OCR Text |
Show ( 34 ' ~nd was the first by his sirfe, followed by the four sqtr~w~, as t f\cr·IT Indian swiftness gave them great advant::~ge over our comparative lo wness, for when we arrived on the spot, Waanataa had already killed and rut to pieces with his tomahawk a big rattlesnal\c, w~ic h had bitten the right foot of poor Maxie. We S':nv at the same trme the squaws running about, and stoopin~ now and th en, but Yonka soon returned alone with a handful of green lea ves, nncl th en she ran to the water-bucket,whithe1· she was irnrned ra tely followed by Ahi-ha h, Lea and 'Ota, who brolrJ!;ht altogether only as many l e ~.n·cs as Yonl(a had bTought alone ; then Dhe tore all the lea ves to piece:s and threw them into the empty buck et, with 'v\·hich sho ran to the spring near by, :md fill ed it half with fresh water; whereupon she ran w~th the Lucket and its contents to Maxie ami Waanataa, around whom we were sfand.ng as anxious spectators. lVlaxle sat tJpon the ground and looked somewhat uneasy, while Waanat:u was qui·etl'y engaged in applying upon the rattle-snake's bite the inner parts of th·e sl iced pieceR of its body. The tirst ~tice was taken from the woull'd after a few minutes, and had tLtrncd black from the effeet of the venom ; then \Vaanataa applied a second and a third slice upon the wound , and 80 on, till all the slices were thus osed up, and the la~t one looked only a little black, which proved that al'l the venom was extracted from the wound, when Waanataa declared Maxie out of danger; bu t Yonka anxiously insisted that Maxle should still put hi~ wounded foot into the fresh water, whieh had been SJturated wi th the substance of the torn leaves, gathered by her and the oth~r squaws; for, as(] Uick as they had seen him bitten, they had run and looked abou~ for these leaves, to save him from dying of the ratl~e- sna1Ie's bite, while \Vaauataa killed it and cut it to pieces for the sume purpose. He told us that either of these remedies was sufficient to counteract the fatal effect of the deadly venom, and that the green lea·i~ whos·e vir·tues thus communicated to the fresh water made rt a saving-bath for t:very person bitten by a rattle-snake, was generally and properly called the "rattle-snake's master "-a novelty for us all. Every one perceived that Yonka's good-natured anxi·ety for Maxie Lad made worse another wound, of which he was suffering since he had see'1 her for the first trme. This induced .Johns- to observe wiHl his usual shrewdness," I guess, brother Maxie, you would rather helve Yonka to heal your heart's WOJJnd, which ails you more than the rattle-snake's bite, I calculate. Well, you must conquer the red girl's love by 'yodling,' which she understands as well as :my bouy else, I presume." Maxie blushed, and we laughed, while Yonka expressed her admiration for Waanataa's heroism, by fastening the rattle-snalte's head to his other trophy, the mouth-end of a wolf 'j ll'kin, which he wore around his shoulder. He smiled at her doin~ f1o, and said something, which none of us understood, a.nd to Gaston ':-; inquiry he answered by shaking his head in earnest, ilence. Nonr' of us durst joke with him about such matter.:;, on account of his misfol'tunes with Diora, which had inspired us with a delicate respect for J is feelin~s ' Tbe weather was exceedingly fine, and the air generally very ~~ear, but the uigh.ts were rather cool and damp fro.m the fal~ing dew, w hich. however bestowed UJPOn us a valuable ad~antagc? m cons.e·wrp~ ence of ~ aa?ataa's advice. As w-e ~·ere sometunes Without good water for dl'lnk~ ng, we sprend out at nrght Olll~ butfalo-rob.cs-pu r, r, ha-sed ·in the Sioux v.'illage-and they contame~ reg~larly every morning about o.ne pint of fresh water ea~h, a rehsh oi ~re<tt value ~ n the absence af s.pr,ing-water, although ·lts taste was a l1Ule stale., lik-e that of ra.in-wat.er. Our five .t-emaitlin.g oxe-!1 we4·.e succes5ive1y killeJ and eaten up., b efore we reached the Plat.te or Nebraska river, although we got ·ome additi0nal supplies in occasionally sho0ting game that ha p-: penec~ to ·come within otlr Teach while w.e trave.lled a~ong. On t he mornin.g of the last day._of N,ovember, ;vh1~e we ate our 'breakfast, our scouts descried "lndran&!" These we saw at_a grea.t distance on a ·hill, and throu~h our telescope we .counted their n~m ber to 'he some do.zens, of the 1.\Iandnn tJ·jbe, as which Waanataa Immedi~ reJy recogni;:,ed them. He <ilhserved by their motions that they 'had di scovered us already, and scarcely hart be told us so when a. cloud of smoke rose up fn~m the hill, where they had made .a large fl re to inform their distant friends of our approach, as .t.lilat of enc. rni~s. They corre ·,pond with each ether. telegrapb.icall.y in_ this manner, as they haJ not yet any m_eans of distant commumcatwn~ ''Friends be not uneasy," sa1d Waanatau. ''They are not mounted , .and ar~e onl~ M and::ms, whose tribe has been visited., som~ years ago, 'by a dreadful scour~e, tbe smal1-pox., and red1uced from sixteen hu nJred souls t@ so small a number, that these two. ~r th,ree do~ens are ;perhaps the last •·emaining Qf alL They have JOin r- ~ the ~lcc:u·e~s, who r()am uboyt in these regions, betweeu the Mrssoun a.nd tne Blaek Mountains there in the north-west. Prepare for a fight, aJt hough I am sure we shall have no fi,ght with them, as they must 5ee by the pt·esence ot ou.r squaws that ~e do not eom: to attack them.; ·but they will probab.ly levy a tax upon us for passing thro_u~h thl:; country, which d@es not even belong to them, properly, as_ It IS tha t ·of the Riccarees. You will merely have a good opportumty of seeing a Mandan war-dance, without any dang.er. Let th?m dance . to ~L heir heart's content. Then I will speak ttJ. them, wbJJe you may, .app~~srent1y, prepare for a .fight., w.l~ereupol} ·you .shall see how glad t hey are if y<Hl will let them go m peace,. gnre them some .pre-sen t s. " · b · Ourin(J' this commu!lication of Waanataa, onr lr1d~an ea_uties were i.ital'lding 0 aroLrnd, and looking thr0ugh t~e tel es~ope, wh1ch ~a:rcl anu GastGn had a.rrnnged for them, to sat! fy th.e_rr nntural C~rtOSity. E very or-te was start1ed when she looked throu~h ll and p.erce1ved the t1erce Mandans quite near,-.a w.onder they coulrl no~ ..compre_he~)1~ f n the mean t ime, we prepared ,to meet the Manuans Ul due warl1 "e .array, without interrupting OIJ!' ma~ch fot· Ionge~ tha~ a quarter of 2n lwnr-~eeessary to secure our lad res arHl our an1 mals from danger :ss much as possible. \\Te proceeded towards the 1-"fandans for about .anot'her hour, during which they also moved on t0wards us, wiH•n Waanataa bade us halt, and rode forward .alone to m.cet them.. He |