The golden west boys, Injun and Whitey to the rescueHart, William S. (William Surrey)
General
The golden west boys, Injun and Whitey to the rescue
Hart, William S. (William Surrey)
Adventure stories; Teenage boys -- Juvenile fiction; Western stories
"Kellogg savvied Injuns, an' used t' say in his paper, 'Hold on a
minute, let's talk this over,' when all th' long-whiskered grangers,
what had come in from Illinois, would raise a holler, an' want th'
United States soldiers t' kick th' Injuns off th' land what they owned.
An' th' Injuns remembered, even when they was crazy with fightin'. An'
just th' same as they didn't touch th' White Chief, Custer, just th'
same they didn't touch th' feller what shoved a lead pencil an' once in
a while said, 'Give 'em a chance.'
"Did they ever find out how many Injuns was there? Not def'nite, but
near enough. On th' tenth annivers'ry of th' fight th' survivors held a
reunion on th' battle-field, an' bein' as I was line-ridin' for Tracy's
Tumble H outfit at th' time, I sneaked off an' went over.
"They'd done a wonderful thing; somethin' that'd never bin done before,
an' most likely never'll be done ag'in. Dave Barry--him as th' Injuns
called 'th' Shadow Catcher'--was a great friend o' Charlie Reynolds,
Barry speakin' Injun talk, an' bein' adopted into th' tribe, an'
savvyin' Injun ways just th' same as Charlie did. An' Dave wanted t' get
the real dope on th' fight on Charlie's account, an' him bein' also a
close friend of old John Gall, th' chief what led th' Injuns in th' big
fight.
"Now, Barry he persuaded--nobody knows how he done it--he persuaded John
Gall t' go along t' this reunion. An' then, as if one miracle wasn't
enough, he pulled another. By golly, he got th' old man t' make a talk.
Boys, it sure was some picture, on that June evenin', t' see that Injun
when th' blanket fell off his shoulders, standin' like one o' them
bronze statutes, with th' settin' sun a-hittin' him. I sure never will
forget it. Old Gall, he pointed here an' there, showin' where
Rain-in-th'-Face was, an' where Crazy Hoss was, an' where Crow King
was--an' all th' rest of th' other chiefs.
"An' then Barry, who was interpretin' for th' old Injun, asked him
quiet-like, in th' Injun lingo, 'How many of you was there, John?' An'
th' old Injun he paused like, while every one waited t' hear, an' then
he pointed to th' ground, an' said some Injun words. An' Barry, he said
in that quiet, firm, even voice o' his'n, 'We were like the blades of
grass on the ground.' So you see what th' old Seventh was up ag'inst,
boys.
"A mighty funny thing happened after th' talk. You all know Will Curley.
He's s'posed t' be th' only survivor of Custer's men. No, I ain't sure
he is. How should I know? I wasn't there, I was with Reno, two miles
away. Well, th' bunch sorta interduced, or tried t' interduce, Old John
t' Will Curley.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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