CHAPTER XXVI
STRANGE SIGHTS
"DICK, he looks as if he was bringing us bad news!" exclaimed Roger,quickly. "Oh! I hope nothing has happened to Jasper Williams! What ifhe should be dead! All our long journey would be for nothing; and wewould not be able to save the homestead property after all."
"Hold on," said Dick, laying a hand on his cousin's arm. "I hardlythink it can be as bad as that. At the worst I think we'll learn thathe has gone out again to scout around. They say he can't keep quiet foran hour; I guess he's built on the same plan as you are, Roger. Buthere's the captain."
"Too bad, my lads," observed Captain Lewis, as he came up to them; "butyour patience will have to hold out a few more days, it seems."
"Jasper Williams--is he away, then?" asked Roger.
"Yes," answered the commander, "he did not expect us to get up here sosoon, it seems; and, only three days ago, started out on another widedetour, to find what the hostile Sioux were doing; for we've had moreor less trouble with them at times. He may not be back for a week orso."
"Of course we're disappointed," said Dick, bravely hiding his chagrin,"but I guess we'll have to stand it, and wait for him to come in."
"There may be some way of reaching him and letting him know that we arehere in the Mandan village, where we have met with a warm welcome," thecaptain went on.
"In what way, may I ask, sir?" questioned Dick, eagerly.
"I understand that Williams left word with our friend, the Mandan chiefhere, that he would swing around in a few days to a certain salt-lick;and that, if the other wished to send him out any word, he could have abrave meet him there."
"Oh! perhaps we might go with that messenger!" exclaimed Roger,immediately.
"It might be so arranged, I suppose," the captain observed, smiling atthe eagerness exhibited by the boy, which he could easily understand.These lads had quite won his heart in the days they had spent with theexplorers.
"When would he be going out to find Jasper Williams?" asked Dick,himself just as anxious as Roger, to hasten the meeting with the manwho held the fate of their homes in his hand.
"Some time to-morrow, the chief promised me," came the reply.
"And is this salt-lick far away from here?" continued Dick; not that heand his cousin were anxious to set eyes on it, except that it markedthe meeting-place with the scout, for they knew what a salt-lick waslike, and had often heard their fathers tell of the wild animals theyused to shoot, far back in Kentucky and Ohio, when they came to partakeof the much-prized salt to be found at one of these places. (Note 6.)
"Not more than a day's journey, I understand, so that you could easilyget to it before night, if you started early," Captain Lewis wenton. "We will in all probability remain where we are for a long time,perhaps throughout the winter, so that all these matters can be easilyarranged; only I appreciate how anxious you must be to find Williams.Please yourselves, my lads; I am ready to do almost anything for you."
"And we can never forget that, sir," replied Roger, as he gave theother a look of affection; for, during the time they had been in thesociety of Captain Meriwether Lewis, they had come to admire him morethan almost any man they had ever met.
While they continued to wander around the great Mandan village, andobserve the many strange things to be seen there, they felt a sort ofimpatience for the morrow to come, in order that they might hunt forJasper Williams.
The warriors had taken their cue from the friendly attitude of theirchief, and were disposed to welcome the palefaces who had come from thefar distant Land of the Rising Sun.
As for the squaws and younger element, they followed the boys aroundwherever they went, observing their guns, their clothes, and even theirpowder-horns, with the deepest interest, as though they had neverbefore set eyes on such wonders.
Several of the boldest Indian lads were disposed to be friendly, andmake advances, though they knew not a word of English; but then, signscan go a great way, especially among youngsters, and it was not longbefore both pioneer boys felt as if they had made good friends of thesedark-faced Mandans. The bestowal of a few little trinkets, with whichthey had provided themselves, caused the most remarkable exhibition ofinterest. After that the crowds following them grew larger than ever.
Hearing that the wonderful medicine-man of the tribe had been chasingaway the Evil Spirit that was making a fever come upon a sick man, thewhite boys expressed a desire to see him, and, when their new friendsunderstood this, they led the way to his lodge, which was apart fromall the others.
Here he came, after a bit, the queerest figure either of the white boyshad ever seen in all their lives. (Note 7.)
He paused long enough to gravely extend a skinny hand to each of theboys, and utter the one word he knew of English, just as Indians ofto-day repeat it:
"How?"
Then, as if not wishing to remain on exhibition longer, he shookhimself so that the little shells, rattlesnake rattles, dried gourdsfilled with pebbles, and other articles attached to his person gaveforth, every variety of quaint sound, and vanished within his teepee.
The boys could hardly keep from laughing aloud, the old magicianlooked so ridiculous in his make-up as a "doctor," who could chaseaway the spell cast about a sick person by the Evil Spirit, and bysome "hocus-pocus," as Roger called it, such as lying on the invalid,breathing into his nostrils, droning a singsong tune like nothing everheard before by the ears of white men, and many other silly practices.
As they came near the village the boys had noticed that in a wood ona little mound there were numerous strange bundles, done up in driedbuffalo hides, and tied with leather thongs, reposing on elevatedplatforms, which they could not make out at all. Fields told them,however, that this was the burial-place of the tribe; and he evenpointed to various earthen vessels that were filled with food of acertain kind, resembling succotash. This, he stated, the Mandansbelieved was necessary, when members of the tribe had recently died,because they would need some sort of nourishment while on their longjourney to the Happy Hunting Grounds.
"During the night," Fields told them, "of course the hungry wildanimals can creep up, and clean out these bowls. The Indians mustknow this, but they prefer to delude themselves with the idea thatthe spirit of the dead person has come in the night, and eaten theoffering."
Being deeply interested, the two boys made a close inspection of theplace. In the open center of the burial-place were many skulls formedin a circle, all facing inward.
"What can they do that for?" asked Roger, who was hardly able torepress a shudder at the grim sight.
"I asked Fields, and he told me that, after the platforms break down,the skulls of the dead persons are preserved, and placed here. Althoughin life, perhaps, the brave has beaten his squaw many times, afterhe is gone she can be found here every day, talking to this poor oldreminder of his presence on earth. Yes, he said she would caress it,even if, when the brave was alive, he had nothing but blows for her."
"Well, they are a queer lot," Roger confessed, "and I suppose whitesnever could understand them. Ugh! let's get away from here, Dick. Weought to find something more cheerful to look at than this graveyardof mummies." (Note 8.)
"I'm wondering why they have so many yellow dogs around," Dickremarked; "but then, all Indians like baked dog; and Fields says theyserve them up on any special occasion when they give a great feast. Youknow they have no regular time for eating, like white people, but waittill they're real hungry, and then just fill up till they look as ifthey would burst."
"Why, yes," Roger went on to say, "Pat O'Mara used to tell aboutIndians who would go hungry for three days, just to get their appetitegood and gnawing, and then start in and eat for two hours. I don'tthink that would suit me."
Tiring at length of peering around among the painted lodges, andseeing the queer sights with which the Indian village seemed to befilled--queer to their eyes, although perfectly natural to the duskynatives who knew no other way of living--the boys finally rejoined therest of the p
arty.
Captain Lewis was only making a temporary camp as yet, and stickingby his boats. He believed that the Mandans meant to be the best offriends to his little force; still, many of the frontiersmen had buta poor opinion of all redmen, and made him not trust any one withIndian blood in his veins. When he came to know the old chief better,and they could feel perfectly safe, then it would be time to locate apermanent camp for the winter. And, yet, they would never cease to keepthemselves in constant readiness, so that a surprise and a massacremight not come about.
Of course, having made up their minds to go forth on the followingmorning, when a messenger was to start for the distant salt-lick, Dickand his cousin could think of little else. Again and again that eveningthey would turn away from the conversation that was general around oneof the fires to talk it over, and agree as to what they should carrywith them.
"Captain Lewis said that the warrior would start an hour afterdaylight; so we must be up early, and get our breakfast," Dick remarked.
"Shall we carry our blankets, and some food, besides our guns?" askedRoger.
"I don't think that necessary, as we expect to spend only one night,or a couple at most, at the lick," Dick replied. "Perhaps it would beonly proper if we carried some pemmican along. And, should the chancecome, we might shoot an antelope, or a buffalo, and get plenty of freshmeat. The brave will be only too glad to show us where one can befound, if only to hear the thunder of the 'talking-sticks.'"
"How can we sleep when all this noise is going on?" asked Roger,referring to the shouting of brown-faced pappooses, barking of dogs,and loud voices of the squaws as they jabbered among themselves, notbeing allowed to join in with the warriors, who were mingling freelywith the soldiers and hunters of the expedition.
"Oh! it'll quiet down after a while," Dick replied, laughingly. "Theycannot keep it up much longer. And by the time you're ready to turn in,I promise you it'll all be as silent as a church between meeting-days."
And somehow Dick turned out to be a good prophet, for an hour laterit seemed as though even the yellow curs that went slinking about thevillage had been warned that the time for making a racket was passed;for they seldom gave tongue, except to bay the moon occasionally; andthen some brave was apt to slip out of a lodge, and hurl a stone at theoffender.
"Listen!" said Dick, as he and his cousin were getting ready to crawlunder their blankets, tired, and ready for sleep.
"I hear what you mean, Dick, and it is a sure enough wolf, too. I'velistened to too many of them not to know the sound."
"And it is over in the direction of that place where all the platformsare standing, or tumbling down, you know, Roger," pursued the other.
"Yes, showing that the wolves, coyotes, and foxes must find a regulartreat out there every night, in the bowls meant for the spirits of thedead braves. How silly it all seems, Dick!"
"To us, yes; but it's all right for these Indians. And, Roger, if someof them went to the towns and cities of the palefaces, don't you thinkthey'd look on lots of things the white people do, and believe themjust as foolish? It depends on which way you've been brought up. Fathersays that what's food for one man is poison to another."
"I guess that's right," Roger replied; and that finished the talk, forwith the far-away, mournful howl of that gray wolf still sounding intheir ears at intervals, the two lads fell asleep.
They were up before daylight, and got some breakfast ready, becauseword had been received from the Mandan chief the night before that thebrave, who was to be Captain Lewis's messenger, would be ready to startat exactly an hour after dawn, while the sun was still peeping abovethe horizon; and they did not wish to delay his departure if they couldhelp it.
Captain Lewis even arose before there was any necessity for hisappearance, just to shake the boys by the hand, and wish them the bestof good luck.
"Here is the brave who is going to take you to the salt-lick," heremarked, as a Mandan warrior came up, carrying a bow and a quiver ofarrows, as well as a small pouch made of fine otter skin, in which hekept his paints and other essentials that went with the office of amessenger brave. "I have given him to understand that he will be heldaccountable for your safety; and, when you both come back unharmed,he is to receive several handsome presents. His name stands for theWolf That Howls in the Night; but you can just know him as the Wolf.And now, good-by to you both. We shall be glad when you come back withWilliams."
The valiant explorer shook them warmly by the hand; then, as theIndian glided silently away, the boys followed in his wake, filledwith fresh hopes that both sincerely trusted might not be doomed todisappointment.