Tales of the Trail: Short Stories of Western LifeInman, Henry
History
Tales of the Trail: Short Stories of Western Life
Inman, Henry
Frontier and pioneer life -- West (U.S.) -- Fiction; West (U.S.) -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Western stories
Unknown, perhaps, to the reader, in the very heart of the Wichita
range, in the Indian Territory, there is an immense hill, which, by
triangulation effected during the winter campaign of 1868-69 by the
engineer officer attached to General Sheridan's headquarters, is three
hundred and ten feet high. At its base there is a clear, running river,
or properly a creek--for it is only about seventy feet wide. The shape
which the stream assumes at the immediate foot of the mountain is that
of a crescent, forming quite a large pool or basin.
Under the shadow which the great mass of disrupted rock throws over the
water at certain hours, the pool looks as black as ink. The moment the
water emerges into the sunlight again, it sparkles and scintillates
until it is painful for the eyes to rest upon its rapidly flowing
ripple. That the great elevation of this detached portion of the range
was caused by some extraordinary convulsion, which moved it from its
normal position, is apparent, and curiosity is excited to assign a
reason for the limited area of the upheaval.
The stream which flows so picturesquely at the base of the isolated
mountain is called by the Indians Medicine Bluff Creek; the hill above
it, Medicine Bluff. From the time when the memory of the various tribes
"runneth not to the contrary," Medicine Bluff has been a prominent
and sacred spot in the traditions and legitimate history of the many
nations of savages, but especially in that of the Comanches and
Wichitas. It was a sort of "Our Lady of Lourdes" place, where the sick
were cured in the most miraculous manner after they had been given up
by the celebrated doctors of the tribe. If the party afflicted had
never seriously grieved the Great Spirit, the cure was as sudden as
marvelous; if the sick, who were carried to the top of the bluff by
their friends, had at any time offended the Great Spirit, they died at
once, the wolves devoured their flesh, and their bones were transported
to the "Land of Terrors." Sometimes, when the individual taken up to
invoke the aid of the Indian god had lived an exemplary life, instead
of being cured of his fleshly ills he or she was translated, like
Elisha of old, to the happy hunting-grounds.
The Comanches declared that at night the Great Spirit frequently rested
on the top of the mountain, and when that occurred the whole region to
the verge of the horizon was lighted up with a strange glow, resembling
that emanating from an immense prairie fire reflected upon the clouds.
The Indians also claimed that no dew or rain ever fell upon the extreme
summit of the bluff, where the sick were to lie and wait for the
manifestation of the Manitou; nor did the wind blow there--so that it
was a calm spot, comprising all the essentials to a speedy recovery.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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