The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1900-12-08


heard, all the traditions, all ancient his
tory of our people as handed down from \
father to son through all the ages are 4
stored In his mind. His grandchild led;
him to my lodge and babe him welcome,
placing him in the seat Of honor; my
woman gave him soup and meat. When ):
he had Toasted handed him the, freshly I.
lighted pipe and we smoked together in!
silence for time; then he asked that my !,
find be brought out, and I placed the Z
bones one by one before him. He ran
his hands over them carefully, feeling !;
their shape, spanning their breadth and
thickness, noting with his quick, slender
fingers every popularity about them al
he said presently, but very low, as if
talking to himself, al, it's as thought;
they are bones of one of those dreadful
ancient animals our forefathers feared SO
much And then, after q little, lac told
me that they should not be kept in the
hodge or in camp, lest bad luck befall me
and mine. When he said that my old
woman gave me a look and a nod, as.
much as to say: Il told you how foolish
you were not to listen IT'S the way Of
women to try and make a man think
that they are wisest; I would have re-
proved her roundfy for her forwardness
had I not been so anxious ito listen to
Old Sum-. 8. ~
:. When l was "a youth,' the old man
said, Il we'll remember hearing the old
story tellers relate what had been handed
down to them about this dreadful ami
NAL. There were two names for it;
sometimes it was called the ancient one,
and sometimes the water animal. Just
how it looked never learned; it was1
said that it had long horns growing out
in front, very long nose and that it
was so large it could wade rivers like the
Missouri whenever it chose to do so.
".1n the beginning this was not the
country of our forefathers. When Old
Man fashioned the first people he brought
them forth on low, narrow strip of
country where snow never fell, where
cold winds never blew. To the west of it
was nothing but deep blue water extend
Ing to the end of the world; on it's east
ern side rose high rough mountains
whose SUBMITS were covered with snow,
and for the greater part of the time
lost in dark clouds. Old Man was not
very wise when he gave the people such
a place to live upon; perhaps he did not
count upon their rapidly increasing in
years they killed off all the. deer and elk
Whereabouts. Then they began on the
smaller animals and birds, and those
soon became so scarce that they COM
| menced to starve. The men counselled
together: 1--WE will all die if we remain
here" they said, 1--WE must try to find
a new country where game is as plentI
full as it once was here" OF course there
was but way for them to travel in
search of it, and that was over the
mountains. They did not know then that
here were wide plains, beautiful rivers
and valleys; they feared that as the blue
water extended to the end of the world
in one direction, so might the rough high
mountains continue to the jumping off
place at the other side But summoning
I their best courage, they set forth, either
to find pleasant country, or to perish
in the high, cold mountains. Horses they
had not, Of course, only a few dogs to
help pack their small lodge coverings and
scanty store of robes.
When, after climbing steadily all day
they arrived at the summit of the mount
ain, nothing was to be seen to the east
ward but peak after peak of snow-cov-
| cred rock, and so for many days they
| journeyed on, surrounded by tall mount
aims and deep canons. They suffered
from cold; their moccasins wore out and
the rough rocks cut their feet; game was
scarce, and what little they manage to
kill barely kept them alive; they began
to think that they would soon perish. But
one morning, a few men who had gone
on ahead and had reached the summit OF
a low mountain began to whoop and
dance about and beckon the others tc
hurry up; they seemed to be greatly ex-
cited. The rest women and children and
all, scampered upward as fast as they
could, s=-ld when they too arrived at the
top, what a beautiful sight met their eyes;
there, almost at their feet, lay the broad,
gneen plains and timhered valleys, fairly
alive with game, not only deer and elk,
but other large creatures the like OF
which they had never seen before. That
night the camp was filed with red, fat
meat. ~ b. y.
IF the people had found a rich coun-
try they had also found dangerous one,
for there were many large and fierce ami
mails infesting it, especially great long
clawed bears which did not fear to charge
the hunters, and women and children
wandering about In search Of berries, and
tear them to pieces. The hunters
weapons were not of much force; the
bow and flint-tipped arrows, f1int-headed
spears and war clubs were all they had.
Good enough, to be sure, with which to
STAY the deer and elk, and even the buff
falo, but Of little use against an angry
bear.
After looking around for the. best
locality, the wanderers had chosen
an ho 81
clear stream for their permanent camp,
and little by little they built up good
one, surrounding 1t by high construc-
ton of logs, dirt and stones, to keep out
the animals which were always providing
around In search OF the meat they scent
ed. When it was completed, they felt
that they were secure from harm; but
one dark night after the fires had died
out and every one was in bed, part of
the wall next the river went over with
a crash. and then huge animal, breath
ing and grunting with a noise like thun-
der, walked through the camp, trampling
upon the lodges and knocking them out
of its way and crushing several persons
with its enormous feet. It did not turn
to the right or left. nor stop, but went
straight through, knocked over the wall
at the rear, and wandered away in the
grove. The people slept no more that
night; they built up the fire and sat
around In great fear, wondering what
kind Of a creature it was that had such
mighty power. At daylight the hunters
crept forth cautiously on the animals
trail, which was easily enough followed,
for its huge feet left deep holes in the
soft ground, and it had broken down the
q I'M re-
mere PUSHES. Leaving the grove, they