Hugh Pendexter

“ Undoubtedly a subconscious fear of the Sioux was also responsible for the picture of the brown river in April. Some imaginative quality of reasoning, perhaps, interpreted the herds of drowned buffaloes as a symbol of the Sioux's power and remorselessness. When Nature has an opportunity for unlimited slaughter, she turns Sioux and kills on a tremendous scale.
Three seasons I heard the ice give and go out with the noise of many guns, wrenching earth and trees from the banks like some aquatic behemoth with claws many fathoms wide. The first time was at the Park River post above the Pembina ”

“ I left Chabot working over the gun cases and fought my way to the gate and removed the bar, then battled until it had space to swing open. In rushed the hunters; outward surged those already inside. The impact of the two opposing bodies brought the entire group to a standstill for a moment. Placing my hands on the shoulders of two bucks, I raised myself above their heads and harangued them, saying:
"What is the matter with you? Are you all old women? Does a little smoke scare you? Where is Flat Mouth? He isn't a coward."
Old Tabashaw began babbling the omen of the skunk chased by the badger. ”

“ There was nothing so likely to sober the Chippewas as this alarm. Although remaining very drunk in the body their minds reacted mechanically at the dread words and their hostility to us instantly vanished. Old Tabashaw clawed at Chabot's arm and pleaded for protection. Many times I had believed the Sioux were upon us in force, but never had I betrayed my fears. Let the master show concern and the natives become worthless. They will leave a stout stockade that can defy several hundred Sioux, and scatter helter-skelter to the woods to be run down and slaughtered. ”

“ It was a whimsical truth that this exception should be Flat Mouth, a chief of the greatest band of robbers in the whole Chippewa Nation. So it was with lively concern that I watched the changing expression in Chabot's eyes and feared that his face under the heavy beard was developing lines of weakness.
"The only thing to do is to be firm with them," I remarked.
"Yes, yes. Of course. We must be firm," he muttered, trying to frown at the wolf-hunter. ”

“ Chabot's wild outcry threw them into a terrible panic, and they raised a tremendous clamour. These were the very men who another day would pass war tobacco and penetrate deep into the Sioux country and seek desperate odds.
It was always thus, one side attacking, one giving away; seldom did two forces grow brave at the same time. Therein they differed from white men. They required a show of weakness to arouse their courage; then they could be quite terrific.
Old Crow's runaway wife and child now returned to the gate and began pounding it and screaming to be admitted. ”

“ To be rid of the scene I went for my horse to ride out on the plains to try my new double-barrel gun on the buffalo. The horse came from the Mandans and was a noble buffalo horse. He was crazy for the hunt, but I quickly found my heart was not in the sport. He repeatedly ran me along beside bull or cow and waited for me to shoot, while the only ambition I could entertain was to follow the river north, to get clear of Chabot.
The sun was screened off by clouds of pigeons and the earth was cluttered with buffaloes; I did not fire a single shot, although I rode several miles from the fort. ”

“ A scraggy bull that had lost its sight in some recent prairie fire had wandered near the stockade. A hunter had fired a ball into its side.
Now the poor brute was running wildly about, colliding with trees and stumps, pursued and tormented by half a dozen Indians. Blind buffaloes were a very common sight, especially in the late fall when the plains burn in large areas until extinguished by heavy snow or prolonged rains. With all their hair burned off and their skin shrivelled up they prompt a humane man to end their misery with a ball. ”

“ An Indian in rum never profits by an object lesson. So I stood on my guard, watching out for axes or arrows, and called over my shoulder to Chabot. Apparently the test had come and the long threatened uprising was about to be a fact. Chabot heard me, or else he happened to be appearing on the scene, for I heard his heavy step behind me as I faced the infuriated Indians.
"Kill them all! Kill old Black Face!" incited Tabashaw. ”

“ If a man killed a few skins, we treated him as if he were a big chief. Almost all of them had scarlet coats. It was bad enough when we had to cater to old Tabashaw, the drunken nuisance, but when we had to coddle every hunter who made an ordinary hunt it was not only tedious but dangerous. If I punished a man for stealing supplies, he would go down to the Scratching to be petted up by Dearness. ”

“ Chabot looked troubled but did not upbraid me; nor did he rebuke the Indians. With the chief silenced the effects of the drink returned to its usual ruts. A young buck decided his woman was unfaithful and stabbed her in the knee as she was stealing a drink out of his mug. And he would have done for her had I not nearly brained him with a stool. It was not my place, however, to keep the men from murdering each other. Even had the master been absent, it would not have been customary to interfere with their drinking beyond driving them clear of the fort. ”

“ In his bull of Bashan voice he continued, "One of the men is just down from up-river with twenty beaver, six still in the meat, and you ought to be on hand to trade them. Give him a quart of that West Indies rum that's spoiled. The fools think it's French brandy. Tell him it's a present for getting skins while those other skunks do nothing but loaf. Shows what they can do if they want to. ”

“ Chabot was not to be seen, but the bucks and the women were everywhere and several boys were openly fighting over sugar one of them had filched.
I came just in time to witness the climax of one family row. Old Crow's young wife had resented his trying to disfigure her for life by burning her rather comely features with a brand from the fireplace and was leaving him. The old devil pursued her through the gate to make her leave their boy with him. The child, not more than seven or eight, guarded his mother's retreat with great sportsmanship by shooting several arrows at his father. ”

“ Some women came in from the Pembina Mountains, bringing a pack of prime beaver which they were taking to the X. Y. post on the Scratching to pay their men's debt. We had a hut in the mountains and a small assortment of goods to catch the Cree and Assiniboin as well as the Chippewa trade. Had there been any chance of honourably trading for the pack, our men would have done so. ”

“ Unless the license was immediately squelched every white man on the river would fight for his life and most likely lose it. I grabbed a tent-pole and began swinging it in a circle, bringing them down in rows, regardless of sex. Those who could not crawl out were thrown out. ”