Three mornings after, an Assinneboin brother,
or cousin of our hero, for with the Dahcotah race
the words are synonymous, entered the fort, leading
an elegant horse. The animal was of the
wild breed of Mexico, and had probably been
stolen from the Pawnees or some other tribe of
the Missouri. It was richly caparisoned in the
fashion of the Hohays: the saddle was a cushion
of leather stuffed with buffalo hair, and

[figure description] Page 109.[end figure description]

ornamented with porcupines' quills, as were the
head stall and crupper also. The stirrups were
of wood, incased in parchment. A rope round
the under jaw supplied the place of a bit. Indeed,
the Hohays are too good cavaliers to need
such a piece of furniture.

`Come, my brother,' said Okhonkoiah (The
Quick) to Gordon. `I give you my best horse.
Get on his back and come with me to the camp.
A young man has just arrived, and he says that
the buffaloes are more plentiful than the stars in
the sky. Our people are going to pound them as
soon as we arrive. Come with me and see how
your brethren live.'

The bois brulé had neither forgotten his mother
tongue nor the manner of taking the buffalo; and
was therefore more desirous to review the scenes
of his childhood. He took his gun and a blanket,
and bidding Mr McDonald farewell for a while,
rode off, attended by his cousin and a dozen other
Hohays. After two days' riding across a bare
prairie, in which not a tree, nor a shrub, nor a
blade of grass could be seen, they came to the
end of their journey.

The camp of the Hohay nomades was pitched
in a little oasis in the midst of a boundless plain.
Toward the skirts of the wood, horses were
browsing on the elm branches. A few children,
at play on a slight rising ground, were the first to
perceive the approaching company. The alarm
was given, and mounted warriors were soon seen
riding to and fro, reconnoitering the party advancing.
Okhonkoiah dismounted, and made

[figure description] Page 110.[end figure description]

some signals with his robe that were perfectly
understood by the others, for they immediately
came forward to meet them, and all rode into the
camp together. Dogs barked and women scolded,
while the elders looked on in silence. Not a
few children screamed with affright at beholding
Gordon's complexion, and ran to their mothers
for protection.(7)

Having given the horses in charge to the women,
Okhonkoiah led the way to his lodge. It
was such a tent as has been described in a previous
note, and on it were painted certain hieroglyphics,
which we shall not be at the pains to
decypher. There were an hundred and fifty
such dwellings in the camp.

A buffalo robe was spread for the visitor to sit
upon, and his moccasins were taken off as he sat,
by his cousin's wife. Presently a wrinkled old
woman entered, and placing her hands on his
head, cried aloud, and wept bitterly. The substance
of her lament was the death of her daughter.
Anon her tears ceased to flow, and her
notes became joyful. She had now a son, she
said, to take care of her in her old age; to provide
meat, and steal horses for her. On inquiring who
this old lady might be, Gordon was informed that
she was his grandmother.

A dog was killed, and when its hair had been
singed off, it was cooked and set before our hero
and his friends. Before he had swallowed three
mouthfuls of this savory repast, he was summoned
away to a feast in another lodge, and then to
another, and another, and another. He who

[figure description] Page 111.[end figure description]

should take anything away from a table in New
York or Boston, would be thought guilty of gross
ill manners; but in Hohay lodges the standard of
good breeding being, in this particular, exactly the
reverse, Gordon was obliged to carry off all he
could not eat. And so passed the time, till he
was near fainting from the excess of Indian hospitality,
for he could not decline eating without
giving great offence. At last, being admonished
to be in readiness for the hunt that was to take
place the next morning, he was suffered to rest as
well as the night-mare would let him.

The women had built a small enclosure of
sticks and brushwood on the verge of the encampment,
leaving a space open on one side, just wide
enough to allow a buffalo to enter. From this
opening diverged two rows of stakes, planted a
few feet apart, and extending more than a mile.
On the top of each was placed a large sod. By
this simple contrivance are the Hohays and wandering
Sioux accustomed to take the buffalo.

At day break the camp was all astir. The
men mounted, some armed with guns, but more
with bows and arrows. The morning was clear
and frosty, just cold enough to make a little exercise
comfortable. As they rode along Gordon
obtained the praise of his companions. `Eoopee!'[4]
they cried, `Look at him! Look at him! How
he rides! He is no fool. He knows almost as
much as a Hohay!'

[figure description] Page 112.[end figure description]

In about an hour they came to a small herd of
wild cattle, quietly turning up the snow with their
noses, and cropping the grass beneath. The
hunters now separated, and making a careful circuit
surrounded them. As soon as the animals
took to flight the Indians closed upon them, and
drove them between the palisades before mentioned.
Frightened by the sods on the stakes,
and urged by the riders in the rear, they plunged
onward toward the pound at the end of the avenue.
None of them attempted to escape laterally;
such is the stupidity of the animal. As they
drew near the enclosure the pursuers ceased to
press them, and they entered, one by one. When
they were all within, the butchery began. Men
started up on all sides, and bullets and arrows
were discharged in quick succession. Thus
baited, and confused by the shouts of the hunters
and the reports of fire arms, they ran round and
round in utter amazement, till they were all killed.
Upwards of an hundred were thus slain, for they
did not try to break through the pound, which
they might easily have done.

Then came the squaws, with horses and dog
sledges,(8) and cut up the slaughtered animals.
A few pounds were taken from the choicest parts
of each carcass, the dogs were suffered to feast,
and the remainder was abandoned to the wolves
that were patiently waiting around. Such is the
economy of Indians!

In a few days when all was eaten up, another
hunt took place. This was a bolder and more
manly sport than the first, requiring no little

[figure description] Page 113.[end figure description]

dexterity and horsemanship, and not unattended with
danger. The buffalo, when wounded, commonly
turns upon its pursuer, who must move quickly to
escape from its horns. On this occasion several
violent falls took place, yet none were killed or
seriously injured. The worst that the discomfited
cavaliers underwent, was the ridicule of their companions.
Feats of archery were exhibited that
excited Gordon's admiration. In more than one
instance he saw an arrow driven through and
through the body of a buffalo wing on its way as
though it had not left a death behind.

When the chase was over the hunters divided
into two parties, of which one returned to the
camp and the other rode farther into the prairie,
to see if any tracks of an enemy could be discerned.
Our hero, fatigued with the exercise he had
taken, laid himself down and slept soundly. He
was awakened by a terrible uproar. An hundred
voices were crying, `A Dahcotah woman! A
Dahcotah woman!' Gordon rose and ran to the
spot. A woman stood in the midst of a crowd of
Hohays, who eyed her with angry and threatening
glances. They all spoke together, and it was
with some difficulty that the bois brulé could obtain
silence.

When he had at last persuaded them to speak
one at a time, an old Hohay stepped forward.
`Woman,' said he, `who is your husband.'

`I am the wife of Wawnahton,' replied the
squaw.

At that hated name the clamor redoubled, for
of all men, Wawnahton was the most feared by the

[figure description] Page 114.[end figure description]

Hohays. The women unsheathed their knives,
and would have immolated the prisoner on the
spot had they not been restrained by the men.

`Metah Kodah,' (my comrade) said Gordon
aside, to one of those who had remained in the
prairie after the hunt, `where did you find this
woman?'

`We saw three persons afar off, and gave them
chace. Two were men and well mounted.
They made their escape, but we caught the
squaw. Do you want her for a wife, my brother?'

`No.'

`My father,' said Gordon to the ancient who
was interrogating the wife of Wawnahton, `a woman
is a small gift. I am your son. All here
are my brethren. Give this woman to me?'

Unable to comprehend his motive, all looked on
him with surprise. `Do you want a wife?' they
cried. `If you do, here are an hundred of the
daughters of your own people, younger and handsomer,
that you may take. Why do you ask for
this woman, the wife of our worst enemy?'

`I do not want to make her my wife. I do
not want a wife at all. But I do not wish to see
her blood spilled. Have charity for her, my
brethren. She is but a woman, and cannot hurt
you.'

`Are you mad?' they answered. `If she can
kill none of us herself she may have children who
will. Is she not the wife of him whose hand is
reddest with the blood of the Hohays?'

`He slew my brother!' cried an ill favored
savage, forcing his way through the crowd,

[figure description] Page 115.[end figure description]

tomahawk in hand. `He slew my brother, and she
shall die for it.'

And the debate promised to terminate fatally
for the poor squaw, who had till now stood silent,
excepting when questioned. Knives were drawn
and hatchets uplifted. But Gordon snatched an
axe from one of the bystanders, and thrust himself
between the woman and her enemies. `Hear
me,' he cried, `If you kill this prisoner, you
shall kill your brother also. Give her to me, for
I tell you she shall not be hurt. I will pay for
her when I return to the fort.'

`Brother,' said Okhonkoiah, `let there be no
strife between us. Take the woman and do what
you please with her. She is yours.'

And he turned round and harangued the crowd,
saying that his kinsman was too young a person
to be expected to know so much as a Hohay.
He had moreover lived too long among `the people
with hats,' and had imbibed their foolish notions.
Therefore his ignorance was to be
excused.

Gordon had in the meanwhile desired that his
horse might be saddled and brought to him.
This done, he desired the wife of Wawnahton to
mount. `What do you mean?' said Okhonkoiah,
`Will you ruin the animal? Do you not know
that a horse loses his speed as soon as a woman
mounts him?'

Gordon was well aware of this superstition, but
he feared a change in the popular opinion too
much, to waste time in argument. He sprung on
the horse before the lady, and hastened out of the

[figure description] Page 116.[end figure description]

camp. He asked her where she wished to go,
and shaped his course according to her direction.
She informed him that she was going on a visit
from one Siou camp to another, in company with
two of her brothers, (cousins) when they were
seen and chased by the Hohays. Finding that
her steed could not keep up with them; for the
Sioux never suffer a woman to ride a good horse
for the reason above alluded to; they left her to
her fate.

When they had ridden three leagues from the
camp the bois brulé dismounted. `Make the
best of your way home,' he said. `You have no
need of a guide, and you cannot be overtaken, for
you sit on a horse that has no equal in the camp
you have left.' He then turned, and retraced his
way back.

When he arrived he was not greeted with
smiles. Those who had lost friends or relations
by the hands of the Sioux, reproached him with
having frustrated their designs of vengeance. Little
was wanted to turn their rage on him, but
having a very clear comprehension of Indian character,
he was silent, and the cloud soon passed
away.

After passing a month with his red kindred, he
returned to Fort Douglass, and when the ice
broke up, he ascended the Red river to Pembinaw.

eaf381.n4

[4] An exclamation of surprise, having no particular
meaning.

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