IOO ADVENTURES OF DR. ALLEN. 



ferent members of the Crow tribe and they all told it alike, 

 varying only in minor details. What really took place can 

 only be imagined. 



In the fall of 1864, the story runs, Long Hair, a cele- 

 brated chief of the Crows, was camped on the Yellowstone 

 and Alkali Creek and the tribe filled about eight hundred 

 lodges. All were fully equipped for the fall hunt, but, 

 when the time to set out arrived, several were taken sick. 

 Each day added one or more warriors to the invalid list, 

 and it became evident they would have to postpone the hunt 

 to care for the sick and dying. The disease from which they 

 were suffering was none other than small-pox. Long Hair 

 and the medicine men retired to the main medicine lodge 

 and exerted all of their skill to stop the plague, but the 

 burning of roots, herbs and their strongest medicine was of 

 no avail. In despair they were all helpless, while the war- 

 riors fell off like dead leaves from the forest trees. They 

 burned their robes and blankets, reserving only the best red 

 ones, which they presented to the sun to appease the wrath 

 of the Great Spirit. But the disease still continued to 

 spread, carrying off warriors,, squaws and papooses, while 

 their neglected ponies wandered away and were lost. 



Finally all but forty of the lodges were entirely empty, 

 and the plague subsided. Two young braves, unable to 

 endure the loss of all their kindred, dressed themselves in 

 their best costumes and told the few survivors that their 

 hearts were bad, and that they were going to join their 

 people in the happy hunting ground. So saying, they 

 mounted their ponies and rode to the top of the hill. Before 

 them lay a shelf of solid sandrock about one hundred feet 

 above the waters of the Yellowstone,, extending twenty feet 

 over the ledge, while beneath the angry waters thundered 

 through masses of broken rocks. When the two young 



