第70章

The squaw spread a buffalo robe for us in the guest's place at the head of the lodge.Our saddles were brought in, and scarcely were we seated upon them before the place was thronged with Indians, who came crowding in to see us.The Big Crow produced his pipe and filled it with the mixture of tobacco and shongsasha, or red willow bark.

Round and round it passed, and a lively conversation went forward.

Meanwhile a squaw placed before the two guests a wooden bowl of boiled buffalo meat, but unhappily this was not the only banquet destined to be inflicted on us.Rapidly, one after another, boys and young squaws thrust their heads in at the opening, to invite us to various feasts in different parts of the village.For half an hour or more we were actively engaged in passing from lodge to lodge, tasting in each of the bowl of meat set before us, and inhaling a whiff or two from our entertainer's pipe.A thunderstorm that had been threatening for some time now began in good earnest.We crossed over to Reynal's lodge, though it hardly deserved this name, for it consisted only of a few old buffalo robes, supported on poles, and was quite open on one side.Here we sat down, and the Indians gathered round us.

"What is it," said I, "that makes the thunder?""It's my belief," said Reynal, "that it is a big stone rolling over the sky.""Very likely," I replied; "but I want to know what the Indians think about it."So he interpreted my question, which seemed to produce some doubt and debate.There was evidently a difference of opinion.At last old Mene-Seela, or Red-Water, who sat by himself at one side, looked up with his withered face, and said he had always known what the thunder was.It was a great black bird; and once he had seen it, in a dream, swooping down from the Black Hills, with its loud roaring wings; and when it flapped them over a lake, they struck lightning from the water.

"The thunder is bad," said another old man, who sat muffled in his buffalo robe; "he killed my brother last summer."Reynal, at my request, asked for an explanation; but the old man remained doggedly silent, and would not look up.Some time after Ilearned how the accident occurred.The man who was killed belonged to an association which, among other mystic functions, claimed the exclusive power and privilege of fighting the thunder.Whenever a storm which they wished to avert was threatening, the thunder-fighters would take their bows and arrows, their guns, their magic drum, and a sort of whistle, made out of the wingbone of the war eagle.Thus equipped, they would run out and fire at the rising cloud, whooping, yelling, whistling, and beating their drum, to frighten it down again.One afternoon a heavy black cloud was coming up, and they repaired to the top of a hill, where they brought all their magic artillery into play against it.But the undaunted thunder, refusing to be terrified, kept moving straight onward, and darted out a bright flash which struck one of the party dead, as he was in the very act of shaking his long iron-pointed lance against it.The rest scattered and ran yelling in an ecstasy of superstitious terror back to their lodges.

The lodge of my host Kongra-Tonga, or the Big Crow, presented a picturesque spectacle that evening.A score or more of Indians were seated around in a circle, their dark naked forms just visible by thedull light of the smoldering fire in the center, the pipe glowing brightly in the gloom as it passed from hand to hand round the lodge.

Then a squaw would drop a piece of buffalo-fat on the dull embers.

Instantly a bright glancing flame would leap up, darting its clear light to the very apex of the tall conical structure, where the tops of the slender poles that supported its covering of leather were gathered together.It gilded the features of the Indians, as with animated gestures they sat around it, telling their endless stories of war and hunting.It displayed rude garments of skins that hung around the lodge; the bow, quiver, and lance suspended over the resting-place of the chief, and the rifles and powder-horns of the two white guests.For a moment all would be bright as day; then the flames would die away, and fitful flashes from the embers would illumine the lodge, and then leave it in darkness.Then all the light would wholly fade, and the lodge and all within it be involved again in obscurity.

As I left the lodge next morning, I was saluted by howling and yelling from all around the village, and half its canine population rushed forth to the attack.Being as cowardly as they were clamorous, they kept jumping around me at the distance of a few yards, only one little cur, about ten inches long, having spirit enough to make a direct assault.He dashed valiantly at the leather tassel which in the Dakota fashion was trailing behind the heel of my moccasin, and kept his hold, growling and snarling all the while, though every step I made almost jerked him over on his back.As Iknew that the eyes of the whole village were on the watch to see if Ishowed any sign of apprehension, I walked forward without looking to the right or left, surrounded wherever I went by this magic circle of dogs.When I came to Reynal's lodge I sat down by it, on which the dogs dispersed growling to their respective quarters.Only one large white one remained, who kept running about before me and showing his teeth.I called him, but he only growled the more.I looked at him well.He was fat and sleek; just such a dog as I wanted."My friend," thought I, "you shall pay for this! I will have you eaten this very morning!"I intended that day to give the Indians a feast, by way of conveying a favorable impression of my character and dignity; and a white dog is the dish which the customs of the Dakota prescribe for all occasions of formality and importance.I consulted Reynal; he soon discovered that an old woman in the next lodge was owner of the white dog.I took a gaudy cotton handkerchief, and laying it on the ground, arranged some vermilion, beads, and other trinkets upon it.