24 THE "COUP" 



A buck represents the dead or wounded. He lies per- 

 fectly still and limp if the former, or aids as far as is con- 

 sistent with his supposed hurt if the latter. It is rather 

 rough handling he has to undergo, but by no means as 

 rough as one sees in some of our favorite sports — say, 

 foot-ball. Perhaps this is the best of the numerous feats 

 the Indian can exhibit ; but Dodge and Parkman tell us 

 of many others. When I refer to Dodge, I mean Colonel 

 Eichard Irving Dodge, of the Army — a soldier, a sports- 

 man, and an author, partaking of the virtues of each pro- 

 fession, and — well, I cannot say more an I would. Francis 

 Parkman's unequalled knowledge of the Indian in our his- 

 tory is acknowledged in every part of the civilized world. 

 The Indians would be capable of making a superb irreg- 

 ular cavalry were it not for the divided authority from 

 which all tribes suffer. There is no central power, no 

 influence to hold the individuals to anything like what 

 we call duty. The recent efforts to enlist Indians have 

 not proven successful. Capable of immense exertion un- 

 der circumstances which arouse his fanaticism, he is yet 

 at heart a lazy brute, and when he has once sated his pas- 

 sion for adornment by wearing Uncle Sam's uniform for 

 a few months, his greed for ease overcomes all sense of 

 discipline, and he relapses into the indolent savage, of 

 practically little use in any line but politics. Yet among 

 themselves they have a certain organization, and in battle 

 are able to execute a number of manoeuvres, all, however, 

 weakened by the lack of the one controlling hand. Nor 

 can the Indian be easily kept in the ranks. In order to 

 claim a scalp, the warrior must give the dead man the 

 coujp. This was in olden times a stab with a Aveapon, but 

 Indians now have what are called coup sticks. Whoever 

 first strikes the victim the coup can rightfully claim the 

 scalp, and no authority known to his savage instincts can 



