Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk-Tales Part 3

"Where are they?" said the Head Chief.

Running Chief replied, "The party have gone off with them--p.a.w.nees."

"Were you with them?"

"Yes, I was with them, and I stopped behind on purpose to come into your village."

The Head Chief then turned to the others and talked for a little while. He said, "See what a brave man this is. He had resolved to die.

But he shall not die, because he has eaten our food and drunk of our water. Although we are enemies of this man's tribe, yet we are the same people with them, who have been apart for a long time. I cannot help it; my heart is touched by his talk and by their bravery. By their bravery they are safe." And all the Wichitas said "_Waugh_."

Then the Head Chief through the interpreter talked to Running Chief.

He said, "Are you a chief?"

Running Chief replied, "No, I am not a chief; I am like a dog; I am poor."

The Head Chief said to him, "By your bravery you have saved yourselves. You shall have the road to your home made white before you. Let there not be one blood spot on it." Then he turned to those who were sitting about the lodge and said, "Now, my young men, do something for them."

A young man named Crazy Wolf stood up and spoke; and when he had finished, the interpreter said, "That man has given you a black horse, the best that he has."

Another young man on the other side of the lodge spoke, and the interpreter said, "He has given you a roan horse, the best that he has." Then all the Wichitas began to speak at once, and before they knew it, the p.a.w.nees had ten head of horses, and robes and blankets, saddles, bridles, s.h.i.+elds, spears and moccasins--many beautiful presents. So they were well provided.

The Head Chief again stood up and talked to the a.s.sembly, praising these p.a.w.nees; and he stepped over to Running Chief and shook hands with him, and when he did so, Running Chief stood up and put his arms around the Chief and pressed him to his breast, and the Chief did the same to him, and when Running Chief had his arms around the Chief, the Chief trembled, and came near to crying. The Chief embraced the other p.a.w.nee, and looked him in the face and said, "What brave men you are!"

The friend said, "What my friend stepped, that I stepped; I trod in his footprints; I had one mind with him."

As the Chief stepped back to his place he spoke through the interpreter, "Now you have eaten of my food and drunk of my water.

Everything that I have is yours. My women and my children are yours.

You are not a chief, but you are a chief."[3] Then he spoke to the crowd and they all went away, leaving only the princ.i.p.al men in the lodge.

[3] You are not a chief, but you have made yourself a chief by your great qualities.

That afternoon the p.a.w.nees were feasted everywhere, and had to eat till they were almost dead; and as they went about, all of their former sadness seemed to be swept away, and Running Chief felt like crying for joy.

While they were feasting, the man who had given the black horse went out, and caught it up, and painted it handsomely, and rode into the village, and put on it a silver bridle, and eagle feathers in its mane and tail, and when Running Chief was going from one lodge to another he met him, and jumped off the horse and said, "Brother, ride this."

He gave him also a s.h.i.+eld and a spear.

These p.a.w.nees staid two months with the Wichitas, and all their troubles seemed at an end. At length Running Chief called a council of the chiefs, and told them that now he wished to make ready to go home to his village. He thanked them for all that they had done for him, and said that now he would go. The chiefs said, "It is well. We are glad that you have been with us and visited us. Take the good news back to your tribe. Tell them that we are one people, though long separated. Let the road between our villages be made white. Let it no more show any spots of blood."

Running Chief thanked them and said, "I will go and take the good news to my people. I shall show them the presents you have made us, and tell them how well we have been treated. It may be that some of the chiefs of my tribe will wish to come down to visit you, as I have done." The Head Chief said, "Can I rely on your words, that I shall be visited?" Running Chief replied, "You can rely on them if I have to come alone to visit you again." The Chief got up and put his arms about him, and said, "I want to be visited. Let there be no more war between us. We are brothers; let us always be brothers." Then they gave him many more presents, and packed his horses, and six braves offered to go with him through the Cheyenne country. They went through in the night. Running Chief said afterward, "I could have stolen a lot of horses from the Cheyennes, but I thought, I will be coming back through this country and it is better not."

At the p.a.w.nee village these two young men had been mourned by their relations as lost or dead. It was in the spring (March, 1869) when they reached home, and there was joy in the tribe when they came in with the presents. Running Chief was praised, and so was his friend.

Both had been brave and had done great things.

Now Running Chief's name was changed from _Wi-ti-ti le-shar'-uspi_ to _Skur'-ar-a le-shar_ (Lone Chief).

VI.

The following summer in August, at the close of the summer hunt, three hundred p.a.w.nees, old men and young, under the leaders.h.i.+p of Lone Chief, visited the Wichitas, who received them well, and gave them many horses. Lone Chief was not satisfied with the peace that he had made with the Wichitas. He also visited the Kiowas, and made peace, and was given by them eight fine horses. He also led his party to the Comanches, and visited them, and got many presents. In the fall the p.a.w.nees returned to their village. Many of them fell sick on the way, and some died.

In the winter of 1869-70 Lone Chief and his friend led a war party against the Cheyennes. They took six hundred head of horses. The Cheyennes now tell us that in the seventy-five lodges of that camp there was not left a hoof. All night and all next day they ran the herd. Then Lone Chief said, "Let us not run the horses any longer, they will not come after us; they are afoot." When the party got on the north side of the Republican, on the table lands, a terrible storm of snow and wind came upon them, and they were nearly lost. For three days and three nights they lay in the storm. All were frozen, some losing toes and fingers. They survived, however, and brought in all their horses. Again Lone Chief sacrificed to _Ti-ra'-wa_. A second sacrifice is very unusual and a notable event.

[Ill.u.s.tration: OLD-FAs.h.i.+ONED "T. GRAY" AX.]

THE PRISONERS OF COURT HOUSE ROCK.

Court House Rock is a high, square-shaped bluff, or b.u.t.te, on the North Platte River. It is composed of a hard, yellowish clay, which is but slowly eroded by the weather, though soft enough to be cut readily with a knife. On all sides except one, this rock or b.u.t.te is nearly or quite vertical, and its sides, smoothed and polished by the wind and the rain, offer no projecting points, to serve as foot or hand holds for one who might wish to climb up or down. On one side there is a way by which an active man may reach the summit, where he finds a flat tableland of moderate extent.

A number of years ago a war party of Skidi, who were camped near Court House Rock, were surprised by a party of Sioux. There were many of them, and they drove the Skidi back, and at length these were obliged to climb the steep side of Court House Rock. The Sioux dared not follow them up on to the rock, but guarded the only place where it was possible to come down, and camped all around the rock below to starve the Skidi out. The Skidi had nothing to eat nor to drink, and suffered terribly from hunger and still more from thirst. The leader of the party suffered most of any, for he thought that he would surely lose all his men. He felt that this was the worst of all. He must not only die, but must also be disgraced, because under his leaders.h.i.+p the young men of his party had been lost. He used to go off at night, apart from the others, and pray to _Ti-ra'-wa_ for help; for some way to save his party.

One night while he was praying, something spoke to him, and said, "Look hard for a place where you may get down from this rock, and so save both your men and yourself." He kept on praying that night, and when day came, he looked all along the edge of the rock for a place where it might be possible to get down. At last he found near the edge of the cliff a point of the soft clay rock sticking up above the level of the rest. The side of the rock below it was straight up and down, and smooth. At night he took his knife, and began to cut about the base of this point of rock, and night after night he kept at this until he had cut away the base of the point, so that it was no larger around than a man's body. Then he secretly took all the lariats that the party had, and tied them together, and let them down, and found that his rope was long enough to reach the ground. He put the rope around the point, and made a loop in it for his feet, and slowly let himself down to the ground. He got there safely, and then climbed back again. The next night he called his men about him, and told them how it was, and that they might all be saved. Then he ordered the youngest and least important man of the party to let himself down, and after him the next youngest, and so on, up to the more important men, and last of all the leader's turn came. He let himself down, and they all crept through the Sioux camp and escaped.

They never knew how long the Sioux stayed there watching the rock.

Probably until they thought that the Skidi had all starved to death.

WOLVES IN THE NIGHT.

In the year 1879 Little Warrior, with a Chaui boy and a soldier, was off scouting on the plains east of the mountains. They saw a long way off--perhaps twenty miles--some objects that seemed to be moving. It was one of those hot dry days in summer, when all the air is quivering and all things are distorted by the mirage. They watched these objects through their gla.s.ses for a long time. They seemed to move and quiver, and they could not tell what they were, but Little Warrior thought they were mounted men. They seemed to be traveling in the same direction with this scouting party. At length they could see that they were mounted men, and were driving some loose animals.

When night came, the two p.a.w.nees left their horses with the soldier and started on foot to look for the camp of the strangers, and to find out who they were. They formed the plan to make themselves look like coyotes, so that they could go close to the camp. Each took from under his saddle a white sheet, which, when the time came, they would tie around their bodies, having their guns inside, held under their arms, and their pistols in their belts about their waists. It was a bright moonlight night, the moon being so bright that it made it hard to see far on the prairie.

The camp was found in a little hollow, and was occupied by seven Ute Indians. They had a dog with them. The p.a.w.nees could hear them talking and laughing, as they sat about the big fire they had built. They could see the horses too.

The men put on their white sheets, and getting down on all fours, prowled about like wolves, gradually drawing nearer and nearer to the camp. Two or three times the dog smelt them and barked, but they paid no attention to it, but trotted hither and thither, smelling the ground and sometimes sitting up on their haunches like wolves, and then going on again. After a little while they came so close to the camp that they could see that the horses were staked out, and that there were some mules feeding about, hobbled. One of the Utes, who noticed the wolves prowling near the camp, got his gun and shot at the Chaui boy, but he did not hit him. The boy loped off and joined Little Warrior behind a hill, and there the two waited.

Little Warrior said to his companion, "These men have come far to-day.

They are pretty tired. Wait and they will lie down and go to sleep."

Presently the camp quieted down and the Utes slept.

The p.a.w.nees then made themselves wolves again, and went close to the Ute camp. The horses were staked close to where the men were sleeping, but the mules had wandered off a little to one side. Six mules were together, and one was by itself on the other side of the camp. Little Warrior went around the camp to this one, and cut its hobbles, and then drove it slowly toward the others. Then they drove the whole seven quietly away from the camp. If it had not been for the dog, they could very likely have stolen the horses too, and left the Utes afoot, and perhaps they might have been able to kill the Utes.

They drove the mules about two miles, and then went on to where they had left their horses. They found the soldier nearly frightened to death. He said he did not like to be left by himself in such a lonely place; he wanted to go to camp. They told him they were going to return and get those mules. They did so, and secured them, and drove them in to their own camp, which they reached about six o'clock the next morning.

It was learned afterward that fourteen mules had been stolen from a Government train, and a reward of $200 had been offered for their recovery. These taken by the two p.a.w.nees were seven of the stolen animals, and each of the men received $50 as his proportion of the reward.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WHIP.]

A LEADER OF SOLDIERS.