A Bloodless Coup 
By GEORGE B. GRINNELL 
A LONG time ago, a. war party made up 
half of Arapahoes and half of Chey¬ 
ennes started from their camp in the 
mountains near the Laramie River to go to war 
against the Utes. Red Bull, the head chief of 
the Arapahoes, was the leader. Most of the war 
party were traveling on horseback, but a few 
were on foot. 
It was in the winter time that they started, 
and the weather was cold. For many days they 
traveled south along the Wind River mountains. 
1 hey found no enemies, and nothing happened. 
One day, as was their custom, they sent scouts 
out from the camp to go ahead of the party and 
see what they could discover. The men had 
been gone but a short time, when they came 
back and told the leader that they had seen a 
camp of Utes. When the leader of the war 
party heard the news, he determined to go that 
night to the Ute camp, and. to take as many 
horses as they could. Some of the young men 
were to look over the prairie and gather 
the loose horses they found outside the camp, 
while others should creep into the village and 
cut loose the better horses that were tied up 
close to the lodges. 
During the day they made themselves ready, 
and as soon as it was dark all started for the 
camp, which was close to them. Those who had 
horses took them part way to the camp, and then 
tied them up, so that if there was an alarm 
they could get them quickly. From this place 
all went on foot, and a part of the men went 
into the village, while a part looked over the 
prairie. It was a terrible night, very cold, and 
blowing and snowing so hard that one could see 
but a little way. 
While one of the men was cutting loose a 
horse that was tied in front of a lodge, the Ute 
that owned it heard him, threw back the lodge 
door, and shot at him. Then all the men of the 
war party ran, and began to call to each other 
that the Utes had shot a man and were after 
them, and they all jumped on the horses that 
they had taken and rode off as fast as they could 
in the direction of their home. 
All did this except Red Bull, the leader. He 
was one of the bravest men in the camp, and 
one of the wisest. When he saw all the others 
riding away north he thought it would be bet¬ 
ter if he went by himself another way, and in¬ 
stead of going toward the Cheyenne camp, he 
rode in the opposite direction, south. He rode 
that night in the storm until he came to a stream 
on which some timber grew. He was freezing, 
and it was so cold and the storm was so bad 
that he determined to stop there in the timber 
until he could warm himself. It was away in 
the middle of the night when Red Bull reached 
the timber. He stopped, dismounted, and tied 
his horse; then he began to look about for some 
shelter from the storm—some place where he 
could be out of the wind and the snow. At first 
he could find none, but at last, not far from his 
horse, he walked against a high cut wall of rock, 
and as he felt along this wall he came to a hole, 
and crawled in there to get out of the wind and 
snow. He found the hole deep, and soon got in 
and sat down. 
For a little while Red Bull sat there in this 
cave, shivering but glad that he had got in out 
of the wind, and then he began to feel about 
with his hands to find a good place to lie down. 
As he was doing this he put his hands on a 
man’s knee. 
“Ha!” Red Bull was surprised. He covered 
his mouth with his hand. 
After a little he felt along and put his hand 
on an arm, and a breast, and found that it was 
really a man—a live man sitting by him. He 
said to himself, hy here is a Cheyenne or an 
Arapahoe who has got here ahead of me,” and 
he wondered who it could be. Pretty soon the 
other man put out his hand and began to feel of 
Red Bull, and felt of him all over.- Neither 
spoke. Presently Red Bull took hold of 
the man’s hand and raised it, holding it before 
his own breast, and shook it and then touched 
the rpan’s breast with his finger; thus making 
the sign “Who are you?” He let fall the hand, 
and the other man took hold of Red Bull’s hand 
and asked him in signs, “Who are you?” Then 
he put Red Bull's open hand close to his face 
and rubbed the back of the hand with his own 
fingers—“black” (Ute), and then he touched 
his own breast with Red Bull’s hand. Then he 
closed all Red Bull's fingers except the first, 
touched his own breast with it, moved it before 
him in a wide circle, then pointed it upward, 
raised it high, bent it over, and brought it down, 
pointing toward the ground; thus saying, “Of 
all people about here I am the Chief.” 
Now they changed hands, and Red Bull took 
the Ute chief’s hand, drew all the fingers to¬ 
gether to a point, and with them tapped his own 
right breast, saying in signs—Arapahoe—tattooed 
on the breast. Then by the same signs that the 
Ute had used he said to him, “Of all the Arapa¬ 
hoes about here I am the Chief.” 
Now the Ute took Red Bull’s hand, brought it 
close to him, and shut down all the fingers ex¬ 
cept two which he left extended side by side and 
touching each other, and then pushed it outward, 
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signifying “We have met together and are here 
side by side like friends.” Then he took Red 
Bull's hand, closed all the fingers except the in¬ 
dex, pushed with the forefinger his own body 
and Red Bull’s body, and then, holding Red 
Bull’s hand in his own, pushed it sharply down 
and snapped his own fingers out as if suddenly 
letting go of or throwing something away. This 
