Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-05-18
THE INDIAN QUITE A JOKER.
Not the Solemn Being Of coopers
Novels.

Not the Solemn Being of cooper's
Novels.
Said a woman from the land Of
sage brush and buttes the other day:
People make a great mistake II
they believe the Indian to be a sullen
and unhumorous sort of individual,
who sits for hours without moving q
muscle and who never. never laughs.
Rubbish! And like so much Of
the rubbish that is current about the
Indian, Fennimore Cooper is respon-
sible for 1t all.
Whether the noble red man has
changed in temperament during the
last fifty or sixty years I do not pre-
tend to know, but the fact remains
that the present day Indian in Mon
tana is a good deal of a wag, loving to
josh and cracking his little jokes with
an enjoyment that leaves no doubt Of
his sense Of humor.
"a few years ago I was engaged to
teach school in tiny village In
southern Montana. The schoolhouse,
little one-storied log shack with a
mud roof out of which grew weeds
and grass, stood on the edge of the
prairie, about half mile from what
was called the town and something
less than five miles from a large In
dian reservation.
"It was lonely at best, even when
the children-I had only twenty In
the winter-were playing In the
school yard. One day what was my
surprise to see a young Indian, clad
In a bright red blanket, with eagle
feathers on his head and string OF
buffalo teeth around his neck, stand
ing outside one Of the little square
windows, staring at me with ell his
eyes.
He could not have been more than
eighteen. I was old enough to be his
mother.
"I was sharpening lead pencils at
the moment. After he had watched
me for couple Of minutes, an anus
ed expressed on his bronzed face. he
turned to youngster who was play
ing near.
How many pony?' he asked. with
grin. motioning toward me.
1.-The lad doubled up with mirth
at the idea of selling teacher for an
Indian squaw, but managed to
straighten out his face long enough to
reply:
Seven
".All right responded the Indian.
winking. I go fetch EN-
"And he jumped on his pony and
cantered of. apparently post haste
for the seven ponies.
"Of course he never came back.
Teacher remained an unclaimed bar
gain on the hands of her pupils till a
call came to go to the North Yakima
reservation. But the Indian had his
little joke all the same.
"At that time the North Yakima
reservation was policed by Indians.
One day couple Of Indian policemen
arrested two Irish tramps, 1t being
criminal OFFENCE .in. those days, for an
outsider to enter the reservation ex-
cept on business.
1.-The Irishmen were terribly scar
ed. Visions of scalpings and slow
roastings over beds Of red hot Goals
jostled one another In their horriied
brains and their trepidation increas-
ed when they were brought by their
captors into the presence Of a cruel
looking old chief, who sat rugged out
in all his bravery. before a blazing
fire in his tepee.
"They expected nothing else than
to be scalped and eaten then and
there, when the old Indian, fixing
them with his glittering eyes, grunted
out:
"'Huh! Make good Irish stewp
"And that was the worst punish
ment that befell the guilty pair.
"a year or two ago / happened to
be at Knowlton, Mon., on my way to
Ekalaka, about. sos miles to the
south, when I learned that there was
pilgrim. az they call all strangers
from the east, who wanted to go to
Ekalaka, too. That was before the
stage line was started.
"He was afoot and having trudg-
ed all the way from Miles City, dis
tance of thirty or forty miles. was
weary and lame. The poor fellow did
not know the way to Ekalaka, and
did; so after the friendly western
fashion which will not leave a white
man In distress / told him we would
go along together.
"I knew the ranches all along the
way, and I planned to stay the first
night with some friends who lived
about twenty-five miles out Of Knowl-
ton. My companion, who said his
name was Rafferty,, could find accom-
modations In their bunkhouse, was
sure.
well, three hours out Of Knowlton
there came a pelting rain. Going at
footpace as we were, Mr.. Rafferty,
riding my bronco sometimes while
walked and l riding sometimes while
he walked, we were soon drenched TO
the skin. The gumbo. too, was begin
ming to make travelling very sticky
and slippery business, when unex-
pectedly we came upon an Indian
tepee, with buck, squaw, and three
or four children crouched over a
handful Of smoking embers inside.
"I told my companion was going
to remain there for the night. He OBJ
jected strenuously. think he was
afraid Of his scalp, but I told him
should not stir another step, and at
last with Ill grace he entered the
tepee. .... ..-.
1.-The buck eyed us gravely as ex-
planned In Indian how we had been
caught in the deluge. Then Rafferty,,
plucking up his courage, remarked
to the Indian with an affectation Of
careless ease:
"'Very wet, john
livery wet, john returned the
Indian without stirring an eyelash.