CHAPTER XXXVI.
Discovery of the Trail--Prairie Detectives.
Meanwhile, Kit Carson, who was with Major Carleton, had discovered atrail made by three of the enemy. Carefully following it up, it wasfound to join the principal path, a short distance away. When Quinnarrived he had also some discoveries to report, and the scouts held aconsultation over the question. It was agreed by all that they were onthe track of the enemy they were seeking.
The general reader is not apt to appreciate the skill, patience andintelligence shown by the scouts and hunters in tracing the flight ofan enemy through a wild and desolate country. As an evidence of thewonderful attainments of border men in woodcraft, the following lettermay be given, written by the surgeon at Fort Randall in Dacotah in 1869:
"The most extraordinary skill that is exhibited in this part of thecountry, either by the white man, or red native, is in the practice oftrailing. Here it may be accounted an art as much as music, paintingor sculpture is in the East. The Indian or trapper that is a shrewdtrailer, is a man of close observation, quick perception, and promptaction. As he goes along, nothing escapes his observation, and what hesees and hears he accounts for immediately. Often not another step istaken until a mystery that may present itself in this line is fairlysolved. The Indian trailer will stand still for hours in succession, toaccount for certain traces or effects in tracks, and sometimes gives tothe matter unremitting attention for days and weeks.
"The trailer is not a graceful man. He carries his head much inclined,his eye is quick and restless, always on the watch, and he is practisinghis art unconsciously, hardly ever crossing the track of man or animalwithout seeing it. When he enters a house, he brings the habits hecontracted in the practice of his art with him. I know a trailer as soonhe enters my room. He comes in through the door softly, and with an airof exceeding caution. Before he is fairly in, or at least has sat down,he has taken note of every article and person. Though there may be adozen vacant chairs in the room, he is not used to chairs, and, likethe Indian, prefers a more humble seat. When I was employed by GeneralHarney last summer to take charge temporarily of the Indians that weregathered here to form a new reservation, one day a guide and trailercame into the General's headquarters. I told him to be seated. He satdown on the floor, bracing his back against the wall. The General sawthis, and in vexation cried out, 'My God, why don't you take a chairwhen there are plenty here not occupied?' The man arose and seatedhimself in a chair, but in so awkward and uncomfortable a manner that helooked as if he might slip from it at any moment. But when this uncouthperson came to transact his business with the General, he turned out tobe a man of no ordinary abilities. His description of a route he took asguide and trailer for the Ogallalas in bringing them from the Platteto this place was minute, and to me exceedingly interesting. Everywar party that for the season had crossed his trail, he described withminuteness as to their number, the kinds of arms they had, and statedthe tribes they belonged to. In these strange revelations that he madethere was neither imposition nor supposition, for he gave satisfactoryreasons for every assertion he made.
"I have rode several hundred miles with an experienced guide andtrailer, Hack, whom I interrogated upon many points in the practice ofthis art. Nearly all tracks I saw, either old or new, as a novice in theart, I questioned him about. In going to the Niobrara River crossed thetrack of an Indian pony. My guide followed the track a few miles andthen said, 'It is a stray, black horse, with a long, bushy tail, nearlystarved to death, has a split hoof of the left fore foot, and goesvery lame, and he passed here early this morning.' Astonished andincredulous, I asked him the reasons for knowing these particulars bythe tracks of the animal, when he replied:
"'It was a stray horse, because it did not go in a direct line; his tailwas long, for he dragged it over the snow; in brushing against a bush heleft some of his hair which shows its color. He was very hungry, for, ingoing along, he has nipped at those high, dry weeds, which horses seldomeat. The fissure of the left fore foot left also its track, and thedepth of the indentation shows the degree of his lameness; and histracks show he was here this morning, when the snow was hard withfrost.'
"At another place we came across an Indian track, and he said, 'It isan old Yankton who came across the Missouri last evening to look at histraps. In coming over he carried in his right hand a trap, and in hisleft a lasso to catch a pony which he had lost. He returned withoutfinding the horse, but had caught in the trap he had out a prairie wolf,which he carried home on his back and a bundle of kinikinic wood inhis right hand.' Then, he gave his reasons: 'I know he is old, by theimpression his gait has made and a Yankton by that of his moccasin. Heis from the other side of the river, as there are no Yanktons on thisside. The trap he carried struck the snow now and then, and in samemanner as when he came, shows that he did not find his pony. A drop ofblood in the centre of his tracks shows that he carried the wolf on hisback, and the bundle of kinikinic wood he used for a staff for support,and catching a wolf, shows that he had traps out.' But I asked, 'how doyou know it is wolf; why not a fox, or a coyote, or even a deer?' Saidhe: 'If it had been a fox, or coyote or any other small game he wouldhave slipped the head of the animal in his waist belt, and so carried itby his side, and not on his shoulders. Deer are not caught by traps butif it had been a deer, he would not have crossed this high hill, butwould have gone back by way of the ravine, and the load would have madehis steps still more tottering.'
"Another Indian track which we saw twenty miles west of this he putthis serious construction upon: 'He is an upper Indian--a prowling horsethief--carried a double shot gun, and is a rascal that killed some whiteman lately, and passed here one week ago; for,' said he, 'a lone Indianin these parts is on mischief, and generally on the lookout for horses.He had on the shoes of a white man whom he had in all probabilitykilled, but his steps are those of an Indian. Going through the ravine,the end of his gun hit into the deep snow. A week ago we had a very warmday, and the snow being soft, he made these deep tracks; ever since ithas been intensely cold weather, which makes very shallow tracks.' Isuggested that perhaps he bought those shoes. 'Indians don't buy shoes,and if they did they would not buy them as large as these were, forIndians have very small feet.'
"The most noted trailer of this country was Paul Daloria, a half breed,who died under my hands of Indian consumption last summer. I have spokenof him in a former letter. At one time I rode with him, and trailing wasnaturally the subject of our conversation. I begged to trail with him anold track over the prairie, in order to learn its history. I had hardlymade the proposition, when he drew up his horse, which was at a ravine,and said, 'Well, here is an old elk track. Let us get off our horses andfollow it.' We followed it but a few rods, when he said, it was exactlya month old, and made at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. This he knew, asthen we had our last rain, and at the hour named the ground was softerthan at any other time. The track before us was then made. He broke uphere and there clusters of grass that lay in the path of the track, andshowed me the dry ends of some, the stumps of others, and by numerousother similar items accounted for many circumstances that astonished me.We followed the trail over a mile. Now and then we saw that a wolf, afox, and other animals had practised their trailing instincts on theelk's tracks. Here and there, he would show me where a snake, a rat, anda prairie dog had crossed the track. Nothing had followed or crossed thetrack that the quick eye of Daloria did not detect. He gave an accountof the habits of all the animals that had left their footprints on thetrack, also of the state of the weather since the elk passed, and theeffect of sunshine, winds, aridity, sand storms, and other influencesthat had a bearing on these tracks."