Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1905-11-23
AN INDIANS CUNNING
THE BLAcKFEETs' STORY OF TIE
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Daring strategy ny ~h1ch Ih5s
F1eetest of All Steeds Was Secured
For His Own Tribe by the Smartest
Thief Among the Crows.
All Indians who use horses are very
fond of horse racing and notyonly race
their own horses against one another.
but they race their ewn against those
of other. tribes and used to do this even
in the wild era OF the buffalo and of
constant warfare. Even at that time
two grand buffalo hunts of each year
and after the hunting was over pitted
the fastest horses of the various bands
one against the other. At one time not
so very long ago the Blackfeet had the
very fastest horse that any one knew
of, the fastest horse of which any one
could tell or which any one had seen.
He was a source of wealth to the tribe,
for Indians are very fond of betting,
and this animal always won eyery-
thing that was bet against him. You
can imagine how proud the BlacSfeet
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imagine how envious We're the Stoneys,
the Crows, the Sioux, the Greeks and
all the other Indians of the plains.
Stealing is considered fair between
tribes, and il 1t can be successfully
done those savage people think it very
honorable, even glorious. The Black
feet, therefore, kept the wonderful
race horse in a tent at night. They did
not dare leave him out with their other
horses. They bought a string of bells
at the Hudson Bay company's nearest
fort, put the bells around the horses
neck, tied him to a tepee pole inside a
big tepee and set four men to sleep i'll
the tent with him. This was the rule
every night, and on no night did the
men forget to close the door of the
tepee and "cinch" it tight with thongs
of buckskin. Whoever could steal that
big white beauty of 4 horse had TO, be q
very clever thief, they thought; but, in
truth, they never dreamed that he
could be stolen.
The s1nartest thief among the Crow
indians told his chief and the head
men that he was going to try to get
that horse away from the Blackfeet.
One evening he crawled through the
grass to the tall bluff along the Bow
river morth of our Idaho, l think. was
the locality, where the Blackfeet had
their camp. He saw the noble horse
led into a certain tent, and he saw the
four watchers goin and close the door
Night fell, and he crept down the
slanting bluff into the camp The only
thing he had to fear was the barking
Of some dog. If dog saw or heard
him and barked, that would set all the
other dogs barking and the would be
obliged to run for his life Stealthily,
as only an Indian can move on his soft
ly moccasined feet this arch thief of
the thieving Crow Nation crept into the
Blackfeet camp. He had to step over
several sleeping dogs, and he did not
awaken one. He came to the tent of
the white horse. He looked it all over
He went to another tepee and took d
trayois from its side and carried it and
set it up against the horses tent
A travels is the wheel-less wagon the
Indians use in the summer. 1T is made
of two long poles with the upper ends
near together: the lower ends spread
apart and drag upon the ground. You
see by this description that If a travois
is stood on end it can be made to serve
as a sort of ladder. Thus tile arch thief
of the Crows used the one he put up
against the horse tent On 1t he climb
ed to the top of the tepee, and from
there he got a view Of the interior,
looking down between the tent poles
that form the sides of the chimney
hole He saw the horse dimly. and
even more dimly he saw the four men
beside the horse, all asleep. He climb
ed upon the tent poles; he poised his
body very nicely in the chimney open
ing; he dropped fairly and suuarely
upon the white horses back.
The instant he felt himself on the
back of the beast his knife, which was
in his hand, swept through the cord
that tethered the horse. His heels shot
IN against the horses sides, the bells
rang out sharp and clear, and the horse
snorted With surprise. But the pres
sure Of the thief's heels urged the ami
NAL forward, ana as he took one step
the man reached out and slit cash
straight up and down through the fas-
tened door, which was only buckskin.
The four Indians leaped to their feet,
but the horse and his captoI, We're now
out in the open ground and like the
wind shot away from the camp. The
watchers ran and yelled, the dogs
barked, the whole tribe rushed out of
the tents, and every man sprang to
horse. But what was the use? There
was no horse that could catch the ami.
NAL, and so they all turned sadly home
again after mad ride of a mile or
two. The thief rode in triumph home
to the tents of the Grows, and from
that day his tribe owned the great
white horse, and his fame and their
riches increased From Julian Ralph's
Stories Told by Indians in st. Nicho
las.
Rolled Down.
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