Adventure Magazine Cover — page 98: what you’re looking at

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96 And their withdrawal became more rapid > and ended with a sudden dash for some little willows fringing a small creek. To Balise I said: “Medicine Crow is stirring up mischief. I'd give half a season’s pay to know who he really is, anid who is behind him. Some British agent would be a close guess.” “Alas, m’sieur, they are all such liars! Who can we believe if his skin is red?” he sighed. I entertained no illusions as to our late visitors. Driven into a frenzy of rage by the story of Medicine Crow, they would have murdered us to a man had we not greatly outnumbered them and thus would have retrieved their robes and leggings. Yet our explanation had satisfied them, I was sure; and I did not believe they would trouble us again. Richardson spoke a great deal of wisdom when with an oath he declared— “Worst job we ever done was to let that cuss with the tame crow git off alive.” After the naked warriors were out of sight we discovered that the tomcat had dis- appeared. We knew the cat was in the cargo box with the female and the kittens when the savages first showed up. The red rascals, without any clothing to conceal their stealings, had managed to appropriate the cat under our noses. THE creoles needed no urging to make every endeavor to get away == from that locality, but because of trying to pass through a new channel it was not until two days of much rowing that we reached the Omaha River. We ate our dinner on a sand-bar. Three miles up the river was the village of the Omahas, some three thousand souls; and as Mr. Manuel the season before had been compelled to pass without paying his respects to Big Elk, the famous chief, I deemed it wise to repair what the chief must have considered to be a great discourtesy. But astretch of swamp and the exigence of my business prevented the side-trip. A few miles above the mouth of the Omaha we came upon three hunters of that nation, and I went ashore to have a talk with them. The Omahas were always very friendly to the whites. They were not entirely dependent on hunting and did con- siderable farming in corn, melons, beans and squashes, » Adventure —— They were very partial to Mr. Manuel as he introduced among them the seed of the large pumpkin, from which they raised enormous fruit. He also supplied them with the large bean, the turnip and the potato. The hunters told me that several tribes of the Sioux were massed up the river and would surely attack us. They added that these hostiles were much under the in- fluence of Hudson’s Bay Company traders as well as of men working for the North- west Company. I could believe this readily enough, but I was mystified when they pro- ceeded to announce that one who spoke for the Master of Life was appearing to the Indians and exhorting them to kill all Americans. I asked who this sower of dis- cord was, but they could only say they had heard him spoken of as the Light. Their fear in mentioning him even thus ambiguously was genuine. Indubitably they considered the newcomer to possess supernatural powers. They insisted that in his abrupt appear- ance in a village he was like a ghost. No _one saw him till he was standing inside a council circle. as baffling. Let a story get started among the red men, especially if it smacks of the super- normal, and its most absurd phases are eagerly believed. I had talked with men who had fought against Pontiac and who had told me much of how that great leader had gained followers by arousing their fears. What the hunters told me was not news for my creoles to hear; but I took the first His departure always was opportunity to pass it on to my hunters. ‘“‘Some Indian has made them believe he has a medicine that will kill all the white people,” murmured Balise. “He’s fetched them a new dance and some new medicine and worked a new bag of tricks,’ snorted Richardson in disgust. “Nothing like lead pills to break up that sickness.” : That afternoon we made Floyd’s River, named after Sergeant Charles Floyd, a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and the first United State soldier to die west of the Mississippi. He had died near the mouth of the creek and was buried on the bluffs. The current was sluggish, and the patron decided to push on between the low banks. There was a scattering of small trees along the shores, but otherwise the country was COMMICLOOOKS (C@