The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1924-07-25
CAPTAINS OF
ADVENTURE
Copxrgh by Rohha lComnanx
By ROGER POCOCK
,s-herrnl Company


riors fell to her ak before she faiRed
from loss of blood.
Before she was we'll recovered from
this wound, she was afield again, de-
spite Jim's pleading and In defiance
Of his orders, and, on an invasion OF
the Cheyenne country, was shot
through the body.
WELL she said afterward, as she
lay at the point of death, I'm sorry
that did not listen to my chief, but
/ gained two trophies" The very res
cue CT her had cost the lives Of four
warriors.
While she lay through many months
of pain, tended by Jim's head wife, her
bosom friend, and by Black Panther,
Jim's little son, the chief was away
fighting the great campaigns, which
made him famous through all the In
dian tribes. Medicine Calf was his
title now, and his rank, head chief, for
he was one of two sovereigns of equal
standing, who reigned over the two
tribes of the Crow nation.
While Pine Leaf sat in the lodge, her
heart was crying, but at last she was
able TO ride again TO war. So came a
disastrous expedition, in which Medi-
cine Calf and Pine Leaf, with fifty
Grow warriors and an American gen.
tleman named Hunter, their guest,
were caught in pit on a hillside,
hemmed round by several hundred
Blackfeet. They had to cut their way
through the enemy's force, and when
Hunter fell, the chief stayed behind to
die with him. Half the Crows were
slain, and still the Blackfeet pressed
hardly upon them. Medicine Calf was
at the rear when Pine Leaf joined him.
''Why do you wait to be killed?" she
asked. IF you wish to die, let US re-
turn together / will die with you"
They escaped, most of them wound
ed who survived, and almost dying of
cold and hunger before they came to
the distant village of their tribe.
Jim's next adventure was a horse
stealing raid into Canada, when he
was absent fourteen months, and the
Grows mourned Medicine Calf for
dead. On his triumphant return,
mounted on piebald charger the chief
had presented to her, Pine Leaf rode
with him once more in his campaigns.
During one of these raids, being afoot,
she pursued and caught young Black
foot warrior, then made him her pris-
oner. He became her slave, her BROTH
er by tribal law, and rose to eminence
as her private warrior.
Jim had founded trading post for
the white men, and the United States
paid him two thousand dollars year
/ for keeping his people from slaughter
ing pioneers. So, growing rich, he
tired of Indian warfare, and left his
tribe for long journey. As white
man he came to the house Of his own
sisters in the city of Saint Louis, but
they seemed strangers now, and his
heart began to cry for the wild life.
Then news came that his Crows were
Staying white men, and in haste he
rode 20 the rescue, to find his warriors
besieging Fort Cass. He came among
them, their head chief, Medicine Calf,
black with fury at their misdeeds, so
that the council sat bewildered, Won
dering how to sue for his forgiveness.
Into that council came Pine Leaf.
Warriors" she cried, 81 make sacri-
fee for my peopie!" She told them Of
her brothers death and Of her great
vengeance. now completed in that she
had slain a hundred men TO be his
servants in the other world. So sha
laid down her arms. II have hurled
my last lance; am warrior no
more. Today Medicine Calf has re-
turned. He has returned angry at the
follies of his people, and they fear
that he will again leave them. They
devotion to him will attach him to the
nation. /, therefore, bestow myself
upon him; perhaps he will be content
ed with me and will leave US no more.
Warriors, farewell ]"
So Jim Beckworth, who was Medi-
cine Calf, head chief of the Crow ma
ton. was welded to Pine Leaf, their
great heroine.
Alas for Jim's morals, they did not
live happily ever after, for the scala
wag deserted all his wives. titles and
honors, to become a mean trader, sell
ing that firewater which sapped the
manhood of the warrior tribes, and left
them naked in the bitter days to come.
Pine Leaf and her Kindred are gone
away into the shadows, and over their
wide lands spread green fields. now
glittering cities of the great republic.