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FOREST AND STREAM: 
[JuLty 6, 1907. 

father was the noted Michel Champaigne, trader 
and interpreter for the American Fur Company. 
Baptiste’s wife was a sister of Yellow Wolf, a 
Blackfoot warrior, still living here. She had a 
niece whose name Mi-sum-mi-mo-na, and 
she being rather a comely girl, had attracted 
the atiention of Sam, the Pend d’Orielle. Sam 
made propositions to her kinsfolk, Yellow Wolf, 
Champaigne and his wife that he be permitted 
to marry Mi-sum-mi-mo-na, and offered for her 
Was 
The offer being 
short 
sixteen head of good horses. 
very tempting, she became his wife. A 
time afterward Baptiste gave me the story of the 
affair. I told him very frankly that he had made 
a mistake. He asked my reasons. I said to him: 
“You are a strong Catholic and your Church 
does not permit polygamous marriages.” 
By the rules and. laws regulating marriage 
among the Pend d’Oreilles, Sam was punishable 
by both fine and flogging. This punishment is 
carried out by the soldier band of the’ Pend 
d’Oreilles. Baptiste was worried over my view 
of the marriage. Sam’s Pend d’Oreille wife was 
very much opposed to his second marriage, and 
appealed to me to talk with him and tell him that 
he must not.go crazy, that the Pend d’Oreilles 
taught to have but one wife, while .the 
Blackfeet could have any number they could 
buy and support. 
were 
first wife made so 
many objections, and sa continually quarreled 
In course of time Sam's 
with him over his second marriage, that there 
was no peace in the family. - By early spring 
(1878) feeling had risen to such a condition that 
Sam shat and wounded his first wife. 
flesh wound in the shoulder. 
It was a 
She was still as- 
serting the rights of Christian marriage. She 
showed great love and affection for Sam, which 
he did not appreciate or reciprocate. Conditions 
were such that the Blackfoot wife, though fond 
of excitement and war, could not endure the 
continual strife, and found life in Sam’s lodge 
unbearable. 
To Baptiste affairs now assumed a serious 
turn, as he feared for the life of his niece. 
« In.the course of a few days, Sam, whom I had 
not seen for som - found 
the condition Indians, 
“my heart is bad.” He had his gun out of its 
off. 
noted at 
time, called on me. 
him in 
called by the 
cover and his blanket This in an Indian 
means war. [ that there was 
a crisis in his affairs, and I signed him to sit 
down. 
once 
I sat down beside him, knowing that if 
he wanted to make a gun play, which I appre- 
hended from 
his actions, | close to 
would be 
him, and could close with him and give him an 
even showdown for the gun. J] with 
him in the sign language, reminding him that 
he was alone among the Blackfeet, his people 
all having gone back home ‘across the moun- 
tains. I told him he had made a mistake. but 
there was time yet for him to make it right, and 
advised him to come back in two days and I 
would tell him what I What I 
wanted was time, for a wild Indian in his 
kill 
with. 
reasoned 
thought best. 
war 
paint, mad and wanting to 
bad 
without ceremony. 
some 
Sam departed 
He was faithful to my re- 
quest and returned in two days’ time. 
In the meantime I talk my in- 
terpreter, Champaigne. I found he had coun- 
seled with my wife and had advocated a sepa- 
ration of-his niece and Sam. This fact had been 
communicated to Sam, and Jed him, in his now 
desperate frame of kill 
one, 18 2 
customer to argue 
had a with 
mind, to. desire to 
Champaigne, and this was the object of his 
visit to my store. 
When Sam returned I found him in a some- 
what better frame of mind. I said to him, 
“When do you cross the mountain to your 
people?” He informed me that he was lone- 
some, and wanted to go, but he feared he would 
be punished by the fathers of St 
He had been married at this mission 
in the Flathead Valley. I carefully went over 
his affairs and impressed on him the fact that 
Now 
and keep out: of further 
I. thought there was still a chance to 
make peace with the soldier band of his tribe 
by getting a pardon through the fathers. To 
that end I would assist him by giving him a 
letter to Father Ravalli, stating that he (Sam) 
was not a drunken or lazy Indian. 
that in 
Ignatius 
Mission. 
he had violated the law of his people. 
he must be 
trouble. 
careful 
I also sug- 
letter he 
make a peace offering to the fathers, in the 
hope it lighten 
gested connection with my 
would ‘the punishment for 
He told me 
he had nothing to give, and he could not stop 
the punishment, which I found he dreaded very 
much. 
marrying the Blackfoot woman. 
I then suggested that as he was a good 
Bs 
‘hunter, an,expert horseman, and could handle 
a lasso well, he rope some buffalo calves—now 
nearly a year old—hobble them and keep them 
with my milch cows. He could use my corrals 
until they were gentle, he could then drive them 
across the mountains by the Cadotte Pass, and 
give them as a peace offering to the fathers at 
the mission. 
doubt. 
no buffalo .in the Flathead country, I thought 
the fathers would appreciate the gift. He at 
once said he would try my plan. I encouraged 
him to go to work at once, and soon saw him 
arranging for a hunting trip. 
He looked at me in surprise and 
I then showed him that as there were 
Next day I made a visit to his lodge and 
found him and his Pénd d’Oreille wife hard at 
work and both in a very pleasant humor. I 
asked in the sign language of the wife, ““Where 
is the Blackfoot woman?’ She informed me 
in a very serious manner that when the Black- 
feet had broken camp, her people had taken 
her away. I then asked her to help Sam all 
She smiled and said she would, I 
asked Sam, ‘When will you be ready for your 
trip?” 
she could. 
He answered, “In two sleeps.” 
In answer to inquiries as to how he 
proposed to handle the buffalo; he told me he 
would catch the young buffalo; he would then 
picket each by one leg at the place where he 
caught it. He would then take a blanket, peg 
the ground at the outer limit of 
the picket line. I asked him why he did this. 
He replied it would attract the buffalo’s 
tion and 
blanket it 
my 
it down at 
keep it the 
become accustomed to the 
smell of man, and would not be alarmed at his 
approach. 
quiet; by smelling 
would 
He would catch and handle two at 
one time on the prdirie. They would then be 
driven in and kept with the milch cows. 
Sam was successful on his first hunt and soon 
drove in fine calves, then, April, 1878, 
nearly yearling buffalo—a heifer and a_ bull. 
The loose, the bull side-hobbled. 
The milch cows did not take kindly to the 
buffalo, but the buffalo persisted in being 
friendly. They finally made friends, for after a 
while the cows ceased to regard them as a 
curiosity, and seemed to enjoy their presence. 
Sam rested a few days after his first trip, his 
two 
heifer was 
‘and three heifers. 
for liberty. 
‘which he would have likéd to save. 
atten-" 
wife joining him in teHing me the story of the 
wild chase and the fierce struggles with their 
captives. -The hunt was far away, as the buffalo 
were already working to the summer range on 
the Saskatchewan. This would now cause sonie 
change in plans. 3eing alone, he was 
afraid of the enemy—the Indians of the North. 
He would only risk one more hunt, and in- 
formed me JT could look for him in eight sleeps. 
If he did not then, he 
tacked by some war party. 
his 
return had been at- 
In that event he 
hoped I would make some effort to look him 
up. When I got up the next morning Sam 
was gone. 
True to his promise, he returned at the end 
of eight days with five young buffalo—two bulls 
Each buffalo was head and 
foot hobbled; the head and front foot tied to- 
gether, with a skin strap two. feet long. Each 
bull was dragging a long lariat, so as to be 
easily caught. for, night picketing. Sam was 
well pleased to find the first two buffalo so con- 
tented with the cows. The milch 
cows objected as before, but the new arrivals 
took kindly to their new-found friends. 
told me they had met with no accident. 
worked hard—like a white man 
it—the 
domestic 
Sam 
He had 
, as he expressed 
rope skinning his hands many times. 
One could never tell when a buffalo would jump 
He told me of killing one heifer. 
She had 
In a hard chase along 
the side of a steep coulée, he singled her out of 
a bunch of cows. He threw his rope and the 
settled on her neck. His horse, a 
powerful roan, settled for the shock. In snub- 
bing, he gave her too much rope, and in the 
fall, which came an instant fine 
heifer’s neck was broken. 
a very fine, bright coat. 
noose 
later, this 
His wife advised him to -quit now. They al- 
ready had five on-the last hunt, and she did not. 
like the signs brought out by the death of this 
fine animal. She said to him, “This means we 
must stop.” 
Sam herded his buffalo with the milk stock 
for five days, resting: and making arrangements 
for his trip across the mountains. He was 
feeling satisfied with his work, and hopeful that 
his peace offering would be accepted. He told 
me of his route of travel, and that he would be 
hfteen sleeps on the way home. Taking a small 
memorandum book froni a parfleche, he showed 
me where he had six straight marks and then 
a cross for Sunday. He told me he did not 
want to start on his trip home on Sunday, and 
wished to know the day of thé week, as he had 
lost his reckoning. I put him right, and he said 
he would start on the following Monday. , 
His buffalo were doing well, and were be- 
coming quite docile. All preparations were 
made for his departure, and he talked hopefully 
of getting safely across the mountains. He al- 
ways impressed me as being an Indian of 
marked determination, and at no time did it 
occur to me that he would not succeed in his 
effort. 
On Monday he bade me a cordial good-bye, 
passing out, his wife and pack horses in the 
lead. They had discarded the travois with 
which they usually traveled, saying they could 
handle the buffalo better with her asa rider, Sam 
brought up the rear, the buffalo following the 
pack horses: The three bulls were head and 
foot hobbled, the four heifers loose; seven head 
in all is my recollection of the bunch. 
















