Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1897-07-29
FIELDS OF ADVENTURE.
THRILLING INCIDENTS AND DARING
DEEDS ON LAND AND SEA.

n low Ntaip dSp hhtit iiohl III
Montana scout who had an extraor-
dinary equipment for his occupation.
He was tall, strong man, we'll built
except i'll one respect; his feet grew
the wrong way, his toes pointing back
ward instead of forward. This would
have been serious drawback to any
man who went much on foot; but it
was almost no drawback to "Clubfoot
George" as this scout was called, be-
cause practically he never went on
foot at all He had u saddle with STIR
rups adapted to his deformity, and
could ride horse as well as any other
cowboy.
He was an expert at trailing In
dians, and seldom had to dismount in
| order to distinguish even the smallest
detail of Indian "sign.' His keen
eyes took in everything from his seat
in the saddle.
He is said to have known personally
all the Indians from Fort Berthold to
the Blackfoot Agency, and was equally
well known to them. But he was
their enemy, and they were his enc
mics. The war was apparently re-
| lentless between them.
In the dead of certain winter,
many years ago, Clubfoot George had
occasion to go from old Fort Browning
| to Fort Benton. He was alone, and
| had to camp overnight on the way.
| Even famous scout sometimes makes
a mistake, and George on this occa-
sion hobbled his horse, rather wild
and flighty animal, SO insecurely that
in the night it got away, and started
back to Fort Browning.
In the morning, therefore, Clubfoot
George had to confront the necessity
of walking to Fort Benton. 1t was
an unpleasant thing to do, since il
would take even good walker about
| two days to cover the distance, and
Clubfoot Georges speciality was not
walking; but he started out manfully
over the snow
He had walked until about the mid
die of the afternoon, when party of
hostile Indians, ont for white mems
scalps, came upon his trail. His
tracks were plainly visible in the snow;
but of course they pointed in the OPP
posite direction from that in which
George was going.
There was nothing about the tracks
to show that they We're Clubfoot
Georges; and besides, the Indians,
though they knew George well, had
never before seen the print of his
boots SO they started pell-mell in
the direction in which the tracks led,
thirsting for this white mans blood.
But when, they had followed the
trail to the spot where George had
camped the night before, and found
the trail of the horse and the evidence
that some one had come so far on
horseback and then lost his horse, the
Indians looked at one another in as
tonishment, until one of them said,
"Clubfoot!" Then they all inspected
closely the tracks they had been fol-
lowing.
Who says that Indians have no
sense of humor? No one who knows
them we'll These Indians certainly
had, for they roared with laughter,
though the joke was on them. But
they determined to transfer it to the
white man.
So they turned back on the trail and
rode furiously all the rest of the day
and a part of the night, until they
came to a place where the queer heel
first track went over bank. Then
one of the Indians lay down on his
face and called over the edge of the
bank, in his own language:
'Clubfoot, are you there?"
eyes, I am here! Is that you,
Howling Dog?"
What could be done with such a
man? The Indians were already more
than half Modified toward the scout by
their enjoyment of the extraordinary
joke that he had, quite unintention-
ally, played on them; and when, in
the best of humor, George invited
them to come down and share his
camp and make themselves at home,
they did so, and never molested him.
Their unexpected friendliness must
have made an impression on Clubfoot
George, for the chapters of his adven-
lures end with this incident. He gave
up scouting, and ever after lived n
peaceful life.