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Show 438 AU'l'OBIOGRA.PHY OF ing-post, the Cheyennes would say, "No ; we do all our trading with the Crow. He will not cheat us. His whisky is strong." When I found I had obtained the confidence of the nation, I told the Cheyennes that if they allowed other traders to come in I should leave them, and they would be cheated by those who sold poor whisky, that would not make ~hem merry ·half so soon as mine. This may be considered selfish; but I knew that our company was keenly competed with by three or four rival companies, and that the same representations that I used to keep the trade in my hands were freely urged by others to attract it from me. There was also a farther inducement for the Cheyennes to do their business with me, which was founded upon their respect for me as a great brave, who had killed a number of their countrymen. Whether there was diplomatic finesse enough in their minds to reflect that, while I was harmlessly engaged with them, I could not be fighting in the bands of their enemies, and adding to my present number of scalps, I can not pretend to say. CIIAPTER XXXI. Invitation to visit the Outlaws.-Interview with " the Elk that Calls." -Profitable Trade with the Outlaws.-Return to the Post.-Great Alarm among the Traders.-Five Horses killed at the Fort.-Flight from the Siouxs.-Safe arrival at the Fort.-Trade with the Arrapa- hos.-A.ttacked by a Cheyenne Warrior.-Peace restored. WHILE in the midst of my occupations, a messenger was dispatched to me by the chief of a Cheyenne village, at that time encamped about twenty miles distant, with an invitation to visit them and trade there. This village was composed of outlaws from all the sur- JAMES P. BECKWOURTH. 438 rounding tribes, who were expelled from their various communities for sundry infractions of their rude criminal code; they had acquired a hard name for their cruelties and excesses, and many white traders were known to have been killed among them. The chiefs name was }fo-he-nes-to (the Elk that Calls), and he was a terror to all white people in that region. The village numbered three hundred lodges, and could bring from twelve to fifteen hundred warriors into the field -the best fighters of the nation. We called it the City of Refuge. The messenger arrived at my post, and inquired for the Crow. " I am the Crow," I answered. . " The great chief, Mo-he-nes-to, wants the Crow to come to his lodge." " What does he want with me ?" " He wants to trade much." " What does he want to trade?" " He wants much whisky, much beads, much scarlet, much kettles," and he enumerated a list of articles. "Have your people any 1·obes by them?" " W ugh ! they have so much robes that they can not move with them." "Any horses?" " Great many-good Crow horses." "Well," said I, "I will go straightway, and you must show me the way." ''Who will go to the village of the Elk that Calls?" I asked ; "I want two men." Peterson and another volunteered to accompany me; but by this time the matter in hand had reached Sublet's ears, and he came forward and said, |
