<h3>INDIANS AND BUFFALOES ON THE PLAINS</h3>
<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">Our</span> trail led straight across the Indian lands most of the
way. The redmen naturally resented this intrusion into
their territory; but they did not at this time fight against
it. Their attitude was rather one of expecting pay for the
privilege of using their land, their grass, and their game.</div>
<p>As soon as a part of our outfits were landed on the right
bank of the Missouri River, our trouble with the Indians
began, not in open hostilities, but in robbery under the
guise of beggary. The word had been passed around in
our little party that not a cent's worth of provisions would
we give up to the Indians. We believed this policy to be
our only safeguard from spoliation, and in that we were
right.</p>
<p>Our women folks had been taken over the river with
the first wagon and had gone on to a convenient camp site
nearby. The first show of weapons came from that side
of our little community, when some of the bolder Pawnees
attempted to pilfer around the wagons. No blood was<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_44" id="Page_44"></SPAN></span>
shed, however, and indeed there was none shed by any
of our party during the entire journey.</p>
<div class="figleft"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus-054.png" width-obs="255" height-obs="375" alt="Demanding pay for crossing." title="" /> <span class="caption">Demanding pay for crossing.</span></div>
<p>Soon after we had left
the Missouri River we
came to a small bridge
over a washout across the
road, evidently constructed
by some train just
ahead of us. The Indians
had taken possession and
were demanding pay for
crossing. Some parties
ahead of us had paid,
while others were hesitating;
but with a few
there was a determined
resolution not to pay.
When our party came up
it remained for that fearless
man, McAuley, to
clear the way in short
order, though the Indians were there in considerable
numbers.</p>
<p>"You fellers come right on," said McAuley. "I'm goin'
across that bridge if I have to run right over that Injen
settin' there."</p>
<p>And he did almost run over the Indian, who at the last
moment got out of the way of his team. Other teams
followed in such quick succession and with such a show
of guns that the Indians withdrew and left the road
unobstructed.</p>
<p>Once I came very near to getting into serious trouble
with three Indians on horseback. We had hauled my
wagon away from the road to get water, I think, and had<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_45" id="Page_45"></SPAN></span>
become separated from the passing throng. We were
almost, but not quite, out of sight of any wagons or camps.</p>
<p>The Indians came up ostensibly to beg, but really to
rob. They began first to solicit, and afterwards to threaten.
I started to drive on, not thinking they would use actual
violence, as there were other wagons certainly within a
half mile. I thought they were merely trying to frighten
me into giving up at least a part of my outfit. Finally
one of the Indians whipped out his knife and cut loose the
cow that I was leading behind the wagon.</p>
<p>I did not have to ask for my gun. My wife, who had
been watching from within the wagon, saw that the time
had come to fight and handed my rifle to me from under
the cover. Before the savages had time to do anything
further they saw the gun. They were near enough to
make it certain that one shot would take deadly effect; but
instead of shooting one Indian, I trained the gun so that
I might quickly choose among the three. In an instant
each Indian had dropped to the side of his horse and was
speeding away in great haste. The old saying that "almost
any one will fight when cornered" was exemplified in this
incident; but I did not want any more such experiences,
and consequently thereafter became more careful not to
be separated from the other wagons.</p>
<p>On the whole, we did not have much trouble with the
Indians in 1852. The great numbers of the emigrants,
coupled with the superiority of their arms, made them
comparatively safe. It must be remembered, also, that
this was before the treaty-making period, and the Indians
of the Plains were not yet incensed against white men
in general.</p>
<p>Herds of buffalo were more often seen than bands of
Indians. The buffalo trails generally followed the water
courses or paralleled them. But sometimes they would<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></SPAN></span>
lead across the country with scarcely any deviation from
a direct course. When on the road a herd would persistently
follow their leader, whether in the wild tumult of a
stampede or in leisurely grazing as they traveled.</p>
<div class="figright"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus-056.png" width-obs="233" height-obs="250" alt="A night out on the range." title="" /> <span class="caption">A night out on the range.</span></div>
<p>A story is told, and it is doubtless true, of a chase in
the upper regions of the Missouri, where the leaders of the
buffalo herd, either voluntarily or by pressure from the
mass behind, leaped to their death over a perpendicular
bluff a hundred feet high, overlooking the river. The herd
followed blindly until not only hundreds but thousands
lay struggling at the foot of the bluff. They piled one upon
another till the space between the river and the bluff was
bridged, and the last of the victims plunged headlong
into the river.</p>
<p>Well up on the Platte, but below Fort Laramie, we had
the experience of a night stampede that struck terror to
the heart of man and beast. It so happened that we had
brought our cattle into camp that evening, a thing we
did not usually do. We had driven the wagons into a
circle, with the tongue of each wagon chained to the
hind axletree of the
wagon ahead. The cattle
were led inside the circle
and the tents were pitched
outside.</p>
<p>Usually I would be
out on the range with
the oxen at night, and
if I slept at all, snuggled
up close to the back of
my good ox, Dandy; but
that night, with the oxen
safe inside the enclosure,
I slept in the wagon.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_47" id="Page_47"></SPAN></span></p>
<p>William Buck and my brother Oliver were in a tent
near by, sleeping on the ground.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus-057.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="299" alt="A remnant of the buffalo herds that once roamed the Plains." title="" /> <div class="attrib">L. A. Huffman</div>
<span class="caption">A remnant of the buffalo herds that once roamed the Plains.</span></div>
<p>Suddenly there was a sound like an approaching storm.
Almost instantly every animal in the corral was on its
feet. The alarm was given and all hands turned out, not
yet knowing what caused the general commotion. The
roar we heard was like that of a heavy railroad train
passing at no great distance on a still night. As by instinct
all seemed to know suddenly that it was a buffalo stampede.
The tents were emptied of their inmates, the weak
parts of the corral guarded, the frightened cattle looked
after, and every one in the camp was on the alert to watch
what was coming.</p>
<p>In the darkness of the night we could see first the forms
of the leaders, and then such dense masses that we could
not distinguish one buffalo from the other. How long they
were in passing we forgot to note; it seemed like an age.
When daylight came the few stragglers yet to be seen fell
under the unerring aim of the frontiersman's rifle.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></SPAN></span></p>
<p>We were lucky, but our neighbors in camp did not escape
loss. Some were detained for days, gathering up their
scattered stock, while others were unable to find their
teams. Some of the animals never were recovered.</p>
<p>When not on the road, the buffalo were shy, difficult
to approach, and hard to bag, even with the long-range
rifles of the pioneers. But for over six hundred miles along
the trail, a goodly supply of fresh meat was obtainable.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_49" id="Page_49"></SPAN></span></p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus-059.png" width-obs="500" height-obs="285" alt="The prairie wagon used as a boat." title="" /> <span class="caption">The prairie wagon used as a boat.</span></div>
<h2>CHAPTER EIGHT</h2>
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