Frontier and pioneer life -- West (U.S.); West (U.S.) -- Social life and customs
"Jules went to his camp some miles distant, toward the border lands, and
reflected on what had occurred. He well knew that his life and that of
his companions, and possibly all their property, had been saved through
the self-sacrifice of a young Indian girl, the granddaughter of a Chief.
The morning came and it happened that one Paul Des Jardines, who, with
a small escort was crossing from the Missouri River westward, observed a
solitary Indian girl standing near their pathway. She was slender and
had delicate features, with complexion not so dark as is common with
most of the tribes, and decidedly like that of the Mandan tribe.
Attracted by the strange appearance, Paul addressed the girl in broken
French with the question 'Are you a Sioux?' To the surprise of his party
she replied, also in broken French, in the affirmative. With careful
diplomacy she sought to ascertain if those rough voyagers were really
friendly and trustworthy. Becoming satisfied that it would be safe to
tell her story, she related how, through her effort to save some white
traders, who were camped near the village, her father's band had met
with a serious reverse, and she was suspected by her people of
disloyalty, which was the cause of a disaster to the Sioux. She now felt
compelled to flee for her own safety.
"'Do you know who the men were that you were trying to save?'
"'No,' she replied, 'except that one of them was named Jules.' And in an
innocent manner she added, 'He gave me this ring. If I could find him I
know he would protect me until I could make peace with my tribe, for he
knows that my father was a French trader.
"'I, too, am French,' said Paul, 'and we will take you to where Jules is
in the Crow country. I know him, as we came up the Missouri from St.
Louis the same time.' So Oo-jan-ge, who was hungry and weary, received
food and a pony to ride, and started with Paul's party to the land of
the Crows, the enemy of her own people.
"In the meantime Oo-je-an-a-he-ah and Jules had talked together of
their future, and the Chief had given his royal sanction to their
alliance. On the second evening after Jules' arrival at his camp, a
broad-shouldered, heavily-moustached man entered the camp, and called
for Jules La Chance. 'He is up at the Crow village,' was the reply.
"'Will you send for him to come here at once, and say to him that Paul
Des Jardines desires to see him on an important matter of business?'
"'Well, I'll go for him myself,' said the man, 'but Jules is on rather
an important mission himself. We think that he is arranging to take the
daughter of the Chief of the Crows, and Father DeSmet, the Jesuit
missionary, is in the village, and Jules having been brought up a
Catholic, you know what that means.'
"'Then rush--it is the more important that you bring him here at once.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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