Evening star., 1922-07-09

erals name scribbled on a piece of
paper from an officers notebook.
Late that evening l went over
there again from our concealed
camp. but the big. gray timber
wolves nearly got me and / was
obliged to fight my way back to
camp with my revolvers. No sooner
would l shoot down wolf than the
others jumped onto him. tearing him
up and devouring him then and there.
After examining everything the To-
cality had to offer-and there was
deal of tive pulled out to return
to Powder river and rejoin the main
command.
I ASK my readers to bear in mind
that l am writing about the Sioux
Indians as they were in the west
half a century ago. when many. in
fact most of them. would not wear a
single thing that had been manufac.
tured by our people beyond few
beads in some cases. They wore buck,
skin. eagle feathers. furs; they paint
ed their faces. chests and arms in
various ways. sometimes daubing up
tEeir ponies with paint made of diff
ferent dyes. and they communicated
| with us by the use of the sigh Ian
guage. large part of which 1 still
remember. ! was associated with
| them for several years under all sorts
of conditions. and on one occasion I
was informed that il second Custer
affair ever came to pass l would not
be shot. We came very near another
twice during that summer-once
much nearer than the commanding
officer of our outfit ever knew.
At one time our command consisted
of the entire 5th Cavalry and part of
the 3d-cne troop. / believe. There
were eighty Sioux scouts" along. and
one evening heard great hurraa
going on dowa in their camp. to
which no one paid any attention, as
they were given to having various
dances and so on. I shall always re-
get that I did not personally go
down there on that occasion, as !
knew from the peculiar hubbub that
something unusual was on.
AS a matter of fact, a New York re-
porter had visited them alone, to get
| some news items. He got them all
right. Some dozen or more of the
! young bucks had got hold of; him.
had stripped him to the skin. tied him
to a tree. built a fire uncomfortably
close to him and were having a scalp
dance about their prisoner" The
man really never fully recovered from
the shock.
Once I was mixed up with big
bunch of Indians, nearly a hundred.
at the head of a cavalry regiment
1t was an intensely hot day on the
prairies and the dust rose in great
clouds. with gusts of variable winds
to blow it aside from time to time.
This concealed the soldiers in the
rear. so any one in front of us might
easily take the entire command to
be several hundred Indians coming
over the prairie. At a distance and
coming our way 1 noticed an old
man. a prospector, a woman in
sunbonnet and two boys. The man
rode on a miserably thin razorback
horse; the woman had somewhat
better mount, while the two boys
were astride one pony. I noted four
or five Indians trotting out toward
them. The prospector halted, but
only. for a second or SO. He evident
| Iy expected that we were United
States troops. but when he saw COM
ing through the dust a mass of very
warlike e.looking Indians. and that
several of them were riding out to
meet his outfit, he instantly turned
and made off as fast as his crazy old
horse would carry him. his wife and
boys keeping UP as best they could.
The poor fellow was without sad
die and he bobbed up and down on
his wretched mount in a most pain
! full fashion. The Indians yelled. and
yelled and shot over their heads as
| they were doing their best to get
away. Presently the commanding Of
| ficer sent out some men and stopped
| the game, or what the Indians con-
| sidered a big joke. One young Sioux
who was in it threw himself on the
ground when he came in and laugh
ed as though he would die. In the
evening the old man came to me for
| treatment.
4
1--WE had Spider" out with US one
w. summer cousin of the famous
Sitting Bull. Spider was bit along
| in years. a very dark and very brave
Indian. with a decided cast of cruelty
in his features. However. he was on
I very friendly terms with me. though
he never talked much. He hated the
white as a rule. and still more heart
lily he hated white civilization clean
through: On one occasion he told me
that was the only white man that
understood an Indian-a Sioux Indian
| in particular. Once he saved my life.
| when 1 was more than five miles
from the column. and hunting win
young Indian who was not sioux.
We were Joined by SPIDER and party
of four other Sioux and a bit LATER
by four more of the same tribe 80