Old Indian trails

by Walter McClintock

In another lodge I heard a man shout angrily, so his neighbors could hear: “What has become of the woman who went for water?”

Soon he shouted again, louder and more angrily: “What has become of the woman who went for water? She has been gone a long time.”

And then I heard a strange method of public rebuke. Indians in near-by lodges took up his cry; they mocked his impatient and angry tone, shouting one after the other: “What has become of the woman who went for water?” It spread quickly from one band to another; and ended in laughter and a general disturbance throughout the camp.

While I stood in the shadow listening to the many interesting [[290]]sounds of camp life, I saw two figures muffled in blankets move stealthily from lodge to lodge. Finally they stopped at the tepee of Big Spring, a well-known chief. It glowed with light from an inside fire and they peered cautiously through a crack in the door. They were medicine-pipe scouts on the lookout for a victim. That night Lone Chief was giving up his sacred Pipe. He told some of his friends secretly; he wanted to catch Big Spring and make him his successor; he was prominent and could afford to pay well for the Pipe.

The owner of a Medicine Pipe could force any one to purchase it, regardless of the wishes of his victim, provided he could catch him. If he found him asleep and touched him with the Pipe, he dared not resist; death and ill luck were the penalties for refusing a Medicine Pipe.

But Big Spring had warning that Lone Chief was after him. He did not want the care and expense of owning a Pipe. So he stayed away from his tepee that night. The scouts could not find him and Lone Chief had to make another choice.

Some medicine-pipe men were assembled in the lodge of Lone Chief. They had opened his Pipe Bundle and were singing and drinking. They kept on with the ceremony, waiting for their scouts to report favorably. Then they would go forth together. In their actions they imitated the grizzly bear, stealing quietly upon their victim, to take him by surprise in the night, the way a bear does; because the power of the Pipe came from the grizzly bear. They sang bear songs and imitated the sound the grizzly makes when he charges, also owl songs to cast a spell over their victim, so he could not escape; the owl is a bird of night and its power also belongs to the Pipe. So Lone Chief and his friends kept on with their ceremony throughout the night, awaiting their scouts. [[291]]

In the meantime, I returned to my lodge and lay down on my couch. That night the noise and confusion of the camp kept every one in our tepee awake. Even the baby, Tears-in-Her-Eyes, was restless in her little hammock-bed. Strikes-on-Both-Sides sang to her, rocking the hammock, singing over and over the old Indian cradle song: “Come, wolf, eat this baby if she don’t sleep.”

It was clear moonlight. The dogs were restless, barking and fighting and on foraging expeditions. Near midnight, a dog came silently into our lodge and tried to steal a side of bacon, but Strikes-on-Both-Sides followed him so closely he dropped his prize and fled yelping through the door.

Then a party of young men came close to the lodge and gave a begging dance, expecting me as the owner to make presents; it added to the prestige of every lodge owner in the camp to have a reputation for generosity. After we gave them food, they went to dance at another tepee. In this way it was customary for a party to visit four places, and then disband for the night.