Hunting at High Altitudes 



Without hesitation Reed took up his rifle and 

 killed the Indian. Of course, this made quite a 

 disturbance, but they were prudent enough not to 

 tackle Reed. The dispute was finally compromised 

 by his paying the Indian's relatives a price in ponies 

 or trade goods. The religion of the Indians that 

 inhabited the Southern States demanded an "eye 

 for an eye," and "a death for a death." The near- 

 est relatives were religiously bound to shed the 

 blood of the slayer of their family, and with the 

 nomad tribes of the Northwest this revenge has 

 become a matter of trade. 40 



Bowles, the partner of Reed, had, just before 

 our coming into the neighborhood, distinguished 

 himself by a quarrel with the Indians. His wife 

 was a woman from the Piegan Indians, whose 

 agency was at Badger Creek, 41 in northwest Mon- 

 tana. A few months before this date, a party of 

 these people, some of whom were relatives of 

 Bowies' wife, came into the Judith Basin on a 

 hunting and proposed horse-stealing expedition. 

 After loitering about the trading office for a time, 

 they disappeared, and with them Bowies' woman. 

 Suspecting that she had been persuaded to go off 

 by her relatives, Bowles mounted a good horse, 

 and by riding all night, overtook the party just 

 before they packed up for the next day's march. 



98 



