Crow Indians -- Fiction; Indian captivities -- Fiction; Western stories; Yellowstone River Valley -- Fiction
The faint rose of the morning cut the trotting herd into dull shadowy
forms against the gray grass, and said as plain as any words could to
White Weasel: "I, the sun, will make the grass yellow as a new brass
kettle from the traders. I will make the hot air dance along the plains,
and I will chase every cloud out of the sky. See me come," said the sun
to White Weasel.
"Come," thought the boy in reply, "I am a man." For all Indians talk
intimately with all things in nature; everything has life; everything
has to do with their own lives personally; and all nature can speak as
well as any Crow.
Zigzagging behind the herd, they left the smell of smoke, carrion, and
other nameless evils of men behind them, until the bark of wolf-dogs
dulled, and was lost to their ears.
Daylight found the two boys sitting quietly, as they sped along beside
the herd of many-colored ponies. To look at the white boy, with his
vermilioned skin, and long, braided hair, one would expect to hear the
craunch and grind of a procession of the war-cars of ancient Gaul coming
over the nearest hill. He would have been the true part of any such
sight.
"Brother," spoke his companion, "we must never shut our eyes. The
Cut-Arms are everywhere; they come out of the sky, they come out of the
ground to take our horses. You must watch the birds floating in the air;
they will speak to you about the bad Indians, when you learn their talk;
you must watch the wolves and the buffalo, and, above all, the antelope.
These any one can understand. We must not let the ponies go near the
broken land or the trees. The ponies themselves are fools, yet, if you
will watch them, you will see them turn slowly away from an enemy, and
often looking back, pointing with their ears. It may be only a bear
which they go away from; for the ponies are fools--they are afraid of
everything. The grass has been eaten off here by these buffalo, and the
ponies wander. I will ride to the high hill, while you, brother, bring
the herd slowly. Watch me, brother; I may give the sign of danger."
Saying which, the older boy loped gracefully on ahead.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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