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summer. There he met a real Indian Queen who had married the com- 
mander of the fort, and lived there, yet kept many of her native ways. 
She rode marvellously well on her swift bare-backed horses; she swam so 
skillfully that she caught wild ducks by the feet as they floated in the 
water above her; she could tell on the sun-baked prairies where to find 
the roots she wanted for food; she knew where the wild birds fed and 
where the buffalo drank; when the wolves came by the stables and 
pens at night, to try and steal a meal; she could tell when a black dot 
appeared on the far away hills whether it was elk, buffalo or antelope 
or an Indian on foot or on horse-back. If an Indian, very soon she could 
tell his tribe and his rank. Often when those with her heard nothing she 
would listen to the distant tread of buffalo, and knew where they would 
first be seen. She could tell stories of her early life and legends and tales 
of the days before white people ever came to her father’s hunting 
grounds, and Audubon used to repeat these to his grandchildren. 
By and by when the summer waned, as it did early in that northern 
land, Audubon left Fort Union to return to his own home, and with him 
among other curiosities he brought this dress, once the Indian Queen’s, 
which he gave to the one he called Azs Indian Queen, who all her life 
valued it beyond words, and now her daughters keep it carefully as she 
did. Since then many have seen and admired it, and heard the story, 
and the elk teeth are considered somewhat of a curiosity. There are not 
there now all that once adorned it, the number has grown less as the 
years have grown more, for they have been taken and given as memen- 
toes, and today there are two less than yesterday, for Santa Claus is to 
take them to two boys who are being taught much about Audubon, that 
they may have something of their very own by which to remember him. 
Audubon loved children very much, and he would be glad these little 
lads should be made happier by having something which once was his, 
and when they look at them they must always have a loving thought of 
him. 






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Bertha E. Jacques 
