186 



CHAPTER X. 



Tahtunga-goniska. — High gaming. — ^Weur-sena Warkpollo, a strange Btoiy.— 

 The Death Song, a tale of love. — Medicine-men. — Extraordinary perfonn&noe rf 

 Tahtunga-mobellu. — Wonderful feats of jugglery. 



Among our daily visitors was Tahtunga-egoniska, a head chief of tlie 

 Brule village. 



Years had bleached his locks with their taming frosts and taught him 

 self-government. Well disposed as a man, he never became a participant 

 in those disgusting scenes of intoxication tliat almost continually transpir- 

 ed around us. He was a mere looker on — a moralizer ; and, as he witness- 

 ed the blamewoitliy conduct of his people, an ill-suppressed sigh was fre- 

 quently audible, and the inward workings of regret were plainly defined 

 upon his countenance. Melancholy too had left her traces upon him, and, 

 as he sat day by day in gloomy silence, he seemed the very impersonation 

 of griet 



Whenever the throng dispersed for a few moments, he would improve 

 die opportunity for conversation with us ; for in the benevolence of his heart 

 he loved the whites, and was greatly pained at the injuries and injustice it 

 was so often their lot to endure. 



But he had a story of his own to tell ; it was a tale of affliction — a stab 

 at the best feelings of a father's heart ! And, by whom ? By the very 

 whites he loved ! Aye, by the very men whose business it was to degrade 

 his people and ruin them by the contaminating etFects of an unhallowed 

 intercourse ! 



Six months had scarcely yet passed since the old chief had been called to 

 mourn his youthful hope, and the pride and joy of his declining years — his 

 first-bom son ! And that son had fallen by the hand of the wliite man ! 



Still, the sorrow-stricken father harbored no thought of revenge ; he 

 sought notiiing for himself save the locks of that son, tliat he might hang 

 them within his lodge, and gaze upon then-, and weep ! 



His simple tale was so touching in its nature it served to enlist the deep 

 eympathies of our hearts. We began to regard him with much deference, 

 and felt quite at home in his company. He would frequently entertain us 

 with his anecdotes as occasions suggested, and at such times lie invaria- 

 bly proved both agreeable and communicative. 



The history of his own life, too, was far from uninteresting. He wa« 

 the only one of the Brule chiefs, then living, who had signed tlie first 

 treaty witli the wliites, since which he had ever observed its stipula'.iona 

 with scrupulous exactness, and still carefully retained a silver medal be- 

 Btowed upon him by the Government agent at that time. 



Some of his stories were garbed with a sti-ange romance, and tboneh 

 they may appear foreign to truth in many respects, I cannot resist u« 

 temptation of presenting a few of them to the reader. 

 11* 



