Jan. 22, 1910.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
129 
and brought it back to the trail so that it could 
be thrown into a wagon when the train passed. 
1 he Shawnees and Delawares were great hun¬ 
ters and almost always when the train stopped 
for noon and their cattle had been turned out 
and the meal eaten, these men would be seen 
striding off over the prairie, each with a long 
rifle over his shoulder. 
In the train there were several messes. Colonel 
Bent and any member of his family or visitor 
messed together, the white teamsters and the 
Mexicans also messed together, while the Dela- 
dians, but they were always beaten off. 'In 1848 
the Comanches attacked the wagons at Pawnee 
Fork, but they were repulsed and Red Arm, 
their chief, was killed. The fork is called by 
the Indians Red Arm Creek in remembrance of 
this affair. Mr. Chas. Hallock, who made the 
journey with one of these trains, wrote an ac¬ 
count of an attack by Comanches, which was 
printed in Harper’s Magazine in 1859. 
After the return to the post in autumn the 
cattle were turned out into the herd, wagons 
ranged around outside of the corral, while the 
supplies of arms and ammunition. Hunting par¬ 
ties occasionally called to procure ordinary goods. 
Parties of white travelers came and stayed for 
a little while and then went on again. During 
this time especial precautions were taken against 
trouble with the Indians. At night the fort was 
closed early and conditions sometimes arose 
under which admission to the fort might be re¬ 
fused by the trader. 1 his watchfulness, which 
was never relaxed, was not caused by any special 
fear of Indian attacks, but was merely the carry¬ 
ing out of those measures of prudence which 
Little Woman. 
(G. Bent’s Daughter) 
Stands Out. 
(G. Bent’s Wife) 
J. H. Seger, 
(School Superintendent) 
TELLING A STORY. 
wares and Shawnees, by preference, messed by 
themselves. Each man had his own quart cup 
and plate and carried his own knife in its sheath. 
Forks or spoons were not known. Each man 
marked his own plate and cup, usually by rudely 
scratching his initials or mark on it, and when 
.! he had finished using it, he washed or cleansed 
li it himself. Each mess chose its cook from among 
I members. The food eaten by these travelers, 
j though simple, was wholesome and abundant. 
Meat was the staple, but they also had bread 
jj an< ^ abundant coffee and occasionally boiled dried 
j a PP^ es an d rice. Usually there was sugar, though 
j sometimes they had to depend on the old-fash- 
j loned “long sweetening”; that is, New Orleans 
; molasses, which was imported in hogsheads for 
; trade with the Indians. 
The train was occasionally attacked by In¬ 
vokes and chains for each bull team were cared 
for by the driver of the team. Usually they 
were carried into the fort and piled up in some 
shady place, fl he keys for the bows were tied 
to the yokes and the chains lay close to them. 
Rarely a few ox bows were lost by being taken 
away by the Indians who greatly coveted the 
hickory wood for the manufacture of bows. 
There was no hickory nearer than Council 
Grove, and if an Indian could get hold of an 
ox bow he steamed and straightened it and 
made from it a useful bow. 
Back at the fort only a few men were left; 
the clerks, a trader or two and a few laborers 
and herders. There were frequent calls there 
by Indians, chiefly war parties stopping to secure 
Colonel Bent had always practiced, and which 
he had so thoroughly inculcated in his men that 
they had become fixed habits. 
Usually the Cheyenne Indians were freely ad¬ 
mitted to the fort and were allowed to wander 
through it more or less at will. They might go 
up on the roof and into the watchtower, but 
were warned by the chiefs not to touch any¬ 
thing. They might go about and look, and if 
they wished to, ask questions, but they were not 
to take things in their hands. Toward the close 
of the day as the sun got low a chief or prin¬ 
cipal man went through the fort and said to the 
young men who were lounging here and there, 
"Now, soon these people will wish to close the 
gates of this house, and you had better now go 
out and return to your camps.” When this was 
said the young men always obeyed, for in those 
