The Ferguson Rifle

Nevertheless, the destruction of the Indians did not please me, and I hoped to avoid it in the future.

The problem was that I was a civilized man, but I now existed in an uncivilized world. The standards by which I thought were standards of the ordered world I had left behind. Much had been said in both England and our own eastern states about how we treated the "poor" Indian.

The few I had seen on the plains did not look poor. They were strong, able men.

warriors.

Warriors.

That was the key word. These men did not consider themselves poor. They were proud men, carrying their heads high, walking tall, the equal of any man. What they demanded was not pity, but respect.

The problem was that two kinds of men had now come face-to-face, two kinds of men with two kinds of standards, different scruples, different responses.

Being a civilized, cultured human being was all very well, but I must hedge my bets a little or I would be a dead civilized, cultured human being.

It needs two to make a peace, but only one to make an attack.

Humanity, I decided, must be tempered with reason, and reason with reality.

I said as much to Solomon Talley. He glanced at me and I am afraid he was amused.

"I'm no scholar, Chantry, and I've done no reasoning on the question. The first time an Indian notched an arrow at me, I shot him, and I'm almighty pleased that I hit him." And so it was they began calling me by the name that was to stick through many years. I was no longer Ronan Chantry except at intervals. I became known as Scholar.

Part of it was gentle derision, but another part was, I think, respect.

One thing I learned quickly, in those following weeks. The university of the wilderness that I now attended had simple tests but they came often.

One lived if one passed the tests, but to get a failing grade was to leave one's scalp on some brave's belt.

On Talley's advice we deviated from our pla

Where.were the mountains? They lay somewhere to the westward, but not one of us had seen them, and the endlessness of the plains was beyond belief. The land was higher now, and much drier. We had come into the shortgrass country, and the prickly pear we had originally come upon from time to time now were frequent.

Water was scarce. Many of the streams were dry, the waterholes only trampled mud. Then suddenly we saw the buffalo.

First there was the sound of them, a low, shuffling sound that we thought was the wind, yet a strange, muffled muttering as well. We topped the rise, and they were before us, thousands upon thousands of them, grazing and moving.

"Hold your fire," I suggested to the others.

"I can reload and we'll kill just two." "What about the hides? Ain't they worth something?" "A buffalo hide, at least the hide of a bull, will weigh nigh to fifty pounds. We're in no shape to pack them." While the others held their fire in the event our enemies were near, I rode forward, dismounted near a rock, and using a shoulder of it for a rest, killed two buffalo.

The others seemed not to notice, yet when we rode down to cut up our kill, they moved off.

And then I saw the Indians.

They were several hundred yards off and had been approaching the buffalo from the other flank, the wind, light as it was, being due out of the north.

I saw an Indian rise suddenly from the ground and throw off a buffalo robe. Using it as cover, he had been slowly creeping up to the herd to make a kill, and our moving up had caused him to lose his chance. His disgust was obvious.

Heath and Sandy were on the ground, making the cuts to skin the buffalo and cut out the meat.

"Somethin' odd here," Talley muttered.

"There's ten to twelve women there, and a bunch of kids, but there don't seem to be more than one or two braves... and no ponies." "They've been raided," Shanagan said.

"Bet my shirt on it. Somebody drove off their stock and either killed the menfolk or the braves are off tryin' to get back their horses." "What are they? Can you make them out?" "Cheye

"I'd swear they were Cheye

"They'll eat everything but the horns." Hand high, palm outward, I rode toward them, with Davy beside me. The hunter had returned to the others, and as we drew near, they waited.

There was only one warrior among them able to stand.

Two young boys and an old man were all that was left aside from the women and children.

"I come as a friend," I said, and Davy translated, using sign talk. "We are strong in war, and we have hunted. We would share our meat with our friends." Now that we were closer we could see the hunger among them. Another brave, whom we had not seen, was stretched on a travois, obviously badly wounded.

Talley came riding up. "We've taken our meat," he said. "Let 'em have what's left." They followed us to the two buffalo and at once began butchering their remains. The one strong brave remained near us, watching but still wary.

"Ask him what happened," I suggested.

Davy went to work, and the warrior told the story swiftly and in sign talk. I marveled at the gracefulness of the gestures, the ease and poetry of the hand movements.

"During the last full moon, some Utes hit them. Killed four braves and three women, drove off their horses, and would have killed them all, but they fought them to a standstill.

"The Utes pulled off, taking their horses along. Eight of their braves left alive followed to try to steal the horses back. Since then, they've had one antelope, wild onions, and that's about all." "Last full moon?" Ebitt muttered.

"That's close on to three weeks." Soon we had found a camping place in a hollow near a slough. Within minutes the Indians were roasting the meat; some of them eating it raw. They were an attractive people, with strongly cut, regular features and fine physiques.

True to my nature I had taken the time to study what was known about the western Indians as well as the country itself. Much was supposition, but James Mooney had gathered for the Bureau of Ethnology estimates on the various tribes.

In 1780 the Cheye

I said as much to Talley. "That could be right," he commented, "although you rarely see many in a bunch.

The country won't support them, so they split up into small bands like this.

"That's why they keep moving. The game drifts away from their villages and soon they've collected all the roots, seeds, and berries there are to be had. We feed several hundred people on land that will support maybe one Indian family." "Talley," I suggested, "these Indians need help, and we can use the company. Why don't we stay with them if they're going our way?" "All right," Talley said. "I figure it was that same party who attacked us who stole their horses. There aren't apt to be two bands of Utes this far from their home country." The warrior had come over to where we sat our horses, Shanagan with him. "He's worried," Davy said. "His folks should have been back." "Tell him his people need meat. We will stay until his young men return if they move west with us." Davy's fingers grew busy, and the reply came quickly, on the brave's eloquent fingers.