"Yas," answered John, "plenty war-parties he goin' h'out h'all time,
take plenty horses. Goin' to Crow, h'Assinaboine, Gros Ventres, Pend
d'Oreilles, h'all peoples. Sometime goin' 'gainst white mans."
"And I suppose plenty of people come to war against them, too," said
Hugh. "If they take lots of horses, they lose lots too, I expect."
"Hoh' yas," said John, "plenty horses stolen. Last summer Crows he
take 'im 'bout two hundred, one night. Lone Person he loss 'bout
hundred. You know it Heavy Runner--white mans call 'im Brocky.
Well, seh, last summer, Crees he comin' down pour steal 'im horses.
Somebody see it, h'every body h'running try pour keel 'im Crees.
Young man, Wolf Eagle, Cree shoot it 'im in h'arm. Heavy Runner he
chase 'im one Cree; Cree jump in washout pour fight; shoot it 'im
Heavy Runner in forehead; Heavy Runner shoot it, keel 'im Cree. Heavy
Runner get well, may be bullet follow bone of his haid round, no go
through. Plenty dances over Cree his scalp. War now, not so good lak'
in h'ole days. Too much soldier now; chase it war-party, take away
horses."
"Yes, I expect it's a heap different up there now from what it used
to be; like it is everywhere in the country since the railroads come
and turned things upside down. There's too many people in the country
now, and they ain't the right sort of people either."
"Yas, Hugh, h'ole man, peoples lak' you an' me we can' change, we too
h'ole. We been loky we was borned in good times, mais we had bad lok
we lived too long."
"Well, anyhow, John, I'd like mighty well to go up north again, and
maybe I will some day. When you goin' back there?"
"My not know yet. Maybe one, two mont'. Suppose maybe you goin' back
sem time my go?"
John stopped talking, and taking his pipe from his fire bag, began to
clean and fill it. This was rather a long slow process, during which
nothing was said. After the pipe was going well, John sat back, and
casting his eyes about the bunk-house noticed the bear-skin hanging
against the wall. Pointing to it, he said, "You kill it' 'im bear,
Hugh?"
"No, the boss killed that fellow. It must have just come out, for it
was right fat. There is lots of bears here, John, but no buffalo.
We've got to go more'n two hundred miles to kill buffalo. Last year
I seen one dead one out on the prairie about twenty-five miles from
here, but that's the only one I've seen about here in a long time.
Plenty buffalo up north, I expect."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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