Produced by Paul Dring and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) [Illustration: W. A. ALLEN, AUTHOR] THE SHEEP EATERS BY W. A. ALLEN, D.D.S. [Illustration] THE SHAKESPEARE PRESS, 114-116 EAST 28TH STREET, NEW YORK. 1913. COPYRIGHT, 1913, _by_ W. A. ALLEN _This Book Is Affectionately Dedicated To My Friend_ MRS. CLARA DALLAS. CONTENTS Chapter Page I AN EXTINCT MOUNTAIN TRIBE 7 II THE OLD SQUAW'S TALE 12 III THE GOLD SEEKER IN THE MOUNTAINS 21 IV STARTING FOR THE PAINT ROCKS 30 V A TALK WITH LITTLE BEAR 35 VI CURIOSITIES AROUND PAINT ROCK 45 VII THE STORY OF AGGRETTA AND THE RED ARROW 51 VIII CLOSING WORDS 72 THE SHEEP EATERS CHAPTER I AN EXTINCT MOUNTAIN TRIBE The Sheep Eaters were a tribe of Indians that became extinct about fifty years ago, and what remaining history there is of this tribe is inscribed upon granite walls of rock in Wyoming and Montana, and in a few defiles and canyons, together with a few arrows and tepees remaining near Black Canyon, whose stream empties into the Big Horn River. Bald Mountain still holds the great shrine wheel, where the twenty-eight tribes came semi-annually to worship the sun, and in the most inaccessible places may still be found the remains of a happy people. Small in stature and living among the clouds, this proud race lived a happy life far removed from all other Indians. The Shoshones seem to be a branch of the Sheep Eaters who afterwards intermarried with the Mountain Crows, a tall race of people who gave to the Shoshones a taller and better physique. From what can be gleaned, the Sheep Eater women were most beautiful, but resembled the Alaskan Indians in their shortness of stature. These people drew their name from their principal article of food, Mountain Sheep, although, when winter set in, elk and deer were often killed when coming down before a driving snow storm. Their home life was simple. They lived in the grassy parks of the mountains which abounded in springs of fresh water, and were surrounded by evergreens and quaking asps and sheltered by granite walls rising from fifty to a thousand feet high. Their tepees were different from those of all other tribes, and were not covered with rawhide but thatched with quaking asp bark, and covered with a gum and glue made from sheep's hoofs. Another variety were covered with pitch pine gum. [Illustration: WHEEL OF THE HOLY SHRINE, BALD MOUNTAIN, WYO.]