And, just as had been anticipated, the fame of Dick as a “big medicine” spread through all the skin lodges of the tribe. People even came from other settlements to consult the “wonder boy,” who could chase the evil spirits out of a suffering body by simply sending down a pill to wrestle with the monster.
Dick had his hands full, much to the amusement of his cousin. He did not shirk his duty, though careful not to utterly exhaust his precious store of drugs, compounded for the most part by his mother’s own hands.
The head chief finally returned, and with him the band of warriors who had been on the grand hunt. They brought back with them a large store of fresh meat, which the squaws immediately set to work to dry after their crude fashion, thus converting it into “pemmican,” black, tough stuff which made the boys shudder to look at, but which could sustain the human frame wonderfully.
Success having attended the annual hunt, the chief was in a particularly good humor. He felt that the coming of these “palefaces” must have had something to do with the bountiful supply of game he and his warriors had come across.
Besides, the whites intended going down into the country of the dreaded Flat Heads, and their influence might be exerted to make peace between those Indians and the Nez Perces. So a feast was spread, at which all of the whites had the pleasure of tasting baked dog, which they agreed was fair eating, though none of them came back for a second helping.
The chief readily entered into a covenant whereby, for a certain consideration, he agreed to care for the horses of the whites until they came up the river in the spring, upon which the animals were to be returned to their owners.
Besides this, canoes were loaned to the “palefaces,” boats made of skin, and a little insecure, but nevertheless serviceable for the purposes of the explorers.
“Do you think the chief will keep his word about the horses, Dick?” asked Roger, after they had heard of the arrangement between the two captains and the head men of the tribe, after passing the pipe solemnly around the circle at the council fire.
“Yes, I feel sure he will,” Dick replied. “I like his looks, and in nearly every case the word of an Indian, once given, is better than the bond of many white men.”
“But you remember how that false guide deceived us in the desert, and ran away with one of our horses?” objected Roger.