The Cabin on the Prairie Part 16

The winter had gone by without any adverse occurrence. Tom had been prospering in his studies under the missionary's direction, working for his board in the family of one of the town owners, just opposite the hotel; so it was but a step for him to the missionary's when he wished to recite.

"Will you be able to hear my recitation this afternoon?" asked Tom, as Mr. Payson came down the hotel steps.

"Yes," replied the missionary. "I am called away this morning, but I think I shall get back in season."

That afternoon, as Tom sat in the missionary's front room, absorbed in a book, the furious barking of a dog disturbed him. He glanced out of the window, and saw, to his surprise, an Indian. The savage had turned, facing the hotel, rifle in his hand, and, with flashing eyes, was driving back a large mastiff that had attacked him. Tom was struck with the singular intelligence and beauty of the young savage. He was a shade lighter than most of his race, had large, dark, expressive eyes, regular and finely-cut features, a symmetric form, and his luxuriant black hair, which was of great length, was dressed with most elaborate care, and the ornaments that he wore about his person, and his blanket, were better than those usually worn by Indians.

From the Indian's manner, Tom concluded that he suspected the dog was set upon him by some white person. The bearing of the red man was lofty, collected, and defiant. In an instant Tom sprang down the front stairs, and called the dog off. The Indian, glancing at the lad, went stolidly on his way, up the main street, through the village, till he was hidden from view by the trees on the missionary's land.

Mrs. Payson and her children stood at the window, watching the retreating figure of the Indian with mingled fear and admiration.

"Isn't he handsome?" exclaimed the elder of the little girls.

"He certainly is very intelligent looking," remarked her mother; "a n.o.ble specimen of the red man."

"Did you see that Indian?" inquired the landlady, a calm, dignified woman, as she stepped into the room. "One of the boarders says there is quite a company of them encamped on your husbands land. The have a large wigwam, and seem to be making themselves as much at home as if they owned the place."

The missionary's wife shuddered, and remarked,--

"It is just as I foreboded."

"But these are _friendly_," returned the landlady. "The chief has a letter from the government agent, recommending him to the confidence and charity of the settlers. It has been a long and hard winter, and the agent says there has been much suffering among the Indians."

"Is that young Indian the chief?" asked Mrs. Payson.

"No; I wish he were. He is the finest-looking savage I ever saw. I don't think I should be afraid to trust him. But the chief looks frightfully; he is as cruel and treacherous as a snake, or I do not read his face aright."

"Then you have seen him?" said the other, in surprise.

"Yes; I was riding through the woods with husband, and we met him. The young Indian seems to belong to the company, and yet holds himself somewhat aloof from the others, as if he feels conscious of being superior to them, and finds it difficult to fellowship their low ways.

To-morrow a party of us are going to call on the Indians at their wigwam, and I stepped in to invite you to go. There will be a good many of us; so you needn't fear being tomahawked!" she added, laughing.

The visit to the Indians the next day was full of interest to the missionary's family, for, although they had seen numbers of the half-civilized Indians of the Eastern States, they had never before seen the red man in his native wilds, with habits and customs unchanged from their primitive character. The wigwam was large and well constructed, erected in a sheltered and romantic spot, convenient at once to the village, the woods, and the river. Within were squatted four or five of the company on the ground, playing a game of chance, in which employment the Indian men spend most of their time, when not hunting, fishing, or at war. There were no women with them, and therefore the men had, besides the cooking, to do the drudgery usually a.s.signed to the squaws, such as gathering and bringing in the wood, and dressing the skins of the wild animals.

The Indians did not lift their eyes as the whites entered through the narrow opening which served as door, and ranged themselves around the sides of the lodge as best they might. Nor did they answer any questions, not appearing to understand a word of English, their faces remaining as stolid under the remarks of the whites as if nothing had been said; and taking it for granted that the Indians were as ignorant of civilized speech as they appeared, some of the inquisitive pale-faces indulged themselves in quite uncivilized speeches, for they had a traditional contempt and hatred of their tawny brothers.

"You had better not express yourself quite so freely," said Mr.

Caswell, the landlord, aside to a settler; "these fellows understand every word you say, and it's better to have the good will than the ill will of a dog, as the old saying is."

Curious, however, to see what the effect would be, those who disliked the Indians the most made them presents with the rest. Tobacco, skeins of cotton, bra.s.s b.u.t.tons, cakes, crackers, cents, sticks of candy, bits of ribbon, were received by the Indians without a word or nod of acknowledgment. No sign of consciousness of visitor or presents was evinced, save that a grimy hand would deftly clutch the article tossed within its reach, and convey it to the head, quickly and ingeniously twisting it in the hair, the game proceeding the while, without a pause. The young Indian played with his companions; and from his beauty and princely bearing drew much attention and a large share of the gifts to himself; yet even in receiving the presents he seemed different from the other savages. His was the only face in the swarthy group that betrayed "the workings of the soul;" and although he fastened the trinkets in his raven locks, drops of sweat stood on his brow, and it seemed as if it cost him a struggle to be treated as an object of charity.

Tom, with the others, was much struck with the appearance of the young Indian, and made a number of unsuccessful attempts to converse with him. Finding that the "confusion of tongues," or some other barrier, had made talking together impossible, in various ingenious ways he tried to direct the Indian's attention to himself, but without avail; game succeeded game in Indian silence, the talking and advancing towards acquaintanceship remaining wholly on the side of the whites.

"How many belong to this company?" asked Mr. Payson of the landlord.

"There are nine of them: the rest are out hunting, I suppose," was the reply.

"And do all these chaps manage to sleep in this little hut?" asked a settler.

"A nice time they must have of it on the ground, especially when it rains," added another, pointing up through the roof, which was open, to let out the smoke.

"But," said the missionary, "everything is in remarkable order here.

Don't you see that each man has his place, and on the side of the lodge a snug chance to stow away or hang up his personal effects. We whites could scarcely arrange the little s.p.a.ce with more fairness and mathematical precision, so as to make the most of the room."

It was indeed so; and much did the callers marvel at the intelligent system that prevailed.

"Some one has had a hand in the ordering of affairs here, who has more intellect than we are accustomed to attribute to the red man;" and the minister glanced at the young Indian, as if to say, "It must be due to him."

But twilight was falling, and the villagers started on their way home.

Scarcely, however, had they pa.s.sed the hedge of elders and the rows of young oaks that hid the abode of the Indians from view, when from within the wigwam there went up a startling whoop and yell, mingled with derisive laughter.

Mrs. Payson stood still, pale with terror, as if expecting to see the savages rush out to ma.s.sacre them. But they kept within their tent, their horrible whoopings and mockings continuing until the whites were well away.

"I do not like the sound of those yells," said the missionary, soberly.

"O, the Indians are only amusing themselves by trying to scare the women and children," replied Mr. Caswell, merrily.

"There is more than that intended," returned the minister. "There was the bitterest irony and hatred expressed in those tones. If the authors of them dared, or it was in their plan to do so now, they would spring upon us with the eagerness of so many beasts of prey."

The next day eight of the Indians walked into the village, one after the other, as is the Indian way, and called at the hotel to beg. They had found their tongues over night, and could manage, not only to understand, when it was for their interest, what was said to them, but in broken English make reply. They were a fine set of men, physically--tall, broad-chested, erect; and, wrapped in their white and red blankets, they made a formidable appearance. There was no touch of fawning or crouching in their manner. They demanded the articles given them, rather than begged. You would have thought them lords of the soil, come to collect rent of tardy tenantry.

The young Indian, however, still preserved his individuality, and various romantic conjectures were conjured up in imaginative heads concerning him. Some went so far as to a.s.sert that he had no Indian blood in him, and started the theory that he must have had white parentage, and that he might have been stolen, when a child, from some n.o.ble white family. But the more experienced of the pioneers set that at rest by affirming that they could tell the pure, unmixed Indian, and that he was one.

Tom lingered much about him.

"O," said he to the missionary, "if I could only talk with him, how I would love to teach him how to read, and speak to him of the blessed things in the Bible!"

"That is on my mind most of the time, Tom," replied the good man. "I am often asking myself. Can I not, in some way, lead these benighted souls to the Lamb of G.o.d? But how inaccessible they are! What an impa.s.sable barrier between them and us! and, with the exception of the youngest of them, how brutal and low! To see such splendidly-formed men spend their time squatted on the earth, playing jack-straws, or some equally silly game, from morning to night, is pitiful. And then their yelling and laughter are more like wild beasts or demons than human beings. These people seem to me the lowest, meanest, most treacherous, and hardened of the human race. I do not wonder that it is so difficult to civilize or Christianize them."

Weeks went by, and the Indians remained in their lodge, daily growing bolder and more intrusive, till they had become obnoxious to the most benevolent of the settlers. It had come to be not over pleasant to the women of the neighborhood to look up from their domestic duties, and see that a grim savage had stolen into the house, and, unasked, seated himself in a chair, ready, as soon as he thought best, to nod, in a dictatorial way, towards some coveted article, in a manner which meant,--

"Hand that to me!"

Meanwhile Tom and the young Indian--who, whether that was his real Indian name or not, was called _Long Hair_--had become quite intimate. Nevertheless, not many words pa.s.sed between them, for Long Hair was more reticent, if possible, than the rest of his company. But without word-signs they managed to understand each other. Long Hair, indeed, appeared to read Tom's thoughts intuitively, and Mrs. Payson was often made anxious for Tom, because he would be gone so long in the woods with Long Hair. The latter had selected a tree for a canoe, and Tom, with his sharp-edged axe, cut it down for him, and helped him dig it out and shape it. A strange sympathy had grown up between them, and one evening, as Tom was on his way to the prayer-meeting, chancing to meet Long Hair, he invited the latter to accompany him, trying, with great earnestness, to make him comprehend the object of the gathering. Long Hair seemed to gain a dim perception of what his friend meant, and, after much persuasion, entered with Tom the cabin in which the meeting was to be held. The Indian's face gave evidence of great excitement as the services progressed; the deep solemnity of the prayers, and the devout strains of Christian song, took powerful hold of the red man's feelings. Doubtless he understood little of the scene in which, for the first time, he mingled; but a potent influence went along with it, and so affected was he, that his hand sought Tom's, and he held it in a strong, tender grasp till the meeting closed, his frame trembling with emotion. And yet Tom could not converse with him afterwards; and what the nature of the emotion was that shook him so,--what thoughts were stirred, and with what result for eternity in the bosom of that silent son of the prairie, who, for the first time, had attended Christian worship,--no one knew. Tom could not induce him to attend again, and yet he did not seem offended at what he had heard; but when his white friend alluded to it, his eye gleamed with a new light, and his face looked thoughtfully, doubtfully serious.

Nearly every day Tom and Long Hair were together, the latter keeping but little in the wigwam, and seldom going with the other Indians.

When they filed into town, and besieged the houses, trying the doors, peeping into the windows, accosting the street-pa.s.sers, Long Hair was not with them; and when at evening they returned exultant from a successful hunt, singing their strong-lunged song of triumph,--their wild and scarcely human "Hi yar! hi yar!" growing nearer, till, entering the village, they sang their way through to their lodge, Long Hair was not of their number.

One day Tom, chancing to visit the wigwam, found Long Hair there, shivering with a violent attack of ague. He was alone, and had been for two days.

How bare and cheerless appeared the Indian's life to Tom's sympathetic nature then! for an Indian, when sick, has few comforts. Solitary he sits wrapped in his blanket, or lies on the ground, with no one to nurse or care for him; no nice dishes to tempt his feeble appet.i.te, no hand to bathe his fevered brow, no medicines to a.s.suage his pain or drive disease away.

"Why, Long Hair," cried Tom, "why didn't you let me know that you were sick?"

But Long Hair sat shaking in his blanket, and, as usual, heard, but made no answer, only with his expressive eyes.

Tom brought in wood, and started the fire, and saying, "Mother'll know just what to do for you, Long Hair; I'll go and tell her how you are,"

he ran to his mother's cabin, and, quickly making some nourishing gruel, and putting up a store of simples that she used in fever and ague, she returned with Tom to the lodge. What a treasure is a loving, experienced woman in sickness, whether in a palace, a log house, or beneath the rude shelter of an Indian's moving home--ever gentle, exhaustless in resources, untiring in her ministrations! It seemed a marvel to Tom how readily his mother knew just what to do for Long Hair, intuitively adapting herself to his Indian peculiarities; and, for the week that his illness lasted, she nursed him with great tenderness, often remarking to Tom,--