St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1896-04-18
sr,LL.nvMT:no FOR BUFFALO,.
The ImdIans Disguised Themselves In Wolf
Pelts and Crept On the Hefti.

Pe,ts and Crept on the Herds.
1t was the next morning after this
hunt that the chief, Little Bear. came to
my tent, just as I had finished my
steak, biscuit and coffee. He brought
two wolf-skin disguises. which l had
before seen in his teFee. Each was made
OF two wolf pelts sewed together, with
mounted nose and tail. and there were
armholes with short skin sleeves. and
leggings for the thighs. which came
nearly down to the knees, the whole
covering fastened to the body with
tleerskin thongs.
He had before promised to take me
Tn a "wolf hunt" after buffalo, and he
now put on the largest OF the coverings.
ard unanswered about in front of my
tent, showing the various attitudes of
the wolf, in shambling along. in trot-
ting. and in sneaking upon its prey.
His sqnaw, who was welding her
wevaiaba (f!cshing knife) upon an up
turned buffalo pelt pinned to the ground
with wooden pegs, stopped her wor';
and grinnetl approval. He certainly
lni,nickcd the wolf well; and the dis
gaise, excepting the legs and the size.
was perfect.
"Hoogh!" he said, when he had shown
me how to act in crawling up to game.
1--WE go hunt um tewan that way:"
pointing 10 the northwest up the creek.
Twas glad to so upon still hunt; for.
to tell the truth, the mixed hurly-buriy
Of the usual Ponca method. and its
useless dangers, did not recommend II
t. me when had had time to reflect
after the excitement was over.
When Little Bear and mounted our
ponies and rode out that morning, the
camp was in an uproar, as usual in the
preparation for a hunt. a scout had
come in with news OF IA big herd to the
eastward, and the Indians were running
In ponies, saddling and cinching them
on all hands, and there was much buck
ing and plungiug among the wild and
skittish ones, as usual. Squaws were
hustling ABOUT at the command OF their
lords and masters, and young lads, III
half-leggings and short shirts, were
rushing to and fro. making great pa
rude OF helping to get the hunters
started.
Little Bear must have told his leaders
Of the proposed hunt with me. for no
one paid the slightest attention to our
going out.
We logged directly up the little val
lev for an hour or more; and then. in
rounding a point Of the hill. sighted a
large band OF buffalo feeding among
the ravines and upon the slopes on the
opposite side of the valley. There was
an immense number in sight. but. as tihc
high grounds were covered as far over
rs we could see, we knew there must
be more beyond.
Little Bear grunted with huge salts
faction, and gave me to understand in
hurried words of Ponca and pigeon
English that the big herds were coming
down from the north.
We hustled our ponies into raviEe
near at hand, and tied them to some
bullberry bushes. Then. carrying our
disguises and guns. the chief with his
low and arrows at his back, we slipped
down the ravine into the creek channel.
keeping entirely out Of sight Of tho
herd. The wind was fairly in our favor.
and we kept along the bed of the stream.
in which ran little trickling brook at
the bottom. until we reached the mouth
OF dry run leading across the valley
and through the middle of the herd
There were such runs and ravines cut
ting back into the hills every half miic
or 80.
Up this gully we went Mt jog-trot.
bending low, until it became SO shallow
that We could begin to sec the buffalo
upon the hills above.
The chief then squatted and mOtionctl
me down. We put on the wolf skins. he
taking the largest; for, despite hls
name, he was a large and powerfully
made man.
Adjusting the eyeholes SO that we
could see plainly, we crawled out upon
the open ground upon our hands and
knees. Almost the first thing that hap
pened to me was to get one of my knees
filled with cactus spikes and while J
writhed about trying to pull them out.
I heard Little Bear growing under his
breath: "Hoogh. tewan heap plenty
we kill heap!"-Frank Welles Calkins,
III st. Nicholas.