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In the Lodges of the Blackfeet. 
XVI.—The Story of Rising Wolf. 
WueEN Berry and Sorrel Horse returned to the 
mouth of the Marias, Nat-ah’-ki and I, of course, 
went with them. Word of our coming had pre- 
ceded us, and when we arrived in the great camp 
at dusk there we found our lodge set up between 
those of Talks-with-the-buffalo and Weasel Tail. 
Beside it was a pile of fire wood; within a well- 
built fire was burning cheerfully; at the back our 
couch of soft robes and warm blankets was 
spread, guest seats with the comfortable back- 
rests arranged, and in their proper place were our 
parfleches and cooking utensils, the former well 
filled with dried berries and choice dried meats 
and tongues and pemmican. All this had been 
done by Nat-ah’-ki’s good mother, who greeted 
her daughter with a hearty hug and kiss and me 
with a shy but sincere welcome. She was a good 
woman; I may say a noble woman. Yes, a noble, 
high-minded, self-sacrificing woman, always doing 
something to alleviate the suffering of the sick 
and the sorrow of the bereaved. 
I had no sooner got down from the wagon and 
gone inside, leaving Nat-ah’-ki and her mother 
to bring in our possessions, than my friends be- 
gan to arrive, and right glad they seemed to be 
to see me again, as pleased as I was to meet them 
and hear them say, as they heartily grasped my 
hand: ‘“Ah’-ko-two ki-tuk’-ah-an-on’’—our friend 
has returned. 

Thev told me briefly of the happenings during 
my absence, and then asked for the story of my 
trip. While Nat-ah’-ki prepared a little feast, and 
they smoked, I gave it to them as well as I could, 
giving the number of days that I had traveled on 
the steamboat, and then on the train, in order to 
reach my home, a distance in all of 100 nights’ 
sleep were one to travel it on horseback. I had 
to repeat the story several times that night, once 
in the chief's lodge. When I had finished the old 
man inquired particularly about the railroad and 
its trains, fire wagons—is-tsi’ an’-e-kas-im—as he 
called them. He wanted to know if any of them 
were heading for his country. 
“No,” I replied, “none are coming this way; 
there is but the one, that which runs east and 
west far south of here, through the land of the 
Wolf People and the Sheep Eaters.” 
“Ai!” he said, thoughtfully striking his chin, 
“Ai! that one many of us have seen on our raids 
to the south. Yes, we have seen it, the wagons, 
crowded with people, roaring across the plain, 
killing and scaring the buffalo. Some day you 
write to our Grandfather (the President) and tell 
him that we will not allow one to enter our coun- 
try. Yes, tell him that I, Big Lake, send him this 
word: ‘The white men shall neither put a fire- 
wagon trail across the country of my people, nor 
settle here and tear up the sod of our valleys in 
order to plant the things they feed upon.’ ” 
I attended many a feast that night, no sooner 
finishing a visit at one lodge than I was invited 
to another one. It was late when I finally re- 
turned home and lay down to rest, the song and 
laughter of the great camp, the howling of the 
wolves and coyotes lulling me to sleep. I thought 
of the far-away New England village buried in 
deep snow, and of its dreary monotony. “Thrice 
blest am I by propitious gods,” I murmured. 
Nat-ah’'-ki nudged me. “You talk in 
sleep,’ she said. 
“T was not asleep; I was thinking aloud.” 
“And what thought you?” 
“The gods pity me,” I .replied. “They have 
been kind to me and given me much happiness.” 
“Ail” she acquiesced; “they are good; we 
could ask of them nothing that they have not 
given us. To-morrow we will sacrifice to them.” 
And while she prayed I fell asleep, having deter- 
mined that, save perhaps for an occasional visit, 
the East should know me no more. 
The following day the chiefs and leading men 
held a council and decided that we should move 
out to the foot of the Bear’s Paw Mountains. 
Thither we went across the wide, brown and 
buffalo-covered plain, encamping on a_ little 
stream running down from a pine-clad coulée, re- 
maining there for several days. There were vast 
numbers of elk and deer and bighorn here, and 
in our morning’s hunt Wolverine and I killed 
four fat ewes, choosing the females instead of 
the rams, as the rutting season of the sheep was 
nearly over. So numerous were the bands of 
these now scarce animals that I doubt not we 
could have slaughtered twenty or more of them 
had we been so minded; but we took no more 
than our horses could carry. 
When I returned to camp I found Nat-ah’-ki 
busily chipping the hide of a cow buffalo I had 
killed. She had laced it to a frame of four lodge 
poles and frozen it, in which condition the sur- 
plus thickness of the hide was most easily re- 
moved with the ‘short elkhorn, steel-tipped hoe 
used for the purpose. But even then it was ex- 
ceedingly hard, back-breaking labor, and I said 
that I would be pleased if she would cease doing 
that kind of work. I had said something about 
it on a previous occasion, and this iime, nerhaps, 
I spoke a trifle too peremptorily. She turned 
away from me, but not before I saw the tears 
begin to roll down her cheeks. 
“What have I done?” I asked. 
to make you cry.” 
“Am I to do nothing,” she in turn queried, “but 
sit in the lodge in idleness? You hunt and pro- 
vide the meat; you buy,from the traders the vari- 
ous foods we eat. You buy my clothes and 
everything else I wear and use. I also want to 
do something toward our support.” 
“But you do. You cook and wash the dishes, 
your 
“T did not mean 
’ 
you even provide the fire wood. You make my 
moccasins and warm mittens; you wash my 
clothes; when we travel it is you who takes down 
and sets up the lodge, who packs and unpacks 
the horses.” 
“Vet am I idle most of the time,” she said 
brokenly, ‘‘and the women jest and laugh at me, 
and call me proud and lazy, lazy! Too proud and’ 
too lazy to work!” 
Thereupon I kissed her and dried her tears, 
and told her to tan as many robes as she wanted 
to, taking care not to work too hard nor too long 
at a time. And immediately she was all smiles 
and danced out of the lodge; presently I heard 
the monotonous chuck, chuck, chuck of the hoe 
tip against the stiff hide. 
One night a dimly luminous ring was seen 
around the moon, and the next morning a 
brighter ring encircled the sun, while on either 
side of it was a large sun dog. The rings por- 
tended the arrival of a furious storm at no dis- 
tant date; the rainbow-hued sundogs gave cer- 
tain warning that the enemy, perhaps a large 
war party, was approaching our camp. This was 
a bad combination, and a council was called to 
consider it. The tribe was not afraid to meet 
any enemy that might do battle with them, but it 
was certain that in the night of a severe storm a 
party could approach unseen and unheard, steal 
many horses, and that the driving, drifting snow 
would effectually blot out their trail, so that they 
could not be followed and overtaken. It was 
decided to break camp at once and move to the 
mouth of Creek-in-the-middle, on the Missouri. 
If much snow fell and severe cold weather set 
in there would be better shelter in the deep val- 
ley of the river; the horses could be fed the rich 
bark of the cottonwood and kept in prime condi- 
tion; by moving camp the certainly approaching 
enemy would probably never run across our trail, 
especially if the promised storm came soon. By 
to o’clock the last lodge was down and packed, 
and we strung out east by south for our destina- 
tion. At noon snow began to fall. We camped 
that night on Creek-in-the-middle, so named be- 
cause it has its source midway between the Bear’s 
Paw and Little Rocky Mountains. The early 
voyageurs named it Cow Creek. 
Snow was still lightly falling the next morn- 
ing and it was much colder; nevertheless, we 
again broke camp and moved on, arriving at the 
river before dusk. Here we intended to remain 
for some time, and the hunters rode far and near 
on both sides of the valley and out on the plains 
setting deadfalls for wolves. Strychnine had not 
then come into general use. These deadfalls were 
merely a few six to eight feet poles set up at an 
angle of about forty-five degrees and supported 
by a two-stick trigger. They were covered with 
several hundred weight of large stones; when 
the wolf seized the bait at the back end of the 
fall, down came the heavy roof and crushed him. 
