BIG ELK PRAYING TO THE MANITO,—See page 65,
LEGENDS

OF THE

MISSOURI anp MISSISSIPPI.

BY

M. HOPEWELL, L.L.B., M.D.,
AUTHOR OF THE “LIFE OF DE WITT CLINTON,’’? ‘THE GREAT WFST,’?
‘¢ MISSISSIPPI VALLEY,’’ ETC., ETC.

IN THREE PARTS.
PART I.

RRA Snes nn nnn

E. F. BEADLE AND COMPANY,
LONDON: 44, PATERNOSTER ROW;

NEW YORK: 141, WILLIAM STREET.

 
LONDON *
J, CLAYTON AND CO., PRINTERS,

17, BOUVERIE STREET.

 
PREFACE.
table

Two centuries ago, the thousands of miles of space where
course the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers were compara-
tively unknown to the white man. The former river had
been but partially explored by two expeditions—one under
the direction of Hernando de Soto, and the other, partaking
more of the character of personal adventure than of an
expedition, was conducted by Father Marquette, the Jesuit
Missionary of Rouen. ‘The course of the Missouri was
wholly unknown.

The regions bordering on these rivers were inhabited
by numerous tribes of wild and warlike Indians, nearly all
of whom have melted like mists before the solar beam of
civilization; and where the lowly wigwams sprang up into
an Indian village; and where towered the forests, and where
rang the echo of the war-whoop, now are seen exténsive
cities, fields, and gardens, and nothing is heard but the
social hum of progressive civilization: yet many of the
rivers, rocks, and localities still preserve the significant
names given by the red man; and some of these are
subjects of wild traditionary narrative, which, with some
rude symbols, form the literature of the North American
Indian, Like Sibyl leaves that have heen scattered by the
winds for years, the collection of these traditionary legends
has required much time, labour, and research ; many of
them have been lost—many of them mutilated, and the
genuimeness of others is questionable ;—but few, indeed,

remain entire and reliable.

 
  

8 LEGENDS.

himself upon the black soil, he was soon engaged in tearing to
pieces a huge piece of dried beef with infinite satisfaction,
throwing the most gristly portions to his dog, which was
attentively waiting those morceaue of his master’s bounty.

The hunter was a Canadian Frenchman, small in stature,
but firm and perfect in his build, and the muscles of his
brawny arms, which were exposed, seemed almost as
knotty and hard as the stubborn oaks of the forest.

Indulging from a boy in the lonely excitement of savage
life, Pierre Brante, for that was the name of the man, had
become celebrated as a hunter—the most daring and enter-
prising then known. He had pushed his discoveries in the
wilds where the white man never trod before, had lived
among the mest barbarous tribes of Indians, and, on many
occasions, had miraculously escaped with his life from their
savage fury; yet, adventure had a charm which always
kept him outside the pale of civilized life, and now, he was
the first of the whites, who had ever ascended the turbid

raters of the Missouri. He was at home in the wilderness,
and in that solitude where we have described him, though
hundreds of miles from civilization; yet he had all con-
fidence and self-reliance, and enjoyed his frugal meal with
a gusto and quietness unknown to the eastern monarch
encircled with his life-guards.

Suddenly, the dog of the hunter pricked up his ears and
uttered a deep growl. In a moment, the rifle of Pierre
was in his hands, and speaking to his dog, which, at a com-
mand, lay upon the earth, motionless, by his side, he
waited, for a few moments in silence, Presently, an in-
distinct tramp was heard, then a low grunt, and, pushing
aside the overhanging branches, an immense black bear
turned an angle in the path, and was within a few feet of
Pierre before he could be seen.

Bruin, who was very large and fat, was perfectly as-
tonished at the sight of a white man, the first that he had
ever scen, and fear and astonishment, for a moment, so

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
   
THE OSAGE LNDIANS,. 9

varalyzed him, that he did not immediately retreat. This
loss of time, cost him his life; for, Pierre deliberately fired
at his head, the ball entering the right eye, and: taking a
diagonal direction, from coming in contact with a thick
cranium lodged in his shoulder.

On receiving the wound, the bear tossed his head con-
vulsively, and, with his tongue far protruding from his
mouth, rushed upon the hunter, who had ceaires from his
leathern belt, a huge knife, and was standing upon the de-
fensive. The beng. had risen upon his hind-legs, and, at
that moment, the knife, aimed at his heart, by a sudden
movement on the part of the beast, struck the shoulder, in-
flicting a painful wound, and adding to the enraged animal’s
fury. In an instant, powerful and adroit as he was, the
hunter was borne to the earth, the foaming mouth of the
bear was on his throat, his monstrous paws were on his
breast, when Cato, with a powerful spring, joined in the
contest, and caused the cea to turn his attention to him.
Poor Cato! he died a martyr to his affection for his
master, for, in a moment, he was seized in the fatal em-
brace of the bear, and, when released, was a gasping,
bruised mass. Pierre and the bear were now left alone to
combat, and rolled together in the underwood, engaged in
mortal conflict. The hunter was dreadfully torn, and this
would have been his last battle, had not an Indian rushed to
the spot, and shot an arrow through the vital regions of
the brute.

Thus rescued from death, Pierre slowly arose from the
earth, bleeding and mangled, while his deliverer, by looks
and signs, exp weeeied his wonder. The red man had never
seen before the white skin of the Caucasian race, and walked
and capered around him like one moon-struck, until Pierre,
from loss of blood, reeled and ie and then the savage,

with tender solicitude, gathered some healing herbs, and,
bruising them, gently Boplied the styptic to the bleeding
wouiee: Soon the ficeting senses of the hunter were

 
  

LEGENDS.

recalled, and he felt revived by the soothing applica-
tion.

Pierre could speak several tongues of the American
Indians, and this knowledge often availed him. The red
skin and he could partially understand one another, and
sach liked the other from the first. The white man felt
grateful to the savage for his life ; the Indian felt grateful
to the white man for his gratitude. The bond of brother-
hood was established.

By the advice of the savage, they remained in the place
where they were until nightfall, and then, after bury-
ing the remains of poor Cato, they entered the little boat
of the hunter, and pulled up the stream of the wild
Missouri.

We have now to relate how the Indian so opportunely
fell in with the hunter at so critical a juncture. He was
a young warrior of the warlike tribe of the Wabashas,
known to us by the name of the Osages. He wished to do
some deed of daring, that his fame might become great
among the warriors of his tribe, and which would entitle
him to a seat in the war-council. He had sallied forth
alone, to visit the country of the Kickapoo warriors, the
deadly foes of the Wabashas, more than a hundred miles
from his village. Three days of travel brought him into
the enemy’s country, and then, with all the adroitness of
the panther, he hung around their village, until two scalps
dangled as trophies from his belt. At the time of his for-
tunate meeting with Pierre Brante, he was returning from
his successful journey ; but he knew that his enemies were
upon his track, for he had seen, from the tree-tops to which
he often ascended to make observations, the smoke curling
from ‘their encampment. This he communicated to his
white friend, to increase his caution; and this was the
reason they voyaged only after nightfall.

It was on the third day of their fellowship, and the sun
was just sinking beneath the western horizon, when, as they

   
  
   
    
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    
THE OSAGE INDIANS, 11

were on the eve of coming out of their hiding-place, and
recommencing their journey, they perceived two canoes
suddenly shoot from a bend in the river, and only some
sixty yards distant from their little boat. The Indian re-
cognized immediately, in the four warriors they contained,
a band of the Kickapoos, who were on his track for ven-
geance. Pierre, who was somewhat recovered from his
wounds, immediately raised his rifle, and, at its report, one
of the warriors toppled into the water. The other canoe
shot forward like lightning, both of the warriors discharging
their arrows at Pierre, who fell insensible, though not mor-
tally wounded, the young Indian having hid himself in the
forest.

Pierre had stood to defend his boat, which, if lost, could
not be replaced in the country in which he then was. He
had quickly reloaded after his first fire, and had raised his
rifle again to the shoulder previous to receiving the arrows,
but the flint used exclusively, at that time, missed fire, and,
ere he could again cock the gun, he lay senseless on the
earth. The two warriors sprang to scalp the fallen hunter,
but the friendly Indian behind cover, with the war-whoop
of the Wabashas thrilling from his lips, sped an arrow to
the heart of one, and rushing upon the other, despatched
him with the knife of Pierre, which he had snatched from
his belt.

The warrior in the ether canoe turned his course down
stream, and was net pursued, the young Wabasha warrior
attending at once to Pierre, who was badly wounded. One
of the arrows had penetrated the thigh, in its fleshy
part, and the other had struck the temple, and glanced
around the left ear, cleaving in the middle that useful
member, wiihout injuring, however, its utility. Again the
young Indian called into requisition his rare medicinal
knowledge. Roots of various plants were bruised by stones,
«eaves were chewed, and, being mingled together, formed a
healing poultice; and in a little while Pierre awoke from

 
  

LEGENDS,

his death-like trance, and his fleeting senses once more
resumed their sway; yet his state was critical, as the
wounds had become inflamed, and caused a burning fever,
which for several days confined the two friends to the e spot
in which they then were. The young Indian was unremit-
ting in his attention to his white brother; and, such was
the skill he displayed in dressing the wounds, and guarding
against any possible surprise, t that the French hunter called
him Oh! Sage, signifying, in English, Oh! wise one. This
is the origin of mie name of fs Osage, which we have be-
stowed upon the Wabasha nation.

fter resting a few days, Pierre recovered his strength,
and, at the earnest solicitation of his swarthy friend, con-
sented to visit the country of the Wabashas. They were now
but one day’s journey from the chief village of the nation;
and, after securely hiding their little boat, left the great
river thay had been ascending, and struck off into the inte-
rior. They had not proceeded far when, on the banks of a
small stream, Pierre discovered a beaver sitting quietly,
enjoying the sunshine. His rifle in a moment was levelled,
but was instantly struck down by the Wabasha warrior,
who asked him, in a voice expressive of the most sensitive

emotion, if he would kill a brother of the Wabashas ?
’

c,
Lc
sd
U

}

Pierre looked at his friend in surprise, who gently took
him by the hand, and led him to the dam which the beavers
had constructed with a skill surpassing all the perfection of
the most skilful engineering. With a strange pride, the
youthful warrior pointed to the rare construction, and
watched with admiration the appearance, at intervals, of the
little builders as they arose to the surface of the dam to
make observations.

" besccayese said the Indian, “ listen to the history of the
Wabasha, the mighty nation of the red men.”

 
 
     
  
   
  
   
  
 
 
 
     
 
   
  
 
    
     
  
   
   
   
   
  
     
THE OSAGE INDIANS. 13

Tar Wasasna Lugenp.

“When the sun was young, and man had no existence,
a snail lived upon the banks of this river for many years ;
but, a mighty flood came, and washed him into the great
river which we ascended. Far, far down the stream, the
waters swept him, and threw him upon the sand, a hundred
miles from his home. The snail was overwhelmed with
grief, and asked the Great Spirit to remember his innocence
and his weakness, and restore him to his home. The Great
Spirit heard his prayer, transformed him to a Wabasha
warrior, gave him a bow and arrow, taught him their use,
and guided him on his way. When he came to this stream,
the king of the beavers haughtily inquired his business.
The Wabasha replied, that he had before lived by the
stream, though in the form of a snail, and had always been
on the most friendly terms with the beaver. The beaver
was incredulous, and would have forbidden his staying, but
the eldest daughter, the most beautiful of the beaver race,
interceded for the youthful Wabasha, and a truce was
agreed upon. Then the Wabasha, captivated by the
beauty of the young beaver and her goodness of heart,
implored the Great Spirit to change her form, and give her
to him for a companion. The Great Spirit consented. The
young beaver was changed to a beautiful young squaw, was
married to the warrior, and from the union sprung the
mighty nation of the Wabashas. Never kill the beaver,
my brother, for a beaver was the first mother of the
Wabasha.”

Next day, the Indian warrior and his white friend arrived
at the village of the Wabashas, and were welcomed with
the most extravagant demonstrations of joy; for they
thought the young warrior dead, and he had returned to

 
  

LEGENDS.

them with four scalps of the Kickapoos. He was readilsy
styled a brave, and admitted to the war-council.

Pierre, as the friend of the young brave, was viewed with
much curiosity by the nation, and treated with the greatest
kindness. After a sojourn of several months, he departed
again for his distant home in the Canadas, and, among his
former comrades, often discoursed of his Indian brother,
whom he called Oh! Sage (Osage); and, in after years,
when the French established the western settlements, they
gave to the whole nation the name which had originated
with Pierre in his lonely journey.

Many years have since passed, and the mighty nation of
the Wabasha has scarcely an existence. They have sold
their hunting-grounds; lost every vestige of national pride;
and, for the sake of fire-water—that bane of Indian life—
killed the beaver of their rivers, which, in the days of their
simplicity and innocence, they had regarded with more than
fraternal reverence.

 
  
 
   
   
 
 
 
   
   
    
15

THE CROSS-MARK ON THE ROCKS,
@ Lrgent of the Missnuri.

—_— o———

On Monday, the 12th of October, 1805, at the break of
day, three men, dressed in hunting costume, were following
an Indian trail which wound indistinctly through the nar.
row defiles of the Rocky Mountains. All three were in the
prime of life, browned by exposure ; and each carried a
rifle on his shoulder, and pistols in his belt. The narrow
path followed the serpentine windings of the Missouri,
which had now become so diminutive in its size, that one
of the men, where the river was condensed into a very
narrow compass by an abrupt gap in the mountains, with-
out much effort, straddled the stream, at the same time
calling to his companions to be witnesses to the feat. The
sunburnt visages of the three men were lighted up with a
strange joy, as they saw the great river thus reduced in its
size. They felt that their long, fatiguing journey was
nearly over.

These three men were a portion of the exploring expedi-
tion sent out by the Congress of the United States of Ame-
rica, in 1803, to reach the Pacific by the Missouri and
Columbia Rivers. It was commanded by Captains Lewis
and Clark; and Captain Lewis was one of the three men
we have described.

“Thank God!” he exclaimed, when he saw the man
straddling the stream—‘ the source cannot be far off, and,
if my anticipations are realized, this will be the proudest
day of my life.”

As the party advanced, the river grew smaller and smaller,
until it became a little rivulet; and then, at last, from the

 
  

LEGENDS,

 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
   
  
 
   
 
 
 
 
    
  
 
 
 
 
 
    
 

foot of a high range of mountains, they saw, oozing from its
rocky bed, the fountain waters of the Missouri. No weary
pilgrim ever knelt with greater joy at the Prophet’s Tomb,
in Mecca, after his desert wanderings, than those three
men knelt by the icy stream, starting from its adamantine

bed, to drink its cooling water. All the incidents of so many 4
a :
months’ travel rushed in a moment to their memories, &

They had encountered wild beasts and treacherous savages ; .
had eaten roots and dog-flesh; had slept amid drifting .
snows; had suffered from disease and famine; and now, _
when they saw the fountain of the great river which they
had traced for so many thousands of miles, bubbling fron:
its rocky bed, a flood of joy rushed to their souls, and they
felt recompensed for all the hardships of the past. No
white man, as they thought, had ever seen the source of
the Missouri before, and their names would be on the
records of their country, and symbolling the escutcheons of
fame.

They looked upon the broad surface of a mighty rock
which helped to form the base of the towering mountain a
They saw plainly furrowed on its hard front a cross; but !
how it came there was the mystery. No white man ever
stood there before. They thought it was probably an acci-
dental assimilation made by the Indians, as’ they were
shaping some figure or symbol, as they sometimes do, and
with this supposition dismissed the circumstance from their
minds ; but there is a legend connected with that cross, and
thus it runs ; |

Tur Leann.

Don Diego Perez was born of one of the most influen.
tial families in Old Castile, and was the only child of his
wealthy parents. He was the idol of the household, and
the child of indulgence; yet, in so noble a mould had he

Se XE

  
=

THE CROSS-MARK ON THE ROCKS, [y¥

been formed by a Divine Providence, that his pure instincts
shrank from any contact with corrupted pleasures and
vicious indulgence. Directly his young mind could appre-
ciate instruction, he was supplied with distinguished pro-
fessors, and, as years advanced, his intellect developed its
rare powers, and grasped, almost by intuition, the varied

is hooks were his vade mecum,

>
learning of the day. Hi

and, save his instructors, he cut himself off entirely from
social intercourse, though the rare talent of the land, and
distinguished strangers ever crowded the spacious halls of

his. parents.

His father becoming alarmed at his intense application,
andhis dislike to society, used every means to win him from
the one, and ingratiate him with the other.

The filial virtue of Ulysses’ son, unshorn of any of its
lustre, adorned the manly character of Don Diego. He, at
once yielding to the persuasions of his parents, mingled
with the crowds in the drawing-room, and tried to take
some interest in the pursuits of the leau monde, but his
nature had been formed of elements so dtlicate and ethereal
-~ it conld not bear without injury the contact of worldly

sociation. Though his mind was stored with the different
brehaeeak of knowledge, yet he was more anxious to conceal
than make a display of his acquirements. The highly-exalted
position of his father, together with his own striking de-
meanour, made his acquaintance aeoaaht after and courted
by the most distinguished; yet, resel ven though gentle
was his conduct. He never warmed into joy, though the
smile of innocence and virtue ever rested upon his expres-
sive features. A nature possessing such pure and holy
attributes, would naturally assimilate itself to whatever

 

s; consequently, he was car

ws ‘ . ¢
zion, and, at the matin and vesper

was of tangible goo
bued with a love of
hour, wus alwavs ready at his devotional exercise.

 

“The father of Don Diero was proud of his titlke—proud
of his ancient family—proud of his escutcheon, which was the

 
  

 

18 LEGENDS.

most brilliant of the Spanish nobility, for he was a descend-

ant of that great Alphonso who rescued the kingdom of

Castile from their Moorish conquerors, and whose family

were remarkable for their valiant exploits at that chivalrous

period. He could have wished that Don Diego should have

had a passion for arms, for which his ancestors had been

remarkable ; but the lance and jousting tournament had no

attractions for him, though every pains had been taken to

win him to the attachment of these, then accomplished pur-

suits. Don Diego liked them not—he was a student.

All the learning of former times became his own, and

the love of general knowledge became a ruling passion,

yielding its supremacy only to the sacred truths revealed by

the missal. Proud of his son’s literary accomplishments,

yet mortified at the serious turn of his mind, no effort was

left untried to draw his desires into other channels, and

excite in his youthful heart some portion of the frivolous

exuberance belonging naturally to his age. All trials were

vain ; and Don Diego, on attaining his majority, asked per-

mission of his father to devote himself to the church. The

father sternly refused; for the state of celibacy essential to

the church devotee would for ever preclude the possibility

of issue, and thus cut off the transmission by descent of*the

proud family of Perez. The blood of the old Spanish noble

ran like wildfire through his veins, and he declared in the
heat of his wrath, that he would prefer seeing his son pale in
his death-shroud, than witness him wearing the cassock, the
cowl, or even the mitre. These words, nothing in them-
selves but the natural effusion of passion, were heard by
some watchful spy of the Inquisition, and soon came to the
knowledge of its ministers.

One stormy night, a few weeks after this event, the
Court of the Inquisition was in session. Three judges, in
black robes, were in their seats, and a culprit stood before
them, not with blanched look and craven heart, but with
proud and scornful brow, and a frame uncowering and

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
    
 
   
   
 
   
 
    
  
  
   
   
  
   
THE CROSS-MARK ON THE ROCKS. 19

unshrinking though alone in the midst of enemies. It was
the father of Don Diego Perez.

The clerk of the dread tribunal read the indictment,
charging him (Don Pedro Perez) with uttering treasonable
words, tending to bring the Kingdom and the Holy Church
into disgrace and danger. The treasonable words were
then alleged in the indictment, and what was the surprise
cf Don Pedro, on hearing the identical words he had
spoken to his son, Don Diego, when he asked his_permis-
sion to devote himself to the church!

The old nobleman, true to the instincts of his noble
ancestry, at once, knowing his danger, avowed the fact,
and would have explained the circumstance which would
immediately have divested the speech of all treasonable or
heretical meaning, but was prevented and ordered to a deep
cell on the ground-floor. Most of those who were sent
to those damp and dismal dungeons had seen their last of
the world, and the little span of their after existence was
passed amidst toads and scorpions, and the wearing tor-
ments of a suffering solitude. At the imprisonment of his
father, the filial tenderness of Don Diego fully developed
itself. He repaired to the king, who listened to his pro-
testations of his father’s innocence coldly, and peremptorily
refused to interfere with the edicts of the Inquisition. He
then repaired to the Inquisition itself, but only after
repeated entreaties through letters, for many days, was he
admitted to the presence of the Chief Inquisitor. He com-
menced pleading his father’s cause, but was ordered to
desist and hear his own sentence. Then was read to him,
from a parchment to which was appended the royal seal,
an order that he should leave the dominions of Spain
Within fifteen days under penalty of death. He was then
led into another room, where, on atable lay a coarse coffin,
covered with a black pall. This was pulled aside by one
of the officials, and Don Diego, on looking on the up-
turned face of the possessor of the last tenement, fell

 
  

  

20 LEGENDS.

staggering on the floor. He had seen his father—a
corpse.

When Don Diego recovered his consciousness, he was
lying in a drug shop in the city, from which place he pro-
ceeded post haste to his ancestral mansion, where he hoped
to pour out his sorrows on that bosom to which he had nestled
in his infancy. This hope was blasted. On approaching
the mansion, he saw soldiers within the gates, and the old
valet of his father was sitting by the wayside leading to the
park. The old man sprang up as he recognized his young
master’s voice, and a ray of gladness, for a moment, stole
over his troubled features.

Don Diego’s first inquiry was after his mother. With-
out answering him, the faithful servant led him to the
cemetery, where he saw among the proud monuments and
significant epitaphs of the illustrious dead, of an illustrious
family, a fresh grave, and by its side the old valet stopped.
Two garlands of flowers were hung on a little crucifix at
the head. The old man then grasped his young master’s
hand, with tears streaming down his furrowed cheeks, and,
with his right hand pointing to the skies, said, ‘there is
the spirit of your sainted mother; and here, beneath this
new made earth, is her body!”

With all his mortal hopes now blighted, Don Diego
looked to heaven. From his lips was breathed a whisper-
ing prayer to God and his angels; and then the demon of
despair fled from his bleeding heart, and resignation spread
her cygnet pinions over the abraded surface. He then lis-
tened calmly to the narrative of the faithful domestic who told
him that, in four days after his departure, his mother was
attacked by paralysis, and in a few hours expired. The
servants had kept her body in state for a few days, and
then buried it. The nobility of the surrounding country
did not attend the funeral, fearing to manifest any sym-
pathy with a family under an anathema of the Inquisition.
‘Yesterday,’ continued the valet, “a party of soldiers

 

 

   
THE CROSS-MARK ON THE ROCKS. 21

came to the walls, ordered the drawbridge to be let
down, and commanded all the servants to leave the place;
as the whole ee was confiscated by order of the
king.” At that juncture, an officer approached them, and,
raising his hat to Don Diego, politely informed him,that
the property had passed into other hands, and that his
orders were absolutely to expel him immediately, should
he return to the premises.

The heir of thenoble house of Perez bowed, and with-
drew, with his faithful follower. That night, by stealth, he
slept upon his mother’s grave.

2 * rs * ok 2

A few days afterwards, Don Diego was on the broad
Atlantic, bound for America. On landing at a northern
port of the United States, he proceeded to Louisiana; and,
in a little while after, went into the wilderness, a nee
among the Indians, to enlighten their darkened minds by
Christian precepts, ‘anid to improve their condition by teach-
ing them the rudiments of civilization. The impress of a quiet
sorrow was on his young brow, yet almost concealed by
the benevolent expression of his countenance, and at times,
wholly effaced, during the rapt feeling of devotional exer-
cise. In time, he wandered up to the junction of the Mis-
souri; and then proceeded to where St. Charles now stands.
He saw but two white men in that place, who lived
among the Indians, and, in every respect, were as wild and
barbarous a as the

Following the course of the Missouri, Don Diego visited
tribe after tribe of the Indians, trying’ to spread in the
wilderness the light of the living Gospel. At last, he
reached the range of mountains which held the fountain ot
the great river; and, as his season of life was far advanced,
he resolved to pass there the remnant of his days. He
formed the acquaintance of the powerful tribe of Indians
in the vicinity, who were there in all their simplicity, being
far removed from the vices of the white man. He had but

 
 

  

LEGENDS,

one book, and a little golden crucifix ; and, day by day, he
would go to the mountain-top, and spend nearly his whole
time in communion witb his God: his life was dedicated to
His service. His knowledge of herbs was great; and he
knew all their medicinal virtues. He cured the diseases of
the Indians, or alleviated them; and, such was the purity
and holiness of his life, that, when they saw him on the
mountain, with bended knee, and the crucifix to his lips,
they thought him the son of the Great Spirit, and looked
upon him with divine reverence. They built him a lodge,
filled it with the choicest portions of the deer and buffalo,
and at all times listened to his counsels with respect, if they
could not understand them.

He died upon the mountain-range; and on that rock
from which gushed the first waters of the Missouri, he bad
often knelt in his devotions. He chiselled that cross in the
rock which Lewis and Clark discovered in after years; and
vague accounts of the existence of a white man, many years
before, were current then among the traditionary narratives
of the Shoshonees, the tribe occupying the range of moun-
tains where gushed the fountain-spring of the Missouri.

 

 
BERNARD GUILLET,
THE FIRST SETTLER OF ST. CHARLES.

@ Legend of the Missnnet.

———Qa—

In the year 1765, a daring Frenchman, called Blanchette
Chasseur, animated by that love of adventure which charac-
terizes all who have lived aroving and restless life, ascended
the Missouri, with a few followers, for the purpose of form-
ing a settlement in the then remote wilderness.

He was one of those who encountered perils and endured
privations, not from necessity, but from choice; for he had
been born to affluence, and had every indulgence consistent
with wealth and station, but from a boy had spurned, with
Spartan prejudice, every effeminate trait, and had accom-
plished himself in every hardy and manly exercise. When
he had attained his majority, he sailed for America, then
the El Dorado for all the visionary, roving, and restless
spiri.s of the age. He loved the Indian and the wilderness,
and, after a sojourn in the wilds of some months, ‘the
attractions of La Belle France were forgotten, and Blan-
chette Chasseur became the leader of the hardy pioneers of
civilization, at that early period. ‘So assimilated had he be-
come to the scenes in which he lived and mingled, that he
forgot his caste, and condescended to mingle his noble
blood with that of the aborigines of the country, by taking,
as partners of his itinerant wigwams, young squaws of the
tribes which were in the vicinity of his wanderings.

At the period which we have mentioned, Blanchette
Chasseur had but three followers—two Canadian hunters,
and a half-breed Indian. It was nearly sunset one after-
noon in October, when they rowed up the swift-running

 
  

24 LEGENDS.

vurrent of the muddy Missouri. The vast forests skirting
the river had that rich golden hue found only in America,
and the tops of the sree flooded with the dazzling glory of
the sunbeams, looked gorgeous beyond description. There
were several small hills at a little distance, and, from one of
these, they saw the smoke ascending from a camp-fire.

Blanchette Chasseur, feeling confident that he was in the
vicinity of a party of Indians, with that fearlessness and
curiosity which made up, so largely, a portion of his cha-
racter, determined to see and learn, if possible, their busi-

ness in the neighbourhood, and to what tribe they belonged,
He landed ie little boat where some bushes grew thick
upon the banks, and, armed with his rifle, probeedét alone
towards the encampment, with that self-reliance alway s
visible in a man who has successfully buffeted the vicissi
tudes of fortune, and which seems as a panoply in sidhines
ing from danger. When he was a hundred yards from the
camp-fire, seeing that he was discovered by the Indians, he
stopped in his course, and, taking a soiled piece of white
cloth from his pocket, tied it to the end of his gun, and
waved it in token of friendly intentions.

At this signal of friendship from Blanchette Chasseur, an
old Indian, of low stature yet herculean build, came to-
wards him. He was followed by a band of warriors, who,
as well as he, were begrimed with paint; but the old Invian,
| from his rich display of beads and the plumage of birds,

together with the deference paid to him by the band, was
evidently the chief. ‘The whole party had been on the war-
path, for seteral fresh scalps dangled from the belts of some
of the warriors; and the cincture of the old chief, through
its whole circumference, was frizzled with the hair or
enemies subdued in many conflicts, but was totally unlike
the fabled girdle of the Paphian goddess, which gave to its

possessor transcendent loveliness—for the old chief w as as
hideous in his features as the Veiled Prophet of Korassan,

PR. an ttm (bh Awami easel nee wo, ; et” iin an aah tae ale
Blanchette Chasseur, with his ever-glowing courage, felt

 
   
   
 
  
 
 
    
  
   
  
 
   
   
   
  
   
     
  
    
BERNARD GUILLET. 25

some slight chilling sensations glide through his frame, as
he Jooked upon such a number of warlike Indians, besmeared
with paint, with their reeking trophies of savage prowess.
Nevertheless, he addressed them in an Indian tongue with
which he was familiar, telling them he was a white man
ascending the Missouri, and that he loved the Indian. The
old chief gazed upon him with a full, attentive look, and
then, in very good French, and a smile mollifying some-
what his rugged features, told him he was welcome, and
to call his followers, whom Blanchette had left with the
canoe.

The half-breed Indian, from the departure of Blanchette,
had commenced to show symptoms of alarm, and, when he
saw the painted warriors, with their bows and arrows, their
tomahawks and scalp-locks, some of which were still gory,
his philosophy forsook him, and, darting from the canoe,
and with almost the fleetness of a deer, endeavoured to
place as much distance as possible between himself and the
supposed enemies. The old chief told his warriors to give
chase, and capture without injuring him. With a yell that
rang loud and echoing through the solitude, the fleet-footed
warriors started after the fugitive, and, in a short time, the
poor half-breed, more dead than alive, was brought to the
encampment. His swarthy hue looked pale with excessive
fright: he kept one hand upon the crown of his head,
as if he expected every moment that an attack would be
made upon his scalp, and made such horrible grimaces, that
the old chief shook with excess of laughter. Blanchette
Chasseur, pitying his follower—who, though a coward, was
faithful—calmed his fright by telling him that his scalp
was as safe upon his head as the crown upon the imperial
monarch of France.

All excitement being allayed, the old chief and warriors
and Bianchette Chasseur and followers then sat, side by
side, at a large fire, and smoked the pipe of peace—an
essential proceeding among the Indians, as significant of

 
   

   

LEGENDS.

friendship. Blanchette Chf&sseur then told one of his men
to go to the boat, and bring, from beneath a seat, a jug
well filled with that fluid which causes the tongue to rattle,
the heart to expand, and the reason to sleep.

At the sight of the jug, the old chief rose quickly to his
feet, seized it in his large hands,-extracted the cork in a
twinkling—and placed his nose to the aperture. He then
gave vent to the most extravagant rapture. He cut a
caper in the air that would have been creditable to an
equestrian clown, embraced Blanchette Chasseur with the
ardour of a newly-accepted lover, and, spreading wide his
short legs, so as to have a secure base, placed the large jug
to his lips, and took a long suck of its contents. He then
took a little pewter mug, that Blanchette Chasseur had in
his hands, and dealt a sparing allowance to the warriors;
and, after serving all with the diligence, if not the grace of
a Ganymede, he threw aside the cup, and, again fortifying
himself like a Colossus of Rhodes, he drank long and
deeply ; then, drawing a long breath, he said, turning to
Blanchette, ‘‘ C’est bon ; j’en ai assez.”

Both Blanchette Chasseur and the old chief had a good
supply of dried provisions, and all were soon in the
humour to do justice to a supper. During the repast, the
desirable jug was several times called upon to contribute
freely, and such was the potency of its power over the
usual cold stoicism of the savages, that, in a short time,
they commenced to laugh and boast of their recent exploits,
and became on the most familiar terms with their new
friends.

The old chief, seeing everything on the most friendly
footing, with his stomach overflowing with whisky and
dried beef, became very garrulous and familiar. Seeing
Blanchette Chasseur manifest some surprise at his readiness
in speaking the French language, he told him, if he were not
too sleepy, he would relate to him some of the stirring
incidents of an eventful life.
BERNARD GUILLET. 27

Blanchette signifying a wish to hear the narrative, the
old warrior thus began :—

Tar Narrative OF Bernarp GuILueT,
THE CHIEF OF THE DACOTAHS,

**My good friend, the first thing I have to tell you is,
that Iam a Frenchman, and no Indian. TI was born near
Marseilles, the southern part of France, of poor but re-
spectable parents, who died within three months of each
other, when I had attained eleven years of age. My
mother died last; and, a few hours before her death, with a
feeble effort, she took a rosary which she kept constantly
suspended from her neck, and hung it upon mine, murmur-
ing some indistinct words. I have thought of them often
since, and know that they were blessings. After losing
my parents, my troubles commenced. It is not worth my
while to dwell upon trivial incidents ; let it suffice, that
four months after I lost my parents, I was bound, by the
authorities of the village, an apprentice to a tanner. I was
worked hard, and almost starved; and, from the wrongs
that I had continually heaped upon me, I date the change
in my disposition, which was naturally gentle, into fierce
and vindictive elements. I was kicked about much more
than a sorry cur we had in the establishment, named Carlo.
However, I looked upon Carlo as my enly friend, and he
loved me in return. We were bedfellows. Things
continued in this way, until I became seventeen vears of
age, at which time my mind was sufficiently developed to
comprehend, in its full extent, the unjust treatment I
received from my master, who still continued to beat me as
usual, for every trivial fault or fancied omission, My blood
often boiled during these chastisements, and I felt ready
to exterminate the wretch upon the spot. One evening, in
® paroxysm of rage, I killed him. Working hours were

 
  

  

28 LEGENDS.

over, and as usual I was looking over some books that I
had gradually collected together, so as to improve my
mind. My rosary was in my hand, and the current of my
thoughts had floated from my books to the by-gone days,
with which was associated the image of my mother. My
master came in, and, seeing me with the beads, snatched
them from my hands, and gave me a buff upon the cheek,
saying, ‘I was a good for nothing, lazy fellow.’ I entreated
him to return the rosary, telling him it was the last gift of
a deceased mother.

«Your mother, you vagabond,’ replied he; ‘who was
she but a strumpet ?’

“Blood swam before my eyes—my heart was on fire,
and the voices of all the devils whispered vengeance! I
sprang to his throat, with a yell of rage, and clinched it like
a vice! WhenI released the hold, he was dead, and J,
Bernard Guillet, was a murderer !

‘“‘T fled that night to Marseilles, where a vessel was just
leaving for the New World. I offered myself as a common
sailor; and, as the captain was short of hands, [ was taken,
without any inquiries. We were soon out of the harbour ;
and I was comparatively safe from pursuit. ;

“ After a voyage of three months, we reached the shores
of America; and, fearing that [ might be pursued for the
murder of my master, | went far into the interior of Canada,
and engaged with a man who traded for furs, with the
Indians. Somehow or other, I became attached to the vaga-
bond life I led. I soon learned how to speak the tongues
of several of the Indian tribes ; engaged in business on my
own account; hunted with the hunters; and, finally, took
to wife one of the daughters of a chief of the Senecas.
After thus linking myself by a new tie to the Indians, I
threw off the few civilized habits that still clung to me, and
adopted all the wild independence of my new relations. I
still visited, however, yearly, the trading-posts of the whites,
chiefly for the purpose of gaining powder, and lead, and a

 

 

   
£

BERNARD GUILLET, 29

good proportion of whisky. We were engaged in several
wars with the neighbouring tribes, and I became a distin-
guished warrior. Tn all probability, I had passed my life
with the Senecas, had not my wife died in childbed. I
sincerely mourned her loss; not that I can say that I really
loved her; but I had lived with her for seven years, and
she was obedient to my slightest wish. She had borne me
four children, who had all died.

‘‘ After the death of my wife, I became desirous of change,
and determined to go far into the west, and lead the life of
a trapper and a hunter. One evening, unknown to any
one, about nightfall, I took my tomahawk, rifle, a good
supply of ammunition, and departed upon my long journey.
I easily subsisted upon the proceeds of the chase, for then
game was everywhere, I travelled through many regions,
and followed the course of many rivers, yet always keeping
towards the setting sun; sometimes, tarrying ina place two -
or three weeks, so as to try efectually what it would yield
in the way of furs and peltries.

‘On the banks of the Muskingdom River, I was nearly
losing my life. It was a warm day ; ; and, being somewhat
fatigued and drowsy, about mid-day, I lay beneath a large
maple, which afforded a fine shade, that I might take a
comfortable nap. I know not how long I Jay there; but I
feltadead heavy weight upon my breast that nearly mashed
me. I thought I had the nightmare, and tried to struggle
with the witch that was riding me, when the effort awoke
me, and I found a large hdilekin bestraddling my body, and
another commencing to bind me with thongs. I was then
under thirty, and as strong as a buffalo.

** With a sudden effort, I threw the red devil who was
making a packhorse of me, and, gaining my feet, struck the
other a blow with my fist that made him whirl as atop. I
then had time to draw my knife, as the Indian that I had
thrown from my breast gained his feet. He was soon

finished; but the other had seized Nancy (a name I had

 
  
  
 
 
   
   
  
   
  
   
   
 
 
 
 
 
    
  
 
    
 

  

.

30 LEGENDS,

given to my rifle, in honour of my mother), and had it
pointed, with sure aim, at my heart. Sacré Dieu! how
funny I felt when I was thinking of the ball that was coming
through me; but Nancy snapped—I don’t know whether
from accident or not; but I have always thought that the
name of my mother had something to do with it. You may
smile; but it does me good to think that her spirit can now
and then come near me. I killed the Indian with a blow of
my tomahawk, and took the scalps of both of them. They
were of the Miamis.

“T still kept westward,” said the old chief, taking an-
other pullfrom the bottle; ‘‘ and, after some fifteen months,
came to the banks of the Mississippi. Then I had got so
far from civilization that I determined to give up all ideas
of trading with the whites, for a time, and to find some
locadty where I could pack furs and skins for a few years ;
by which time I calculated that plenty of trading-posts
would be established in those parts. I coursed along the
Mississippi for a few days, and, seeing a large river flowing
into it, I crossed over in a canoe J found hidden on the
bank of a river, and ascended it by coursing along its banks
until I reached the neighbourhood in which we now are.
That was, as near as I can guess, about twenty or
twenty-five years ago. Here I found plenty of deer and
beaver, and determined to fetch up. So I built a little hut
and commenced trapping beaver and musk-rats. I was
very successful during a year, when, all of a sudden, I foun
that my luck stopped. I soon suspicioned the cause—my
traps had been robbed. 1 determined to find out the thief.
One night I lay near one of my most successful traps, ard
about daylight, or a little before, I saw the outlines of an
Indian going to the spot where my trap was. He hada
beaver in his hand, which he had taken from one of my
other traps. I levelled Nancy, and he fell dead. After
scalping him, I let him lhe.

‘A few days afterwards, walking by the spot, | discovered

  
BERNARD GUILLET. 51

that his body had been removed. I was much alarmed, for

I knew that the Indians had been there, and had taken
away the dead body of their comrade. I fortified my little
cabin as well as possible, and went out but seldom. About
two months afterwards, | was surprised one morning, before
sunrise, by the sound of the war-whoop in front of my cabin,
accompanied with efforts to break open the door. | thought
that my hour had come, but I determined to die game. I
seized Nancy, put my rosary in my bosom, in case I fell,
that I might call on the Virgin for grace from the Son, and
jumped to a Joophole I had prepared before. There were
ten savages, and they used no precaution, thinking that the
mere sight of their numbers would make me give up. One
fell dead at the call of Nancy, then another, and, in the
space of an hour, a third, They then became cautious, and,
surrounding my cabin at all points. succeeded in firing it.
Lonnerre de Dieu, how it burned! I stood it some time,
and, when I was almost roasted, I jumped from the blazing
roof. Ihadno chance. Directly I touched the gicund I
was overpowered and bound.

“J felt as if my doom was sealed, for I was a captive in
the hands of the Dacotalis, who had come a long distance
to take my scalp for killing one of their tribe—him who had
robbed my traps. 1 was destined to a terrible death, and I
knew it by their conversation on the journey. My skin
peeled from my limbs, leaving a mass of raw flesh, so severely
was I burned, but I was compelled to journey in my suffer-
ings. After many days’ travel we came to the chief village,
and warriors, old men, women, and ehildren, came to meet
us. They all commenced abusing me, spitting upon me,
aud beating me. It was horrible to feel that I was all
alone among savages, sick and weak from the burns I
had received, My only consolation was thinking of my
mother.

“ Give me the jug, my friend,” said the old chief, with a
half sigh, ‘so that I can moiste n my mouth, for I grow

 
 

  

82 LEGENDS.

dry when I think of those hot times.”’ After taking a hearty
pull, he thus continued :

“A council of the old men and chiefs of the nation was
held, and, as I had expected, I was doomed to the fire-
death. For two days there were great preparations for
barbecuing me; and, when all was complete, I was delivered
to the executioners. [ was stripped perfectly naked, and
my feet unbound. I had first to run the gauntlet. A row
of boys and women were on each side of the way I had to
run, and, when I started for the goal, flaming firebrands
were thrust in my skin ; spears and arrows pierced my flesh,
and blows from clubs came in showers upon my defenceiess
body. I gained the goal, and fainted as I gained it.

““ When I recovered consciousness, | found myself tied
to a tree, and the Indian boys preparing to shoot at me for
a target. The arrows stuck in ney body in all directions,
but did not touch a fatal part, the object being not to kill,
but torture me. I tried by sudden efforts to twist my
body so as to disappoint their aim, that I might be killed,
but I was too tightly bound, and had to suffer. After
amusing themselves until I was a mass of bleeding wounds
it was determined to end the scene by placing me at the
stake. I was bound to a post, around which were piles of
resinous wood. The torch was all ready to be applied, and
my last thoughts were on meeting my mother, when an
Indian woman rushed to the stake, and claimed me as her
husband, in the place of the one she had lost. No one dis-
puted her claim, and I was led to her lodge, and my rifle,
and all the other property that the [ndians had brought from
my hut, were restored to me, She bestowed every attention
on me, and I slowly recovered. I was formally adopted by
the nation, and became a great favourite, doing them great
service in their wars against the Pawnees and Chippewas.
The chief of the tribe gave me his only daughter for a wife,
and he dying | was made chief of the nation, and am so
still.”

 

  
BERNARD GUILLET. 33

Blanchette Chasseur thanked the chief for his interesting
history ; and, after drinking each other’s health from the
sug, which effectually exhausted its contents, they lay down,
and were soon following the example of their snoring
followers.

Next morning, Bernard Guillet, the Chief of the Da-
cotahs, invited Blanchette Chasseur to visit him in his remote
home, saying that he would never get as far east again, as
he was advancing in years, and was tired of taking scalps.

‘* Bernard,” said Blanchette Chasseur to the old chief
before his departure, ‘‘when you lived here did you give
any name to your home?”

‘TI called the place ‘Les Petites Cétes,’”’ replied Bernard,
“from the sides of the little hills that you see.”

‘« By that name shall it be called,” said Blanchette Chas-
seur, “for it is the echo of nature—beautiful from its
simplicity.”

The two friends then separated. The Chief of the
Dacotahs with his warriors wended their way to the tribe,
and Blanchette Chasseur again descended the Missouri,
determining in a short time to return to Les Petites Cétes,
and there form a settlement. He did so. In 1769 (four
years afterwards), he formed a settlement, and called the
town that he laid out, ‘‘ Les Petites Cotes.’ It soon grew
to a thriving village, and many years afterwards was
changed into St. Charles—now a thriving city, a short dis-
tance from St. Louis on the Missouri.

 
 

  

LEGENDS.

BON-HOMME OR GOOD MAN’S ISLAND,

& Legend af the Missoni.

——9———

Wuatrver may have been the causes of the prejudices that
have existed against the Jesuits, it is a remarkable fact that
they have always been the first to endure the privations
and brave the dangers of early civilization; they have been
the first and most persevering in carrying the lights of their
faith into distant and benighted lands; and it is a fact,
conceded by all, that to them, and other religious orders,
ancient learning is indebted for its preservation, which, had
it not have been for the sanctuary and geniality of the
convent, had been destroyed during the inclement and
barbarous epoch of the middle ages.

Having made this preamble, not from any partiality to
the tenets of the sect, but as illustrative of facts that are to
foilow, I will commence my narrative.

In the year 1752, a canoe ascended the turbid Missouri,
continuing in its course for several days, and then landed
on the southern side, opposite the upper extremity of what
is now known as Bon-homme’s Island. It contained two
Indian youths, and an old man, dressed somewhat after
their fashion, but having a crucifix attached to a piece of
deerskin suspended from his neck, while his head gave
unmistakeable evidence of the tonsure. His form was bent,
his features bronzed and wrinkled by time and exposure,
yet he sprang from the canoe, as it reached the shore, with
surprising agility, assisting his steps with a long staff, and
moving over the ground with astonishing swiftness.

Fifty years previous to this time, a babe was born on the
banks of the classic Tiber of poor but illustrious parents.

 

QE

  
 
  

 

BON-HOMME ISLAND. 35

a

Political changes had confiscated their property, and driven
them into retirement. There was no carousal, no feast, no
congratulations, to hail the advent of the young Leonardo

into existence; but, on the contrary, gloom and sorrow

pervaded the little cottage, for, in a few moments after his
irth, the mother wast corpse.

The father and husband, Leonardo di Aldini, was
smitten with grief—with that grief which destroys the
present, and creates around the heart so murky a gloom
that the roseate hues of hope cannot enter it. He had
borne the loss of his estate and his fall from station to
obscurity with becoming fortitude, but he was so stricken
with anguish on this occasion, that his heart never
recovered from the blight that now fell upon it. As he
stood by the body of his lovely wife, untenanted by the
winged emanation of the Deity, he felt that the only flower
that bloomed in the garden of life for him was lost, and
the pledge she had left of her affection entered upon its
new existence without being hailed with a father’s trans-
port.

An old domestic of the family, who had not deserted its
fallen fortunes, took. charge of the motherless infant, and
watched over its tender years, with maternal solicitude.
Years soon complete their annual rotation, and in time the
helpless infant grew into fine growth, and whose intelli-
gence and sweetness of temper shed rays of joy upon the
declining years of a lonely parent. His father had dedi-
cated his time to the instruction of the young Leonardo,
and soon had the satisfaction of seeing his love returned
with a pure affection, and his exertions rewarded with rare
mental improvement. The Pierian waters, usually so dis-
tasteful to youth, he sought with increasing avidity, and
would not be satisfied. Day by day, this thirst for know-
ledge increased, and the father, to give every encourage-
ment to the development of such auspicious talents, deter-
mined to commit his son, for a few years, to the instructions

 
 

  

36 LEGENDS,

of his confessor, who was one of the most profound
scholars of that period.

Leonardo di Aldini, in parting with his son, had again to
sever the young tendrils of a fruitful affection, which, in
years, had grown about his heart, and lent to its withered
stem the freshness and attractions of early days. Parental
duty demanded the sacrifice, and the young Leonardo was
admitted into the cloister, not as an applicant for its reli-
gious privileges, but asa friend of one of the Fathers—a
rare prerogative in those days of Church exactions.

Moving within the sphere of religious influences, a new
light dawned upon the mind of the young Leonardo, caus-
ing sweeter, holier, emotions than he had ever known
before. The quiet and constant happiness which he saw
everywhere diffused around him, excited a desire in his
inquiring mind to trace it to its origin. Plainly, as if
written upon a scroll, he saw it was—Religion. It was
religion that animated the inmates of the cloister, when
they sacrificed all worldly instincts so dear to human exist-
ence, and devoted themselves, body and soul, to the cause
of Christ, whose meekness and self-denial it was their con-
stant effort to imitate. Leonardo resolved to enrol his
name among the members of the religious order, if it met
with the approbation of his father.

The resolution of Leonardo, of imparting to his father
his wishes, was cut short by the arrival of a messenger in
post haste, summoning him to the bedside of his parent,
who lay ina critical state from a fall that he had received
from a horse. Using all haste, and almost distracted by
gloomy forebodings, Leonardo arrived at the cottage only in
time to witness the last moments of his only parent, and
receive his dying benediction.

When the funeral rites were finished, the old confessor of
his father and his tutor sought the fatherless youth, and,
by his gentle reasonings, assuaged the acrimony of grief
that was tearing his vitals, and succeeded in turning his

 

  
BON-HOMME ISLAND. 37

agonizing thoughts into other channels. For several days
it was necessary that Leonardo should remain at the cot-
tage, and attend to the secular requirements demanded on
that occasion. This new loss—this last earthly tie which
linked him to the world being broken, he determined, at
once, to make sale of all his worldly effects, and consecrate
his life to the service of Him, to whom he owed his origin,
and who bathes in a flood of gentle happiness, the lives of
those who follow the Cross with true zeal and affection.

In a few days, all his arrangements were completed,
and, making a last visit to the grave of his parents, and,
bestrewing it with rosemary and rue, he soon presented
himself before his old tutor, and, for the first time,
announced to him his intention of severing himself from all
worldly fascinations, and burying himself in the retirement
of a cloister. The old confessor, after patiently listening to
his intention, asked him to postpone it for a month, to see
if his mind would resume its buoyancy, and again desire
the relish of those worldly pleasures incident to an age
when the passions are in full force, and existence craves the
rollicking influence of secular excitement. In vain, Leon-
ardo told him that this time of probation would be useless,
for his intentions had been moulded before the death of his
father, and, therefore, his determination had not arisen
because of the sudden and painful dissolution of his parent.
The old man was firm in requiring him to wait a month
before his admission to the order, and, at the end of that
period, Leonardo di Aldini, with holy fervour, took the
vows, and became a member.

After immurmg himself for some ‘ime in the strictest
seclusion, according to the custom, that the faith might be
strengthened, and the mind purified by study and devo-
tional exercise, Leonardo was anxious to advance upon a
more enlarged sphere of usefulness and action. America
was then agitating the civilized world by the boundless
prospect it held out for sudden wealth in its immense

 
  

LEGENDS.

resources; and hundreds of adventurers were seeking its
shores, through motives of avarice and ambition. The
devotees of religion were likewise moved by the spiritual
necessities of the new continent, whose original inhabitants
were in a benighted state, adhering to barbarous and cruel
creeds, and having only dim uncertain ideas of the Creator.

Often, the mind of Leonardo, in his meditations, would
rest with sympathy upon the poor Indian, in his far and
heathen home, cut off from the true waters of life, and
denied all the elements of substantial happiness, He deter-
mined to give up the life of comparative ease he enjoyed,
and try to establish a shrine in the wilds of America, at
which the savage, having forsaken his idol and barbarous
instincts, might worship, with a changed and hopeful spirit.
He applied for permission to carry out his pious designs,
which, having obtained, he was soon sailing on the broad
bosom of the Atlantic for the western world. At that time,,
the French owned a vast tract of land in North America, a
part of which is now embraced in Canada; and, in that
region, he determined to commence his labours. He carried
credentials from his superior to some residents of the Jesuit
faith, landed in the country, and there remained some three
years, mingling freely with the aborigines, endeavouring to
bring forth the germs of religion; to suppress the growth of
the low vices which unprincipled adventurers had scattered
broadcast over the land; and, to show to both savage and
civilized, by his meekness, his labours, his resignation, and
contentment, that he practised the precepts which’ his lips
inculcated. So pure and holy a man, if he gained not the
love, at least exacted the respect of all, even of those whose
daily habits were in direct violation of the ordinances which
he was desirous of establishing ;- yet, he found it impossible to
stem the increasing tide of vice, which received continually a
new impetus from the flood of the low criminal emigration
that poured into the country. The Indians, whom he readily
could have influenced, unopposed by adventitious circum-

 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    
BON-HOMME ISLAND. 39

stances, yielded quickly to the debasing doctrines of their
new acquaintances, which permitted a free indulgence of all
the appetites ; and that appeared, to their untutored minds,
so much more pleasant in application than the salutary
restraints which would be imposed upon them by Father
Leonardo.

When well-directed efforts fail to produce marked effects,
it is the province of wisdom to turn them in another direc-
tion. Seeing that he could reap no profit from his labours,
Father Leonardo made up his mind to go far into the west-
ern wilderness, in advance of pioneer civilization, that he
might work upon the mind of the Indian, when in its native
simplicity, and untrammelled by other influences. He knelt
for the last time at the shrine of the little church which had
been the nucleus of his labours; for the last time, before
its sacred altar, he partook of the Fucharist; and then,
bidding adieu to his friends and associates, he commenced
his lonely pilgrimage to remote regions, where his efforts
would meet with more reward, though he would suffer
greater deprivations. His crucifix, his rosary, his missal,
and some few necessary articles of clothing, made up his
store of preparation, when he departed on his journey to
the wilderness.

Days, weeks, months, and years, did Father Leonardo
pursue, with unfaltering step, and unwavering faith, the
purposes of his mission; stopping among various tribes on
his journey, who, if they did not understand his t vachings,
felt, at least, to some extent their influence. Wherever he
went, the inhabitants of the country accorded to him a wel-
come greeting; for truth and innocence were plainly
impressed upon his intellectual features ; and his actions so
pure, so benevolent in their tendencies, that the beautiful
traits of his character were evident as noonday to their
uncultivated understanding.

In this employment, visiting tribe after tribe, teaching
them some of the simple and useful arts of civilization, and

 
 

40 LEGENDS.

directing their minds to God, from whom all blessings flow,
he spent year after year, passed from the spring to the
autumn of life; and, when his hair had become blanched, and
his figure stooped by the weight of years, we find him at
the commencement of this narrative above the Pawnee
country, on the banks of thé Missouri. te is the old man
we have introduced to the reader as being in a canoe, and
who landed on the south shore of the river, opposite to the
upper extremity of Bon-homme Island.

Father Leonardo made this visit for the purpose of
examining minutely the ruins of an ancient fortification in
that locality, which, in after years, excited the wonder and
conjectures of many voyagers, and which has been elabo-
rately described by the historian of the expedition of Lewis
and Clark to the source of the Missouri.

This singular ruin is described as follows :—-‘‘ The wall
runs in a direct course from the bank of the river to the
distance of a hundred yards ; its base is eighty-five feet in
thickness, and its height about eight feet; it then makes,
at short distances, several angles, and then stops at what
appears a gateway, from which the wall diverges again; and,
after many angles, forming a polygon, comes within a few

vards of the river , and then joins a wall running along the
a which connects the two walls, making a kind of half-
moon circle, though in the shape of many kind of squares,
instead of rotundity. It was evidently built by a people
somewhat acquainted with the arts of engineering and the
appliances of civilized industry.”’ This singular rain Father
Leonardo continued to examine. It was evidently a speci-
men of the work of a people who appeared to have passed
away; for the skill evinced in the architecture baffled any
possibility of the Indians being the originators. The priest
examined carefully those interesting ruins, which, though far
in the progress of decay, were much more perfect than at the
present time. He then, accompanied by the two Indians,
quitted the bends of the river, and travelled many miles in

   

  
BON-HOMME ISLAND. 41

the interior, when they came to a village of the Poncaras,
at that time a powerful nation. Father Leonardo sought
alone the lodge of the old chief of the tribe, called, in theit
language, iy a name which in ours signifies the Speckled
Serpent, from the spots which he had séthoded on his face,
and his astuteness in warfare.

It was mid-day in the month of June, when Father
Leonardo entered the lodge of the Speckled Serpent, who
was dozing ona robe spread. at the entrance. He, too,
was in the sere of life, and the frost of age had settled upon
his long hair, once glossy and black as the raven’s wing.
On recognizing Father Leonardo, whom he had seen before,
he welcomed him after the manner peculiar to the Indians
—by rising from his seat, placing both his hands upon his
shoulders, and pointing to a skin whereon to be seated.

The priest had suffered a long fast ; and, seeing a pot of
stewing venison on the fire, after a short benediction,
dragged it from its place to a large tree which grew in
front of the wigwam, and beneath its shady branches com.
menced satisfying the cravings of appetite, giving also
liberally to his companions. This apparently str ange con-
duct of the Father, though a flagrant violation of the
etiquette of civilized life, was in. perfect keeping with. the
habits of the Indians, who always think it the indisputable
right of any individual to enter any lodge when he is hungry,
aad, without any demand or ceremony, to help himself to
the contents of the pot, which is always kept boiling upon
the fire.

After Father Leonardo had finished a plentiful meal, he
seated himself close by the Speckled Serpent, and entered
into familiar and interesting conversation; for he spoke
fluently the tongues of many tribes of the aborigines.
He was anxious to learn whether there was any history or
tradition connected with that old and extensive fortification
he had visited and examined in the early part of that day.
The old chief assented with a significant nod of the head,

 
e 2) &

42 . LEGENDS.

and, at the request of the priest, after using freely the pipe,
of which he was very fond, commenced the narration of the
following legend, which, being rendered into English, reads
thus :

Lrcrnp or Bon-Hommer or Goop Man’s Istanp.

“Once, when the world was young, and the elk and the
buffalo were thick upon the prairie as the stars in the
heaven when no cloud obscures them, there came a mys-
terious nation, and landed on the little island, from many
canoes, which grows in the muddy Pekitanoni (Missouri).
They then went to the other side of the river, and com-
menced cutting down the trees, and heaping up vast moands
of earth, with strange implements, different from what the
red man had ever seen.

« The warriors of all the tribes assembled, for they had
heard of the power of those strangers, who dwelt far down
by another great river, and who had first come from a far
and great country, across a broad river. They determined
to send to these strangers, and tell them that the land was
not theirs, and that they should not rest nor build upon it,
buf should return from whence they came, and leave the red
men in the west at peace. Great chiefs bore the message,
selected from the Pawnee, the Dacotah, and Poncara. They
sought the chief of the band of little men, for they did not
reach higher than the shoulders of the red men, and deli-
vered the message with which they were charged. The
chief of the little men was a great medicine, and he blinded
the chiefs, and they could not see what was good. He
took them to his lodge, gave them strong drink to quench
their thirst, and, from that moment, they felt a love for the
strangers, who wore hair upon their faces, and whose skin
was white as snow. He showed the warriors the sun, and
told them it belonged to everything, because it gave light

    
  
 
 
 
   
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    
  
  
   
  
 
 
 
   
    
BON-HOMME ISLAND. 43

to everything, and there was enough for all; so the earth
was made for all, and it had enough of elk and buffalo for
all. Hethen gave the chiefs presents, and showed them
the strange weapons they used in war, which were made of
a hard substance—much harder than the bones of a deer,
or anything the red men had seen before; and he said he
“had used those weapons enough, and would bury them.

‘The chiefs then returned, and spoke to the tribes of
what they had seen, and what the chief of the little men had
said, and how he wished for peace; and the chosen war-
riors of many nations sat in council for two suns, and then
they determined to make peace with the strangers, because
the Great Spirit had spoken through the medicine-man, and
told them they should do so.

“On a certain day, the chief of the little men and his
chiefs, and the great chief of the red men, met together and
smoked the pipe of peace, and agreed that they would live
together on the broad plains, and love each other like bro-
thers, for the Great Spirit was the Father of all. When
this was done, the warriors of ‘the tribes departed for their
homes, and were pleased that the bow and arrow had not
been used against the strangers, who had but little corn for
the coming winter. The red men sent them corn and dried
meat of the elk and buffalo, and gave them their squaws;
and many of the white-bearded men left their companions,
and lived with the red men in their villages. Many years
passed, and the strangers completed those long walls which
you have seen; they were the work of many years, and,
when it was done, from that moment, no red man was let
in those enclosures, and not even those white men who
lived in the red men’s village. The white men felt that
they were safe in their huge walls, where they built their
village ; and they looked down in their strength upon the
red man as a thing of weakness and simplicity, and com-
menced to rob him of his buffalo, and drive him from the
eik he had slain for the squaws and children of his wigwam.

 
 

  

44 LEGENDS.

“The great nation of the Pawnee claimed the land on
which those strangers had built, and they determined to be
revenged for the wrongs which had been inflicted upon
them ; so, when they saw the hunters of the white men after
the buffalo in the prairie, a party of armed warriors min-
gled among them, and took all of them captives; and then
a great war commenced between the red and white men,
which lasted for many years.

“The great nation of the Pawnee had no big wall to
protect them, so the white men burned one of their villages
and killed many of their warriors, squaws, and children, and
also killed all of their own people, who had taken Indian
squaws for their wives, and who would not leave them.
The chiefs of the Pawnees then sent their runners to the
great nations living on the Mississippi, and higher up on
the Pekitanoni, to help them against the white men, who
were fast sweeping them from the earth; and all of the
nations collected their warriors, and sent them to the assist-
ance of the Pawnee, and they were like the eaves of the
forest, they were so numerous; for then tae Great Spirit
loved the red men—they took not each other’s scalp,
but lived and flourished together like the clustering
vines-——every year adding to their strength and num-
bers.

«The white men knew that the Pawnees had sent their
runners to many nations, to collect a great number of war-
riors to bring against them, so they went out in the plains,
and slaughtered a great number of elk and buffalo, that
they should have plenty of meat, and need not go out of
the big walls when the many warriors came against them.
At length, the warriors of the Missouris, the Ottoes, the
Dacotahs, the Kansas, the Saults, the Comanches, and of
many other nations, all came to the assistance of the Paw-
nees, and thought to slaughter the strangers at a blow;
but the white men kept within their great walls, and the
warriors fell by hundreds in attempting to scale them.

 

bd

  
BON-HOMME ISLAND. 45

Every day an attempt was made to dislodge the white men
from their strong place, but without success.

** Days and months passed in this manner, and all the
buffalo fled from the Pawnee country, because of the many
warriors that were gathered on the plains; so the warriors
began to get weak, for they had not meat enough to make
them strong. A great chief of the Nachez, who had come
many hundreds of miles from the south, said he had known
those white men before, for they had built large walls also
in his country, but, after many years of fighting, the war-
riors of all the red men, being leagued together, had driven
them out, and, coming higher upon the great river, they
had again built, and again been forced to leave by the red
men. The warriors then took courage, when they heard that
these white men had been conquered before, and the expe-
rienced chiefs collected in council that they might deliberate
concerning the best method of driving off the treacherous
people; and it was determined that the great medicine-
chief of the Dacotahs should ask of the Manito to show the
red men the way to banish the strangers from the land.
The great medicine-chief then went to the island opposite
where the big walls were, and fasted four days, and slept
not, and then the Manito came to him, and told him that
all the tribes should depart and go a great distance, where
the buffalo fed in plenty. They should remain there three
moons, and then should return near the spot where the
white men had built their great walls. Early one morning,
one half of the warriors should clothe themselves in buffalo
skins, and show themselves at a distance on the plains, and
then the white men would go out in great numbers,
thinking to kill many buffalo, as their meat would be
almost eaten, and they would think the warriors had all
gone to their distant homes.

“The great chiefs of the warring tribes determined to do
as the Manito had ordered, so they all burned the lodges
they had built around the great wall, and took their way

 
  

46 LEGENDS.

far into the country of the Crow and Blackfeet nation; and
the white men were glad, for their hearts had been heavy
from the number of their enemies, and their meat was
nearly all gone; but they kept within their walls for many
days, for they kriew the red man was like the fox in cunning,
and revenge nestled in his heart for ever. Seeing day after
day the plains clear from their enemies, they cautiously
opened their great gate that looked upon the prairies, and
then, in a little while, their hunters went forth, but returned
without elk or buffalo, for they had all been frightened from
the prairie.

‘“‘ Meanwhile, the warriors of the great nations of the
red men followed for many days the course of the sun to
the west, and came at length to where the buffalo grazed,
killed them in great numbers, and feasted upon the
flesh. Then, in obedience to the instructions of the Manito,
they took a vast number of their skins, and, at a proper
time, commenced their return to where the white men had
built their great walls; and, when within a day’s journey of
the place, rested from their trayel and determined upon
what to do.

‘‘One day, before the sun fell behind the prairie, the red
men commenced again their journey, and, before the light
of the morning, were at the place they wished. Then one
half of the Jarge warriors clad themselves in the skins of
the buffalo, and went upon the prairie, which seemed black
with their number, and the other warriors hid themselves
in the tall grass, with their lances and arrows ready, when
the white men should come after the supposed buffalo.

“Just as the red men thought, things came to pass.
The white men believed the plain was filled with buffalo,
and, with hearts of gladness, a great number rushed to the
prairie, for all their meat was gone, and the Manito had
blinded their eyes. Not one of them returned to their vil-
lage in the strong walls. They were shot down by the war-
riors in the grass, and the scalp-locks hung thick from their

 

  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   

   
BON-HOMME ISLAND. 47

girdles, That night, the hearts of the red men were glad,
and they had a grand feast, for they knew that the Great
Spirit looked upon them with a pleasant countenance, and
their enemies were growing weak. Intense was the joy at
the feast, and the old warriors were talking long of their
deeds—of their deeds when they were young, when the
blood rushed warm to their hearts, and their limbs had not
shrunk from age. The young warriors danced the war-
dance and the scalp-dance, until the morning was coming,
for the speckled birds of the prairie had commenced to beat
their wings and sing to each other exulting at the new-born
day, when, with a shout, and their long lances in their hands,
the white men rushed amid the warriors, who thought they
would not have come from their great walls when so many
of their people had been slain. The red men fell like the
dried grass upon the prairie when the greedy fire feeds
upon it.

‘When the morning looked upon the earth, the great
warriors of the Pawnee, the Dacotah, the Ottoe, the Mis-
souri, and the other great nations, were scattered like the
dust before a great wind, or were sleeping their death-
sleep at the place where they feasted. The white men then
gathered all the buffalo meat, and also brought in all the
bodies of their hunters who had been killed, and were safe
in their big walls, before the warriors of the different
nations had recovered from their surprise, and collected
again together. Then a great council was held, and many
of the chiefs were for returning to their homes, for their
hearts had become sick atthe serious loss of their war-
riors; but the medicine-chief of the great nation of the
Dacotahs advised their stay. He told them that they had
let their understanding sleep, and their enemies had come
upon them and slain them; for they had kept no watch for
their approach, and had allowed themselves to be surprised in
the midst of the victory which the Great Spirit had sent themS
They should not go home with shame on their brows,.and

 
  

458 LEGENDS,

sorrow at their hearts, because they had lost their war-
riors by their negligence; for the red man was the child of
the Great Spirit, and he would still show them a way to
subdue their enemies, and be revenged for their late misfor-
tune. He then proposed to fast and intercede again for
the red men with the Manito, that he might strengthen
their hearts, and instruct them how to get over the great
wall, so as to be revenged on the white men, who were

become few in number. The warriors of all the nations

felt their hearts again warm, and their arms to strengthen,
when the medicine-chief had spoken, for they knew his was
a great medicine, and they would again triumph over their
enemies. The great medicine-chief went away from
the nations for three days, and then returned with news
from the Manito, who still loved the red man, and told
them how to conquer their foes. He bade them go high
up the Pekitanoni (Missouri) and build tall towers of wood,
which the water would float down when the spring-floods
came, and these towers they should steer to where the big
walls were built, which, overtopping the wall, would enable
the red men to jump in the enclosure, when their enemies
would soon be overcome, for the red men outnumbered
them as ten to one.

“ According to these instructions, the red men built, after
much trouble, the towers of wood; and, when the great
flood came, they were filled with the warriors and were
floated down to where the great wall stood. The warriors
then leaped from the towers on the wall, but the white men
were ready to receive them, and pierced them with their
long lances, as they leaped from the wall. Still the war-
riors struggled, for they believed what the Manito had
said, and the great medicine-chief of the Dacotahs was
there encouraging them with his voice and example, and
killed many white men, but was, at length, killed with a
long lance, and then the red men retired, and all the
nations returned to their homes; for they found it impos-

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    
 
  
  
  
 
   
 
  
   

——— =

<= =

————

NS
—

ee a

EN

eS ——

BON-HOMME ISLAND. 49

sible to get inside the walls, and they were tired of their long
absence from their country. The white men, too, had lost
a great number of their men, and were very weak, and, had
it pot been for their big wall, could easily have been
destroyed. They soon after made peace with the Pawnees
and the Dacotahs, and some years after went up further to
the setting sun, where they built another wall and village,
but not as large as the first one, for their numbers had
become few, and soon they mingled with the tribes, taking
squaws for their wives, and, in a little while, the blood of
the white men had mingled with that of the red men, and
their nation passed away. ‘They built the large walls of
which we have bee speaking, and some others, before
their existence was blended and lost in that of the red
men.”

Such was the legend that the old chief related to Father
Leonardo, who was much entertained by the narrative;
and in a manuscript which he left, that fell into the hands
of some travellers in after years, he makes the following
remarks :—

‘It appears to me froma careful examination of the
ruins of many ancient fortifications in various parts of the
country, that they were erected by a race considerably
advanced in civilization; for the works bear the impress of
mathematical skill and calculation, which preclude any
hypothesis of their having been erected by the Indians. It
appears to me that these phenomena amid uncivilized
nature may be accounted for in this wise :—

“‘Somewhere in the early part of the twelfth century,
Madoc, a young Welsh prince, being at disputation with
his brethren in regard to the succession to the throne,
fitted out two small vessels and set sail, resolving to let
chance determine the destiny of his voyage. He kept ina
south-west direction, and, after a hazardous voyage of some
months, came to a peninsula extending from the sea, and
joining a great continent. The climate was warm and

 
  

LEGENDS.

delightful, and the Welsh prince determined to found there
a settlement. He made peace with the inhabitants, who
were different from any people he had ever seen, and
returned again to Wales to get a new accession to the
colony, He made altogether three voyages, and it is
generally supposed that his ships were lost in the last voy-
age, and for that reason none of the inhabitants of the
colony could ever return to their native country. In this
manner, the little noise that the discovery made being con-
fined to a small area (there being but little commerce in
those days) soon died away, and the circumstance would
never have undergone a resurrection, had not Columbus in
1492, some three centuries afterwards, made the discovery
of America, which startling news emanating from Spain,
then the most powerful nation in Kurope, was soon bruited
over the civilized world which had become connected
together by commercial links and international treaties.
Then it was remembered that centuries previous, Madoc, a
prince of Wales, had discovered a new continent in that
direction ; but, as there were no tangible facts to support the
conjecture, the subject was not agitated, and the celebrated
voyager of 1492 was regarded as the first discoverer of the
great continent. However, it appears evident to my mind,
beyond a doubt, from a rigid examination of all the circum-
stances, and taken in connexion with the legends of the
Indians, that Madoc landed in the early part of the twelfth
century, somewhere on the coast of Florida, and formed a
settlement. After some years, these settlers increased, and
gradually subdivided into clans, who emigrated to various
parts of the country, where they built those fortifications
for their defence against the Indians, They were much
weakened by these subdivisions, and many of the clans
were totally destroyed by the aborigines, who then existed
in vast numbers on the continent.

«« After the lapse of many years, there isa natural proba-
bility that the Welsh intermarried with the Indians, and

 
   
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
     
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    
    
  
 
   
BON-HOMME ISLAND. Sa

after some generations, their nationality and existence were
wholly lost; for it is evident, in the intermixture of two
distinct races of disproportionate numbers, in time all evi-
dence of the smaller will be swallowed up in the existence
of the greater. In the first generations, the blending of
the two races would be distinctly visible, but in each suc-
ceeding one the distinctive lines would gradually lessen, and
at last be wholly absorbed and lost in the prevailing fea-
tures, colour, and language of the most numerous race.
This is the only theory, consistent with history, that can
account for the existence of the ruins of ancient fortifica-
tions on the American continent.”

Father Leonardo erected a little lodge near the old
fortification, where he spent his declining years, teaching
and exhorting, praying and suffering, and at last dying in
the solitude, surrounded only by those people, to whom he
had ever proved a useful friend, and who always looked on
him with solicitude and affection. He requested to be
buried on Bon-Homme Island, where the swift Missouri ‘
would roll round his remains, and his request was com-
plied with by the natives, who mourned truly his dissolution.

Many years afterwards, some French traders became
acquainted, through the Indians, with the self-sacrificing
character of Father Leonardo, and, because of his virtues
and his burial-place, named the island, ‘“ Bon-Homme
Island, or Good Man’s Island.”

 
  

LEGENDS,

THE BLACK WARRIOR,

& Legrand of the Missouri.

——_—)—

In the year 1721, when Charleroix, the renowned Jesuit
voyager, visited the Mississippi, he was told that there was
a celebrated warrior, who was a white man, far west of the
“Father of Waters,” dwelling with the Sioux or Dacotah
Indians. He had become the chief of the great tribe, and
was dreaded as an evil spirit by the surrounding nations.
He was of gigantic stature, and, when he went into battle,
he was known to all by his powerful black steed—his bow,
quiver, and shield of the same colour; and his features were
always blackened on the occasion, At the time we are
speaking of, he had made an incursion into the Pawnee
country alone, and had carried off four scalps from that
nation, one of which was that of their most famous warrior
and chief, whom he killed at night in his lodge in the vil-
lage of the tribe. Father Charleroix was anxious to know
to what country this white man belonged, but the Indians
could not tell him—they, at that period, classing the few
white men they had seen as a race, without knowing any
national subdivisions. However, from the few events
gathered from the legendary lore of the Indians, there is
enough of material to weave an interesting narrative, and
in the relation of it will be revealed who was this white
man, who had wholly barbarized himself, and went under
the sobriquet of the “‘ Black Warrior.”

We will now take a peep at a great council held by the
Sioux at that time concerning the public safety; for it had
become known to them that the Missouris, the Pawnees,
and Mandans had smoked the pipe, and had entered into a

   
   
   
  
 
   
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    
  
 
 
 
 
    
  

 

THE BLACK WARRIOR, 53

league against them. Already three of the most promising
of their young hunters had been taken by a war-party-——
two killed and scalped, and the third carried off as a pri-
soner, to suffer a more cruel and torturing death. The
deed had been committed that morning, and the council
was hastily called to determine upon a course of retaliatory
revenge. Around the lodge where the council was held
was an immense crowd of women, and young braves who
as yet had had no seat in the war-council, and who were
yelling and flourishing their clubs, bows, and tomahawks
with impotent rage. They were anxious to know the result
of the deliberations within, for they were burning with ven-
geance against their enemies.

In the council, likewise, there was great excitement: for
a deed so daring had never been known in the legendary
history of the nation. Even the old men, with their blood
chilled by the frost of age, burned with resentment, and
advised immediate pursuit, and the swiftest vengeance. All
eyes had been turned upon a warrior of gigantic propor-
tions, who was silently sitting in one corner of the lodge,
listening to the deliberations and speeches, but taking no
part in the debate. He was evidently the great chief, from
the tacit respect paid to him, and the universal wish appa-
rent in all to hear what he would advise. Yet he spoke
not, until an old chief turned towards him, and said:

“What says the Black Warrior of the Dacotahs, whose
eyes are like those of the eagle, and whose arm strikes not
twice his enemy ?”’

The gigantic chief then slowly arose to his full stature ;
and, casting a look of fire upon the assembly, said :

«Let some warrior go and bring the young Dacotah safe
to his nation, and take scalps from his enemies, while we
take time to gather our young men, that they may pour
down among the Mandans, the Ottoes, the Pawnees, and
the Missouris, like a flood, and scatter their warriors as the
wind does the leaves in autumn. The Dacotahs must have

 

 

  
   

  

54 LEGENDS.

the warm blood of their enemies; and their scalps must
hang from our belts like grapes from the vine-bash !”

At the conclusion of this speech, the chief sat down; and
the war-whoop of the Dacotahs rang loud and fearful from
the lips of the warriors within, and was joyfully echoed by
the crowd without. After silence bad been restored in the
council-house, the old chief who had first spoken again
arose, and said: ‘The Black Warrior has spoken of a great
warrior, who is to go alone upon the track of the dogs—
Missouris, and bring back the young Dacotah from the fire-
death. Speak! chief of the mighty Dacotahs: where is
the warrior, though his feet were like the antelope, and his
strength like the buffalo, who can do as you have said ?”

“The Black Warrior will do it!” said that chief, again
springing to his feet, and waving his tremendous war-club
around his head. ‘‘ Before two moons have passed, the
squaw of the captured Dacotah warrior shall cease her
mourning; and fresh scalps shall hang from my girdle!”
When he had spoken these words, he strode from the coun-
cil-lodge towards his own wigwam. He spent the remainder
of the day in preparation ; and, about sunset, with his face
blackened to the hue of an Ethiopian, armed with all his black
accoutrements, and mounted on his powerful charger of the
same colour, he started on his dangerous expedition, amid
the yells and shouts of the excited nation.

He took his way to the spot where the young Dacotahs
had been murdered, and their companion carried into cap-
tivity. Having arrived at the place, he dismounted from
his steed, which stood still, while his master carefully exa-
mined the indications of the tracks in the neighbourhood.
After employing himself thus for a short time, he again
mounted his steed, and set out, urging his fleet charger to
full speed, in a southern direction. Hour after hour he
continued the speed, till about midnight, when he drew tc
a halt the foaming charger; and, removing the halter
attached to his lower jaw, so that he could eat with creater

 
 

    

THE BLACK WARRIOR, 5e

freedom the luxurious grass of the prairie, he stretched his
giant bulk ‘at full length upon the earth, after carefully scru-
tinizing the locality. He remained in that spot until nearly
sunrise on the following morning, when, again mounting his
steed, he slowly took a diagonal direction across the plain,
looking in vain for the track of the Missouris, and the cap-
tive Dacotah. He had calculated that he could readily find
the track when he knew the course’of the retreating party ;
and he had travelled some forty miles after nightfall, that
he might be close upon their footsteps, when he should find
their trail. Finding his efforts in that direction futile, he
pursued another course, and, after two hours travel, he dis-
covered the trail, as it crossed a miry spot on the prairie.
At this discovery, a smile passed over the stubborn features
of the herculean chief, for well he knew that the pressure
of the mocassins was recent, and his calculations of their
course correct. He dismounted again, leaving loose the
horse, that obediently followed him; and, following the
tracks for some yards, until satisfied with the examination,
he returned to his steed, which he affectionately patted,
previous to mounting

The whole country through which the Black Warrior was
then passing, was an unbroken prairie, as far as the eye
could reach, relieved from any monotony by numerous lakes
of fresh and almost transparent water; yet, beautiful as
the scenes were through which he passed, they excited no
thought—produced no impression upon the mind of the
savage warrior, who was intent only on the gratification of
his murderous instincts. For him, the beauties of nature
had no charm—possessed no mental similitude,

Cautiously the Black Warrior pursued the trail, and often
strained his vision, endeavouring to detect, in the distance,
some sign of the fugitives. In the forenoon of that day,
he saw a small moving mass, and he knew that he should
soon come up to the retreating war-party.

To insure every prospect of success, it was very important

  
   

  

56 LEGENDS.

that not the slightest evidence of pursuit should be dis-
covered by the band, who held the Dacotah prisoner. How
this was to be effected occupied the mind of the Black
Warrior, and called into requisition all his astuteness. He
determined to await the coming of night, and let circum-
stances guide him; and, coming to this conclusion, he quietly
dismounted in a spot where the grass grew profusely, and,
removing the halter which guided the animal by a kind of
ligature around the mouth, that it might feed freely upon
the plentiful herbage, he drew a large piece of dried buffalo
meat from his girdle, and began to lacerate it with in-
finite satisfaction. We will leave him thus pleasantly
satisfying the cravings of his appetite, while we look a little
after the band of Missouris making their way to their own
country, with two scalps and a captive.

The band of Missouris consisted of six warriors, all of
whom were young braves on their first war-path, except the
leader, who was called a name, signifying, in their language,
Big Eik; he was the most distinguished warrior of his tribe,
and had gone forth on this occasion, that the expedition
might have a fortunate issue; for every thing depended,
according to their theory of omens, on bringing a captive
to be sacrificed to the Bad Spirit, that he might have no
anger against the tribe, which had, in conjunction with
other tribes, as we have related above, waged war against
the Dacotahs. It was through the strategic skill of this
chief, that the three young hunters of the Dacotahs were
circumvented ; and, before they had time to wield‘a weapon
in their defence, two of them had been killed, and the
other made captive, for the purpose of sacrifice, as we have
already mentioned.

The sun was fast sinking into his ocean-bed, when Big
Elk and his party came to a little grove of thrifty trees,
where were tethered seven fleet horses. The horses had
been left there two days previously, and the warriors had
pursued on foot the remaining portion of the expedition,

 
THE BLACK WARRIOR. 57

so that they would be less liable to discovery. The calcu-
lations of Big Elk concerning the movements of the
Dacotahs, proved his astuteness. He had predicted that
there would be no instantaneous pursuit, for fear that they
should be lured into an ambuscade, and that a council of
the nation would be called, that its united wisdom might
determine upon the emergency. All this would take time,
that would enable them to reach their horses in safety,
which, being fresh and vigorous, would soon carry them be-
yond the reach of their enemies.

When the Missouris had gained their horses, they stopped
a short time to take some refreshments, and dealt outa
most liberal allowance to the young Dacotah, who, with an
apparent stoic indifference to his fate, eat, with infinite satis-
faction, of the dried venison with which he was served.
After the meal was finished, each Missouri warrior mounted
his horse, and on the spare steed, the prisoner, being
securely hound with thongs, was placed, one of the warriors
leading the animal, and another holding the end of a long
thong which was wound in many a fold around the young
Dacotah’s limbs, so that his slightest motion would be felt—
a necessary precaution, as they intended travelling during
the night, The band of warriors then set out in fine spirits,
for they were finely mounted, as the shades of night com-
menced to close upon the earth.

We will now return to the Black Warrior, whom we left
upon the prairie waiting for night, that he might approach,
unperceived, the camp of the Missouris, and make observa-
tions, if he could not then effect a rescue. That he might
risk nothing by mismanagement, he left his horse where it
then was, for it was so trained that it would not stray,
and cautiously proceeded on the trail, that he could easily
follow by the light of the moon, which was ascending the
clear azure of heaven, and flooding the earth with its silvery
light. When he came in sight of the grove where the
Missouris had taken horse, he naturally concluded that the

 

 
  

58 LEGENDS.

party would encamp there for the night, and redoubled his
caution. He threw himself along the earth, and quietly
and noiselessly as a serpent, forced his way through the
long grass, stopping at intervals to listen, when he approxi-
mated close to the supposed resting-place. All was silent
in the vast solitude, except the guttural sound of the frog
from the small Jakes upon the prairie, or the chirp of some
insignificant insect. Again would the Black Warrior ad-
vance, and had arrived to within a few yards of the grove,
without discovering any evidence of human proximity, when
a vague suspicion flashed over his mind that the Missouris
were not there. Feeling, then, confident of this fact, he
assumed an upright attitude, and, bounding to the spot,
commenced examining the surrounding indications. On
discovering that horses but shortly before had left the spot,
in sudden yexation and rage, he gave a tremendous blow te
a contiguous tree with his short battle-club, exclaiming,
“ Tonnerre de Dieu, ils sont partis.’ He then quickly re-
traced his steps to the spot at which he had left his horse,
and, mounting him, was again on the trail of the Missouris,
almost with the speed of the wind.

Some twenty years before this, there was a youth in
Rouen, France, about sixteen years of age, who, although
so young, had frequently been before the police-courts on
charges of various misdemeanours, but more particularly that
of pommelling his companions, for which he appeared to
have an uncommon predilection. The slight incarceration,
which was the penalty he received for his offences, appeared
to have no salutary effect, and, being on the highway to
utter ruin, his friends encouraged him to join the expedi-
tion then fitting out, under the Sieur de Bienville, for the
Mississippi—he being suited by nature for this daring, ven-
turesome life. Baptiste Viremaitre—for that was his
cognomen—soon had his name enrolled for the New
World, which had been magnified by navigators into a
Paradise or an El Dorado. In due time, the expedition

    
  
 
 
 
 
 
    
  
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
    
THE BLACK WARRIOR. 59

arrived at the “ Father of Waters; ”’ and soon a consider-
able intercourse sprang up between the natives of the
country and the voyagers. Baptiste was frequently one
of the party sent out to hunt, and, being delighted with the
new occupation, shortly became a most skilful hunter and
marksman. ‘Pleased with the free and independent habits
of the Indians, and their unrestrained ways of life, he deter-
mined to desert, and live amongst them, which he success-
fully accomplished.

He made the acquaintance of a Sioux, or Dacotah chief,
and, taking a rifle and considerable ammunition, he went
with his new friend far into the interior, to the village of
the tribe. The Dacotahs were, at that time, warring
against the Sacs, and Baptiste did tremendous execution
upon the latter with his rifle, and was looked upon, both by
friends and enemies, as a great medicine. After a few
years’ residence, he became familiar in practice with the
manners and habits of the tribe of his adoption; and, to
render himself sti]l more remarkable, instead of using the
red paint, the favourite colour of the Indians, he blackened
his features with a sooty substance, and hence was known
by the sobriquet of the “‘ Black Warrior.”

The plentiful supply of ammunition with which Baptiste
had provided himself at the time of his desertion from the
whites, at length became exhausted, and he was compelled
to throw aside the rifle, and adopt the bow and arrow of his
savage friends, in the use of which he soon became an
adept. In a few years, the French youth had become com-
pletely metamorphosed into a gigantic Indian warrior, ex-
celling even the savages themselves in the labours of the
chase, in successful stratagem, and in murderous instincts.
He was the first to enter upon the war-path and the last to
leave it, and his cunning, tremendous strength, and love of
exploit, soon made him the most distinguished warrior of
the tribe. He married the two daughters of the chief, and,
at his death, succeeded to hig, station, as ruler of the most

~

 

 
  

60 LEGENDS,

powerful tribe of Indians on the western continent. Scalp-
locks hung in every part of his wigwam, and his name was
a terror to surrounding tribes. There was but one war-
rior of all the Indian nations that disputed his champion-
ship, and that was Big Elk, the chief of the Missouris, of
whom we have before spoken as the leader of the small
band of Missouris who carried off two scalps, and made
captive a young Dacotah warrior.

We will now return to the Black Warrior, whom we left
pursuing the retreating band of Missouri Indians. He fol-
lowed the plain-trail, at his utmost speed, for a few hours,
and, fearing that he might approach too near and be dis-
covered, he slackened the pace of his smoking charger, and,
intensely straining his vision, directed it far on the prairie ;
but he saw nothing of them. Again, for some moments,
he urged his noble steed almost at winged speed, and was
gratified, about mid-day, at the sight of the fugitives.

Big Elk, the Missouri chief, had used all possible haste
in his retreat, and began to feel a sense of security, as he
was not conscious of any pursuit. The day of which we
have been speaking was excessively hot, and, about three
o'clock in the afternoon, there was heard low muttering
noises in the atmosphere, indicative of electrical disturb-
ance. The Missouri chief, judging from the sultry atmo-
sphere, and the rumbling thunder in the distance, that
a storm was in prospect, turned upon a small lake, whose
banks were skirted by the growth of young maple, which
might afford some protection from the approaching tempest.
Scarcely had the party tied their horses, and formed a sort
of shelter by heaping up dried grass upon sticks or poles,
supported by forks, in the manner of a shed, when the
storm burst upon them in all its fury. The wind blew
almost a hurricane, and the rain fell in torrents from the
heavens.

Far from any tree that would break, in a measure, the
fury of the storm, the Black Warrior had dismounted from

 
   
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
THE BLACK WARRIOR, 61

his horse—-which at a word lay extended upon the grass—
and, placing his body close to that of his steed, he was, in
this manner, much protected from the active fury of the
elements. Night approached, and there was scarcely any
abatement of the storm. The lightning continued to flash
and the thunder to roll, while a darkness as thick as that of
Erebus curtained the earth, except when the transient elec-
trical gleam darted from the heavens in spiry wreaths of
fire, and momentarily dispersed the gloom with its radia-
tions.

The storm and pitchy darkness of the night were suitable
to the purposes of the Black Warrior, and, when the dark-
ness had become almost total, he slowly and cautiously fol-
lowed the trail, which he could only see at the intervals
when the fitful gleams of lightning lit up the earth. After
some hours’ search, he discovered the lake, with its margin
covered with wood, and, falling prostrate upon the ground,
and listening in that posture, soon felt convinced that the
party was encamped there. He then left his horse, ex-
amined his bow and quiver, and, noiselessly and stealthily
as ever panther crept upon its prey, he crawled to within a
a few paces of where the Missouri Indians lay buried in
deep slumber from previous fatigue, thinking that they had
outstripped all pursuit, having their prisoner firmly bound,
and lying between two of their warriors, one of whom was
Big Elk.

The Black Warrior had known from the first that the
distinguished chief of the Missouris was the leader of the
party, and he felt that the great warrior must first be slain
before he could hope to liberate the captive Dacotah. He
determined, under the circumstances, to use the short war-
club, as being the most effectual weapon; and, advancing
within two feet of where the warrior lay, he let his club
descend with all his gigantic strength upon the spot where
the head of the chief rested. Just as the club was descend-
ing, Big Elk, half conscious of danger through the intelli-

 

 
  

62 LEGENDS,

gence that is sometimes conveyed by the nerves, somewhat
changed his position, and saved his life; but the blow
grazed his temple, and for some moments he was insensible.

Thinking that the first blow had been fatal, the Black
Warrior commenced an indiscriminate massacre of the Mis-
souris, all of whom were killed almost with the speed of
thought, without resistance, while the victorious warrior
made the war- whoop of the Dacotahs ring through the deep
stillness of the prairie: He saw his work successfully
ac complished, for he could perceive, by the fitful flashes of
lightning, six warriors lying bloody and still in death; and
then he proceeded to unbind the captive, who was bewil-
dered at the sudden change of events, and for some moments
could not realize his good fortune.

The storm had then begun to abate, and the break-
ing clouds to disclose the azure blue of heaven, through
which a bright star would now and then appear, shining
with a clearer, mellower light since the storm, when the
the Black Warrior commenced to scalp his vanquished
enemies. With a ferocious smile of satisfaction upon his
dark features, he came to where Big Elk lay, and had
stooped to catch a firm hold of the scalp-lock, when that
warrior, who had regained consciousness, made a blow at
his head with a stone tomahawk, which the Indians used at
that early day, before frequent intercourse with the white
man taught them the superior value of iron. The blow,
not being effectually delivered in consequence of the weak
state of the warrior, only grazed the cheek of the Dacotah,
inflicting a deep wound, and temporarily stunning him,
which enabled Big Elk to effect his escape, which he did
by mounting his horse in the darkness, and urging him to
his utmost speed. The Dacotah warrior who had best libe-
rated was too much bewildered to make any effort to inter-
cept him.

As the morning lit with her first smile the brow of
heaven, the Black Warrior, with five fresh scalp-locks dan-

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
   
 
 
 
 
    
  
 
 
    
THE BLACK WARRIOR, 63

gling from his girdle, and the liberated warrior by his side,
proudly commenced his return to his nation, leading cap-
tive the horses of the slain Missouris. In four days, he
arrived at a small eminence overlooking the village, and,
with his stentorian lungs, bellowed forth the victorious war-
whoop; and, with yells and shouts, the vast multitude
rushed to meet and welcome their returning chief. It was
a day of triumph’ to the chief, and of pride to the nation.
For many years it would be handed down, how the Black
Warrior took five scalps of the Missouri warriors, and res-
cued a Dacotah captive; such a deed of prowess would live
in their legendary annals, and the fame of the warrior would
exist for ever.

Let us now return to Big Elk, who had arrived in safety
among his nation, and with galling shame had slunk to his
wigwam. Such is the custom of the Indian warrior when
he is defeated in his purposes, and has been compelled to fly
for his safety; and from motives of delicacy none of the
tribe ever enter the lodge—they know by his conduct the
result of his adventures. He sat on a buffalo hide in the
middle of the floor, and he had before him a robe made of
chamois’ skins. It was of elegant manufacture, and on it
was wrought the most curious symbols. These symbols
were the records of his exploits, which he was now reading
in a low sonorous tone. ‘There was no one in the lodge
but a youth of about seventeen summers, who sat in one
corner cleaning a beautiful bow, which he had made with
much labour from the horns of some stately elk. He was
the son of Big Elk, but he did not appear to notice the
occupation of his father, who at length commenced a
mournful chant, and then the son looked at him inquiringly,
and said:

«Why sings the great warrior of the Missouris his
death-song, when his arm is still strong in battle, and the
burning fever is not near ?”’

“ Big Elk will soon go to the ‘happy valley,’”’ replied

 

 
   
    
  
 
 
   
   
   
  
 
 
 
    
  
    
  
    
  
   
  
 

64 LEGENDS.

i warrior, looking to his son. ‘‘ Just now he saw the

Bad Manito smiling in triumph upon him, and he showed a
slp to my eyes, aid I knew it was the scalp of Big Elk,
for [ saw the deerskin which bound it. Listen, Ornsan’
You are the son of the great chief of the Missouria. See
on this robe the deeds of your father. See here three
Pawnee warriors all dead together. Here the great chief
of the Chippewa with the tomahawk § in his ea Here a
Jomanche with an arrow in his heart; and there the great
Kickapoo chief bound with thongs. The robe is full of the
deeds of your father. The cloud lifts from his heart, and
he knows that he is a great warrior. Look, too, on this
girdle—twenty scalps hang upon it!” He then took the
girdle from his waist, and, lifting the robe, laid them both
by the side of Ornano, and then continued: ‘‘ Take this
robe and girdle, and, when Big Elk is gone to the. ‘ happy
hunting-grounds,’ look on the robe and girdle, that your
heart may become big in your bosom, and your arm strong
when on the path of vengeance. The warrior that has your
father’s scalp, let him look to his own.”

The Indian youth gazed earnestly at his father’s counte-
nance, and continued greasing the tough bow he held to
make its stubborn texture the more yielding.

For some moments longer, Big Elk chanted his mournful
requiem, and then, rising from his seat, commenced
accoutring himself for battle. He painted his face, took
his bow and a quiver of choice arrows, and then his war-
club. He was then ready for the war-path; and, before
starting from the lodge, he thus again addressed Ornano :

« When sevens suns have passed, and Bie Elk has not
come to his lodge, seek for his scalp among the dogs—
Dacotahs. Go on the war-path, Ornano, like a great war-
rior—rush to vengeance with your heart all on fire like a
burning prairie. Seek the great chief of the Dacotahs, for
the Bad Manito has whispered to Big Elk that the Black
Warrior shall slay him!”

  
THE BLACK WARRIOR. 65

Without waiting for reply, he then rushed from the lodge
to the prairie, mounted a fast steed, and at a rapid rate
went on the war-path against the Dacotahs. So much
haste did he use, that in less than three days he was in
sight of the main village, the vicinity of which he gained
during the night, determining to wipe out his former dis-
grace with his life, and with the blood of his enemies. He
then fastened his horse to a tree, and, laying his bow on
the ground, with one knee upon the earth, and his. face
towards the skies, he prayed to the Manito to guide his
arrows to the hearts of his enemies. His attitude was
impressive. His long black hair fell almost to his belt,
while the scalp-lock was considerably longer. He prayed
with earnestness to his Manito, who, in his creed, was
typical of all power and goodness, and to him occupied the
same spiritual relation that the Saviour does to the Chris-
tian. He prayed only for vengeance. He was alone in
the midst of his foes; he had no hopes of escape; he
had come to die, and only was cautious of his safety that
his vengeance should be more complete by the greater
destruction of his enemies. He was weak from previous
fatigue, and the dreadful contusion of the head produced
by the club of the Black Warrior.

The first person stirring in the village was a squaw,
with a wooden vessel for water. An arrow whizzed from a
bow, she fell to the earth, and the next moment her recking
scalp was shaken in the air, with a ferocious smile, by Big
Klik. Another squaw came on the same errand, and shared
the same fate. Then a third, and she, too, followed her
companions. Presently, a warrior peeped from one of the
lodges, looked cautiously around, and then descended to
the base of the hill where Big Klk was concealed. He had
but one arrow left; he fitted it to his bow-string, and, true
to its aim, it pierced the warrior’s brain, and he bit the
dust in his death-agony.

our fresh reeking scalps dripped from the belt of Big

c

 
    
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  

 
 

66 LEGENDS,

Elk, and his heart felt a ray of gladness: for he felt himself
avenged, and that his last days were crowned with glory.
He was ready now to die—all his arrows were used. A
dozen warriors were running towards him, and a swarm was
crowding from the lodges; foremost, was the Black War-
rior, with his bow, his war-club, and stone tomahawk. He
drew his bow, and the arrow glanced from the shield which
the Missouri interposed. The tremendous tomahawk was
they thrown with all the giant strength of the warrior,
which cleaved in twain the skull of Big Elk, who would not
shun the blow, wishing to fall only by the hand of the
greatest warrior. He was then scalped, and the trophy, of
which he was prouder than of all his former conquests, was
displayed by the Black Warrior in triumph, amid the min-
gled yells of rage and joy of the numerous multitude.

A few days after this event, as the Black Warrior was
sallying forth, early in the morning, in pursuit of game, he
saw, at some distance, what was evidently a large black
bear, which immediately made off to a thick grove that
grew in the prairie. The warrior at once pursued the ani-
mal, which was rarely seen in that open country; but, on
arriving at the grove, he found the underbush so very thick
that he dismounted from his horse, having no fear, if he
should meet the bear, of the consequences. He very cau-
tiously advanced to where a cedar grew, with its thick and
clustering branches; and, when within a few yards, an arrow
sped from its boughs, entering the neck of the chief, who
staggered, and fell to the earth, as an Indian youth leaped
upon him, with his tomahawk, which he buried in his head ;
and then, snatching a fresh scalp-lock from the girdle of
the dying warrior, looked long and sorrowfully upon it. It
was the scalp of Big Elk; and it was Ornano, his son, who
was looking upon it. The youth then scalped the Black
Warrior, and took a little silver crucifix from his neck, the
only emblem of civilization that did not link him entirely

with the savage, ‘Thus fell Baptiste Viremaitre alias the

  

 

 
 

THE BLACK WARRIOR. 67

Black Warrior, whose fame and history still live amid the
traditionary records of his adopted nation.

The heart of Ornano beat proudly in his bosom, when he
felt that he had accomplished the injunctions of his father.
He took all the arms of the Dacotah chief, that they might
be as witnesses of his exploit; and, mounting the swift and
powerful charger of the slain warrior, escaped in safety to
his people, who at once proclaimed him successor to the
station and honours of Big Elk.

Ornano, on the robe of his father, which had been given
him, on the eventful occasion that we have before related,
inscribed, in symbols, his death by the Black Warrior; and
immediately by its side was the figure of Ornano, holding
the scalp-lock of the latter. In this manner, were chro-
nicled important events by the savage, which served to
refresh and vivify the oral traditions, and were records that
were to live untouched by the destroying fingers of time.

Ornano was afterwards known among his tribe as the
Black Bear, a name he adopted, from haying clothed himself
in the skin of that animal, when he deceived the Black
Warrior, and killed him in the grove,

 
 

  

LEGENDS,

THE INDIAN’S REVENGE.

@ Legend of the Missonrt.
Site dius!

From the circumstance that Ferdinand and Isabella were
the only monarchs of Europe who gave any direct assistance
to Columbus, when he was wandering from court to court,
soliciting assistance for an enterprise which was regarded at
that time, even by the scientific, as visionary, Spain appeared
to think that she hada paramount right to all the vast
extent of soil in America. She was, indeed, from the period
of the vast discovery, until three centuries later, a great
nation, remarkable for ber enterprise, her wealth, and her
avidity for conquest. She had a highly-disciplined army, a
powerful navy, and her ships floated on every sea, engaged
in commercial enterprises.

From the first, America was regarded as a land overfiow-
ing with every excellence. There, fountains gushed whose
waters would wash away the blights and waste of age, and
give eternal youth; and it was there that gold lay garnered in
the earth, in the most exhaustless profusion. Yet, the great
conquests made by Spain, instead of adding to her glory,
and lending lustre to her national escutcheon, were marked
by such cruelty and oppression that they make the darkest
pages on the records of history, and leave an indelible stain
upon her national character. Had it not have been that
lust for conquest was attended by such unnecessary slaugh-
ter of the poor natives who owned the soil, bright, indeed,
would have been the examples of her chivalrous knights,
who, amid the most trying scenes, the most insurmountable
obstacles, and in the darkest hours of misfortune, so proved
their firmness and courage that they would have been
regarded by the world as the most illustrious of any age.

 

  
THE INDIANS REVENGE. 69

Pizarro invaded Peru with a mere handful of followers,
carved his way to her capital through myriads of opposing
enemies, and assailed by the most fatal epidemics of a
tropical climate; yet his course was one of blood—un-
controlled by moral laws, and even by the sometimes pre-
vailing instincts of weak humanity. His stern and cruel
policv spared neither age nor sex ; to it whole hecatombs of
the nations were sacrificed; with sacrilegious hands, he
invaded the altars and shrines of worship, and, in his
avarice, dragged away the golden images of a mistaken,
though zealous faith.

Hernando Cortez, with a daring that would cause to
grow dim the fabled splendour which romance throws
around her illustrious minions, after violating all human
and religious edicts, and wading through blood and carnage,
bivouacked in the rich halls of the Montezuma, whom he
despoiled of his wealth, then robbed the churches, made
slaves of a people who never injured him, and kept in cap-
tivity a king to whom he had made the most solemn pro-
fessions of friendship, was indebted for costly gifts, and the
possession of whose person he gained by artifice and fraud,
and by violating the sacred laws of treaty and hospitality.

De Soto, the brave, aspiring, and enterprising Governor
of Florida, having that thirst for gold which appeared, at
those periods, a constitutional weakness of his countrymen,
with but few followers, through an untravelled wilderness,
for hundreds of miles, and through nations of lurking foes,
sought for the precious metals where none existed, and
deliberately crucified the Indians, for the purpose of making
them tell the localities of the treasure which had no exist-
ence, save in his imagination. He discovered, in his way-
ward career, the Mississippi River; but the glory which
that discovery would have reflected upon him, is tarnished
from the selfishness of his motives, and blurred by his
cruelty.

The examples thus given are not solitary ones, but

 
   

 
 

70 LEGENDS,

selected from their magnitude, as the universal policy of the
Spanish adventurers at those important epochs, who looked
upon the Indians as not entitled to the courtesies and huma-
nities of life, and whom no Divine edicts were intended to
protect. [or these reasons, the Spaniards were ever re-
garded by the natives with horror and aversion; and the
French, from pursuing an antagonistic and humane policy,
won the affection of the primitive people with whom they
mingled, and who, many years afterwards, in the wars
against England, proved most skilful and efficient allies.
After the visit of Marquette and [oliet to the Mississippi,
and more particularly after the discovery of the mouth of
the great river by Robert Cavelier Sieur de la Salle, France
turned her attention to that part of the continent through
which the ‘Father of Waters” flowed. Under the guid-
ance of Iberville, Bienville, and others, expedition after
expedition was fitted out, and soon the gay and excitable
members of the Gallic nation were disseminated through
the fertile valleys of the great rivers, and began to
monopolize a great portion of the trade of the country,
which, heretofore, had fallen into the hands of the Spaniards.
For the last-mentioned people, who were cruel and arro-
gant to a painful degree, the Indian had no affinity, and
could never mingle in anything like a familiar and united
existence; if there were any proximity—any intercourse
between them—it was the result of imperative necessity,
and not the natural fruition of genial circumstance. Directly
the gay, volatile, and life-enjoying Frenchmen became
known to the savages, they withdrew within influences more
congenial to their nature, and more fraught with benefit and
happiness ; for, while the. Spaniards acted like demons, the
Frenchmen, with that peculiar characteristic for which they
are remarkable, adopted the habits of the strange people
among whom fortune had thrown them—married their
squaws, painted their faces, and became almost savages
themseives,

 
, ee
THE INDIAN S REVENGE. 71

After this preamble, which was necessary in affording
some explanation to the subsequent narrative, we will touch
upon the subject that forms the basis of the legend.

When Captains Lewis and Clark, by order of the Go-
vernment of the United States of America, ascended the
Missouri River, in the year 1804, they saw the ruins of au
old village of the Missouri Indians, once a very powerful
tribe, but then almost extinct. They once occupied all the
territory situated near the junction of the Kansas and Mis-
souri Rivers, but fell a prey to that awful scourge, the
small-pox, which swept them off by hundreds, together
with the continual depredations of their warlike and feudal
enemies, the Pawnees and Sioux. In their palmy days,
they massacred nearly fifteen hundred Spaniards from Santa
Fé, who had come into their country with a hostile inten-
tion, and only one of their number, a priest, escaped to tell
the tale of universal destruction. The traditionary legend
is as follows :—

A Leaenp or tue Missouri.

Some time during the year 1716, the Spanish authori-
ties of Santa Fé, becoming jealous of the popularity
of the French among the native tribes, and the lucrative
trade in peltries, which they had then almost monopolized,
resolved to make an effort to arrest their prosperity and
divert the trade to other channels. Hearing that the
French had, in some manner, offended the Pawnee nation,
one of the most powerful tribes on the Missouri, they
resolved to send an emissary to that nation, for the purpose
of still further promoting the dissension existing between
them and the French, and to persuade them to declare war
against the Missouris, who were much attached to the last-
mentioned people, many of whom had intermarricd with
them ; and, in conclusion, to promise such assistance to the

 
   

  

72 LEGENDS.

Pawnees, that they could exterminate their hereditary foes
at a blow, which, when effected, would naturally give a
preference in trade to those by whose means they had
stricken from existence a powerful and warlike enemy.

The Spanish authorities looked carefully around, to find
a person of sufficient tact to intrust with so delicate a mis-
sion; for it required one of shrewdness, intelligence, a
knowledge of the habits and customs of Indian life, and
consummate skill in the peculiariti-s of savage diplomacy.
At length, they seiected a certain Pedro Castello, an Anda-
lusian by birth, who had run away from his mountain home
while a boy, and, after as many adventures almost as Sins
bad, became a soldier attached to the Spanish service at
Santa Fé. The varied scenes through which he passed in
his chequered career had sharpened his intellect, naturally
of a quick and inquiring turn, and had given him a rare
knowledge of the secret springs of action which move
human nature when placed in varied circumstances. He
had lived among the Indians for some years, and spoke
fluently the tongues of several of the tribes, which was a
sine qud non to the business he was about to undertake.

Pedro Castello, one day, when he was chanting to his
companions one of the sweet pastoral songs of his native
province, received a message from his commanding officer
to come immediately into his presence. So unlooked for an
order struck Pedro with surprise, and he scrutinized par-
ticularly the tablet of his memory, to see whether he had
done anything which would make him amenable to the
strict discipline of the law that governed a soldier’s life.
He could see nothing’ for which he could be held account-
able, but a liaison which he carried on with the daughter of
a barber, whose acquaintance he had recently made, and
who had become almost bewitched by the sweet love-songs
with which Pedro often entertained her. He had got
thus far in the review of his peccadilloes, when he arrived at
the office of his commander, who, instead of returning his

 
THE INDIANS REVENGE. 73

salute with a haughty glance, shook him cordially by the
hand, and then acquainted him with the wishes of the
governor, who, having heard of Pedro’s qualifications and
character through him, determined that he should be in-
trusted with the delicate mission, He informed Pedro that
he must pay a visit to the Pawnees, deliver to them a
small package of presents, which had been prepared for
the occasion, use every means that he was master of to
incense them against the French, and provoke them to
hostilities with the Missouris, with whom he was to mingle
‘autiously in the guise of a French trapper, because of
their known partiality to that people.

Pedro spoke the language almost like a native, having
served two years as a sailor on board a French ship, while
a boy, when he first left his home. His mission to the
Missouri country was to find out the tendencies and
resources of the tribe.

An adventure of this kind suited the volatile, yet daring
nature of Pedro, and he consented to undertake the expedi-
tion with marked satisfaction. Arrangements for the
journey were at once commenced and soon concluded. In
a few days he was equipped, mounted upon a fine charger,
and carrying-a package of presents for the chiefs of the
Pawnee nation. The journey was a tedious one of some
weeks, some part of which lay through wild barren wastes
without verdure or water, but Pedro surmounted every
obstacle, and was only a day’s journey from the Pawnee
country, when he was overtaken and captured by a maraud-
ing party of Comanches, who had been on the war-path
against that tribe, but who had been discovered before they
could make a surprise, with the loss of four of their warriors.
The capture of Pedro was a happy event, as they would not
return to their nation empty-handed, and they determined
that he should undergo all the exquisite torture with which
they were acquainted. Pedro was securely bound upon
his own horse, which was led by one of the party.

 
    

  

74 LEGENDS.

When night came, it was necessary to rest the jaded
steeds; and, having selected a proper locality, the Indians
prepared to spend the night in the place; and, having shot
an elk, they satisfied the cravings of their appetites.

It was by the light of the fire which they had kindled
that Pedro was searched, and the package of presents, de-
signed for the Pawnee chiefs, taken from his person. Great
was the joy of the party on getting possession of the gaudy,
tinselled trinkets it contained, and they searched Pedro again
and again, stripping him of all his garments, thinking to find
something more of a like kind, which assimilated precisely
to their ideas of taste and ornament.

Whatever may have been his feelings on this occasion,
Pedro knew full well that it was his policy to con-
trol them under a sang-froid exterior. So, after eat-
ing heartily of the elk, he unconcernedly sang several
songs, apparently ignorant of the fate for which they
had destined him; yet he had heard and understood
the conversation relative to himself, the savages speaking
unreservedly before him, thinking that he was ignorant of
their language. ‘They were much amused with the singing
of Pedro, who, to do him justice, had a most melodious voice,
and this accomplishment and apparent indifference to his
fate saved him from many insults which would have been
heaped upon him by blows and vituperation had he pursued
an opposite line of conduct. That night, he was securely
bound, and, though feigning sleep, his mind in its active
loom was forming a thousand stratagems to escape. ‘‘ Tired
nature’s sweet restorer,” at length shed its balmy dews upon
him, and he sank into refreshing slumber.

Before break of day, the little camp was all in confusion ;
the war-whoop of contending Indians broke terrifically upon
the stillness of the night, and the tomahawk was doing
frightful execution in the hands of the assailants. Pedro
remained perfectly still; indeed, he could not do otherwise,
for he was bound tight upon his back, and probably it was

 
THE INDIAN’S REVENGE, i)

owing to this circumstance that his life was saved, as his
prostrate form indicated that he had fallen in the affray.

The assailants were a band of the Pawnees, who had fol-
lowed on the trail of the retreating Comanches, and sur-
prised them in the manner we have related. After the work
of destruction was completed, the victors commenced to
scalp the slain, and then it was that Pedro began to speak
in the Pawnee tongue, which he understood, saying that he
was a prisoner, and a friend of the Pawnees. The leading
warrior of the party, then protected him from the rest, who
were not in a mood to listen to any claims of friendship
when all their savage instincts were in full action, He
unbound the Spaniard, who was covered with the life-blood
of a Comanche warrior who had fallen across him in the
conflict.

The day had now broken, and after they had drawn from
the heads of the Pawnees, who were all killed, the reek-
ing trophies of victory, they prepared to depart, as the
sun rose from the horizon.

Some of the warriors looked fiercely at Pedro, who,
as he regarded the bleeding scalp-locks of the Co-
manches, felt a nervous twitching on his head, es-
pecially about the crown. Fortunately, the package
of presents with which he was charged flashed upon
his mind. He had seen a Comanche warrior deposit it
in the hollow of a tree, the night before. He told the
Pawnees that he was on a special visit to their country from
the governor of Santa Fé, who had sent by him a large
number of presents to the great chiefs of their tribe. He
then went to the tree and withdrew the package; while
the whole band of Pawnee warriors, having a novel excite-
ment, gathered around him, Pedro next opened the packege,
and the Indians fairly danced with delight at the display of
sparkling ornaments ; but he was not without his fears that
she love of the spoils would be too much for their philo-
tophy to resist, and that they would award to him the same

 
    

   

LEGENDS.

fate as the Comanche warriors, with whom he was found,
that they might seize upon the package as the rightful
spoils of war. ‘These natural misgivings on his part proved
groundless, and he was treated with much kindness and
conducted to the Pawnee country.

The arrival of the war-party, with ten scalps, accompa-
nied by a Spaniard, who was rescued from the Comanches,
soon spread from village to village ; and, in the course of a
few hours, most of the nation had collected on one spot.
Pedro was an object of great curiosity and importance,
when it became generally known that he had come from
Santa Fé, on a special mission to the Pawnee nation, and
was the bearer of presents.

The old chiefs determined at once to hold a council,
to take into full consideration the embassy of Pedro,
and to divide the presents he had brought. A letter
had been written by the Spanish authorities of Santa Fé
to the chiefs of the Pawnee nation, by the advice of Pedro,
who knew that though the piece of parchment would be a
dead letter to the savages, yet, the very mystery would be
in its favour, and give the Indians an exalted idea of the
source from whence it emanated. The parchment was
spread out on a deerskin, beautifully dressed, in the middle
of the council-room; and all the medicine-men of the
nation, in their united wisdom, could not make out its
import. Pedro, under an air of austere gravity, chuckled
over their serious and fruitless efforts; and, thinking it
good policy not to let their bewilderment continue longer,
“ame forward, and explained to them the intentions and
contents of the missive, with which they professed them-
selves much pleased: for it contained the greatest protesta-
tions of friendship, on the part of the Spanish authorities,
‘to the great, most powerful, and mighty chiefs of the
Pawnee nation.’ The whole epistle was nothing more than
a florid array of words, for effect, but was a ‘ flattering
unction” to the vanity of an Indian,
THE INDIANS REVENGE. 77

Pedro was treated with much honour during the delibe-
rations; and, at the breaking up of the council—befcre
which, there was some squabbling in the division of the
gifts—was assigned a resting-place in the lodge of the
greatest chief, and was feasted and caressed by all the. dis-
tinguished warriors of the nation. He was in his element.
Without a particle of restraint upon his rollicking and social
disposition, he soon became almost worshipped by the
Pawnees: for he hunted with them, wrestled with them,
ready for any sport—yet, with intuitive tact, he took good
care never to excel them in anything that was an essential
requisition in a warrior; and, therefore, no feeling of envy
destroyed the good relation existing between them.

For several weeks did Pedro live happily among the
Pawnees ; and, having carefully observed their habits, and
formed a correct estimate of their resources, he determined
to depart for the Missouris, according to his instructions,
The Pawnees did much to dissuade him from his contem-
plated visit, telling him that they, with the assistance of
their Spanish friends, could exterminate the tribe, without
his hazarding a visit to make personal observations ; for
they were a treacherous tribe, among whom no stranger
was safe, and would not hesitate to take his scalp for any
real or fancied offence.

Pedro was not deterred by the frightful picture displayed
before his view, but was more anxious to undertake the
enterprise, as he was one of those bold careless natures who
receive the greatest enjoyment from adventures when
attended with the greatest perils. Having equipped himself
as a trapper, with the assistance and instruction of his
Pawnee friends, who delivered a long pow-pow, to be car-
ried to the Spanish authorities at Santa Fé, expressive of
their friendship and ready assent to any hostile invasion
against the Missouris.

Pedro commenced his journey, in a south-west direction,
and very cautiously pursued his way, for fear of being

 
   

  

78 LECENDS.

captured, as he was on the first occasion. Frequently,
during the day, he would climb a tall tree, so as to
extend, as far as possible, his vision across the plains,
that he might avoid any roving bands of Indians, of whom
he stood in much dread, since his capture by the Comanches.
Nothing of importance occurred for several days; and,
according to his computation of distance, he must have
advanced into or very near the Missouri country; when,
one evening, about nightfall, arriving on the skirts of a
forest, and preparing to make himself comfortable for the
night, he saw a light suddenly blaze among the trees, at no
great distance. Pedro was very anxious to know in what
locality he was; so he cautiously advanced towards the
light, which he discovered flickering in a lodge, the door of
which being open, he could see an Indian squaw, several
children, and a thick-set man, whom, by the shortness and
fineness of his hair, and his peculiar attire, he knew to be a
white man, and ad trapper. A small dog sprang from the
lodge, at his approach; but his war-like demonstrations
were soon changed to a yelp, by a blow which he received
from a piece of wood thrown by his master, who came
towards Pedro, looking inquiringly and suspiciously.

Pedro asked, in the French language, to be admitted to
the hospitalities of the lodge for a night, when the trapper
sprang towards him with a lover’s affection, giving him an
embrace with an ardour and love which would have been
creditable to a bear, repeating as often as he shook his
hand, ‘‘ Mon ami, mon ami, vous étes Francais; n’est-ce
pas ?-”

Pedro felt that a little deception would benefit him, so he
confessed being a Frenchman, as he spoke so fluently the
language, was again hugged by the trapper, and conducted
into the lodge, when a general stampedo took place among
the children, who hid themselves behind piles of deer and
buffalo-skins, which were heaped in one corner of the lodge.
A Frenchman and a trapper accidentally meeting a

 
THE INDIAN'’S REVENGE. 79

countryman in the wilderness, becomes, at once, the pos-
sessor of a blessing, which he would not exchange for the
wealth of the Indies. Past years—the happy years of the
spring of life—rush, with their pleasing associations, upon
the mind; the rivulets of memory flow into their old
channels, and the man lives and breathes as in the days of
youth, when the world was an Elysium, and care had pen-
cilled no wrinkles on his brow. ‘The trapper threw a huge
skin before the fire, which he replenished by a bountiful
supply of fuel, and ordered his Indian wife to prepare
supper for his friend, while he brought from a little cup-
board a huge wooden bottle, which contained a kind of beer
manufactured from tonic roots and the persimmon fruit,
that disploded, on opening, like a bottle of champagne, and
was, indeed, an effervescent and refreshing drink.

Pedro felt that night as if he was in fairy-land, for he
was soon seated by a glorious supper, where he could eat
of two or three kinds of meat, with plenty of Indian cakes ;
and he had a cover over his head, with a prospect of a good
sleep on a buffalo-skin. This was a glorious change, in
comparison with the accommodations he had put up with of
late; and he partook of the stewed venison and roasted
buffalo with an appetite which would have tried awfully
the good nature of all modern landlords, and would have
frightened some of our economical boarding-house keepers
quite out of their wits. He told Louis Gallot (for that was
the trapper’s name) to give him just one hour, fair and
square, without any interruption, upon the Indian cakes,
deer and buffalo meat, and then he would be ready to talk
him out of his boots. Louis consented, with a good-
natured laugh, to the request of Pedro, and carefully placed
every dish within the reach of his friend, that his hunger
might be completely satisfied.

There is an old adage that ‘there is no lane so long,
but it has a turn,” and, however, extended was the appe-
tite of Pedro, it, at length, advanced to its full gratification,

 
    

   

LEGENDS,

greatly to the joy of the half-bred children, who, at the
flavour of the repast, had emerged from their hiding-
place, and became clamorous for their supper.

The meal being finished, Louis Gallot produced tw
pipes and some tobacco, and, in a few moments, he and
Pedro were involved in clouds of smoke, discoursing all the
time with great volubility. Midnight came: the squaw and
the children had been snoring some time on their skins, but
the new-made friends, seated by the crackling fire, over the
third bottle of the home-brewed ale of the trapper, were
still wrapped up in the charm of social conversation.
Louis Gallot had thousands of questions to ask about his gay
and sunny clime, most of which Pedro answered by guess- .
work, and totally regardless of truth.

By the invitation of the trapper, Pedro consented to
remain in the Missouri country, and they agreed to enter
into partnership in the accumulation of elk, beaver, and
buffalo-skins. This arrangement at once placed him in a .
position of comparative safety and influence; for the '
trapper had married a Missouri squaw, and had long lived
among the tribe as a person of acknowledged importance.
From his tact and shrewdness, the nationality of Pedro had
never been suspected, and he was regarded by the few
Freachmen who lived in the tribe as a genuine Gaul. He
was a gay, jovial, and rollicking soul, possessing those
characteristics, at all events, in common with the natives of
France.

Days, weeks, and months passed in alternate succession,
and Pedro determined that he would depart, for, as a
trapper and friend of Louis Gallot, he had mingled freely
with the nation, became acquainted with the different
localities, and had observed everything connected with his
mission, without creating a shadow of suspicion.

With all his recklessness and moral delingu ncy, Pedro had
a heart that was sensible to tenderness, and at times, some-
thing, akin to remorse, would probe him keenly for the

 
 

THE INDIAN’S REVENGE. 81

deceitful part he was acting, when he was feasted by the
natives as a favourite, and trusted as a friend. The pure
current of those feelings would, however, be immediately
checked, when he reflected upon the importance it would
confer upon him, and the incidental emolument he would
receive, from being the means by which the Spanish
authorities would gain the ascendancy iti a country whose
important trade was monopolized by a rival nation. How-
ever, in the universal massacre which would take place,
should the Missouris be surprised by the Spaniards and
Pawnees, he determined that an especial reservation should
be made in favour of Louis Gallot, his family, and the
daughter of one of the chiefs, whose acquaintance he had
formed, and for whom he felt a warm attachment. Having
that operating desire of seeing again his native country,
which ever animates the most callous bosom, Pedro pur-
posed to take to the pastoral province of Andalusia this
Indian maiden, who would be a source of continual wonder
to the inhabitants, and be a living evidence of the remote
countries which he had visited. Besides, he had a warm
affection for the wild flower of the forest. He thought of
his aged mother, too, who might still be living in the little
hamlet by the mountain-side. ‘To her, he would bend his
knee, in contrition for the many tears he had cost her, in
his young and wayward career; and would try to sooth
her declining days by the most affectionate assiduity, and
by the worldly comforts he would heap around her, These
fairy scenes, however, easily sketched by the fertile imagi-
nation of Pedro, were, like the beautiful colours of the rain-
bow, only to be enjoyed in the prospect. Sweet and beau-
tiful is the vision of perspective happiness ; but it is only in
the distance we can enjoy it. It fades, as we approach—or
proves a shadow, when we would grasp it.

The time came when Pedro bade an affectionate fare-
well to the trapper and his family; and, taking a tender
leave of his swarthy beauty, was soon on his route to the

 
   

   

LEGENDS.

Pawnee country, rejoicing in the full success of his critical
undertaking. ‘I'he Pawnees were glad to see that he had
come from the Missouri nation unscathed, and feasted and
varessed him more than before, so rejoiced were they at the
promised assistance of the Spaniards, and the prospect of
the speedy subjugation of their ancient enemies—the
Missouris.

All things being again talked over by the Pawnee chiefs
in council, Pedro was carefully provided with provisions for
his journey, and had intrusted to his care a belt of wam-
pum, for the Spanish governor. His journey across the
plains proved more auspicious than before; for, without any
accident, he arrived safe at Santa Fé, and was welcomed
with much warmth by the authorities, who congratulated
him on the success of his hazardous undertaking. After
making the most minute inquiries concerning the state of
the country, the resources of the Pawnees and Missouris,
and the amount of trade carried on in furs and skins, the
governor, on parting, presented him with a piece of parch-
ment of imposing dimensions, telling him that it was a cer-
tificate of promotion.

Pedro departed from his excellency, with many profes-
sions of gratitude; and, after getting a short distance from
the office, he sought a secluded spot, where he could open
the precious document given to him by the governor. His
eyes took in at a glance the whole contents; and what was
his disappointment to find that his promotion was only one
step higher than the position he formerly occupied, and
that he was but a petty officer, one grade removed from
the ranks! At first, Pedro felt indignant for this slight
consideration for his valuable services and fearful risks;
but consoled himself with the prospect of a large bag of
‘yellow Mint drops,” which would ultimately be given
him, as a douceuy, for his many hardships. Thus happily
consoling himself, with a heart fluttering with anticipated
joy, Pedro took his way to the house where dwelt his
THE INDIAN’S REVENGE. 83

senorita, the barber’s daughter. ‘The little shop was still
there; and, through the door that stood open, he saw
Leonora behind the little counter; but it struck him that
she was much faded in appearance, and wanting that rich
bloom which gave such a charm to her brunette complexion.
However, he knew it was Leonora, and rushed into the shop,
with her name upon his lips‘ Leonora uttered a scream,
and sank sobbing to a chair as she saw him; and he,
being intent to press her again to his bosom, with quick
step, was advancing towards her, behind the counter, when
he stumbled over a cradle, which he had not observed; and
immediately the wail of a child was heard upon the floor.
In a moment, Leonora sprang to her feet, exclaiming :

« My child, my child! oh, you have killed my child!”
raising the infant, at the same time, in her arms, and lavish-
ing upon it the most affectionate endearments.

Pedro, all aghast, stood motionless some time at a scene
so little anticipated, and then, seeing how matters stood,
enraged and chop-fallen, he left the faithless Leonora.
Why Pedro expected that Leonora should be true to him,
when he had forgotten her for his forest flame, does not
appear. After leaving Leonora to the consolations of ma-
ternal solicitude, he sought one of his boon companions, ‘in
whom he had the greatest confidence, by the name of Arno,
who kept a little drinking-shop in Santa Fé, and who knew
better than any man in the place the circulating news, both
of a public and private nature.

Arno greeted his old friend with a warmth which showed
that his feelings had not cooled from the influence of long
absence, which so powerfully tests the strength of friend-
ship, and reveals the worth and golden properties of genuine
affection. Pedro, after answering briefly some of the ques-
tions which his curious friend crowded upon him without
intermission, seeing that they were alone, asked him what
news he had heard of Leonora ?

«Ah! my friend,” replied Arno, “ think no more of her,

 
   

  

84 LEGENDS,

Like many of her sex, in the absence of one lover, they
weep, rave, and go into hysterics, and, finally, when you
think their hearts are broken, commence to sim per and
smile again, and console themselves by taking a new lover
for pastime. It is all human nature, Pedro, and a Spanish
girl can do no more without her lover than her breakfast.
When vou went away, Leonora’s grief was the talk of your
comrades, for she grew pale and lost her ruddy complexion,
and many said it was truly a case of a broken heart. How-
ever, this excess of grief lasted but afew days. After a

week, she would sit at the shop door and smile to her
acquaintances, and then she took with a heavy moustached
fellow, who gave her all kinds of jewellery and expensive
dresses, and who was at last tried and executed for mur-
dering a merchant, that he might robhim. The murderer’s
two hands were first cut off, and then he was shot.”

‘You may know of what kind of stuff that girl’s heart
is made,’ continued Arno, ‘‘ when she went among the
thousands of spectators to see her lover executed. After
that event, 1 lost sight of her for several months, until I
heard some of the soldiers of your company say that your
captain, Don Garcia Alvado, had commenced to visit pretty
frequently the barber’s shop, and predicted that Leonora
would be a lost maiden; for you know that same captain,
by his art, station, and wealth, has ruined ever so many
poor girls who have been weak enough to listen to his
promises and persuasions. He seduced Leonora like the
rest, and is the father of her child.”

Pedro affected to treat the matter lightly, and his old
friend was rejoiced to see how little the infidelity and mis-
fortunes of his former mistress moved him; but, revenge
was burning in his heart, and it was seething like a 4

cauldron. Not that he really loved Leonora, and felt the
grief of a blasted and mistaken affection, but he had prided
himself upon her preference, and he had received a wound
in his most vulnerable point—his vanity; how it rankled,

 
THE INDIAN’S REVENGE. 85

and how dreadful the result, we shall see in the progress of
this narrative.

The Spanish authorities, immediately after the return of
Pedro, quickly se pianiived and hurried off an expedition,
designed to operate with the Pawnees against the Missouris;
the total extermination of the latter being determined upon,
from their partiality and adherence to the French. Don
Garcia Alvado, the seducer of Leonora, was one of the com-
manders of the large body of troops who were to march
through the wilderness under the guidance of Pedro, who
had travelled the country before.

The expedition was well fitted out; but the difficulties,
fatigue, and sickness, incident to along march through a
new country, daily thinned their ranks, and made all
anxious for the termination of the journey. Pedro was
apparently the same rollicking, jovial fellow as formerly,
continually singing, cracking his jests, and making merri-
ment out of nothing’: yet his joviality was too great—it
went beyond a natural boundary, and there was a wildness
in his bloodshot eyes which indicated great disturbance in
the mental region, and boded some concealed and dreadful
purpose. He frequently cast long scowling looks upon Don
Garcia Alvado, and then a cold malignant smile would flit
across his features, as some pleasant thought would stray
through the darkened labyrinths of his mind.

After some weeks of constant travel, they came to a rich
and beautiful country, where the sea of undulating prairie
seemed almost infinite in its expanse, and was cov ened with
the most luxuriant verdure. Here Pedro advised a halt,
and declared they were on the boundary of the Pawnee
country, and but two days’ march from the main village.
He advised the commanders of the forces to encamp where
they were, whilst he went to the village and informed the
Pawnee 2s of their arrival, and requested that Father Lorenzo,
the priest, be permitted to accompany him, as it would
show a trust and faith that would be gratifying to the

 
  

86 LEGENDS,.

Indian character. This request was acceded to, and Pedro
set out for the Pawnee village with the priest for his com-
panion.

The second day of their journey, a little in the afternoon,
they came to a comfortable-looking lodge, which the reader
will recognize as belonging to Louis Gallot, the trapper,
for there was the Indian squaw, and the half-breed chil-
dren, the eldest of whom immediately recognized Pedro,
and ran into the lodge to inform the mother, who welcomed
the two in the Indian tongue. Louis Gallot was absent in
the woods, and would soon return. Pedro, ascertaining the
direction the trapper had taken, left the priest in the lodge,
with a promise of not making a long stay, and soon found
his old friend engaged in skinning a large elk that he had
killed.

The dreadful purpose of Pedro, and the manner he
intended accomplishing his revenge, must now appear evi-
dent to the reader. The Spanish authorities had treated
him with ingratitude, and had so equivocally rewarded his
services, that there was insult more than appreciation in
the testimonial they had given him; and then, more than
all of “‘wormwood and gall,” the commander-in-chief of
the expedition had seduced and ruined Leonora during his
absence for the national welfare. He had sworn a terrible

retribution, and a Spaniard is as true to his vow of

vengeance as the pilgrim to heavenly influences, when he
seeks the shrine of Bethlehem. Instead of leading the
expedition into the Pawnee territory, he had led it into the
Missouri nation, that he might deliver the whole—saving
one—to the remorseless fury and terrific vengeance of a
wild and hostile people. He wished to spare the priest,
and for that purpose had procured his company, that he
should be withdrawn from the Spaniards at the hour of
bloody vengeance.

After Pedro had cordially greeted the trapper, who was
rejoiced to see him, he told him an artful tale suited to his

  
  
   
 
 
 
 
 
    
  
 
 
    
  
 
 
 
 
    
  
 
 
 
 
 
   
THE INDIAN’S REVENGE, 87

purposes. He said that, whilst trapping far to the south-
west, he had come across an immense number of Spaniards
going to the Pawnee country. That, being unacquainted
with the country, they had procured him as a guide; and,
thinking him a Spaniard, which belief from safety and
policy he had impressed upon them, they had communi-
cated to him their intention of forming a league with the
Pawnees, and destroy entirely the Missouri nation, because
of their partiality to the French. Directly their intentions
were made manifest, he had purposely led them into the
Missouris’ country, that their designs might be thwarted,
and a quick vengeance overtake them.

The trapper praised the sagacity and courage of Pedro,
whom he called Pierre (always believing him a Frenchman),
and it was agreed that the two should start for the village
of the Missouris, so that the warriors of the nation and the
resident Frenchmen might be collected, and destroy, by an
unexpected blow, the treacherous Spaniards. They passed
by the lodge of the trapper to get some refreshments, and
also that Pedro might make some plausible excuse to the
priest for his intended absence.

After the chiefs of the Missouris heard of the intended
league of the Pawnees and Spaniards, and how the latter
were then in their power, their war-whoop sounded
through the forest, and soon the war-dance and the scalp-
dance, in their mazy circles, were gone through, that all of
the bloodiest instincts might be in full force, when the war-
riors would go forth against their enemies. The savage
rites and mysteries, necessary to a premediated attack, were
at length all finished, and the Missouri warriors and the
Frenchmen who resided with them, departed, in full force,
to attack the treacherous Spaniards.

Pedro, the more readily to disarm the invaders of all
suspicion, had sent them a missive by the young Indian
maiden, Forest Flower, that the Pawnee chiefs and war-
riors were collecting in full force, and would arrive in a few

 
 

88 LEGENDS,

days, she being, at the same time, only a little in adwance
of two thousand Missouri warriors, who were lying con-
cealed to await the result of her mission. The Indian girl
had been attired in the most becoming costume, that Pedro
had provided for the occasion, wearing the ornamental and
graceful articles of dress in vogue among sayage nations
who have some intercourse among the whites. The letter
she bore was addressed to Don Paate Alvado, and that
sensual and unprincipled commander, when he saw the
youthful features and graceful outline of the Indian beauty,
felt all his animal instincts aroused, and he determined
to make an effort to possess her.

Forest Flower had been well instructed in the part which
she was to act by Pedro. She met the advances of the
amorous Spaniard half coyly; received all his presents ;
and at parting, about nightfall, gave him an expressive
glance that induced him to follow her into a thick grove,
which skirted one side of the prairie. In this grove were
Pedro and several Missouri warriors concealed, awaiting the
expected arrival of Don Garcia Alvado; and, as that un-
principled commander pressed on eagerly after the retreat-
ing Indian, he came within an arm’s length of Pedro, who
was concealed behind a tree, whose stiletto " srced him to
the heart, before any signal of alarm could escape him.
Vhen he was writhing in his death-throes, Pedro, by the
uncertain twilight, revealed his features, and taunted him
for his bascness.

  

All the warriors, prior to this, had been divided, so as
completely to encircle the encampment of the Spaniards;
and, as night a pproache xd, they gradually contracted the
circle, judging each other’s advance by imitating the sound
of the whippo-will, which they did to perfection. The
Wpavingds were sleeping the sound slumber of security ;
and; when the two ‘deavceattn id savages sprang among them,
they, amazed and confounded, fell wi iia a struggle of
resistance. Deep was the treachery of the Spaniards;

   

  
THE INDIAN’S REVENGE. 89

and terrible was the retributive vengeance of the Mis-
souris.

The priest who had been left at the lodge of the trapper
by Pedro, feeling lonesome and uneasy, had made his way
towards the Spanish encampment; and the day after the
massacre, arrived upon the prairie where the whole army
lay butchered. Frightened at the universal slaughter, he
caught a horse that had belonged to the expedition, and,
being nearly starved to death, made his way to Santa I'é,
where he related the tragic result, giving as his opinion
how the guide had mistaken the country, and Jed them in
the midst of the Missouris instead of the Pawnees; for he
had no suspicion of Pedro, whom he thought had fallen
with the rest. .

The massacre was universal—Father Lorenzo being the
only one who escaped ; and he owed his life to the super-
stition of Pedro, who feared a divine curse would rest upon
him, and signal misfortune overtake him, should he be the
vause of the death of so holy aman. Pedro became a
favourite with the Missouri nation, and took Forest Flower
for his wife, with whom he lived happily, having built a
lodge near that of Louis Gallot, the trapper; and the two
could be frequently seen sitting together, with several
wooden bottles of home-brewed ale between them, telling
long yarns, and drinking each other's health.

The terrible vengeance of the Missouris upon the
Spaniards was long a subject of boast by the tribe, and
became a main feature of its legendary history.

 
  

 

LEGENDS,

THE BIG MANITO ROCKS.
G Logeud of the Alissuonci.

slpesgenans
Wuere the Missouri flows, some miles on this side of
Franklin and Boonville, there are clustered in divers
places large and almost perpendicular rocks, which, at
times, protrude into the bed of the river, narrowing its
channel, and increasing its depth. These rocks are called
the ‘ Big Manito Rocks ;” and by their large disjointed
surfaces, their precipitous suspension, and the wild variety
of their rugged features, give to the locality a grandeur of
scenery, and a romantic interest, which render them a
marked place in the memory and diary of the voyager of
the wild and turbid Missouri.

In the summer of 1819, two gentlemen were leisurely
walking together along the base of one of those almost
perpendicular masses of granite structure, which appeared
to tower as a monument of a great convulsion in nature,
when the mountains trembled as an aspen leaf, and were
torn and riven by the lightning—its monstrous fabries cleft
and scattered, here in disjointed masses, there thrown
together in a monstrous pile: the whole a mighty ruin, yet
grand in its desolation. One was Major Long, commander
of the exploring expedition sent out by the Congress of
the United States at this period ; and the other, Dr. Bald-
win, the renowned botanist. They both viewed the “ Big
Manito Rocks” with more than ordinary interest, more
particularly the latter, whose mind was delicately sensible
to every variety of natural beauty. Huis frame was almost
a shadow; and he breathed shortly and painfully from the
slightest exertion; yet his cyes (those reflective lights of
the soul and the intellect) beamed with the radiancy of

 

  
THE BIG MANITO ROCKS, 91

intellectual power—they were so lustrously and spiritually
bright.

‘** What think you, Doctor,” said Major Long, “of this
evidence of the sublime, hundreds of miles before we have
reached the Rocky Mountains ?”

‘There is more beauty in the sentiment conveyed by the
name, than in the vast pile of rocks themselves, though
infinitely grand,” replied the botanist. ‘‘The name itself
is suggestive of Almighty power and sublimity, and of the
superstitious phantasies of a singular and gradually ex-
piring race. The red man’s religion is a strange one, yet
it is rarely ever associated with anything mean or insigni-
cant. The Great Spirit rests upon the mountain-top, and
rides upon the wind.”

“There is an old hunter who has a cabin somewhere in
this neighbourhood,” said Major Long to his companion,
“and I am told is versed in all the traditionary lore of the
Indians. Could we find him, he might amuse, if not
instruct us.”

“He would do both, depend upon it, Major,” said the
Doctor, with animation, ‘for rest assured there is a legend
connected with these rocks, and he is the very person that
can enlighten us.”

“Well, yonder is his cabin now, I presume from the
description,” replied Long, “‘ and we will seek the patriarch
of the place, that he may tell us some wild story connected
with the Big Manito Rocks.”

The two travellers bent their steps to where they saw a
slight smoke curling from a clay chimney of a log cabin.
They knocked at the door, which was partly open, and an
old man with blanched locks and faltering steps came to
the entrance and kindly invited them to enter. His life
was far in the sere—its vitality almost gone; like a dried
leaf tenaciously hanging to its branch, vet by a precarious
and uncertain tenure. ‘They were seated by the old man
upon two benches, and Dr. Baldwin, who was very weak

 
  
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    
  
 

92 LEGENDS,

with the exertion of the last few hours, took from his
pocket a small canteen of brandy, which he offered to the
old hunter, saying, ‘‘ take a swig of this good brandy, my
old friend; you will find it will heat, and enrich your blood.
Tam sick, and take it to strengthen me. Nay, drink more;
it is the pure importation and will not injure you.”

‘It is the pure stuff, indeed,” replied the old man, who
had taken two heavy pulls. ‘‘ Such an article seldom gets
to these parts. What they have here poisons and rots the
inside of a man in a few years,”

Dr. Baldwin and Major Long both then made the
acquaintance of the canteen, and signified to the old hunter
why they had sought him, and asked if he knew of any
tradition concerning the Big Manito Rocks.

‘* Any tradition,” replied the old hunter with surprise.
‘‘ Why God bless your soul,’ continued the old man, who
had grown very communicative from the beneficent effects
of the good brandy, ‘‘the Ingins haye a whole history
about them rocks, and if you have time I will tell you what
I know of it,”

“Do so, my good friend,’’ replied Dr, Baldwin, ‘ and
you will much oblige us.”

“Well, here it is,” replied the old man, ‘‘ as near as I
can recollect.”’

Tur Lecrenp or tHE Bic Maniro Rocks,

‘Once upon atime, when the whole valley of the Mis-
souri was filled with buffalo, the deer, and the bear, there
were two young Indian warriors of different nations hunt-
ing after game. One belonging to Pawnee, the other to
the Wabasha or Osage nation. At that time, the Big
Manito Rocks were not there, but all was a vast plain,
having a few small hills. One day as the young Wabasha
warrior was hunting the buffalo, and was cutting, from one

 

  
THE BIG MANITO ROCKS. 93

that he had killed, some slices to dry, a warrior, riding a
splendid horse, came to the spot, armed with his bow and
arrow. ‘The warrior was of giant but splendid proportions,
and a model of Indian symmetry. He showed no hostile
intent, but rode around the spot where the young Wabasha
stood carefully watching his manceuvres. Then the young
Wabasha, who was generous and brave, invited the stranger,
by signs and words, to partake of the spoil.

“The warrior, leaping from his steed, which he left at
liberty, advanced to the young Wabasha, and laid his hands
upon his shoulders in sign of friendship, and then com-
menced operations upon the slain buffalo of cutting from
the carcase, with great despatch, the pieces suitable for
drying. In this manner, the two young warriors worked
together in silence, until all the succulent portions of the
animal were properly disposed of.

“The young Wabasha had brought his young squaw
many miles, and had built a temporary wigwam that she
might assist in drying the meat. He made signs to the
strange warrior to follow him to his wigwam, Neither
understood the other’s language, but signs are very signifi-
cant and intelligible among the Indians, and through them
they conversed. At the sound of a whistle, made by the
strange warrior, the horse that was grazing at a distance
trotted to his side, and followed, like a mastiff, the foot-
steps of his master, as he went with the young Wabasha to
his wigwam. The young squaw started as she saw the
sight of the large, strange warrior; but a few words from
her husband partially reassured her, and she spread a skin
for the stranger.

«The strange warrior maintained a cold and indifferent
demeanour, except one moment, as he cast his eyes around
the lodge of the Wabasha, which was filled in profusion
with venison and skins, when a dark and malignant scowl
gathered, in demoniacal blackness, over his features—yet so
sudden, so transient, that it appeared more like a flitting

 
   

   
 

LEGENDS.

creation of the imagination than a tangible reality. That
scowl, however, had not passed over his features unmarked
by the young squaw, who had regarded him with uneasi-
ness. She had felt, from the rst, a strange presentiment
of danger connected with his presence, and this new dis-
covery increased it.

«‘The dinner was prepared, consisting of parched corn
and stewed venison. The young Wabasha helped his giant
guest most profusely, who, though so sparing in social com-
munication, was prodigal in the consumption of venison.
The wooden platter was filled and refilled, and all disappeared ;
and the young squaw’s preparation was wholly consumed.
The dinner was finally finished from dried buffalo, and the
giant warrior, uttering a grunt of apparent satisfaction,
stretched himself out upon his skin,

‘The young Wabasha had used every effort to make his
guest communicative, and was anxious to know to what
tribe he belonged. He then, as a last resort, showed to
the reclining warrior his fine, sinewy arm, on which was
tattooed the beaver, the totem of the Wabasha tribe. A
smile of contempt dwelt upon the fierce countenance of the
strange warrior, as he listened to the boastful relation of the
Wabasha praising the virtues and exploits of the animal his
nation had chosen for their totem. He listened, and,
though not understanding the words, comprehended their
import; then, when the other ceased, he stretched his giant
arm bared in full view, and displayed a snarling wolf im-
pressed near the elbow. This animal was the totem of the
Pawnees, one of the fiercest tribes of the red men. In an
eulogistic jargon, he then went on, after the manner of the
young Wabasha, recounting the excellencies of the animal,
its courage, and its exploits; then, looking with an air of
triumph towards his host, he seized his bow and arrow, and,
whistling to his steed, which at once obeyed the summons,
he quickly mounted, and was soon lost in the wilderness,
“The young Wabasha suspected evil, though he feared
THE BIG MANITO ROCKS, 95

none himself. He was anxious for the safety of his young
squaw, for he was some days’ journey from his tribe. He
determined, on the following day, to break up his encamp-
ment, and start for his nation. He went on the plains to
look after his horses, and, securing them, returned to his
lodge, in which he found his squaw plaintively singing her
death-song.*

‘‘« Has the brain of Omahee become mad,’ said the
warrior, in a tone of surprise and displeasure; ‘ or why
does she sing of going to the Happy Valley ?’

‘«* Omahee has seen the Manito, and he looked upon her
with a face as bright as the sun; he showed her the Happy
Valley, and she saw her brave brother, who was scalped by
the dogs, Dacotahs. He smiled to his sister as he was
chasing the antelope, and beckoned unto her. In a mo-
ment, all was gone; but Omahee knows that the Great
Spirit has spoken, and she must die; but she does not wish
to leave her husband.’

‘The young warrior played a few moments with the
profuse locks of his young wife, and then replied :

«The Manito is good to Ishiano, and will not take
away his young squaw, who prepares his food, and makes
his heart glad as she nestles to his bosom.’

‘They were both sitting in the doorway of the lodge,
and, immediately that Ishiano had spoken, an arrow pene-
trated the brain of his young wife, who fell dead from her
seat ; and, in full view before him, stood the Pawnee, whom
he had so generously entertained a few hours before.

“In a moment, the young Wabasha sprang for his bow,
but, before he could use it, the Pawnee was far in the wil-
derness. Jt was then almost night, and he determined to
pay the last rites to his deceased wife. He took her body,

* Tt is a custom with the Indians thus to sing previous to their death,
the warriors rehearsing their own exploits in a kind of lyrical melody,
and the squaws to chant the actions of a father, brother, or husband,

 
   

  

96 LEGENDS.

clothed it in its most gaudy attire, and buried it in asecluded
spot. Then he started on his path of vengeance.

‘*At daylight, the following morning, he got upon the
trail of the Pawnee warrior, and, steadily pursuing it for
three hours, saw on the open prairie his treacherous enemy
skinning a buck which he had killed, in company with
another warrior. The young Wabasha’s heart was panting
for vengeance; but he coolly calculated that the chance of
its gratification would be a very small one, in a conflict with
two. He nursed his revenge fora more fitting opportunity ;
and then returned, without being discovered, to his lodge,
mounted his finest horse, and again started on the trail.
He had not ridden far, when he saw both warriors ap-
proaching, but the one for whose blood he thirsted, being
much behind the other. He stood, as much as possible, in
the shadow of a large tree, hoping that the murderer of his
young wife would approach within range of his bow. He
was disap pointed ; for the foremost Indian discovered him,
and was turning his horse to meet his companion, probably
that both might advance together, with a surer chance of
victory, when an arrow from the young Wabasha pierced
his throat, and tumbled him on the plain.

« With a cry of fury and vengeance, the young Wabasha
warrior now started in pursuit of the treacherous Pawnee,
who had fled on witnessing the fall of his companion. lor
many miles over the plain the one fled, and the other pur-
sued. Both were splendidly mounted; but the Pawnee’s
steed was rather the swiftest, and the most enduring. Both
of the horses were covered with foam; and the Pawnee,
thinking to end the pursuit, plunged in the Missouri; but
the Wabasha followed, and both gained the opposite bank
in safety. Again the race continued for many miles; and
again the Pawnee turned his horse towards the Missouri,
and plunged into its rapids ; he had distanced his pursuer,
and thought his horse too fatigued to follow through the
dangerous, swift-running river. The young Wabasha, see-

 
THE BIG MANITO ROCKS. 97

ing that his enemy was about to escape his first vengeance,
prayed to the Great Spirit to intercept the flight of the
murderer, who was almost across the water.

“The Great Spirit heard the prayer of the young war-
rior, In a moment, the earth trembled, the lightning
flashed, and a stunning noise, produced by a vast upbeaving
of the land, continued for some minutes, accompanied with
impenetrable darkness. When the darkness cleared away,
those rocks were seen rising perpendicularly from the banks
of the river; and the Pawnee, stricken from his horse by
some mysterious agency, was struggling in the waters,
Just as he had gained the bank, the rocks had risen per-
pendicularly before him, and intercepted his progress.
Lost in wild bewilderment at the noise, the darkness, and
the sudden manner in which his flight had been stopped,
he was thinking what way he should turn, to avoid his
pursuer, when he was thrown from his steed.

“The Wabasha took his enemy without a struggle, who
had become paralyzed and disheartened at the events pro-
duced by supernatural agency; and, binding him to his
steed, he swam down the current, and, gaining the bank of
the river, proceeded to the spot where he had buried his
young squaw.

‘“‘ He then, after arriving at the grave, took his bound
captive, and killed him upon it. He burned his body, and
scattered the ashes to the wind,

“The young Wabasha then looked upon the pile of
rocks which the Great Spirit had raised, that his enemy
might fall into his hands, and called them the Big Manito
Rocks, because they had been created by the Manito, the
Great Spirit, whom the Indians worshipped. From that
day, they have always borne that name; and such is the
legend connected with their origin.”

«A romantic story that,” said Major Long, “ and really
interesting, notwithstanding its visionary creation,”

“Do you know many more of those traditions ?’’ said

D

 
   

  

98 LEGENDS.

Dr. Baldwin, to the old hunter, quietly handing him, at the
same time, his canteen, which was put immediately to his
lips by the old man, and was drained of the remaining
contents.

‘‘ Know any more?” replied the old man; ‘why, I
know enough to keep me talking a week ; and, besides, I
have forgotten enough which, could I remember, would
keep me talking two weeks more.”

** We will call and see you again,” said the Doctor; and
both gentlemen, shaking warmly the old man’s hand, in
bidding him adieu, with a promise to return again on the
morrow, were soon sauntering slowly to the spot where we
first introduced them to the reader.

“‘ Doctor,” said Major Long, ‘‘ how is it that you take
such interest in narratives so full of the supernatural, and
evidently relics of superstition and ignorance f”’

‘‘T take an interest in all that relates to the red man,”
replied the Doctor; ‘‘ for there is something sublime even
in his fallacies. Their religion is divested of every terror.
‘Their death-bed has no terrors, but is rather a thing to be
wished for. There is no evil spirit after death to make
them suffer; the happy hunting-grounds* are awaiting
them, where they can chase the chamois and the buffalo
without suffering from hunger, without the fear of lurking
enemies, or any trials incident to this life. Their future is
an Elysium; and the soul, struggling from its earthly tene-
ment, fears no demon in its passage.”

“It is rarely, Doctor,” said Major Long, to his com-
panion, ‘‘ that we see a naturalist and a physician of your
sentimental and poetical cast. They usually interest them-

 

* According to the creed of the Indians, none could be admitted into
“happy honting-grounds” who had not had the rites of sepulture.
‘Lheir belief assimilated to that of the ancient Greeks and Romans, who
believed that no soul could cross the Styx if its body had not been pre-
viously buried,

 

 
    

 

 

THE BIG MANITO ROCKS, 99

selves in facts; and fables and mythology are rejected by
their calling.”

“Not so,” replied the Doctor; ‘“ for he who would be a
scholar must be learned in mythology, which is the basis of
polite literature; and, if he rejects fable, he must decline
the acquaintance of Atsop, which would be rather a dan-
gerous piece of business for a man who mingles in the
beau monde of fashionable literature. However, this legend
of the old hunter pleases me. I suppose that I soon shall
be in the ‘ spirit land:’ for I feel that my disease is gradu-
ally mastering me. I shall go again to the old hunter to-
morrow, to hear some tradition like that of the ‘ Big Manito
Rocks.’”’
 

 

100 LEGENDS,

LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF THE OLD HUNTER,
PETER GRIFFIN ;
OR, DEATH OF DR. BALDWIN.

@ Legend of the Rissauri.
ables

Dr. Baldwin and Major Long, according to promise, again
paid a visit to the old huuter, who lived near the base of
the Big Manito Rocks. The former was very pale and
feeble, and it was evident that his days were numbered.
He leaned upon the arm of his companion, as they were
advancing to the old hunter’s cabin, and requested him to
stop for a few moments, and rest upon a log that lay aside
the pathway.

“T am afraid Doctor,” said Major Long, “that you are
growing weaker, and I flattered myslf for some time that
your health was visibly improving, but now there is an un-
favourable turn.”

‘J will soon be in the Spirit Land, my friend,” replied
Dr. Baldwin, and half of my work is not accomplished. I
littve been a lover of nature, and have lived in the study
and contemplation of its mysteries. Every flower and
every plant that breathe through their expanding petals have
become familiar to me. I can date the term of their exist-
ence and read their names at a glance. I have lived among
them; and my wasting and withering body has been pre-
served beyond its natural date by the bloom, the blossom,
and the verdure, which were the scenes of my labours, and
have mingled with my being. A botanist, truly in love
with his profession, dwells in a garden of Eden; and no
fruit is forbidden to his touch, and no demon lurks to tempt
him from his moral and religious obedience. I would live

  
PETER GRIFFIN. 101

longer if it pleased Him, the ‘ great First Cause,’ for I feel
as if I would win in the field of science an escutcheon that
might link me with immortality. I would have my name
like these ‘ Manito Rocks,’ suggestive of eternity and sub-
limity.”’

Whilst thus giving vent to his ennobling feelings, the
attenuated frame, scarcely more substantial than its shadow
upon the earth, strengthened and expanded by the mighty
spirit which occupied that feeble tenement. For a moment,
the rosy hue of health rushed to his cheeks, the muscles
swelled, the blood glided, as in days of joyous manhood,
through the desiccating veins, and the heart pulsated strong
in his manly bosom.

It was but a moment the excitement lasted, for, as they
then gained the entrance of the old hunter’s cabin, Dr.
Baldwin became so weak that he sank immediately upon the
stool which the old man offered him.

Major Long at once applied the canteen to his lips, and
after a slight draught he pronounced himself better.

“T had a daughter,” said the old hunter, ‘“ who was
afflicted as you are. She was my companion for many years,
in this cabin—my only child—and she lies where that little
rose-bush is blooming. It is the only flower in my garden,
and I look upon its blossoms with something akin to a
father’s feelings, for, at times, I fancy when the flowers are
fresh in full bloom, that I see a resemblance to my beautiful
lost one. It is all fency, I suppose, but stil I like to look
upon the bush of roses.”

‘‘Had you a daughter,” said Major Long, “and how
many years have you lost her?”

“It has now been,” replied the old hunter, ‘‘ as near as
I can reckon, about thirty-five years since she died, I have
lived alone ever since. She was my last comfort.”

Dr. Baldwin now reminded the hunter of his promise to
relate some of the traditionary records of the early times
which lay garnered in his memory.

 
 

 

102 LEGENDS.

*T have been thinking of my promise,” replied the old
hunter, ‘‘ and would prefer telling you some of the stirring
events of my life, which has been one, until late, of con-
tinued adventure.”

“Do so,” said Dr. Baldwin; ‘but first try the virtues
of this canteen, my old friend, and it will renew in your
worn frame some of the kindred feelings of by-gone days,
when the spirit was light and the jocund heart laughed at
disease and decay.”

The old man thankfully accepted the proffered bottle, and
smacking his lips with much satisfaction, after finishing his
draught, thus commenced his narrative :—

Tue Lire anp Apventures or Perer Grirrin, THE
“Otp Hunter.”

“‘T was born in Dinwiddie county, in Old Virginny, and
from a boy my rifle was my companion. In those early
days, every man was a hunter; it was a part of his busi-
ness, for Indians and bears, rattle-snakes and other var-
mints, were as plenty as blackberries. My father was a
schoolmaster, a preacher, a farmer, and was finally a judge
of the county. I received a fair English education, but was
always more fond of the woods than my books. I could
bark a squirrel from the highest tree, and never turn in my
tracks for bear or Indian.

«* When I was about fourteen years of age, Kentucky began
to be talked of very much in old Virginny, and my father
and a few of his neighbours determined on immigrating to
the new country. My father had two children besides my-
self—both girls—younger than I was. I was so overjoyed
when it was determined that we should start on our journey
in the following spring, that I could scarcely contain my-
self until the appointed day; for I had heard Kentucky
was filled with game of every description, and was overrun

  
    

   

PETER GRIFFIN. 103

with wild Indians. I longed to fight an Indian. I had
often heard the very old men talk by the winter fires of
their tree fights with the red men, and the mortal struggles
when they met hand-to-hand, wielding the tomahawk and
belt-knife.

“The spring came at last, and we started for our Western
homes, in waggons filled with the few useful necessaries
then required by the industrious settler. Things are now
different. After a fatiguing and tedious journey, we ar-
rived at the place of our future residence, A wild place it
was, but beautiful. It was situated on the banks of the
Ohio, on the Kentucky side, and was a portion of that
State, afterwards called the ‘bloody ground,’ from the
many and bloody battles between the whites and Indians.
There were but few settlers, and they were settled at re-
mote distances from each other; though they had a block-
house or fort, where they assembled in times of trouble
with the Indians. However, there was no serious alarm
for more than three years after our arrival; and we had
built a comfortable cabin, and had cleared two small fields,
and, on the whole, were in a thriving condition. It was
too good to last long.

“The Indians appeared to be very friendly, and would
frequently come among the whites for the purpose of trade.
Just before their general attack upon us, they got in ex-
change for their skins and horses nothing but guns and
ammunition. They would have nothing else. Some of
the old men shook their heads; drove their cattle every
night into the enclosures ; examined carefully their rifles ;
and watched wistfully from the loopholes of their cabins
the appearance of the woods before opening the door in the
morning.

“One day my father and I were in the woods riving
shingles, when one of my sisters came to us, and told us
that an Indian was in the house, and, after eating the break-
fast that my mother had given him, had refused to leave,
 

  

104 LEGENDS.

My father and I instantly started, and soon arrived at the
cabin. ‘The Indian was composedly sitting on the door-sill,
smoking some tobacco rolled in paper. It was nearly sun-
set, and my father told the Indian to depart, as it was
getting late, The covering around the waist of the Indian
was saturated with blood, and the savage, pointing to it,
said, in broken English :

** « Indian sick—white prophet will keep him to-night.’
(My father had regularly preached since he had been in
Kentucky.) Seeing the Indian thus all bloody, my father
concluded he had in some manner received some hurt or
wound which had much weakened him, and determined on
acceding to his request. I started then for a neighbour’s,
about two miles distant, to see Jack Mott, so as to make
some arrangements for a big deer-hunt we contemplated
taking in a few days, When I arrived at Mr. Mott’s, I
saw the family sitting at tea, and an Indian in a corner by
the fire. At the sight of the Indian, an unpleasant sensa-
tion stole over me; but, it was a confused feeling, and, if
asked, I could not then have defined the cause. I joined
the family at tea, and, after it was finished, Jack and I
made all satisfactory arrangements for our hunt, which was
to come off the following week. I started for home, with-
out mentioning to Mr. Mott’s family the circumstance of
an Indian being a lodger at our house that night—not an
unusual thing at that time. My mind was filled with the
hunt; and I had entered into many details in anticipation,
and had shot many a tall stag in his tracks, when I thought
I saw, at a distance, a shadow, as the moon in an open
space in the woods threw in her light. I squatted behind
a large oak-tree that grew by the road. I had only re-
mained there a moment, when four Indians, each with a
rifle, passed swiftly, and in silence, by me.

«My projected hunt was immediately banished from my
mind, and a vague suspicion of danger took possession of
my thoughts. It was about eleven o’clock at night, and I

 

 

   
PETER GRIFFIN. 105

was still about a mile from my father’s cabin. I almost
flew the remaining distance, for | was anxious to communi-
vate my fears to my father, in whose judgment I had the
most implicit reliance. I knocked at the door, and my
father opened it, he being engaged in reading the Bible,
my mother and sisters heding: gone to bed. The Indian
was sitting by the fire, apparently dozing. In a low voice,
I communicated the facts I have related, expressing at the
time my convictions that some danger was close at hand.

“ After I had finished, my father told me to examine the
guns we had in the house, consisting of two rifles and an
old musket. I did so, and, after loading them afresh, sat
by my father, who had closed his book, and was in a deep
reverie. I saw the Indian several times slyly looking be-
tween his fingers, whilst feigning sleep with sonorous
music. I watched him closely. It may be an hour passed
away thus, when arap came to the door. Ina moment
the Indian was on his feet, and was proceeding to unbolt
the door, when my father, who was a powerful man, with a
sudden jerk, sent him to the opposite side of the cabin. In
a moment the Indian drew a tomahawk, which he had con-
cealed in the covering across his loins, and, uttering his
war-whoop, buried it in my father’s brain, before he could
seize a gun for his defence. Then, as rapid as the electri-
city of thought, he sprang to the door, for the purpose of
opening it, but my rifle-bullet pierced his heart when his
hand rested upon the bolt.

‘‘ A tremendous rush against the door followed the war.
rior’s war-whoop, but the strong oaken materials of which
it was composed resisted their utmost efforts. My mother
and sisters gave way to lamentations over the dead body of
my father. I told them that our lives were at stake, and
would assuredly be sacrificed unless they assisted me; and
they obeyed, at once, my orders.

‘The love of life in a woman when she expects to be
scalped is a strong incentive to action, Both my mother

 
    

  

106 LEGENDS.

and sisters told me to direct them-—that they would do
anything rather than be scalped. I told them simply to
load my guns as I discharged them.

«« The Indians, finding that their first essay was unsuc-
cessful, had retired, ptobsbly for the purpose of holding a
council. In a half hour, I saw them (six in number) coming
armed with an immense log, which they intended to use as
a battering-ram, to effect an entrance. I knew, if that
large beam was applied against the door, our scalps were as
good as off. SoItook the old musket, loaded it with a
half dozen rifle-balls, and let go in the midst of them, when
only twenty yards distance. Ina second, log and Indians
were altogther on the ground, and I thought, at first, that
IT had killed them all. Such was not the fact; but I had
killed two, and mortally wounded the third. Whatever
became of the remaining three I never learned, for they
did not even stop to take away the dead bodies of their
comrades.

“T could see from my loopholes fires in every part of
the settlement, proceeding from the cabins of the slaughtered
inhabitants. In the morning, I carefully opened the door,
and started out.

«We had a large dog of the wolf kind, which had fol-
lowed me into the house that night I had come from Mr.
Mott’s, and had, fortunately remained indoors until the
Indians had made their attack. I sent him out at first,
knowing, if there were any Indians about, he would readily
find them. He sprang from the door as I opened it, and
immediately ran to the dead bodies of the Indians I had
killed; and, after biting pretty freely each carcass, he took
a trail, and in afew minutes I heard him barking at a thicket
of briars, which grew very rankly near the spring.

** My mother and sisters all begged me not to venture
to the spot where the dog was, but, with my rifle in my
left hand, and the tomahawk of the dead Indian in the other,
I went to the place, and, the moment the dog saw my ap-

 
  

 

PETER GRIFFIN. LU7

proach, he sprang upon the prostrate form of a savage, who
had crawled in the thicket to die of his wounds. The dog
had his throat between his strong jaws. I encouraged him
to go on, for my blood was up—my father had been the
victim of a wily savage. The dog soon finished his work.
I had just returned to the cabin, and was on the point of
bolting the door, when I heard my name pronounced, I
turned in the direction of the voice, and saw Lizzie Mott
before me. She was the colour of marble; her dress was
torn to ribbons; her fine hair hung every way, and she was
the picture of despair. She was the only one of the whole
family who had escaped, which she did while Jack and
his father were resisting manfully the savage foe. She had
concealed herself in the woods near by until morning, when
she ventured to the spot where the dwelling of her father
stood. All that was left was a pile of ashes, mingled with
the charred remains of her murdered family.

“That night, twenty-seven of the settlers were murdered
by the Indians, who had sent one of their number, the
evening previous, to rest in the house of the whites, who
could then readily open the doors for their comrades. We
buried my poor father beneath his favourite tree—a large
maple, where he often sat, reading his Bible. From that
day, I have never liked an Indian, and I think that they
have some reason to dislike Peter Griffin. My father did
not die unavenged.

‘My mother did not long survive my father, and, my
two sisters getting married, I took my wife (for I had
married Lizzie Mott, the sister of Jack, my old companion
in boyhood), and started for the Territory of Upper Louisi-
ana, at that time comprising the whole of the State of Mis-
souri, and under the Spanish Government. My wife was
anxious to get me far from the reach of the Shawnees, that
murderous tribe which had killed my father and destroyed
his whole family ; for 1 was always, somehow or ‘nother,
never satisfied, unless I was on some expedition against

 

  
 

  

108 LEGENDS,

that class, where I could satisfy, in some manner, my hate
and vengeance. I killed many of them, and they laid many
plans to take my scalp or capture me, that they might roast
me at the stake, but, by good management, I disappointed
them in their expectations.

“‘ We settled in Upper Louisiana, a few miles from St.
Louis, and, for a few years, 1 was contented as a man could
be. I not only hunted myself to obtain skins, but employed
others to hunt for me, and did quite a. thriving business.
My wife had borne me two children—a girl and a boy—
of both of which we were excessively fond.

“| think—I know—it was on the 26th of May, 1780, that
misfortune first commenced really to assail me. The cloud
that lowered upon me that day has never passed over. On
the 25th of that month, we went into the town to pass the
day and night with a relation, for there was a sacrament and
festival in the Catholic Church on that day. It was the
celebration of Corpus Christi, and a great day it was. I
have not time to tell you of the decoration of the church,
and the general turn-out of the people on that day; but we
saw all, and were delighted. On the next day, the 26th,
we were returning home, and about two miles from town,
when we heard the war-whoop of the Indians all around us,
and rifle-bullets whistled everywhere. There were a good
many of the inhabitants on the prairies at the time, gather-
ing strawberries, which grew in great abundance every-
where. Nearly all were killed.

“‘T was riding a fine horse, and so was my wife. Each
of us had a child before us; she the little boy, then a babe,
and I the little girl. I was unarmed, and, at the first fire,
I told my wife to turn back to the town and ride for her
life. I made her take the lead, and I followed in the rear,
thinking it the most dangerous place. We had proceeded
but a fox hundred yards, when a party of concealed savages
fired upon us. I felt myself wounded in the shoulder, but
was only anxious for my wife and child. I felt partially re-

 

 

  
PETER GRIFFIN. 109

assured, for my wife still continued her rapid flight, almost
riding through the midst of the savages who were trying to
intercept our return. We reached the town, and, as I dis-
mounted from my horse, my wife, in a feeble voice, asked
me to assist her to the ground. She clapped her hand to
her side as I laid her upon the green sod, and the blood
gushed in torrents from her mouth and her side. She tried
to speak, and, finding the effort vain, smiled sweetly, and,
pointing her hands to Heaven, expired where she lay.

“Tt has been many years ago, but often in my dreams I
see her again, with that same sweet smile-—she never had
anything else for me amid our trials on earth; she is now
in heaven. In a few days afterwards my little boy died,
and I jaid him in the mother’s grave. There is a white
marble slab covering their remains now in a churchyard in
St. Louis. I should have suffered still more of pain and
sorrow than I did, if the general attack on St. Louis at that
time by the Indians and a few white men, by whom they were
led, had not somewhat diverted my mind from my great
loss. I never could understand exactly why the town was
not taken at the time, for it was in no state for defence,
and I know that the Governor, Don Fernando de Leyba,
had sold himself, town and all, to the enemy, for no one
who saw his conduct could for a moment doubt it. How-
ever, as [ said, the Indians and their leaders got frightened
from some cause, and ceased their attack.

“I carried my little girl home with me, after the Indians
had moved off, and then gave up my hunting life, for I
could not leave her in the cabin, and devoted myself in
arranging my farm. Somehow, I never had a taste for
that kind of quiet life, and in a few years I gave it up alto-
gether, and removed to this spot where you now see me. I
built this cabin some thirty or forty years ago, and per-
suaded an old aunt of my wife, who was childless and had
lost her husband, to come and take charge of my house and
daughter. Having some one to look after my cabin and

 
   
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   

110 LEGENDS.

child, I then resumed my hunting and trading life, with
various success.

“« My daughter was a delicate child froma babe, and I had
hoped she would grow more robust as she advanced in age.
When she reached the age of twelve years, she grew very
rapidly, and her complexion grew more clear and delicate.
But I was not alarmed, thinking that when her growth
stopped, her body would develop and strengthen.  [ still
continued to hunt and trade, and on one occasion I thought
I would go farther than usual up the Missouri, where the
buffaloes were very plentiful. I took leave of my daughter
and her aunt, promising to return in a week at least. It
was in the month of October when I started from my home,
on horseback, with two rifles and a plentiful supply of am-
munition. After travelling eighty miles westwards, I came
to the hunting-grounds, and the first day was very suc-
cessful, for the buffalo were there by tens of thousands.
That night, being much fatigued, I lay down in a small
grove that grew amidst the prairie. I slept very soundly.
Once during the night Iwas awakened by a loud rushing
noise in the distance; but, being perfectly overcome with
fatigue, and thinking it thunder, I sank to sleep. Again I
was awakened by the rushing noise which made the earth
tremble under me.

“Then I knew my danger, but it was too late. The
buffaloes were moving off in a body to another locality.
They were right upon me, and the only thing I could do
was to stand close to the body of the large maple where I
then was, on the side opposite the approach. I thought,
perhaps, that the large body of the tree, by hugging it,
might protect me from the rush. It was a grand, a mighty,
a terrible sight. It is impossible to describe my feelings on
that night, standing close to the tree, when the immense
herd of blowing, bellowing, buffaloes, rushing and crowding
upon each other, with their horns and sides scraping and
striking the tree where I stood, while the peculiar scent of
PETER GRIFFIN. te

their bodies impregnated the whole atmosphere. I remained,
as near as I could guess, about an hour in my position, and
the dread somewhat wearing off, I thought I would change
my position a little, as it had become tiresome. I did so,
and the next moment was struck in the temple by the horn
of a buffalo, for I had moved too far on one side. I was
staggered with the blow, and was in a moment prostrate. I
felt myself trampled and crushed, but managed by a despe-
rate effort so to lay myself that the body of the tree pro-
tected the main parts of my body. ‘This saved my life and
that was all, but I was so bruised and battered that it was
three days before 1 could make any start for home. I
managed to subsist on buffalo meat during my tedious jour-
ney homeward.

“When I arrived it was nearly noontide of day, and, on
entering my cabin, my daughter sprang forward and clasped
me, weeping, around the neck. She had given me up for
Jost. The old woman was lying sick in bed of the typhus
fever, of which complaint she died in a little while, and [
and my daughter were left alone in the cabin. However,
some few settlers began to come in these parts, which made
it agreeable to Mary (which was my daughter’s name), for
young people must have society.

‘There was a young chap who came here, named Jim
Snow, a fine, industrious young man, of steady habits, and
as good a shot as ever drew bead onarifle. His sisters
and he used to come over and see Mary frequently, and I
soon found that the young man _ had a kind of liking for
Mary, but, as his character was so good, | had no objection.

‘‘ Mary grew tall and delicate as a lily. I was always fond
of reading, and, having some books, gave her a pretty fair
education, and a taste for reading, in which she indulged
whenever her housework permitted; consequently, she was
different from the other girls that belong to pioneer life,
having grace and refinement both in person and manners,
the result of education.

 
   
 
 
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
   

 

142 LEGENDS.

  

«‘ She had asked me several times to let her pay a visit
to a neighbour about seven miles off, and, thinking that a
change of scene and a relaxation from employment would
be of benefit to her, I consented, for she had had for
several weeks a dry and frequent cough, which very much
alarmed me.

“T thought that this was a good chance for Jim Snow
to declare his suit, so I proposed that he should accompany
her, to which he acceded readily and joyfully. He leit
Mary at the neighbour’s, and on the next morning came to
my cabin directly after breakfast. He wanted to say some-
thing, I could plainly see, but he had not the heart. So I
pitied the poor fellow, and told him that I had been thinking
of giving Mary to him for a wife, as he was a credit to the
new settlement. Jim fairly capered with joy, and then told
me that he had obtained Mary’s consent the day previous,
when they were on the journey together. That very day
he was crushed by a large rolling log, and mashed into
almost a jelly. He sent for me immediately, and, when I
saw the bruised mass of that noble manly form, I groaned
and wept. He wanted to see Mary, and begged me to
bring her to him before he died. It was not in my nature
to refuse him, so I went in all haste for Mary, and brought
her to neighbour Snow’s, by the bedside of Jim. He was
dying—but Mary was not much better. He took her hands
and blessed her, and she hung over him moaning and
weeping as if her heart would break. .

«« After his death, she was never the same girl again. ‘A
musing melancholy seized upon her, which I tried to dispel
in vain, Her cough increased; she grew pale and languid.
Day by day she faded and drooped in my sight, nor could
I do aught to save the only flower that grew for me on this
side of the grave. It is unnecessary to dwell any longer
upon this painful part of memory’s record. She died; or,
rather, she glided from the earth like a departed sunbeam,

so calm, noiseless, bright, and spiritual was her departure.
a

PETER GRIFFIN. 113

Where that rose-bush grows, there are her remains. Often
[ sit there and recall the many events of the past years,
with which she was connected; and this living upon the
past has become as much a habit for me now, as the future
was in earlier years. I have nothing to hope for in this
world, and I am careless of the events which may occur,
knowing that they cannot turn with my existence, or affect
my happiness or misery. Hach day brings me nearer to
the land where I know the wife of my youth and our angelic
daughter dwell; consequently, I will meet the ‘ King of
Terrors’ disarmed of every fear; or, even more, I would
welcome him as a messenger of joy and deliverance. The
frost of age is a comfortless, chilling thing, unless tempered
or radiated by the warmth and light of affection. I have
outlived my friends, and I would travel where they have
gone.”

The old hunter, at the end of the recital, sank lower in
his seat, and laid his head upon his withered hands. His
white locks hung upon his shoulders, and his frame
quivered with the suffering of mental emotions.

Both Major Long and Dr. Baldwin deeply sympathized
with the old man, and took an affectionate farewell of him
on leaving.

*T shall never see him again,” said Dr. Baldwin, ‘‘ for I
feel weaker and weaker, and my uncertain hold on life is
growing every hour more precarious.”

“* Nonsense, Doctor,” replied Major Long, endeavouring
to give hopes to his friend which he did not feel himself ;
‘in a little time you will throw off this disease, as a snake
his slough, and become. entirely a new man. You will
have a second youth, for, having suffered, you will enjoy
health as a long cherished bride, when you become wedded
to her.”

“The travel through plains and by the rivers, have made
you really poetical, Major,” said Dr. Baldwin, with a smile
upon his suffering countenance. ‘ Last evening you gave

 
 

  

114 LEGENDS.

me a sprig of laurel, which you said was but a portion of
the wreath with which a future age would adorn me, and,
though I feel that my name will not ignobly perish, yet in
a few days I shall be a tenant of the narrow house. There
is a branch of cypress; it is emblematical of a little brief
period which you must soon mourn when I am no more.”

Major Long, sensibly affected by the words of his friend,
made no reply, for he felt that he would, indeed, soon
«‘shuffle off this mortal coil.”

A few days after this conversation, Dr. Baldwin breathed
his last in the house of Dr. Lowry, at Franklin, and science
lost one of its guiding lights, and our country one of its
brightest ornaments.

 

 
—

ROSALIE, THE OLD FRENCH TOWN,

WHERE NATCHEZ, THE METROPOLIS OF MISSISSIPPI, IS
SITUATED,

G Legend of the Aississippi.

onnnnn ()

 

Arter the discovery of the mouth of the Mississippi, in
1682, by La Salle, emigrants and traders commenced to
visit various points on the Illinois river, and, in some
instances, extended their explorations to the regions occu-
pied by the waters of the Upper Mississippi.

Some few Jesuit missionaries, animated by religious zeal
and that devotion to their faith which is so characteristic of
their sect, would, now and then, descend the river, and
endeavour to make glimmer in the darkened minds of the
savages the living light of the Gospel; but there was no
effort at trade, nor no attempt at colonization, in the bor-
ders of the Lower Mississippi.

A little while after the disastrous fate of La Salle, the
Chevalier de Tonti descended the great river, thinking to
greet his old commander and a prosperous colony; but,
finding no vestige of the expedition, returned to Illinois.
From that period until 1697, there had been no effort to
effect a settlement in the southern country watered by the
Mississippi, when the Court of France, viewing with jea-
lousy the extending power of the Spaniards, who were
rapidly colonizing Florida, determined to set on foot an
expedition, for the purpose of making a settlement in the
fertile country discovered by La Salle and De Tonti.

The enterprise of the undertaking was confided to M.
d’Iberville, a successful naval commander, who set sail in
1698, from Rochelle, with two frigates and two smaller

 
  

116 LEGENDS.

 

vessels, well equipped, and carrying two hundred colonists,
well provided with agricultural implements and the neces-
sary supply of provisions. The expedition touched at St.
Domingo, then belonging to the French crown, and, after
taking on board a few more who were desirous of trying
their fortunes in*the country that rumour had coloured
with the most gorgeous hues, sailed for the mouth of the
Mississippi in January, 1699, and, after a voyage of twenty-
four days, came in sight of the coast of Florida; but the
Spanish authorities would not permit a landing. It cruised
along the coast westward, and, discovering the mouth of
the Mississippi, sailed up one of the channels, and landed
upon the north-east shore of the Bay of Biloxi, where was
erected a fort, and established a settlement.

Having now located his colony, Iberville sailed for
France, leaving M. Sauvolle and Bienville, his brothers, as
superintendents of the colony during his absence. M.
Sauvolle soon fell a victim to the bilious fever, which had
begun to attack the unacclimated emigrants with great
virulence, and the inhabitants were reduced to great
straits, until they were relieved by the arrival of Iberville,
with a new accession of colonists, and a fresh supply of
provisions, A fort was soon erected some thirty miles
from where New Orleans now stands, to prevent any en-
croachments from the English, who were looking eagerly
to those desirable shores, as affording homes to their super-
abundant inhabitants. When the fort was just completed,
Iberville had a surprise visit from the veteran commander
from Illinois, De Tonti, who brought a party of Canadian
French to swell the numbers of the settlers on the banks
of the Mississippi.

Iberville hailed the arrival of De Tonti as an advent of
fortune, for he was with La Salle when he descended the
Mississippi, had for many years been a resident among the
Indians, and had become familiar with their habits and
manners. After along consultation, the two commanders

  

   
    

 

——_ ay

  
  

 

ROSALIE. wai 117

determined to move farther up the river, and there establish
the principal colony. They carefully examined the differé
ent localities in their passage, and found no point suitable,
until they arrived at where the Natchez Indians ‘claimed
the territory. They entered intoa treaty with the Indians ;
and, finding the country adapted to stheir wishes, they
landed all that remained, the largest number of the colo-
nists, and commenced to select a site for the future capital
of the new proyincé. The most elevated bluff was selected,
and named ™ Rosalie,” in honour of the wife of the Count
of Pontchartram, who had been the patron of Iberville, in
the first days of his friendless career, and this bluff is where
the city of Natchez now stands.

The Natchez Indians, in whose territory Iberville built
his new city, were by far the most advanced in civilization
of all the Indians known to the early explorers. They
were worshippers of the Sun, and had a large temple,
where fire was kept continually burning, and in which they
exercised the mystic rites of their religion. So wedded
were they to their erratic faith, that when the temple was
once set on fire by lightning, the priests commanded the
mothers to throw their infants into the flames, as a sacrifice
to their deity whom they supposed had signified his dis-
pleasure by producing the conflagration. Iberville saw
four infants cast upon the fire, and it was only by the most
strenuous exertions that he prevented a greater sacrifice to
their superstition.

After the French were fairly engaged in the work of
building, they were visited by the King of the country, who
was called the Great Sun, in honour of their Divinity. He
came in all the imposing state of savage magnificence. He
was borne on the shoulders of four men, fantastically
painted, and decked with garlands of red berries, and
shreds of dressed chamois skin hanging in profusion from
their girdles ; a band of musicians playing upon pipes made
of alder reeds, and a kind of timbrel formed by stretching

 
a ‘ ae
118 LEGENDS. ond

deerskin tightly across a circular hoop, walked in front ;
while a procession of the chief warriors of the nation fol-
lowed in the rear. The chief was gorgeously arrayed, and
from his nose and ears hung clusters of ornaments, andon
his arms and Jegs were bands made of the antlers of the
stag, and on which were carved the most beautiful figures.

Though untutored in thought, and nursed in the wilds,
this great chief had an innate idea of the appendages of
royalty: guards were around him; heralds went before
announcing his approach; strains of music floated in the
atmosphere ; and a vast procession proclaimed an occasion
of state and grandeur.- He met Iberville with haughty
mien and regal dignity: nor was awed, a moment, by the
splendid uniform of the Chevalier and his officers, glittering
with royal decorations, and epaullets dazzling with the
glory of the morning sun. He met them with a counte-
nance undisturbed in its confidence, and returned their
salutations with quiet dignity. At this visit of the Great
Sun, a treaty was concluded between the French and
Indians, and the former received permission to settle in the
country and build forts for their protection.

Iberville, the; founder of ‘ Rosalie,” or Natchez, did all
that untiring energy, consummate tact, the most daring
intrepidity and constant solicitude could accomplish for the
various settlements he established; yet, still the most
flourishing one of all—that situated at ‘‘ Rosalie’’—remained
in a languishing condition for many years. The ancient
rumour, that there was gold in the country, still floated in
the imagination of the inhabitants, and at the sight of any
glittering substance in the soil, at once, the thought flashed
upon their minds that the golden prizes, so long sought
for, had been discovered, and untold wealth lay garnered
in every portion of the soil. As often as those wild and
visionary ideas could light upon any substance assimilating
in any manner to the precious metal, agriculture was
thrown aside, every appliance of honest industry neglected,

   

 
 

——————————

  
ROSALIE. 119

and every nerve strung by excitement beyond its natural
tension, and kept in exercise night and day in gathering a
mass of matter which proved, in the end, to be worthless.
In vain, Iberville told them that wealth was only to be
gathered by the fruits reaped from the production of the
soil; they would fritter away their time-in day dreams of
golden discoveries, such as Pizarro and Cortez had met
with in their adventurous career.

At length, Iberville, who, with the exception of Sieur de
la Salle, was the most worthy of all the explorers of the
southern Mississippi, whose health had long been enfeebled
by the fatigues he had undergone and the influence of an
unhealthy climate, died at Havana, in the summer of 1706 ;
and the colony, as well as France, lost a hero whom it was
not easy to replace.

At this epoch, France claimed all the country from the
lakes to Louisiana, and from the Alleghany to the Rocky
Mountains ; yet, as ample as was this immense claim, it
could not support the few settlers upon its soil, who were
dying often from actual famine, and only saved from total
destruction by receiving, at interims, new accessions or
numbers, and a fresh supply of provisions. The Govern-
ment, at length, became too much engrossed by its affairs
at home to attend to the wants of a distant settlement, and
determined to let individual enterprise develop the resources
of her ample possessions. For this purpose, a grant was
made, in 1712, to Antony Crozart, giving him the exclusive
privilege of the whole commerce of the country for fifteen
years.

Crozart was possessed of the most ample means, and car-
ried on his operations on the most gigantic scale. He sent
his emissaries to wilds never before seen by the white men,
and to tribes whose existence had never been enrolled upon
a record by the pen of the historian, and shiploads of skins
and furs were wafted across the Atlantic; yet, the profits
of his mammoth enterprise failed to reimburse him for his

 
  
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    
   
 
  

120 LEGENDS.

immense expenditures, and, after a loss of many thousands
of dollars, he threw up his contract and returned to France.

It is not the pravince of this narrative to present to the
view of the reader the ample field of history, but only to
furnish him with a clue to guide him through the successive
passages, that he be not: lost in the labyrinthical maze of
incongruous aud remote facts, which would otherwise con-
tinually beset his progress. After accepting the surrender
of Crozart’s chart, the extensive province again became
under the dominion of a monopoly known as the celebrated
Mississippi Scheme, concocted by the subtile brain of John
Law, the renowned Scotch financier ; and the colony, for a
little while, showed all the symptoms of increasing pro-
sperity, to be prostrated and paralyzed by the failure of a
scheme which promised so much at its commencement,
Through the management and exertions of Bienyille, the
younger brother of Iberville, it was again brought into
vitality, and gave signs of future prosperity, though the
amicable relations, formerly existing between the settlers
and the Indians had several times been interrupted, and
many severe battles had been fought. Bienville had told
his agents, frequently, not to trust to any protestations of
friendship on the part of the Indians, for he had learned,
from experience, that they were adepts in the arts of dis-
simulation and treachery. After he retired from oftice, his
successor, M. Perrier, likewise versed in the wily lore of
savage diplomacy, had told his commandants at the different
posts to keep a careful watch over the Natchez, the Choc-
taws, the Chickasaws, and neighbouring tribes, as it was
known there were hostile feelings smouldering at their
hearts, ready to be fanned to a blaze at the first opportune
moment. The commanding officer at Fort Rosalie had
particularly made himself obnoxious to the Indians by his
cruelty and bad treatment, viewing them as unworthy
the courtesies of life, and unentitled to the claims. of
humanity.

   

a

=~

    
ee

 

 

 

  

ROSALIE. 121

It is at Fort Rosalie, in 1728, that the incidents of the
following legend occur :—

Tak WARNING;

OR, DESTRUCTION OF FORT ROSALIE, FOUNDED ON THE BLUFF
WHERE NATCHEZ NOW STANDS, BY THE INDIANS,

Chopart the presiding officer at Fort Rosalie, had a
young soldier whom he removed from the ranks to his
quarters, that he might perform the multiplied duties of
butler, valet, cook, and waiter. His name was Louis
Chalot, who, besides the affection he bore his master, had
taken into his head, or rather his heart, to fall in love with
the daughter of a celebrated Sun, called the White Apple
Chief. This young Indian girl, the French lover, after try-
ing in vain to pronounce the euphonious name she bore in
her own language, had baptized with an appellation more
suited to his tastes, and more adapted to her appearance:
he called her Belle Biche, from her swiftness of foot—a
hame by which she will be known in this narrative.

Louis had frequently been sent on missions to the Apple
Chief; and the dark eyes of the daughter, just budding
into womanhood, had sent their shafts direct to his heart,
which soon began to swell and pant in his bosom beyond
all endurance. He had learned some words of the language
of the Natchez; and with the aid of these, and the assist-
ance of significant signs, he managed to convey his feelings
to the coy maiden of the forest; and there was so much
affinity, or to speak in the improved diction of the day,
Such a strong current of animal magnetism between the
two, that thoughts and feelings were transmitted from one
to the other without the aid of pen or pencil.

For many months, they had met clandestinely some dis-
tance from the Indian village, and no knowledge of the
fact had come to White Apple, who had prohibited his

 

  
    
 

   

LEGENDS,

daughter from having any intercourse with the whites.
One evening, Louis Chalot repaired to the ‘ trysting-spot,”’
and waited in vain for the appearance of his mistress.
Minutes, and then hours, passed slowly along, and he was
on the eve of quitting the spot, when he heard a light foot-
step, and, in a moment, Belle Biche stood beside him, She
was nearly out of breath with the haste she had made; but
Louis observed nothing but her presence, springing toward
her like a famished wolf, and devouring her with kisses.

Belle Biche, as soon as she could release herself from the
transports of her lover, then related to him the cause of her
protracted delay. She said that several chiefs from distant
tribes had arrived within the last three days; and yester-
day, had sat in conclave all day, nor broke up their council
until late at night ; and it was because her father was so
late in retiring, that prevented her from coming at an ear
lier hour. She told Louis she feared some threatening
danger was hanging over the heads of the whites: for the
Indians bore them the most implacable hatred, and medi-
tated vengeance. She was much distressed as she commu-
nicated these tidings to her lover, partly by words, and
partly by signs; and it was evident to any one versed in
the subtle windings of the human heart, that this solicitude
she had for the whites was nothing but a ray of that intense
fear she had for the safety of her lover, should, her tribe
make any attack upon the settlers.

Louis endeavoured by his caresses, his persuasions in
the few words he knew of the language, and his inimitable
gestures, to quiet her fears and calm her excitement. He
succeeded, for Belle Biche was a child of nature, with all
the clinging instincts of the woman, believing everything
that her lover told her, and nestling to his bosom with a
confidence which was total in its feeling.

All that Louis and Belle Biche said that night it is
impossible for us to say, for they were seated side by side
in the deep shadow of a branching oak; but that they were

 

 

 
 

ROSALIE. T23

perfectly satisfied with each other, may be inferred from
the fact that they never thought of parting until they heard
the pheasant flapping his wings at the approach of morn-
ing. At the sound, Belle Biche sprang to her feet; and,
though Louis tried to persuade her that the day was yet far
distant, she hastily released herself from his embrace, and
sped, almost with the swiftness of the animal whose name
she bore, across the plain that separated her from the
village.

The next morning, Chopart, the commander of Fort
Rosalie, according to his custom when no important occa-
sion required his earlier presence, did not rise until a Jate
hour, and was somewhat surprised to find that his clothes
had not been brushed, and that there was no flavour of
venison from the little apartment which was used for culi-
nary purposes. He walked into the little ante-room to see
what had become of Louis, when he saw his man-of-all-
work stretched upon his blanket, and, doubtless, dreaming
of Belle Biche, for his arms were fondly encircling the body
of a pet spaniel which belonged to his master.

Chopart called to the dog, which, in his struggles to
get from his embrace, awakened the valet, who, in answer
to the inquiry of M. Chopart ‘* Why he slept so late?”
muttered something about the Indians, looked wildly around
him, and then somewhat understanding his position, soon,
by his tact and extra attention to his master’s toilet,
banished all shades of displeasure from his countenance,
and, almost with magic haste, had smoked venison stake,
cooked & /a mode, and served up in the most tempting
manner.

While M. Chopart was enjoying his excellent breakfast,
he good-humouredly inquired of Louis where he spent the
evening before, as he had required his presence unexpect-
edly, and had caused a search to be made for him in the
Fort to no purpose. Louis would have quibbled, but it was
apparent to him at once that there was no falsehood that his

 
  

 

LEGENDS.

brain could invent that would save him at this juncture, so
he, with much confusion, confessed he had a Jiaison with the
daughter of the Great Sun, White Apple, and then commu-
nicated to his master the piece of news concerning the dis-
affection of the Indians, and the visit, for no friendly pur-
poses, of chiefs of remote tribes, told to him by Belle Biche
the previous evening.

‘‘ Louis,” replied Chopart, “I really thought that you
were made of sterner stuff than to suffer the idle fears of a
love-sick damsel to make any impression upon your mind.
A. girl in love sees a thousand dangers that may encompass
her lover, and which have no. substantial existence, being
nothing more than the exhalations of a mind heated with
excitement and seething with passion, The Indians have
. received a lesson they will never forget from M. Bienville,
the former governor of the province, and they would rather
make a demonstration anywhere in the settlement than at
Fort Rosalie, for they well know, that had I the slightest
pretext, I would like to sweep them from the face of the
earth.”

Louis said no more, but it was evident from the cloudy
brow of M. Chopart, that a storm was brewing in his mind.
fle was one of those Frenchmen who pursued a policy
towards the Indians at variance with the usual forbearance
and magnanimity of his countrymen, and he viewed the
forbearance of the high-minded La Salle towards the natives
as one of the causes of his failure, and attributed the suc-
cess of Pizarro and Cortez to their despotice edicts and
wholesale butcheries ; consequently, like a faithful proselyte,
he followed the instructions of his creed, and at the slight-
est pretext would hang and slaughter the natives, not only
without compunction, but with pleasure, derived from his
gratified instincts. After he had finished his breakfast, the
latter part of which he had evidently consumed. without
enjoying it, his mind was wholly occupied with another
matter; he turned to Louis and said :

 

 

 

  
 

 

ROSALIE. 125

«IT want you, Louis, to go to the Indian village and tell
White Apple I wish to see him. Tell him to come at once.
Never mind stopping to arrange anything in the tent.
Leave all until you return, as I wish you to start imme-
diately.”’

Louis had been too long accustomed to the suddenness
of his master’s moods to be surprised at its spasmodic
change in this instance, for the countenance of M. Chopart
was as uncertain as an April day—one moment radiating
with smiles, and then dark and gusty in its aspect.

After the departure of Louis on his mission, M. Rossart,
the second in command at Fort Rosalie, entered the tent
where M. Chopart was seated, humming a favourite air,
with his back turned to the entrance.

‘Good morning, Monsieur,” said Rossart, advancing to
his front. ‘Here is a despatch from M. Perrier, the
Governor of the province. It was brought by special mes-
senger, and I expect should be answered,”’

«T will see,” replied Chopart, and, breaking open the
missive, he glanced over the contents, and turning to Ros-
sart, said :

‘His Excellency appears to be disturbed with fears of
an Indian insurrection, and enjoins me to keep a wary eye
upon all those who inhabit this vicinity. The copper dogs—
if I see one move out of the way, I will hang every mother’s
son of them, and be glad of the chance. I have just sent
Louis over to that giant knave, White Apple, and when he
comes will command him and his subjects to move from
the ground they occupy, as I don’t fancy them in such close
approximation. What do you think of the measure ? ”

‘‘We must be cautious, and not drive them to despera-
tion,” said Rossart. ‘‘ They own the soil, and, savages as
they are, they have an idea of their rights, and view us as
trespassers on their property. If they knew their strength,
and would enter into coalition, they could crush us at a
blow.”

 
   

LEGENDS,

“They have no right, no property nor claim to any-
thing,” replied Chopart. ‘‘ You might as well say that the
buffalo and elk have a claim to the prairie over which they
range, because they occupy it. Your theory would level
all. It would accord to the savage the same rights as to
the enlightened, and allow no preferred claim to superior
intelligence and advanced civilization. Rossart, when I
think of the fallacy of your opinion, and your sympathy
with the fiends in human shape, I almost lose my patience.
Don’t you recollect that you, always their defender, were
once stricken down with their clubs, in battle; and, on an-
other occasion, was taken prisoner, and narrowly escaped
the torture? You must be labouring under a hallucination,
for you are warring with the instincts of your nature.”
M. Chopart then cut off all reply, by turning towards a
large desk he had in a corner of the tent, and taking from it
some writing material, which he, at once, commenced to use
in dictating an answer to the note M. Perrier had sent him.

Rossart had been the schoolmate of Chopart; they had
entered the army together, and he had learned to bear with
those sudden explosions of passion to which his friend was
subject. He knew him to be cruel and tyrannical in his
policy towards the Indians, but he felt that it arose more
from a mistaken idea as to their position in the circle of
creation than blackness of heart and malignity of disposi-
tion.

After inditing the letter to M. Perrier, Chopart turned to
his friend, and tried to show, by his conciliatory conversa-
tion, that he regretted the passionate outbreak by which his
feelings must have been wounded a few moments before.

In their long conversation, their position was critically
dwelt upon, and Rossart urged upon his superior that he
should carry out the suggestions of M. Perrier, and keep
the Fort strictly guarded at night, as there was no faith to
be placed in the Indians, whose tactics in warfare were
based in the art of dissimulation and stratagem.

    

=
ROSALIE. 127

M. Chopart laughed at the fears of his friend, and as-
serted “that the Indians would never again have courage
either to make or resist an aggression.”’

Whilst they were in conversation, Louis returned, saying
that White Apple would visit him in the afternoon, accom-
panied by some of his warriors.

“Tt is well he obeys my mandates,” replied Chopart,
“or I would let him know to his cost that, king as he is
over his savage hordes, he must, nevertheless, be subser-
vient to the officers of France. You may now retire,
Louis, and, as you have time, might as well nap awhile, to
make up the loss of sleep you have suffered while engaged
with your Indian beauty.”

After the departure of the valet, Chopart related to
Rossart all he knew concerning Louis’s attachment to the
daughter of White Apple; and the two friends, laughing,
conjectured how he managed to declare his attachment,
knowing so little as he did of the Indian language.

We will now take a peep at White Apple and the chiefs
who had come on a visit to his nation. They were seated
in the great room used as the Council-chamber, and, after
the representatives of the Chickasaws, the Choctaws, and
some other tribes had been seated, White Apple got up
and explained to the assembly the purpose of the consulta-
tion. This speech was one of war—a war of extermination
against the white men. He said that, before the arrival of
these aggressive strangers, the great tribes.of the Chicka-
saws, the Choctaws, and the Natchez could range over the
immense country, which was their lawful heritage, in
peace; that the young men could pursue the buffalo and
the deer, 4nd no one would rob them of the fruits of the
chase ; and, as the morning sun looked upon the world with
his flood of light, each nation could look towards his face
and do him reverence, and none disturbed them in their
devotion. He said that then the red men were happy, and
no dark cloud rolled upon their souls, But now things were

,

 
128 LEGENDS.

changed. Since the arrival of the white men, the Indian
had been robbed of his soil, and the deer and buffalo had
been frightened from their ranges; and that when he
looked to the Great God who flooded the wilderness with
light, he was laughed at for his simplicity, and told by the
white prophets that he was worshipping a thing, and not a
God. That all these wrongs the red men had suffered, and
the sunshine had departed from their hearts: He then
showed to them how mighty still was the power of the In-
dians if they would unite their strength. How easy it was
to overcome and wholly exterminate their common enemy
were they only true to each other, and would combine their
strength. He then offered, on the part of the Natchez In-
dians, to enter into a treaty of brotherhood; to forget their
ancient feuds, and, as one band, with the war-whoop on
their lips, and vengeance in their hearts, to settle with
these strangers a bloody reckoning—to show them that the
red men were still lords of the soil where their fathers slept,
and that they had not forgotten how sharp were the arrows
which hung in their quivers.

His speech elicited an universal grunt from the assembly,
which is equivalent, in Indian parliamentary proceedings, to
an assent of satisfaction.

Then White Apple unfolded his plans of operations.

He said that in Jittle more than three moons from that
date each tribe should be ready to attack the settlements
nearest to it ; and that their attacks might be made simul-
~taneously, he proposed each chief should take a bundle of
reeds, which he had prepared previously, each bundle con-
taining a hundred sticks, and that each day every tribe
should draw one reed from its bundle, and, when the last
one was drawn, the attack should commence.

For the continuation of this Legend, see Parr TT,