The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1894-12-14

hemDilng IN texture ana Color We'll
burned brick. Our old guide handled
it tenderly as he knocked the ashes
out of it's wide bowl, carved in the
likeness of bison's head.
Fill up again, Thad," said I, ''and
while we smoke tell us the story OF
that pipe. Come, you've promised it
often enough"
A smile lit up the ragged, weather
scanned face of the old trapper as he
gazed long and musingly at the short
pipe he held in his hand, and in the
play of his features one might have
read tales of daring and prowess, and
of cunning and strategy as subtle as
that of the willy Sioux whose right of
possession to the great prairies of the
northwest old Thad cambridge was
one of the first to dispute.
1T amt no Injun pipe" he began,
though it is made of pipestone same
as the whites found in use by all the
tribes of the nor'west when they first
came among m. and low was about
the first white man to dig the stone
and make pipe of this kind for him
self. Common as were these pipes
among the Injuns, there is only one
spot in all the country where the soft,
red stone they're made of is to be
found. 1t was by the merest accident
that happened to stumble upon the
quarry, and bigger accident yet that
my scalp didn't pay for the find. 1t
was when l was trappin' up on the
headwaters of the Des Moines one
spring, early in the 'forties. I'd gone
farther up into that lake and prairie
region than I'd ever been before, and |
taken as prime a lot of beaver and OF
ter as ever cheatin' trader beat an !
honest trapper out of. hadn't seen |
an Injun on the prairies all that |
spring, nor didn't expect to. though |
that amt sayIn' that l camped in plain |
sight and left an open trail wherever |
/ went. InJuns are like the bad deeds |
a man has done and tried to cover up:
they're always turnin' up when you
least expect 'em. and knew the crit
tiers too we'll for that.
II struck out TO the northeast from
my camp one mornin' intendin' to cir
Gle round to the north and west to
look at some ponds and lakes that
couldn't well get at with my canoe.
I'd travelled until about noon, when /
struck somethin' that changed my
plans mighty sudden, l can tell you. ]
wasn't lookin' for Iniun sign, when all
1t once | stepped smack into a plain
rail leadin' toward my camp, dozen
ofF 20 h. t. |
was surprised wouldn't be putin it
ialf strong enough. At least a dozen
ponies had passed that way but a few
lays before, and what puzzled me more
han anything else was the fact that
he trail looked as if it had been used
or years. / knew there was a big
'ioux village up to the north on Big
tone lake, but where this trail could
cad to that / had never struck it be-
ore, scourin' all the country to the
outh as I'd done for months, was more
han could guess. / thought knew |
NUNS and Injun ways pretty well, but |
his thing stumped me. / dropped
own in the grass to study the matter
yer, but couldn't make head nor tail
4 it Here's somethin' for you to {
earn, old man. said to myself, and {
here's just one way for You to learn I
= So, takin' the caps off to see that $
9th barrels of my rife we're well !
rimed, started south along the trail,
eepin' a short outlook on all sides Il
admit gone three miles when, on v
oundin' a little hill. / saw a faint n
moke risin' out of fringe of willows (
d the valley of a little creek about a I
lille ahead. q
''Keepin' carefully under cover, 1 {
rept near enough to see the poles of Il
aree or four tepees peepin' mp Il
trough the tops of the willows. and Il
ute band of ponies browsin' along n
be creek. knew they couldn't be Il
untin' buffalo, for all the herds were I