The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1924-03-28
| CAPTAINS OF
1 ADVENTURE
BY ROGER POCOCK
Copyrg by Bobbs- NerriuC ompan
By ROGER POCOCK

Bulls Head sat in the chiefs lodge,
sneering at the visitors. Tonight" he
said, Il shall sit in my lodge and watch
for women stealers, and my gun will
be we'll loaded"
So he got up and flounced out of the
lodge.
That night all happened as Wolver.
inc had said, for the Cree war party
attempted to stampede the herd, and
all the Gros Ventres, including Bulls
Head, ran out of camp for the battle.
Wolverine and Schultz found Bulls
Heads daughter ready but crying in
her mothers arms at parting They
mounted, they rode, they thought they
were clear of the battlefield, when sud.
denly a gun exploded in front Of VOL
VERNE and down he went with his
horse. Then the girl screamed, "They
have killed him Help, white man,
they have killed him !"
But Wolverine fired his gun at some
thing that moved in the sage brush,
and deep groan followed. Wolverine
dubbed something three or four times
with his rifle Then STOPPING, he picked
up the gun which had been fired at
him. 81 count COUP" he laughed, and
handed the enemy's weapon to Schultz,
At that moment Bulls Head ap-
peared, and in a frightful passion
seized his daughters horse by the
head, attempting TO drag her from the
saddle. She shrieked, while Wolverine
armed him and flung away his gun.
Then the young lover leaped lightly
behind the girl upon her pony, and the
father ragged astern while they fed.
Four days ride brought them home
to the Blackfoot camp, but Bulls Head
got there first, and whined about his
poverty until Wolverine gave him ten
ponies, also the captured gun. 1t was
not much to pay for beautiful woman
who became faithful and loving wife.
One day news reached the three
main camps Of the Blackfoot nation
that white buffalo had been sighted
in the herds. Midwinter as 1t was, the
hunters turned out, for the man who
killed a white buffalo was held to have
the especial favor Of the Sun, and not
only he, but his tribe. The head chief
Of a nation had been known to use the
robe for a seat, but it could never be
sold, and at the next building of tenn
pie TO the Sun ii was offered up as a
national sacrifice.
Great was the hunting through many
days of bitter cold, until at last the
white buffalo was found by lone
horseman who brought 1t down with
his arrows. when we rode up,' says
Schultz, "the hunter was standing over
it, hands raised, fervently praying,
promising the Sun the robe and tongue
Of the animal. Medicine Weasel
was so excited, he trembled so that he
could not use his knife and some
of our party took off the hide for him,
and cut out the tongue, he standing
over them all the time and begging
them to be careful, to make no gashes,
for they were doing the work for the
Sun. None of the meat was taken. 1t
was considered sacrilege to eat 1t I;
the tongue was to be dried and given
to the Sun with the robe"
Only one more white buffalo was
ever taken, in 1881, two years before
the last herds were destroyed.
Heavy Breast and Schultz were once
out hunting. and the chiefs saddle was
newly loaded with mountain sheep
meat, when the hunters met first
class grizzly bear. He sat up, fifty
yards distant, and wriggled his nose
as he shifted the air. Both men fred
and, with haIr-lifting roar, old sticky
mouth rolled over, biting and clawing
his wound, then sprang up and charged,
open mouthed. The hunters rode hard,
Schultz firing backward a couple Of
shots while the bear, with long bounds,
closed upon the Indian 81 fired again,
and made another miss, and just then
Heavy Breast, his saddle and his sheep
meat parted company with the fleeing
pony. The cinch, an old worn rawhide
band, had broken.
"'Hai va, my friend he cried plead,
ingly, as he scared up in the air, still
astride the saddle. Down they came
with loud thud not two strides in
front of the onrushing bear. And that
animal, with dismayed and frightened
wool turned sharply and fled back to-
ward the timber, / after him. l kept
firing and firing, and finally a lucky
shot broke his backbone.
Do not laugh, my friend said
Heavy Breast; surely the Sun listened
TO my prayer. / promised TO sacrifice
to him, intending to hang up that fine
blanket have just bought. will hang
up the blanket and my otter-skin cap'
There was no end Of trouble about
that bear, for Mrs. Schultz dared not
skin sacred animal until she had sac
rificed her best blue frock, also one of
her husbands revolvers-the same be-
ing out Of order. And when the skin
was dressed, nobody dared to visit the
lodge until 1t had been hidden.
for every paragraph contains some
fresh delight, but these two or three
stories must have shown something at
least of Blackfoot character. / knew,
and loved these people.
In 1874 Schultz was one OF fifty
seven white men hunting or trading
with the Canadian or Northern Black
feet. They had trading forts at Whoop-
up, Standoff. Slideout, the Leavings, all