The Colorado statesman., 1924-07-26
CAPTAINS OF
ADVENTURE
BY ROGER POCOCK
By ROGER POCOCK
Copxn by sMertn

riOrs fell to her ak before she tainted
from loss of blood.
Before she was well 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
l gained two trophies" The very res
cue of her had cost the lives of four
warriors.
While she lay through many months
Of pain, tended by Jims head wife, her
bosom friend, and by Black Panther,
Jlm'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 Grow 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
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. l 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 horse
stealing raid into Canada, when he
was absent fourteen months, and the
Crows 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 prlS-
oner. He became her slave, her BROTH
er by tribal law, and rose 10 eminence
as her private warrior.
Jim had founded n trading post for
the white men, and the United States
paid him two thousand dollars a year
for keeping his people from slaughter
fTney ri
tired of Indian warfare, and left his
tribe for long journey. AS a whlte
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 llfe-
Then news came that his Crows were
staying white men, and in haste he
rode to 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, Il make sacri-
flee for my peoplel" 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 she
laid down her arms. Il have hurled
my last lance; l am warrior no
more. Today Medicine Calf has re-
turned. He has returned angry at the
folIies of his people, and they fear
that he will again leave them. They
believe that he loves me, and that my
devotion to him will attach him to the
nation. l, 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 Grow ma
ton, was welded to Pine Leaf, their
great heroine.
! Alas for JIm's morals, they did noe
live happily ever after, for the scala
wag deserted all his wives, titles and
honors, to become a mean trader, SELL
ing that frewater which sapped the
manhood of the warrior tribes, and lefe
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.