CHAPTER XVI
THE PAWNEES RETURN--ANTELOPE HUNT WITH THE INDIANS--JOE MISSES--WHITE WOLF--TALK OF A WILD HORSE HUNT--THE SAND-HILL CRANES--THEIR WEIRD COTILLION
THE Pawnees camped on the Oxhide that autumn earlier than usual, as oneof the boys of the tribe had said they would.
The band arrived the first week in September, and Joe was again in hiselement. He spent every spare moment in the camp, but, much to hisregret, learned that his old friend Yellow Calf was dead; he had diedabout a month before of sheer wearing out. He was nearer ninety thaneighty, which he had given as his age to Joe. One of the younger of theprincipal men had been made chief in his place. He had been with theband every season when they camped on the creek, and also was a firmfriend to Joe, so the boy had lost nothing except the presence of theold fellow who thought so much of him.
One morning about the middle of April while the Indians were still onthe Oxhide, and Joe as usual was in the camp, a warrior came in andreported a large herd of antelope on the Smoky Hill bottom; he saidthere were at least eight hundred of them. He proposed to Joe that theyshould go after them, and the boy agreed without any hesitation.
The chief told them they had better take about half a dozen of the menwith them; for if the antelope were out on the open prairie, they couldnot get near enough to them without a great deal of trouble. If they hadsome one to drive the herd toward them while they hid themselves in thetall grass, they could entice a number within range by using the usualstrategy.
Joe and the Indian, whose name was the White Wolf, started, taking withthem seven men of the band as drivers. When they got out into theopening beyond the timber on the Oxhide, they discovered the large herdunsuspiciously grazing about two miles away.
The seven Indians were then ordered to make a detour far beyond theanimals, at least a mile from the far side of them, while Joe and WhiteWolf secreted themselves in a large patch of bunch-grass. This was outon the prairie about a hundred rods distant from the timber, and waspointed to by White Wolf so that his men would understand exactly whatwas required of them.
Joe and the Indian who had remained behind with him, then walkedleisurely toward the bunch of tall grass. They had plenty of time toprepare themselves, as it would take at least an hour before the Indianscould get beyond the herd to move it.
On the way to the prairie Joe had stopped at the ranch, to borrow theSpencer carbine for White Wolf, while he took his little Ballard rifle,that was only good for about a hundred and fifty yards, while theSpencer would carry a ball five hundred.
They reached their hiding-place in plenty of time, for they lay therefully fifteen minutes before they saw a commotion among the antelope.The herd were observed to raise their heads as if they winded danger,and then making a few of their characteristic stiff-legged bounds, theystood alert as if preparing for flight.
Joe knew by this that the animals had been startled by the Indians,though he could not see a sign of one of them.
The herd at first ran as swiftly as they could in an easterly direction,then they began to slacken their pace, and a few, having recovered theircourage, commenced to nibble gingerly at the short buffalo grass again.At this juncture White Wolf tied a white rag around his head, and,standing on his knees, began to sway his body backward and forward witha steady oscillating motion. Presently the antelope saw him, and a fewof them stopped short to gaze at the strange object.
In a few moments four or five of the inquisitive creatures moved slowlyforward again, still attracted by the swaying white figure of thesavage, which so excited their curiosity. Presently, as they came closerand closer, Joe told White Wolf not to fire until they came within rangeof his little gun. Soon the proper distance was attained, and Joe,drawing up his piece, said:--
"Now, White Wolf, fire away!"
Their pieces were discharged simultaneously; it seemed like a singleshot, so accurately had the triggers been pulled together. Two of thegraceful creatures rolled over on their sides, one White Wolf's,instantly killed, while Joe's was sprawling out, every limb quiveringlike an aspen leaf.
Both hunters dropped their guns and started out to cut the throats oftheir game, Joe was in the act of placing his hand on the neck of theone he had fired at, when, to his surprise, it jumped to its feet andran off to join its not faraway companions, and the astonished boy neversaw it again!
Which was the more surprised, the boy or the antelope, it would bedifficult to determine. He turned to the savage, who was bewildered,too, and asked him what in the world was the cause of the animal'srecovery after he had shot him.
"I aimed at his heart as he stood broadside toward me," said Joe, "and Idon't know what it means."
"You only grazed him," answered White Wolf. "We Indians often catch wildhorses in that way, when we can't get them in any other." Of course,they conversed in the Pawnee tongue, for the savage did not understand aword of English.
"Oh! I know what you mean, White Wolf," said Joe. "I just grazed hisspinal cord with the ball; it paralyzed him for a moment, that's all.Yellow Calf told me how the Pawnees used to catch wild horses in thatway, down on the Cimarron bottom, when the tribe lived on the RepublicanRiver."
"I'm soon going down there with some of my warriors. A Kaw brave told methe other day that there are a good many wild horses there yet; will yougo, too?" asked White Wolf of his young friend.
"I'll go if my father and mother are willing, and I guess they will be,"replied Joe. "I should so like to see a herd of wild horses. I have seennearly all the other animals that live on the plains and in the timber,but have never seen wild horses, because they don't range as far east asOxhide Creek. There are lots of them in Nebraska though, farther north,Mr. Tucker says."
As the prairie was too level for the hunters to hope to get near theantelope again, now that they had discharged their pieces, and as theother Indians were coming up to them, they decided to go back.
One of White Wolf's men packed the dead antelope on his horse, and theyall rode slowly toward Errolstrath. When they arrived there, White Wolfinsisted that Joe take half of the game. To this at first the boy didnot agree, but as the chief insisted so persistently, he finallyconsented. So the antelope was divided fairly, one portion was carriedinto the house, and the other to the Indian camp down the creek.
At dinner Joe told his father that White Wolf was going to the Cimarronbottom in a few days to try to capture some wild horses which, so helearned from one of his Kaw friends, were roaming on the salt marshes ofthat region, and that the chief wanted him to go with him.
Mr. Thompson said that he had not the slightest objection now that thewar was over and there was nothing to be feared from the savages, but hetold Joe that if any animals were captured, he ought to be entitled to ashare.
"I have made that all right with White Wolf already, father," said Joe."He agrees to give me as great a proportion as his other warriors areentitled to. He hopes to capture at least one apiece, as the Kaw whotold him about the herd said there were three or four hundred of themdown there."
As soon as dinner was over, Joe jumped on his pony and loped off to theIndian camp to tell White Wolf that he could go to hunt wild horses withthe band.
The chief said that he was glad of it, and that they would start by thefirst of the week. It was now Thursday, and that would give them allplenty of time to make ready. He told Joe that he would let him have apony out of his herd, so that he could save his own the hard trip, forthere would be severe work for all the ponies.
Joe started back to the ranche, and when he arrived at the foot ofHaystack Mound, on the side of it farthest from the corral, he saw asquadron of sand-hill cranes circling around near the ground, and as heknew they were going to alight, he pulled up his pony. After turningloose his animal, which he knew would run right to the corral, he hidhimself in the plum bushes which grew all over the bottom, to watch thestrange antics of those curious birds.
They dance a regular cotillion when on the ground. They chassezbackward and
forward, and waltz around, keeping time in a rude sort ofway as they go through the mazes of their weird movements.
Presently they all came fluttering down, about forty of them, andimmediately began their laughable capers. Joe had witnessed theirperformance a hundred times, but he could never resist looking at itagain whenever the opportunity offered. They danced for more than halfan hour, and then seeming to have enjoyed themselves sufficiently, theytook flight, and soon were but as a wreath of dark blue far up in thesky.
Joe returned to the house, and puttered around until supper was ready.At the table he told of his stopping at Haystack Mound to witness theantics of a flock of cranes that had alighted on the sand knoll nearthere, and said he could sit and look at them all day.
Of course all the family had witnessed the performance of the cranesoften, for in the season scarcely a day passed that a flock did not makeits appearance somewhere on the ranche.
Kate said, "I used to watch them on the Canadian when I was in theIndian village, and they were about the only things that I laughed atwhile there. After I had been there about a month and had got prettywell acquainted, one of the boys gave me a young crane for a pet. Hebecame so tame that he would follow me all over the village.
"I kept him three months, when one morning, as I was walking down to theriver with him, I saw him suddenly stop, put his head on one side, lookup at the sky, and running a few steps, fly away. I watched him until hewas out of sight. It was a flock of his own species that he had seen,and I did not even begin to hear their croaking until he was far out ofsight."