CHAPTER XIVSATANTA'S STORY
Next day, mounted on Black Prince, Tom started for Fort Larned. He had stowed the skull of the supposed deceased wolf hunter in a gunny sack tied to his saddle, but the buffalo shoulder-blade he wrapped carefully in the fur of a fox skin, to make sure that no chafing should further obliterate the already obscure record.
These relics he intended to submit to the best sign readers to be found about the fort, to ascertain if any light could be thrown on the supposed tragedy.
As I was writing a letter to send in by Tom, Jack remarked: "We ought to have a name for our camp, a place to date letters from, something more than just 'Camp on Walnut Creek.'"
"That wouldn't be a bad idea," I replied, "but what shall we call it? The only things we see here are buffaloes, coyotes, and antelopes, with a few prairie-dogs and rattlesnakes. How would it do to call our place 'Camp Antelope'?"
"I think it would be more to the point," said Jack, "to call it 'Camp Coyote.'"
"Well," said Tom, "why not compromise and call it 'Camp Coyotelope'?"
"Let it be so," said I, and I so dated my letter, and from that time on we spoke of our winter home as Camp Coyotelope.
Nothing unusual happened while Tom was gone. Jack tended his traps, while I did the wolf baiting and skinning.
On the second evening, just in time for supper, Tom returned from Fort Larned, bringing our mail, and as we gathered around the table we asked him anxiously what he had learned about the dead man.
"A whole lot," replied the old man between mouthfuls, "an' not just what I wanted to find out, either. None of 'em could make out the man's name or where he come from any nigher than we did. I went right to the adjutant's office, where I found several of the officers, an' when I brought out the bones an' told 'em the story they became interested. One officer had heard something about a party of hunters being wiped out by the Injuns about a year ago, but he didn't know the particulars. That writing on the old shoulder-blade attracted 'em most, an' each one had to take it an' examine it. But they couldn't make it out.
"I suggested to the adjutant that maybe French Dave might know something, an' he sent an orderly for Dave right away, an', sure enough, the ol' French-Canadian did know something.
"Ol' Dave asked me: 'Where you find 'em?'An' then I told him all I knew about the matter, an' what the signs seemed to show, an' read to him the writing on the shoulder-blade, for Dave can neither read nor write. He studied awhile an' then said: 'Yes—mus' be same lot. I know 'bout yother two. See 'em bones where Injuns kill 'em. No see this one bones, but Satanta tell me 'bout it one day. Mus' be same one.'
"The story of the affair," continued Tom, "as I gathered it from Dave, is about thisaway: Three wolf hunters with a wagon an' team had established their camp on Walnut Creek, an' from what Dave says the remains of that camp an' the bones of two of the men must be down the creek from here about five miles, on the same side we are on.
"These wolf hunters had just fairly got established when Satanta an' about twenty of his men come along, one day, just in time to see this fellow, whose bones you found, a-starting off on the prairie to kill a buffalo an' poison it for wolves. The Injuns hadn't been seen by the white men, an' after this one was gone Satanta kept his men out of sight of the wolf hunters, all except one besides himself, an' him an' this one rode out in sight of the white men an' made signs of friendship, an' the wolf hunters let 'em come into their camp. After begging some grub from the white men the two Injuns made themselves very agreeable an' friendly, an' by and by a few more of the Kiowas dropped along an' was allowed to comeinto the camp; for I s'pose they seemed so friendly that the white men thought it wouldn't look neighborly to show any suspicion of such good Injuns.
"Satanta told Dave, bragging how slick he worked it, that when he got these wolf hunters in a proper frame of mind an' saw that the sign was right, he give the word, an' they turned loose and killed the two men before they had time to realize the trap they'd got into.
"Then, after plundering the camp, a warrior called Lame Deer took six others an' started off to follow up an' take in the man they'd seen going away, for fear that he might somehow get wind of the affair before coming back to camp and get away.
"They overtook him, so Satanta told Dave, just after the man had killed a buffalo, skinned part of the hide back, an', as the Injuns supposed, was about to cut out some o' the hump steak; an', just as we made it out by the signs, the man, seeing the desperate fix he was in, had cut his horse's throat to make a breastwork of his carcass on one side, an', with the buffalo on the other, had got down between 'em an' give the Injuns a rattlin' good fight, killin' one Kiowa, badly woundin' another, an' killin' the two ponies you found the bones of.
"But they got him at last—at least he killed himself when he was down to his last cartridge—an' then they piled onto him an' stripped everystitch of clothes off his body, but, seein' that the man had committed suicide, their superstitions kept 'em from scalping him or mutilating his body.
"An', now comes a gratifying part of the proceedings, as told to Dave by Satanta, that the signs didn't reveal to us. When Lame Deer an' his party had stripped the dead man an' his horse of all their equipments an' was gittin' ready to return to Satanta's party at the hunters' camp, some of the Injuns concluded to cut out a big chunk of the hump steak of the buffalo that the white man had just stripped the hide off of an' intended to cut out the steak himself, as they s'posed.
"But it turned out that the white man had unconsciously set a death-trap for some of 'em; for he had already poisoned the skinned side of the buffalo, and when the Injuns got back to the camp an' cooked an' eat their fresh hump steak all that eat the fresh meat was poisoned, an' four of 'em kicked the bucket right there.
"Well, sir, Dave says, this so scared the rest of the Injuns that, although they had packed their ponies with a lot of the white men's provender, they were afraid to use any of the food, an' so they piled all of it into the white men's wagon an' set fire to it an' burned the whole business.
"Then, packing the bodies of their dead warriors on their ponies, they made their way backto their main village, some miles down the creek, a little the loser in the long run, for, although they had killed the three white men an' destroyed their outfit, it had cost 'em five warriors.
"The wiping out of these wolf hunters," Tom went on, "corroborates what I've often told you, an' what your own experience ought to teach you, that it's never safe to depend on the friendship of Injuns—'specially Kiowas. Whenever they can get a good chance at a white man, or a small party of whites, they don't hesitate to murder 'em—an' 'specially a party of hunters, for that class they consider their natural enemies on account of the hunters killing what the Injuns claim to be the red man's game.
"I left them bones with the adjutant over to the fort," continued Tom, "as he thought maybe somebody might come along who could throw more light on the mystery. Then I called on Weisselbaum an' told him we were just a-gettin' under good headway poisoning wolves, trapping beaver, an' so forth, an' he offered to buy all our catch—wanted to make a bargain with me right then—but I stood him off, for I think maybe we can do better to take our skins into Leavenworth. Some of the officers wanted to know if we couldn't bring 'em over a saddle of antelope for their mess whenever one of us goes over there for our mail. I guess we can do it just as well as not an' make a little spending money on the side; an', besides, it'salways a good idea to be on good terms with the officers at the post, for we may want favors from them now an' then."
Since moving into our dugout we had found ourselves so much more cramped for room than we had been in the tent that, following Tom's suggestion and example, we had each built himself a swinging frame of poles with a buffalo-hide stretched over it on which to spread our beds. During the day we kept these hanging bunks triced up to the timbers overhead, out of the way, lowering them to within a couple of feet of the floor to sleep in after supper each evening. We found them a luxury compared with sleeping on the hard ground.
Next day, after Tom's return from the fort, Jack and I rode down the creek to look for the bones of the wolf hunters of whom French Dave had told Tom and had little difficulty in finding them, for the burnt remains of their little log cabin, on the prairie, a little way from the timber, attracted us and guided us to the spot. The bones of the two men had been scattered by the wolves, but the irons of their burnt wagon were lying just where the fire had left them.
That their camp had been established at a reasonable distance from the timber and otherwise well located in a defensive point of view showed that these men had had some knowledge of the dangers to be guarded against from hostile Indiansand that they had probably been plainsmen of experience; but, as Tom said, their fatal error was in allowing too many Indians to come into their camp.
We were now—about the middle of December—"doing a land-office business," as Jack expressed it, in taking wolf pelts, gathering them in daily about as fast as we could take care of them. Jack was doing well also in beaver trapping, having already accumulated a lot of fine furs.
Tom had rigged up a press by means of which we put the skins into compact bales and stowed them away in the tent. The tunnel connecting the dugout and tent came up into the latter right in the centre, between the legs of the iron tripod that supported the tent-pole, and he placed the bales of skins in a close wall all around the tent, leaving an open space in the centre around the tripod, and I asked him why.
"This tent," he answered, "will be our lookout station and also our 'bomb-proof' in case of need."
"The bales of fur'll make it bullet-proof, all right," I replied, "but I don't see how we can see out after you get that bank of wolfskins piled up toward the tops of the doors."
"When we get them up that high," said Tom, "I intend to cut three or four loopholes in the canvas, about big enough to look through an' shoot out of, an' over each hole, to keep out the weather,I'll sew a flap that can be tucked up or let down to suit circumstances."
"Great head," said Jack. "A good general was spoiled when Tom enlisted."
"'In time of peace, prepare for war,' was one of George Washington's maxims," said Tom, "an' never was more sensible advice given for either individual or nation."
Usually Jack and I did most of the hunting and scouting around over the adjacent country, but now and then Tom would strike out for a short trip up or down the creek on his own account.
One day, after being out for a short time, he came hurrying back and began to delve in the mess-chest, inquiring for a fish-hook and line that he had seen there, declaring that he had just found a lot of fresh otter tracks on the bank of the creek.
"Why, Tom," asked Jack innocently, "do they catch otter with fish-hooks?"
"No, you numskull," replied the old man impatiently, "the fish-hook and line is to catch fish to bait traps for the otter.
"Now, then, Jack," continued the old man after finding his fishing-tackle and assuring himself that it was in good condition, "come along with me down to the beaver dam, an' while I catch a fish or two for bait you pull up a couple of your beaver traps an' we'll set for otter."
"Well, I guess I can spare you a couple of trapsnow," replied Jack. "I ain't catching as many beavers lately as when I first started in. I think I'm getting the herd pretty well thinned out. But I've done pretty well at trapping, for I've took some thirty odd nice beaver skins besides a few muskrats."
A few hours later the two men returned to camp after having caught some fish and baited and set the traps for otter, and next morning, taking Jack with him, Tom found, on visiting his traps and fishing them up out of the water, a fine otter fastened by a leg in each trap and drowned. Later Tom took a number of otter skins, but they were by no means as numerous as the beaver.
Black Prince, after he became accustomed to it, was a much better buffalo horse than either of the mustangs, though, when two mounted hunters went out, the buckskin bronco, Vinegar, did pretty well for that work. The gray mare, Polly, could not be brought near enough to a buffalo to be used as a hunter. Now and then Jack and I went afoot down to the slough to kill some ducks or geese. Our shepherd dog Found was a good retriever, and when we went gunning for water-fowl we generally took him along to bring ashore any birds killed on the water.
"I want to remind you men," said Tom one day, "that this fine weather we've been having can't, in the nature of things, last much longer. We're liable to have a cold rain, turning to a sleetor snow-storm, or maybe a regular old blizzard swooping down on us now soon, an' we must be prepared for it. Our camp's in pretty good shape, but we haven't fitted ourselves out with fur caps an' mittens an' other fixings to enable us to stand the winds of winter. I propose that we put in our spare time for the next few days a-dressing some hides, an' then a-cutting out and making us a good fur cap an' pair of mittens apiece, an' something in the way of buffalo overshoes, too, to slip on over our boots, an' a wolfskin overcoat apiece.
"Now, the first thing to do is to select the hides to be used an' flesh 'em, an' then get out that package of alum that we brought along to tan 'em with an' go to dressing 'em. Those little yellow fox skins ain't worth much to sell, but they will be just the things for caps an' mittens. I've got an old buffalo robe that we can cut up for overshoes an' put rawhide soles to 'em. As for myself, I've been thinking that the next time I go over to the fort I'll see if I can find enough dressed buffalo calfskins in Weisselbaum's stock—it'll only take about six or eight—to make me an overcoat; for a buffalo calfskin overcoat is a mighty serviceable garment for winter wear."
"You're right, they are," said Jack, "but I guess me an' Peck'll have to put up with a coyote coat apiece for knockin' around here this winter, and when we get back to Leavenworth we'll havea stylish overcoat of beaver skins put up for next winter. What do you say, Peck?"
"I'm favorable," I replied, "but, as this is a partnership business, of course we'll have to pay Tom for his interest in the beaver skins."
"Well," said the old man, "I'll balance the account with you this way. I'll make it a stand-off, if I get otter skins enough, by having me a fancy overcoat made of them."
The caps, mittens, overshoes, and coats were duly made and gave us much comfort during the storms of winter.
Game continued plenty. We often killed antelope within a few rods of our dugout and sometimes had to turn out in the night and help the dog drive a herd of buffalo out of camp.