Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1899-11-09

Arkichita, a typical Indian, was chief
scout at Fort Sisseton. Dakota, in 1882.
Although he knew English well, he
held the old Indian hatred of its use,
and would never speak it except under
extraordinary circumstances. He stood
about five feet nine inches in height,
was slender, but wiry. and was about
"a years of age. Ordinarily he was
slow and sedate in his actions--very
dignified; but when the necessity arose,
he could be as quick as flash, and
had, like every Indian on the north
western, plains, pair of eyes that
could equal any fieldglass.
His services for he had been en-
ployed as a scout for some years-had
been very valuable to the government,
and, in recognition of this fact, the Off
Ger in command had secured authority
from the war department to promote
HIM to the rank of sergeant; conse-
quently he went around in neat uni
form with chevrons and stripes, very
much impressed with his own impor-
tance, which he considered second only
to that of the commanding officer; and
he took care that every one else also
should respect his rank and dignity.
AS his native name is the Sioux for
soldier" it is easily seen why he was
so named; but he had still another
name, which the Indians had given
him before his entering military cir
cles, and that, translated into English.
was the "grasswalker," or trailer"
from his absolutely marvellous ability
to find the trail of anything that left
even the slightest trace on the ground
as it passed over it.
A desperate soldier named Brice
broke jail one night and was pursued
the following morning. The trail led to
the west for trif1e over mile; then it
turned north for a quarter of a mile
and we followed until we came to a
tree at the edge of a slough to the
northwest of the fort, called the gar
den bar slough" Here Arkichita point
ed under the tree and said Brice had
lain down there to rest.
The trail here led into the slough.
A Dakota slough" is shallow lake,
the water of which is from six inches
to three feet deep, with a soft, muddy
bottom, but not generally miry. The
center of the slough is usually free
from grasses or weeds, but along the
edges, from 20 to 60 yards out, long
tule grass grows.
This particular slough was mile
long and varied from an eighth to
quarter of mile in width. and there
was foot of water covering as much
soft mud During the night the wind
had rolled the water up considerably.
1t seemed hardly possible. TO track any
thing through it, except where the tule
had been broken down. Where that
was the case. even could follow the
trail; on reaching open water, however,
the case was different.
The eastern end of the slough reached
to a point near the fort not more than
$50 yards from brickyard, on which
was kiln that had been built during
the summer. The kiln was now ready
for firing.
Once / thought Arkichita was baffied,
after all; he had come to dead stand
still near the tule. Then an inspiration
struck me: perhaps by a circle l could
find the trail Happy thought! put it
into immediate execution and found
one. Rather elated at my success, /
called, "Come quick; heap trail" He
came over, took one look; just the sug-
gestion of smile played on his face
as he said, Cow"
| did no more trailing, but under
stood what was bothering him. The
post herd also had waded through here
since Brice's escape, and it took all the
scouts endless patience and wonderful
eyesight to keep the trail where the
cattle had passed through it. The grass
stem was of no use here.
We had passed over half the slough
in this circuitous route, when sudden
" Arkichita started, straight as the
crow flies, for the edge of the slough
near the brickkiln Was he following
| the trail?
On he went until he came to the
/
evidently bothered again. There was a
scarcely discernible footprint in the
mud and water right at the edge of the
slough, apparently the last step the de-
serter had taken before reaching hard
! ground This footprint showed the toes,
SO the deserter was now barefooted
Another thing about this print was its
direction; it stood at right angles to the
line previously followed. Either the
man had taken a sideward spring for
the land from his right foot, or he had
turned around and started back over
his own trail.
Arkichita went down on his knees
and inspected the grass, blade by
blade. kept a respectful distance at
one side, astonished at the turn the
affair had taken. Now, inch by inch,
on his knees, he wrenched the secret
from the apparently unwilling surface
| of the earth. Eighty yards from the
kiln, he looked up and glanced at it.
The same idea evidently instantly occur
red to both of US. The trail was lead
ing to the kilni Then he rose, and,
bending over, slowly advanced to the
edge of the brickyard.
After reaching the yard, Arkichita
walked slowly around the outer edge
Of it, examining the ground with the
utmost care, until he came to the point
from which he started, when he said,
"TraiI come in go out; man In
there" pointing to the kiln.
And circumstances proved him to be
right. though it was SO hours before
the fugitive was located in the kiln and
captured. Lieutenant w. G. Bennett,
u. S. A.. in St Nicholas.