and keep on the old trail, and keep a close watch and see if the wild Indian tried to swim back somewhere above Cap-pell, while he took a boat, crossed the river and kept close to the Indian, who went up the river and swam back to the north side just below the village of Wah-say. So the brother on the north side went too far up the river and missed the Indian, so when he arrived at the village of Ma-reep and took a boat and crossed over to the south side just below Ma-reep, and remained there on the south side by a large hollow fir tree, which is called Ta-po, and close to the trail, thus the two brothers were both on the south side. The Indian on the north side became afraid and worked his way up the river until he came nearly opposite Ca-neck, and then swam across to the south side again. As he was dodging from tree to tree, as was the way of these wild Indians, he came up to the large fir tree. The brother that was in the hollow of the tree made a quick grab and caught him with a firm hold, and as he was wrestling with him the other brother came to his assistance and together they held and tied him fast to the fir tree. This Indian was painted all black with some kind of a mixture of pitch and other ingredients. He begged to be let loose and offered to give them half he had, also if they had any enemies to tell him and he would cause them to become sick and die. This Indian had the ac-gure sack which he carried under his arm but refused to give it to them, telling them that they would soon die as they did not know how to handle it, and he would sooner die himself than tell them how to handle it. So the two brothers left him tied to the tree after trying to persuade him to give them the sack, and in the morning they went home, thinking that their folk might become alarmed at their long absence. Upon their arrival they told what they had done, and after eating they went back to the Indian and began another bargain with him. At this he agreed to give them all the wealth he had if they would let him go, but he still refused to give up the ac-gure sack, as it contained poison, and a charm which they could never use unless he told them how, and this he would never do. So they finally agreed to take his wealth and let him go, so he led them to his home which was west and south to a place on Redwood Creek, where there was a cave in a clump of large rocks, some twenty-five miles from their home. When they went into this cave-house they found that he had great wealth stored there, and they took it all home, leaving him there with his ac-gure to gather up more wealth with, and he was never seen again.
The Klamath Indians never kill these Wild Indians, but in many cases where they had caught them, they most always found that they were rich by robbing graves of wealthy people, and that they always had the ac-gure. The wealth that these two Mo-reck Indians received from this Wild Indian made the Mo-reck village so rich that it never afterwards had to ask help from any one to carry their part through any of the great festivals. These Wild Indians are evidently a former part of our own cast-off people and of late years have entirely disappeared and the Indians are wondering what has become of them. Some think they have gone back into the tribe in other places or went out and mixed with the present white people so as not to be known by them.
CHAPTER XXX.
HOW A COR-TEP GIRL HAD HER WISH GRANTED.
About sixty years ago there lived a girl in the Cor-tep village by the name of Mee-cher-us-o-may, and her parents urged her to marry a young man who lived farther up the river at the village of Mor-eck. (I have forgotten his name.) The girl did not like the man, yet her parents kept urging her to marry him against her will. There was two of her girl friends that was going down the river to Reck-woy, so she got into the boat or Indian canoe with them and started down the river. As they glided along Mee-cher-us-o-may kept wishing that some wild animal would take her, kill her and eat her. When they got to a place called Hay-way-gaw they all camped out on the bank of the river, back some twenty yards or more from the waters edge. The canoe was pulled up on the sloping sand so as to make it safe for the night, then they made a fire, cooked their evening meal and then talked until it was time to go to bed. All this time Mee-cher-us-o-may was wishing some harm would come to her. The three girls made their bed for the night so that all three could sleep together and when they went to bed Mee-cher-us-o-may slept in the center, so all went to sleep. In the morning she was missing, she got her wish. She had been taken from between the other two girls, and on examination they could see very plainly where a wild animal had dragged her over the dry sand, down to the edge of the water, into the river and disappeared with her, and she was never seen again. They thought an animal of the leopard species took her as some of the animals have been seen a number of times on the lower Klamath, and the Indians are very much afraid of them. This happened when I was a little girl.