The Washington herald., 1911-08-13
The Little SiOux's Warning

"But my husband; the horse cannot carry
all three of us
"He hide in wood"
My poor distracted mother scarcely knew
what to do. All this time. father sat like a
statue in his chair. A terrible suspicion sud-
denly entered her mind, and she ran to him.
Placing her hand upon his shoulder, she adj
drtssed him in a low tone. and then gave ut
terance to fearful shrek. as she staggered
backward
"Oh, heaven! he is dead"
Such was the fact. Inc shock Of the news
brought by the little Indian girl was too
much, and he had expired in his chair with
out a struggle. Mother would have swooned
but for the imminence of the danger. The
wild cry which escaped her was answered by
several whoops from the woods, and Chitto
became frantic with terror.
Indian be here in minute!" said she.
Mother instantly helped me upon the back
Of the horse and then followed herself. She
was skilful equestrian, but she allowed
Cbit-to to retain the bride. The horse moved
oil on walk, and the whoops were heard
again. Looking back l saw half dozen
sioux horsemen emerge from the wood and
start on trot toward us, spreading out as if
they meant to surround U.S.
Several shots were fired which must have
come close to us. but just then Chit-to gave
the horse rein, and he bounded off at a ter
rlble rate, never halting until he had gone
jolted that felt as if l should die with pain.
Then, when we looked back, we saw moth
ing OF the Indians, and the horse was brought
down to walk; and finally. when the sun
went down, we drove into dense wood,
where we stayed all night.
shall not attempt to describe those fear.
full hours. Not one of us slept a wink. Mother
sat crying, moaning and weeping over the loss
OF father, while l was heartbroken, too.
Chit-to, like the Indian she was, kept on the
move continually. Here and there she stole
as noiselessly through the wood as a shadow,
while playing the part of sentinel.
, AT daylight we all fell into feverish slum-
ber,. which lasted several hours When we
awoke we were hungry and miserable.
Seeing settler S house in the distance,
Chit-to volunteered to go to it for food We
were afraid she would get into trouble. but
she was sure there was none and went.
In less than an hour she was back again
with an abundance of bread. She said the
house was deserted, the occupants having, no
doubt, become .terror-stricken; but the Sioux
had not visited it as yet.
We stayed where we were for three days,
during which We saw party of Sioux war
riors ride up on horseback and burn the house
and outbuldings where Chit-to had obtained
the food for u.s.
1t seemed to mother that the Indians would
not remain at Lac Qui Pare long, and that
We WOHlu likely 10 Nnu SiIety tnere. Ac-
cordingly, she induced Chit-to TO start on the
return. Poor soul! she was yearning to learn
what had become of fathers body. When we
reached the house nothing was to be seen of
it, but she soon discovered a newly made
grave, where she had reason to believe he
was buried. As was afterwards ascertained,
he had been given decent burial by orders
o. Little Crow himself, who, doubtless, would
have been glad to protect us had we awaited
his coming.
We rode carefully through the wood, and
when we emerged on the opposite side our
hearts were made glad by the sight of the
white tents of United States soldiers. Colonel
Sibley was encamped at Lac Qui Parle, and
we were safe at last.
Chit-to disappeared from this post in the
same sudden fashion as before; but / am
happy to say that l have seen her several
times since. Mother and l were afraid her
people would punish her for the part she took
in befrending us, but they never interfered
with her at all. Probably the friendship
which Little Crow evinced toward our family
may have had something to do with the
leniency which they showed her.