CHAPTER XXXVII.

CLOSING EVENTS-THE TRIBES COERCED INTO OBEDIENCE-A DEPUTATION- AN INDIAN COUNCIL-AN ELK HUNT-AN INDIAN LOVE AFFAIR.

LTHOUGH by February all the wild tribes had sent in their representatives, promising submission, the tribes themselves were slow to fulfil. The Arrapahoes of Little Raven's band, who had made the bolddest professions, had been loitering at a distance for several weeks. When their men visiting our camp were interrogated why their people were so slow, the invariable answer was, the weather, and forlorn condition of their animals. It was quite apparent that this high-spirited band reluctantly yielded to an imperious necessity. The war had driven off the game; they, therefore, had but to starve or surrender. Their dogs had been consumed, and horse-flesh had even been resorted to in their extremity. Their ponies found difficulty in traveling. Surrounding them were interminable plains, now destitute of animal life. The Commanding General naturally supposed the Arrapahoes were playing the shrewd part of diplomacy. This band was evidently desirous of awaiting the opening of spring, and then quietly to disappear, join the Cheyennes, and once more, with sustenance for their ponies, resume the war-path.

The General was not to be thus gulled. Having exhausted his patience in waiting, Colonel Wier was directed to organize a squadron of picked men and horses, to move out suddenly, and compel the Arrapahoes to come in. The weather was suitable for the expedition, as the then recent rains would prevent the flight of the savages. His men and animals, though worn from

the effects of the campaign, moved out, as if enjoying the relief from the monotony of camp-life. In the direction pointed out by the Indian runners, the column proceeded, and after a ride of thirty-five miles, struck the Arrapahoe camp. The savages were surprised. The chief, Little Raven, came out to meet the troops. He made excuses and asked time. He was informed that he had had time enough. He must get ready to march in the next morning, or the camp would be destroyed, his people taken prisoners and punished. The Colonel having taken the precaution to surround the village, there was no chance of escape. The same night a council was held, when the diplomatic savage warriors very discreetly resolved the wisest thing they could do would be to accompany the soldiers to their camp.

Having received information that Wier was near at hand with his charge, I rode out with a party of officers a distance of five or six miles in the direction of the approaching village. The villare consisted of sixty lodges, and was strung out over a distance of a mile, and scattered over a width of fifty yards. The squaws, and papooses, male and female, old enough, drove the laden animals. The warriors formed the advance and rear guard, and a chain of flankers stood as sentinels on hills along the route. The women were chatting as if pleased at their relief. The warriors were sullen and downcast.

The moving village was halted, and planted in a sheltered spot, selected for its contiguity to our camps, so that this suspected community might be watched. Little Raven, the chief of this branch of the Arrapahoes, I found to be a remarkably intelligent Indian. He was rather stout, about fifty years of age, having the appearance of one who lived well and took the world calmly.

As soon as he had pointed out the place for his lodge, and had given some instructions to his people, he rode to headquarters, where he made some explanation of his conduct. Rather a bitter task for the independent spirit which struggled within his breast.

While watching the erection of the lodges, and the domestic details of the village, my attention was called to a young lad of about twelve years of age. I was told that he had been captured when but an infant by a column of troops, and had passed some years subsequent to that time at an educational institution in St. Louis. I made several attempts to induce him to converse, but all overtures he persistently refused. He leaned against a fallen tree, and wore a most rigid expression. He comprehended the questions put to him, but, with the exception of an odd word, and an affirmative or negative shake of the head, he might have been a stone, for all that he would say.

It occurred to me that he feared to say anything on account of the warriors who were standing around, and who might have imagined that he was communicating intelligence of the tribes. The child drooped and pined away when taken from his native plains. He longed to be among his wild kindred; a wish afterwards granted. Like the buffalo, take him from the boundless freedom of his native state, and the red man sinks into a premature grave.

Custer set out in the latter part of January with a small escort to visit the Cheyennes and main camps of the Arrapahoes, as it was supposed, on the head-waters of the Red. Arriving in that vicinity, it was believed, more than ever, that the savages were anxious to protract their absence until spring. Although signs of their recent presence were visible, the tribes themselves could not be found. The expedition having been absent two weeks, and being out of supplies, returned.

Notwithstanding the peculiar conduct of the savages that had not yielded submission, it was certain that they were in no condition to assume the offensive were they so disposed, and it would be well into summer before their animals would have sufficiently recruited to respond to the exertions of a fresh outbreak. These considerations admitted of a possibility of the tribes in question carrying out their professions of coming in as soon as their forlorn condition would admit.