Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-07

the Indian scouts of whom he was IN COM
mand.
Did you ever hear" he said one evening
as we were sucking our pipes and watching
shot that afternoon, of mysterious
canyon on the Moreau river, avoided by
the Indians and said to be the scene Of
mighty queer goings on?'
l had heard of the place, but only IN a
hazy fashion, since conversation about 1t
practically taboo among the Indians
and the locality was fully hundred miles
from Standing Rock, and nearly fifty from
where we were then camped. Kislingbury
went on:
II have found out from my scouts that
there is such a canyon and U-se-su-pi there
has confessed that he knows where 1t Is.
reds or what goes on in its depths he can
not will not tell me- We can make 1t
In couple of days easy-the trail is said
to be good-are you game for visit?'
Trekking Across the Plains
And so It was. at daybreak next morn
ing. we broke camp and trekked south
westward over the rolling, sad-colored
plains where the esculent buffalo grass
grew grayer and grayer as 1t cured from
tip to roots, where water was a scarce
article, and a scum-covered pond boon to
horse, mule and man; where the sentinel
buttes looked so near and were so YEARLY
far away; where the owl or the rattlesnake
evicted the prairie dog, and the merry lit
tie ex-tenant barked at shadows while he
dug himself new dwelling. A fascna ting
land. the secret of whose spell no man has
ever yet defined, but one to which memory
and longing turn after years of absence.
Early IN the afternoon of the second
day out from Grand river we reached the
Moreau tknown on some maps as the OwD,
and. was to be expected, found deal
of channel but a scarcity of water. AS we
drew nearer to the fringe of kinnikinnick
willows that marked by broken patches
the course of the stream. U-su-su-pi, q jo-
vial sort Of warrior for Sioux, ceased
his barbaric and tuneless ballads, became
silent, not to say gloomy, and after a
short cogitation said to Kisingbury:
Chief, this bad place. Makes U-su-su-pi
feel sorry. No can sing. We go away
Ell? Plenty good hunting over there?'-
pointing to the east and muttering some
thing about 'ota talo," which he wished us
would be found in the direction he indi-
Gated. Kislingbury talked kindly to him,
sought unsuccessfully to gather why the
place was bad. tried even to laugh or shame
but all pleasant means failing, he dropped
the tone of the fellow-hunter and took that
of the officer, saying:
You told me you knew where this bad
medicine canyon Is, and promised to guide
US there. Do it. and do 1t tonight or the
blue soldiers will put you in irons. You
need not go into the canyon, or even to
the mouth, but must go far enough to show
us the place where the bad medicine Isl
U-su-su-pi stood thoughtful for a space
finally saluted. said briefly: After eat,
go show you.' and busted himself in help
ing the soldiers set up the camp.
''Down Canyon" Wind.
The sun went down before our supper
antelope collops. breasts OF teal. potatoes
baked in ashes. bareback coffee-was fin
ished, but twilight fingers long in that
latitude and atmosphere, and when we
started to get our horses U-su-su-pi said
mo use; not far" so all hands but one
who was left guard, footed It, Within
less than a mile of our camp round a
sharp bend of the stream. in whose stony
bed where shimmered scattered pools we
were walking, we came upon the entrance
OF the canyon. U-su-su-pi did not speak
simply touched kislingbury on the Shout
der and pointed. The canyon was exceed
ingIy abrupt, and the entrance not more
than hundred feet in width. There were
the usual broken masses Of rock at the bot
tom OF the huge cleft. and here and there
the sides chung scraggy conifers or
grarled scrub oaks
AS we entered-an OF us but the scout
who, as soon as he had pointed out the
entrance, turned abruptly and fastened
back, to camp-it was noted that the CANYON
widened and the walls grew more sheer.
We judged the depth to be between four
and five hundred feet and later measure
ments proved this Judgment nearly right
1t was dark. and the wind, scarcely noted
outside, seemed strong and cold. In these
gcrges there Is always "up-canyon" or