Hugh Pendexter

“ They can not be harmed. The Cheyennes are their deadly enemies. Knowing the Minnetarees are stronger to-day than the Cheyennes, they foolishly followed them out here. The Cheyennes want to kill them. The Minnetarees say they shall not be hurt. Instead of peace we may have a battle. If that happens we will ride for it."
Now the Minnetarees were returning, the two Assiniboins in their midst. The Cheyennes shouted furiously and gesticulated with their weapons as they demanded the surrender of the newcomers. Choke-cherry rode up to the Cheyenne chief and asked him to call his young men back. ”

“ I promised the Cheyenne chief their scalps if he would give us warriors to go with us to the Mouse. I told you he would make a good trade."
"But they'll be after you!" I softly cried.
"Choke-cherry thinks the Cheyennes crept in and did it."
"It won't do for you to be seen. It might make them suspicious. Don't tell the white woman. Stand in front of the hut. I will bring up the horses. We must cross the Missouri at the mouth of the Knife and ride for it."
"The Cheyennes will be waiting near the Mandan village," he protested. ”

“ I gravely commented. "Perhaps it's best you should."
"The truth is always best," she simply replied. "The fact is there. It would be foolish to hide from it as a calf hides his head in the grass to escape a hunter."
Flat Mouth, who had listened and picked up a word herd and there, now broke in:
"When I was here last, Le Borgne would go into a hut and take a warrior's wife away from him. The warrior never made any fight. Le Borgne is a great chief." ”

“ I rode up a low hill to discover the trouble and beheld two horsemen desperately riding to meet the Minnetarees before the Cheyennes could get to them. Behind me both the Cheyenne camp and the body of Minnetarees were in a boiling commotion. The women accompanying our party were hurriedly getting the horses to the rear. Choke-cherry was bleating madly. Flat Mouth and Miss Dearness galloped to join me.
"Be ready! We may have to ride fast from here. If we do we will strike for the Mouse without going back to the Mandan village," said the Pillager. ”

“ We were afraid of an attack. Word was given for the young men to cease racing their ponies and stay close with the main body, and more than one of the gun-bearers saw that his piece was properly primed and slipped an extra ball into his mouth.
When, within about a quarter of a mile of the Cheyenne camp, a score of warriors came racing out to meet us, on horse flesh that was far superior to anything the Minnetarees owned, their animals' heads were cunningly concealed in masks representing buffalo and red deer heads. ”

“ As I was anxious to go and return before Le Borgne came back, I directed Flat Mouth to engage men to cross our horses, promising them some handsome pipes when the traders arrived with their assortment of goods. The Mandans proved to be as expert in handling the horses in the river as they had been in collecting the driftwood. Hitching a line to a nag's mouth, a brave would take the end between his teeth and swim ahead while others swam alongside and behind the animal. ”

“ I started to lead them away and a hand fell on my shoulder, and the Pillager was wrenching the halter ropes from my hands and hurriedly driving the ponies back into the corral.
"Why do you do that?" I demanded.
"Bad medicine at work," he gloomily answered. "Le Borgne comes back from the hunt. Did you not hear his voice? When he heard the noise in the village he knew something was wrong and has thrown a hundred of his hunters around the village with orders to shoot anyone trying to leave it. We must stay." ”

“ Big Man walked by my side and informed me a hunting party of a hundred braves was due to arrive home after a three days' trip and that, if we would postpone our visit to the Minnetarees, we could procure some fresh meat. I immediately feared lest the Minnetaree chief, Le Borgne, would be with this party, but Flat Mouth explained that the Minnetarees hunted to the south west of the Knife and the Mandans to the southeast, the river being the boundary. We needed fresh meat badly, but the hunting party would greatly delay our journey up the river, so we pressed on more determinedly than ever. ”

“ In every direction were horses grazing on the early grass, and Flat Mouth's eyes glittered as became a true Pillager. All these animals were brought into the villages at night, revealing the Indians' constant dread of their inveterate enemies, the Sioux and the Assiniboins. The Mandans kept their ponies in their huts while the Minnetarees used small corrals. ”

“ Finishing the story of his exploits, the Pillager explained how he was serving the woman with the medicine hair, the most wonderful woman ever on the Missouri, whose father was the mightiest of all traders and who had intended to build a post among the villages so the Indians could always obtain whatever they wanted in arms and ammunition. He significantly concluded with saying:
"The big white chief will send no traders where his daughter is met by mad dogs and screaming children." ”

“ We must risk crossing the Missouri at the mouth of the Knife and striking northeast. If we waited until to-morrow and started from the Mandans we might find a band of Cheyennes waiting to act as escort. The chief told the Pillager he would see us to the Mouse."
"I'd rather start from here to-night and travel alone than wait any longer," she said. "Perhaps Flat Mouth could swing to one side and pick up the Cheyennes. If not, then a ride for it, and a clean, quick death at the worst."
"There must be no talk of death," I rebuked. "We'll go and get through. ”

“ I've said the Indians talked of Le Borgne on the Assiniboin. I've also heard the H. B. men describe him in talking with my father. He likes to meet white men. He treats them better than his warriors do. He's shrewd enough to know he must have arms, and he can get them only through the white traders. From the Indian standpoint he is a very great man. Yes, he's that even by our standards. He controls these villages absolutely, and you know how dearly an Indian prizes his personal liberty. Le Borgne overrides many hard-and-fast rules of ordinary Indian usage. What he wants he takes. ”

“ To be out in the open—to breathe clean air again—anything but this!"
"You've seen so much of Indian life in travelling with your father that you must be prepared to withstand what would shock an inexperienced white woman," I remarked. ”

“ Then did Choke-cherry explode and demand what the Cheyennes meant by putting worthless creatures under the stem when the Minnetarees were giving good guns and powder and ball. The Cheyennes replied they would bring good horses when more guns were put under the stem. ”

“ Nor did I expect any difficulty in leaving the Mandan village. We had come and gone as we pleased, our story was believed, and we had visited the Minnetaree village to consult with Le Borgne's brother.
Leaving Choke-cherry—Cherry-on-a-Bush was his full name, I believe—we returned to the hut and found Miss Dearness seated on a robe before the empty fire-hole and looking very sad. I briefly explained my purpose, and it was worth great risks to behold the wonderful lighting up of the blue eyes as she turned them on me.
"It will succeed!" she cried in English. "It must! ”

“ The Cheyennes rode off in a body. The peace treaty had fallen through because of the Assiniboins. Yet the Minnetarees did not seem to attribute any blame to them and treated them kindly as we rode back to the village. ”