CHAPTER NINE.
CRUSOE ACTS A CONSPICUOUS AND HUMANE PART--A FRIEND GAINED--A GREATFEAST.
When the foot-race was concluded, the three hunters hung about, lookingon at the various games for some time, and then strolled towards thelake.
"Ye may be thankful yer neck's whole," said Joe, grinning, as Henrirubbed his shoulder with a rueful look. "An' we'll have to send thatInjun and his family a knife and some beads to make up for the frightthey got."
"Hah! an' fat is to be give to me for my broke shoulder?"
"Credit, man, credit," said Dick Varley, laughing.
"Credit! fat is dat?"
"Honour and glory, lad, and the praises of them savages."
"Ha! de praise? more probeebale de ill-vill of de rascale. I seed demscowl at me not ver' pritty."
"That's true, Henri, but sich as it is it's all ye'll git."
"I vish," remarked Henri after a pause--"I vish I could git de vampumbelt de leetle chief had on. It vas superb. Fat place do vampums comefrom?"
"They're shells--"
"Oui," interrupted Henri. "I know _fat_ de is. Dey is shells, and deInjuns tink dem goot monish; mais, I ask you _fat place_ de come from."
"They are thought to be gathered on the shores o' the Pacific," saidJoe; "the Injuns on the west o' the Rocky Mountains picks them up andexchanges them wi' the fellows here-away for horses and skins--so I'mtold."
At this moment there was a wild cry of terror heard a short distanceahead of them. Rushing forward they observed an Indian woman flyingfrantically down the river's bank towards the waterfall, a hundred yardsabove which an object was seen struggling in the water.
"'Tis her child," cried Joe, as the mother's frantic cry reached hisear. "It'll be over the fall in a minute! Run, Dick, you're quickest."
They had all started forward at speed, but Dick and Crusoe were farahead, and abreast of the spot in a few seconds.
"Save it, pup," cried Dick, pointing to the child, which had been caughtin an eddy, and was for a few moments hovering on the edge of the streamthat rushed impetuously towards the fall.
The noble Newfoundland did not require to be told what to do. It seemsa natural instinct in this sagacious species of dog to save man or beastthat chances to be struggling in the water, and many are the authenticstories related of Newfoundland dogs saving life in cases of shipwreck.Indeed, they are regularly trained to the work in some countries, andnobly, fearlessly, disinterestedly, do they discharge their trust, oftenin the midst of appalling dangers. Crusoe sprang from the bank withsuch impetus that his broad chest ploughed up the water like the bow ofa boat, and the energetic workings of his muscles were indicated by theforce of each successive propulsion as he shot ahead.
In a few seconds he reached the child and caught it by the hair. Thenhe turned to swim back, but the stream had got hold of him. Bravely hestruggled, and lifted the child breast-high out of the water in hispowerful efforts to stem the current. In vain. Each moment he wascarried inch by inch down until he was on the brink of the fall, which,though not high, was a large body of water and fell with a heavy roar.He raised himself high out of the stream with the vigour of his laststruggle, and then fell back into the abyss.
By this time the poor mother was in a canoe as close to the fall as shecould with safety approach, and the little bark danced like acockle-shell on the turmoil of waters as she stood with uplifted paddleand staring eyeballs awaiting the rising of the child.
Crusoe came up almost instantly, but _alone_, for the dash over the fallhad wrenched the child from his teeth. He raised himself high up andlooked anxiously round for a moment. Then he caught sight of a littlehand raised above the boiling flood. In one moment he had the childagain by the hair, and, just as the prow of the Indian woman's canoetouched the shore, he brought the child to land.
Springing towards him, the mother snatched her child from the flood andgazed at its death-like face with eyeballs starting from their sockets;then she laid her cheek on its cold breast and stood like a statue ofdespair. There was one slight pulsation of the heart and a gentlemotion of the hand! The child still lived. Opening up her blanket shelaid her little one against her naked, warm bosom, drew the coveringclose around it, and, sitting down on the bank, wept aloud for joy.
"Come,--come 'way quick," cried Henri, hurrying off to hide the emotionwhich he could not crush down.
"Ay, she don't need our help now," said Joe, following his comrade.
As for Crusoe, he walked along by his master's side with his usualquiet, serene look of good-will towards all mankind. Doubtless afeeling of gladness at having saved a human life filled his shaggybreast, for he wagged his tail gently, after each shake of his drippingsides, but his meek eyes were downcast, save when raised to receive thewelcome and unusually fervent caress. Crusoe did not know that thosethree men loved him as though he had been a brother.
On their way back to the village the hunters were met by a little boy,who said that a council was to be held immediately, and their presencewas requested.
The council was held in the tent of the principal chief, towards whichall the other chiefs and many of the noted braves hurried. Like allIndian councils, it was preceded by smoking the "medicine pipe," and wasfollowed by speeches from several of the best orators. The substance ofthe discourse differed little from what has been already related inreference to the treaty between the Pale-faces, and upon the whole itwas satisfactory. But Joe Blunt could not fail to notice that Mahtawamaintained sullen silence during the whole course of the meeting.
He observed, also, that there was a considerable change in the tone ofthe meeting when he informed them that he was bound on a similar errandof peace to several of the other tribes, especially to one or two tribeswhich were the Pawnees' bitter enemies at that time. These graspingsavages having quite made up their minds that they were to obtain theentire contents of the two bales of goods, were much mortified onhearing that part was to go to other Indian tribes. Some of them evenhinted that this would not be allowed, and Joe feared at one time thatthings were going to take an unfavourable turn. The hair of his scalp,as he afterwards said, "began to lift a little and feel oneasy." ButSan-it-sa-rish stood honestly to his word; said that it would be wellthat the Pale-faces and the Pawnees should be brothers, and hoped thatthey would not forget the promise of annual presents from the hand ofthe great chief who lived in the big village near the rising sun.
Having settled this matter amicably, Joe distributed among the Indiansthe proportion of his goods designed for them, and then they alladjourned to another tent where a great feast was prepared for them.
"Are ye hungry?" inquired Joe of Dick as they walked along.
"Ay, that am I. I feel as if I could eat a buffalo alive. Why, it's my'pinion we've tasted nothin' since daybreak this mornin'."
"Well, I've often told ye that them Red-skins think it a disgrace togive in eatin' till all that's set before them at a feast is bolted.We'll ha' to stretch oursel's, we will."
"I'se got a plenty room," remarked Henri.
"Ye have, but ye'll wish ye had more in a little."
"Bien, I not care!"
In a quarter of an hour all the guests invited to this great _medicine_feast were assembled. No women were admitted. They never are at Indianfeasts.
We may remark in passing, that the word "medicine," as used among theNorth American Indians, has a very much wider signification than it haswith us. It is an almost inexplicable word. When asked, they cannotgive a full or satisfactory explanation of it themselves. In thegeneral, we may say that whatever is mysterious is "medicine." Juggleryand conjuring, of a noisy, mysterious, and, we must add, rather sillynature, is "medicine," and the juggler is a "medicine-man." Thesemedicine-men undertake cures, but they are regular charlatans, and knownothing whatever of the diseases they pretend to cure, or theirremedies. They carry bags containing sundry relics; these are "medicinebags." Every brave has his own private medicine bag. Everythin
g thatis incomprehensible, or supposed to be supernatural, religious, ormedical, is "medicine." This feast, being an unusual one, in honour ofstrangers, and in connection with a peculiar and unexpected event, was"medicine." Even Crusoe, since his gallant conduct in saving the Indianchild, was "medicine"; and Dick Varley's double-barrelled rifle, whichhad been an object of wonder ever since his arrival at the village, wastremendous "medicine!"
Of course the Indians were arrayed in their best; several wore necklacesof the claws of the grizzly bear, of which they are extremely proud; anda gaudily picturesque group they were. The chief, however, hadundergone a transformation that well-nigh upset the gravity of ourhunters, and rendered Dick's efforts to look solemn quite abortive.San-it-sa-rish had once been to the trading forts of the Pale-faces, andwhile there had received the customary gift of a blue surtout with brassbuttons, and an ordinary hat, such as gentlemen wear at home. As thecoat was a good deal too small for him, a terrible length of dark, bonywrist appeared below the cuffs. The waist was too high, and it was withgreat difficulty that he managed to button the garment across his broadchest. Being ignorant of the nature of a hat, the worthy savage hadallowed the paper and string with which it had been originally covered,to remain on, supposing them to be part and parcel of the hat; and this,together with the high collar of the coat, which gave him a crushed-upappearance, the long black naked legs, and the painted visage, gave tohim a _tout ensemble_ which we can compare to nothing, as there wasnothing in nature comparable to it.
Those guests who assembled first passed their time in smoking themedicine pipe until the others should arrive; for so long as a singleinvited guest is absent the feast cannot begin. Dignified silence wasmaintained while the pipe thus circulated from hand to hand. When thelast guest arrived they began.
The men were seated in two rows, face to face. Feasts of this kindusually consist of but one species of food, and on the present occasionit was an enormous cauldron full of maize which had to be devoured.About fifty sat down to eat a quantity of what may be termed thickporridge, that would have been ample allowance for a hundred ordinarymen. Before commencing, San-it-sa-rish desired an aged medicine-man tomake an oration, which he did fluently and poetically. Its subject wasthe praise of the giver of the feast. At the end of each period therewas a general "Hou! hou!" of assent--equivalent to the hear! hear! ofcivilised men.
Other orators then followed, all of whom spoke with great ease andfluency, and some in the most impassioned strains, working themselvesand their audience up to the highest pitch of excitement, now shoutingwith frenzied violence till their eyes glared from their sockets, andthe veins of their foreheads swelled almost to bursting as they spoke ofwar and chase--anon breaking into soft modulated and pleasing tones,while they dilated upon the pleasures of peace and hospitality.
After these had finished, a number of wooden bowls full of maizeporridge were put down between the guests--one bowl to each couplefacing each other. But before commencing, a portion was laid aside anddedicated to their gods, with various mysterious ceremonies; for here,as in other places where the gospel is not known, the poor savagesfancied that they could propitiate God with sacrifices. They had neverheard of the "sacrifice of a broken spirit and a contrite heart." Thisoffering being made, the feast began in earnest. Not only was it a rulein this feast that every mouthful should be swallowed by each guest,however unwilling and unable he should be to do so, but he who coulddispose of it with greatest speed was deemed the greatest man--at leaston that occasion--while the last to conclude his supper was looked uponwith some degree of contempt!
It seems strange that such a custom should ever have arisen, and one isnot a little puzzled in endeavouring to guess at the origin of it.There is one fact that occurs to us as the probable cause. The Indianis, as we have before hinted, frequently reduced to a state bordering onstarvation, and in a day after he may be burdened with superabundance offood. He oftentimes, therefore, eats as much as he can stuff into hisbody when he is blessed with plenty, so as to be the better able towithstand the attacks of hunger that may possibly be in store for him.The amount that an Indian will thus eat at a single meal is incredible.He seems to have the power of distending himself for the reception of aquantity that would kill a civilised man. Children, in particular,become like tightly inflated little balloons after a feast, and as theywear no clothing, the extraordinary rotundity is very obvious, not tosay ridiculous. We conclude, therefore, that unusual powers ofgormandising, being useful, come at last to be cultivated aspraiseworthy.
By good fortune Dick and Joe Blunt happened to have such enormousgluttons as _vis-a-vis_, that the portions of their respective bowlswhich they could not devour were gobbled up for them. By good capacityand digestion, with no small amount of effort, Henri managed to disposeof his own share; but he was last of being done, and fell in thesavages' esteem greatly. The way in which that sticky compost of boiledmaize went down was absolutely amazing. The man opposite Dick, inparticular, was a human boa-constrictor. He well-nigh suffocated Dickwith suppressed laughter. He was a great raw-boned savage, with athroat of indiarubber, and went quickly and quietly on swallowing massafter mass, with the solemn gravity of an owl. It mattered not a strawto him that Dick took comparatively small mouthfuls, and nearly chokedon them too for want of liquid to wash them down. Had Dick eaten noneat all he would have uncomplainingly disposed of the whole. Jack theGiant-Killer's feats were nothing to his, and when at last the bowl wasempty, he stopped short like a machine from which the steam had beensuddenly cut off, and laid down his buffalo horn spoon _without_ a sigh.
Dick sighed, though, with relief and gratitude when his bowl was empty.
"I hope I may never have to do it again," said Joe that night as theywended their way back to the chief's tent after supper. "I wouldn't befit for anything for a week arter it."
Dick could only laugh, for any allusion to the feast instantly broughtback that owl-like gourmand to whom he was so deeply indebted.
Henri groaned. "Oh! mes boy, I am speechless! I am ready for bust!Oui,--hah! I veesh it vas to-morrow."
Many a time that night did Henri "veesh it vas to-morrow," as he layhelpless on his back, looking up through the roof of the chief's tent atthe stars, and listening enviously to the plethoric snoring of JoeBlunt.
He was entertained, however, during those waking hours with a serenadesuch as few civilised ears ever listen to. This was nothing else than avocal concert performed by all the dogs of the village, and as theyamounted to nearly two thousand, the orchestra was a pretty full one.
These wretches howled as if they had all gone mad. Yet there was"method in their madness," for they congregated in a crowd beforebeginning, and sat down on their haunches. Then one, which seemed to bethe conductor, raised his snout to the sky, and uttered a long, low,melancholy wail. The others took it up by twos and threes, until thewhole pack had their noses pointing to the stars, and their throatsdistended to the uttermost, while a prolonged yell filled the air. Thenit sank gradually, one or two (bad performers probably) making a yelpingattempt to get it up again at the wrong time. Again the conductorraised his nose, and out it came--full swing. There was no vociferousbarking. It was simple wolfish howling increased in fervour to anelectric yell, with slight barks running continuously through it like anobbligato accompaniment.
When Crusoe first heard the unwonted sound he sprang to his feet,bristled up like a hyena, showed all his teeth, and bounded out of thetent blazing with indignation and astonishment. When he found out whatit was he returned quite sleek, and with a look of profound contempt onhis countenance as he resumed his place by his master's side and went tosleep.