The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1906-08-11

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of a food The rise was so rapit
| that it was difficult TO keep near til,
centre of the channel. However
about three miles below the island, OF
the west side Of the river, there wa:
a broad fiat which inclined away .(
the foothills, and offered all easy
slope on which to bring our raft te
land.
so we urged our craft in that di
rection, and were halfway down
there when we sighted a big band OF
Indians riding down off the hills to-
ward us. Our Rec women no sooner
saw this party than they became wild
ly excited, gesticulating and crying
out In their unknown tongue Pres
emily one of them rushed at me, beg
ging by signs that l have my men
pull away from shore to the centre of
the current.
Then, as best she could in the
sign-talk, she made known to me the
peril of landing. The strange Indi-
ans were Sioux, she said who had
chased the Rees to our island, and
er to waylay and destroy them The
Rec men who had come with their
women had left them near us for
safety, and had slipped away at night,
in bull-boat, in order to return to
the upper Rec town, and bring par
ty to attack the Sioux
This, on top of our calamity of
food, was cheerful news. We made
a hard struggle to get to the centre
OF the current, which here set strong
ly toward the west. In spite of our
best efforts we drifted to within gun
shot Of the Sioux, who had gathered
upon point
When we were nearing them, a be-
feathered chief rode his pony to the
edge OF the water, and began sign
talk, the purport of which was that
we were desired to come to land and
surrender the Rees upon our raft,
and that if we would do so no harm
should befall US. Furthermore, in
that event they would send runners
to their village to bring all the furs in
camp and make good trade for us.
BY the time the chief had finished
we had drifted opposite, and were
within two hundred yards now
recognized the sign-talker as Lame
Elk, Hunkpapa with a very bad
reputation. Plainly we could not al
low ourselves to fall into his clutches.
I parleyed, instructing my men to
pull away from shore in a careless
fashion.
by signs l indicated to the Sioux
that We had planned to land at the
fiat round a bend below, and that if
they would move down there We
would meet them and talk further.
Diplomacy won for the time, and
we passed out of danger for the mo-
ment. AS we slipped by without j
volley | noted the faces Of those Rec
women cleaning with the satisfaction
Of having understood my purpose.
They knew that the white trader in
tended to foil the Sioux, and save
themselves and their children.
The current now changed and
bore us away, into and beyond the
centre of the food; and then one of
the Rec women pointed out to me,
upon distant bluff, what appeared
70 be hay bunch of elk, grazing and |
ying down, but which she declared |
we're Indian ponies.
"A nearer approach, showing spot |
ed animals, proved her in the right. |
The Sioux on that side were lying in |
wait for us also, and it soon became |
evident that this party had cunningly |
chosen position where the current
If the food set strongly in through
| narrow channel and under pre-
,ipitous range of bluff banks.
We worked frantically at the
building had been watched and our
destruction deliberately planned. Nor
vas it long until we discovered tina.
here was, as one might ray, a de-
ormity in our dilemma; it had three
lorns instead of two! Sioux to right
# us, Sioux to left of us, and our
aft in danger of going to pieces!
Our ropes had begun to stretch
Ind give, and the logs were fast
wearing on them. Here and there
,roken strands appeared, and it was
lear that the raft wouldn't hold to-
,ether for more than two or three
lours.
In spite of hard pulling, we were
wept steadily toward the bluffs lin
d with hostile Indians. Seeing the
lselessness of rowing. we hastily pill
d a barricade of bales and boxes.
I'VE had need of haste, for before
We could get wholly under cover a
light of arrows struck the raft and