Two Little Savages

by Ernest Thompson Seton

  VI

  WAR BONNET, TEEPEE AND COUPS

  Forty yards and first shot. Well, that's what the Injuns would call a'_grand coup_,' and Caleb's face wore the same pleasant look aswhen he made the fire with rubbing-sticks.

  "What's a _grand coup?_" asked Little Beaver.

  "Oh, I suppose it's a big deed. The Injuns call a great feat a'_coup_,' an' an extra big one a '_grand coup_.' Sounds likeFrench, an' maybe 'tis, but the Injuns says it. They had a regular wayof counting their _coup_, and for each they had the right to anEagle feather in their bonnet, with a red tuft of hair on the end forthe extra good ones. At least, they used to. I reckon now they'reforgetting it all, and any buck Injun wears just any feather he cansteal and stick in his head."

  "What do you think of our head-dresses?" Yan ventured.

  'Hm! You ain't never seen a real one or you wouldn't go at them thatway at all. First place, the feathers should all be white with blacktips, an' fastened not solid like that, but loose on a cap of softleather. Each feather, you see, has a leather loop lashed on the quillend for a lace to run through and hold it to the cap, an' then astring running through the middle of each feather to hold it--just so.Then there are ways of marking each feather to show how it was got.I mind once I was out on a war party with a lot of Santees--that's abrand of Sioux--an' we done a lot o' sneaking an' stealing an' scalpedsome of the enemy. Then we set out for home, and when we was stillabout thirty miles away we sent on an Injun telegram of good luck. Theleader of our crowd set fire to the grass after he had sent two menhalf a mile away on each side to do the same thing, an' up went threebig smokes. There is always some one watching round an Injun village,an' you bet when they seen them three smokes they knowed that we wuza-coming back with scalps.

  "The hull Council come out to meet us, but not too reckless, coz thismight have been the trick of enemies to surprise them.

  "Well, when we got there, maybe there wasn't a racket. You see, wedidn't lose a man, and we brung in a hundred horses and seven scalps.Our leader never said a word to the crowd, but went right up to theCouncil teepee. He walked in--we followed. There was the Head Chiefan' all the Council settin' smoking. Our leader give the '_How_,an' then we all '_Howed_.' Then we sat an' smoked, an' the Chiefcalled on our leader for an account of the little trip. He stood upan' made a speech.

  "'Great Chief and Council of my Tribe,' says he. 'After we left thevillage and the men had purified themselves, we travelled seven daysand came to the Little Muddy River. There we found the track of atravelling band of Arapaho. In two days we found their camp, butthey were too strong for us, so we hid till night; then I went aloneinto their camp and found that some of them were going off on a huntnext day. As I left I met a lone warrior coming in. I killed himwith my knife. For that I claim a _coup_; and I scalped him--forthat I claim another _coup_; an' before I killed him I slapped hisface with my hand--for this I claim a _grand coup_; and I broughthis horse away with me--for that I claim another _coup_. Is it notso,' sez he, turning to us, and we all yelled '_How! How! How!_'For this fellow, 'Whooping Crane,' was awful good stuff. Then theCouncil agreed that he should wear three Eagle feathers, the firstfor killing and scalping the enemy in his own camp--that was a _grandcoup_, and the feather had a tuft of red hair on it an' a red spot onthe web. The next feather was for slapping the feller's face first,which, of course, made it more risky. This Eagle feather had a redtuft on top an' a red hand on the web; the one for stealing the horsehad a horseshoe, but no tuft, coz it wasn't counted A1.

  "Then the other Injuns made their claims, an' we all got some kind ofhonours. I mind one feller was allowed to drag a Fox tail at eachheel when he danced, an' another had ten horseshoe marks on an Eaglefeather for stealing ten horses, an' I tell you them Injuns wereprouder of them feathers than a general would be of his medals."

  The War Bonnet (See description below)]

  THE INDIAN WAR BONNET--HOW TO MAKE IT

  1. The plain white Goose or Turkey feather.

  2. The same, with tip dyed black or painted with indelible ink.

  3. The same, showing ruff of white down lashed on with wax end.

  4. The same, showing leather loop lashed on for the holding lace.

  5. The same, viewed edge on.

  6. The same, with a red flannel cover sewn and lashed on the quill. This is a '_coup_ feather.'

  7. The same, with a tuft of red horsehair lashed on the top to mark a '_grand coup_' and (_a_) a thread through the middle of the rib to hold feather in proper place. This feather is marked with the symbol of a _grand coup_ in target shooting. This symbol may be drawn on an oval piece of paper gummed on the top of the feather.

  8. The tip of a feather showing how the red horsehair tuft is lashed on with fine waxed thread.

  9. The groundwork of the war bonnet made of any soft leather, (_a_) a broad band to go round the head, laced at the joint or seam behind; (_b_) a broad tail behind as long as needed to hold all the wearer's feathers; (_c_) two leather thongs or straps over the top; (_d_) leather string to tie under the chin; (_e_) the buttons, conchas or side ornaments of shells, silver, horn or wooden discs, even small mirrors and circles of beadwork were used, and sometimes the conchas were left out altogether; they may have the owner's totem on them, usually a bunch of ermine tails hung from each side of the bonnet just below the concha. A bunch of horsehair will answer as well; (_hh_) the holes in the leather for holding the lace of the feather; 24 feathers are needed for the full bonnet, without the tail, so they are put less than an inch apart; (_iii_) the lacing holes on the tail: this is as long as the wearer's feathers call for; some never have any tail.

  10. Side view of the leather framework, showing a pattern sometimes used to decorate the front.

  11, 12 and 13. Beadwork designs for front band of bonnet; all have white grounds. No. 11 (Arapaho) has green band at top and bottom with red zigzag. No. 12 (Ogallala) has blue band at top and bottom, red triangles; the concha is blue with three white bars and is cut off from the band by a red bar. No. 13 (Sioux) has narrow band above and broad band below blue, the triangle red, and the two little stars blue with yellow centre.

  14. The bases of three feathers, showing how the lace comes out of the cap leather, through the eye or loop on the bottom of the quill, and in again.

  15. The completed bonnet, showing how the feathers of the crown should spread out, also showing the thread that passes through the middle of each feather on inner side to hold it in place; another thread passes from the point where the two straps (_c_ in 9) join, then down through each feather in the tail.

  The Indians now often use the crown of a soft felt hat for the basis of a war bonnet.

  N.B. A much easier way to mark the feather is to stick on it near the top an oval of white paper and on this draw the symbol with waterproof ink.

  Grand Coup for taking Scalp in Enemy's Camp G.C. forslapping his face Coup for stealing his Horse]

  "My, I wish I could go out there and be with those fellows," and Yansighed as he compared his commonplace lot with all this romanticsplendour.

  "Guess you'd soon get sick of it. I know _I_ did," was theanswer; "forever shooting and killing, never at peace, never more thanthree meals ahead of starvation and just as often three meals behind.No, siree, no more for me."

  "I'd just like to see you start in horse-stealing for honours roundhere," observed Sam, "though I know who'd get the feathers if it waschicken stealing."

  "Say, Caleb," said Guy, who, being friendly and of the country, neverthought of calling the old man "Mr. Clark," "didn't they give feathersfor good Deer-hunting? I'll bet I could lick any of them at it if Ihad a gun."

  "Didn't you hear me say first thing that that there shot o' Yan'sshould score a '_grand coup_'?"

  "Oh, shucks! I kin lick Yan any time; that was just a chance shot.I'll bet if y
ou give feathers for Deer-hunting I'll get them all."

  "We'll take you up on that," said the oldest Chief, but the nextinterrupted:

  "Say, boys, we want to play Injun properly. Let's get Mr. Clark toshow us how to make a real war bonnet. Then we'll wear only whatfeathers we win."

  "Ye mean by scalping the Whites an' horse-stealing?"

  "Oh, no; there's lots of things we can do--best runner, best Deerhunter, best swimmer, best shot with bow and arrows."

  "All right." So they set about questioning Caleb. He soon showed themhow to put a war bonnet together, using, in spite of Yan's misgivings,the crown of an old felt hat for the ground work and white goosequills trimmed and dyed black at the tips for Eagle feathers. But whenit came to the deeds that were to be rewarded, each one had his ownideas.

  "If Sappy will go to the orchard and pick a peck of cherries withoutold Cap gettin' _him_, I'll give him a feather with all sorts offixin's on it," suggested Sam.

  "Well, I'll bet you can't get a chicken out of our barn 'thout our Doggettin' _you_, Mr. Smarty."

  "Pooh! I ain't stealing chickens. Do you take me for a nigger? I'm anoble Red-man and Head Chief at that, I want you to know, an' I've anotion to collect that scalp you're wearin' now. You know it belongsto me and Yan," and he sidled over, rolling his eye and working hisfingers in a way that upset Guy's composure. "And I tell you a fellerwith one foot in the grave should have his thoughts on seriouserthings than chicken-stealing. This yere morbid cravin' for excitementis rooinin' all the young fellers nowadays."

  Yan happened to glance at Caleb. He was gazing off at nothing, butthere was a twinkle in his eye that Yan never before saw there.

  "Let's go to the teepee. It's too hot out here. Come in, won't you,Mr. Clark?"

  "Hm. 'Tain't much cooler in here, even if it is shady," remarked theold Trapper. "Ye ought to lift one side of the canvas and get someair."

  "Why, did the real Injuns do that?"

  "I should say they did. There ain't any way they didn't turn and twistthe teepee for comfort. That's what makes it so good. Ye kin live init forty below zero an' fifty 'bove suffocation an' still be happy.It's the changeablest kind of a layout for livin' in. Real hot weatherthe thing looks like a spider with skirts on and held high, an' I tellyou ye got to know the weather for a teepee. Many a hot night on theplains I've been woke up by hearing 'Tap-tap-tap' all around me in thestill black night and wondered why all the squaws was working, butthey was up to drop the cover and drive all the pegs deeper, an'within a half hour there never failed to come up a big storm. How theyknew it was a-comin' I never could tell. One old woman said a Coyotetold her, an' maybe that's true, for they do change their song fortrouble ahead; another said it was the flowers lookin' queer atsundown, an' another had a bad dream. Maybe they're all true; it comeso' watchin' little things."

  "Do they never get fooled?" asked Little Beaver

  'Oncet in awhile, but not near as often as a White-man would.

  "I mind once seeing an artist chap, one of them there portygraftakers. He come out to the village with a machine an' took some of thelittle teepees. Then I said, 'Why don't you get Bull-calf's squaw toput up their big teepee? I tell you that's a howler.' So off he goes,and after dickering awhile he got the squaw to put it up for threedollars. You bet it was a stunner, sure--all painted red, with greenan' yaller--animals an' birds an' scalps galore. It made thatfeller's eyes bug out to see it. He started in to make someportygrafs, then was taking another by hand, so as to get the colours,an' I bet it would have crowded him to do it, but jest when he gota-going the old squaw yelled to the other--the Chief hed two ofthem--an' lighted out to take down that there teepee. That artist hehollered to stop, said he had hired it to stay up an' a bargain was abargain. But the old squaw she jest kept on a-jabberin' an' pintin' atthe west. Pretty soon they had the hull thing down and rolled up an'that artist a-cussin' like a cow-puncher. Well, I mind it was a fineday, but awful hot, an' before five minutes there come a little darkcloud in the west, then in ten minutes come a-whoopin' a regular smallcyclone, an' it went through that village and wrecked all the teepeesof any size. That red one would surely have gone only for that smartold squaw."

  Bull-Calf's Teepee.]

  Under Caleb's directions the breezy side of the cover was now raised alittle, and the shady side much more. This changed the teepee from astifling hothouse into a cool, breezy shade.

  "An' when ye want to know which way is the wind, if it's light, ye wetyour finger so, an' hold it up. The windy side feels cool at once, andby that ye can set your smoke-flaps."

  "I want to know about war bonnets," Yan now put in. "I mean aboutthings to do to wear feathers--that is, things _we_ can do."

  "Ye kin have races, an' swimmin' an bownarrer shootin'. I should sayif you kin send one o' them arrers two hundred yards that would kill aBuffalo at twenty feet. I'd think that was pretty good. Yes, I'd callthat way up."

  "What--a _grand coup?_"

  "Yes, I reckon; an' if you fell short on'y fifty yards that'd stillkill a Deer, an' we could call that a _coup_. If," continuedCaleb, "you kin hit that old gunny-sack buck plunk in the heart atfifty yards first shot I'd call that away up; an' if you hit it atseventy-five yards in the heart no matter how many tries, I'd callyou a shot. If you kin hit a nine-inch bull's-eye two out of three atforty yards every time an' no fluke, you'd hold your own among Injunsthough I must say they don't go in much for shooting at a target. Theyshoot at 'most anything they see in the woods. I've seen the littlecopper-coloured kids shooting away at butterflies. Then they havematches--they try who can have most arrers in the air at one time. Tohave five in the air at once is considered good. It means powerfulfast work and far shooting. You got to hold a bunch handy in the lefthand fur that. The most I ever seen one man have up at once was eight.That was reckoned 'big medicine,' an' any one that can keep up sevenis considered swell."

  "Do you know any other things besides bows and arrows that would do?"

  "I think that a rubbing-stick fire ought to count," interrupted Sam."I want that in coz Guy can't do it. Any one who kin do it at all getsa feather, an' any one who kin do it in one minute gets a swaggerfeather, or whatever you call it; that takes care of Yan and me an'leaves Guy out in the cold."

  "I'll bet I kin hunt Deer all round you both, I kin."

  "Oh, shut up, Sappy; we're tired a-hearing about your Deer hunting.We're going to abolish that game." Then Sam continued, apparentlyaddressing Caleb, "Do you know any Injun games?"

  But Caleb took no notice.

  Presently Yan said, "Don't the Injuns play games, Mr. Clark?

  "Well, yes, I kin show you two Injun games that will test youreyesight."

  "I bet I kin beat any one at it," Guy made haste to tell. "Why, I seenthat Deer before Yan could--"

  "Oh, shut up, Guy," Yan now exclaimed. A peculiarsound--"_Wheet--wheet--wheet_"--made Sappy turn. He saw Sam withan immense knife, whetting it most vigorously and casting a hungry,fishy glance from time to time to the "yaller moss-tuft" on Guy's neck.

  Archery Coup Feathers Their Special Marks Target CoupFeather Long-distance Five-in-air-at once]

  "Time has came," he said to nobody in particular.

  "You better let me alone," whined Guy, for that horrible"_wheet--wheet_" jarred his nerves somehow. He looked toward Yan,and seeing, as he thought, the suggestion of a smile, he feltmore comfortable, but a glance at Sam dispelled his comfort; theWoodpecker's face was absolutely inscrutable and perfectly demoniacwith paint.

  "Why don't you whet up, Little Beaver? Don't you want your share?"asked the Head Chief through his teeth.

  "I vote we let him wear it till he brags again about his Deer-hunting.Then off she comes to the bone," was the reply. "Tell us about theInjun game, Mr. Clark."

  "I pretty near forget it now, but le's see. They make two squares onthe ground or on two skins; each one is cut up in twenty-five smallersquares with lines like that. Then they have, say, ten rings an' tennuts or pebbles. One player takes
five rings an' five nuts an' setsthem around on the squares of one set, an' don't let the other seetill all is ready; then the other turns an' looks at it while some oneelse sings a little song that one of the boys turned into:

  "'Ki yi ya--ki yi yee, You think yer smart as ye kin be, You think yer awful quick to see But yer not too quick for me, Ki yi ya--ki yi yee.'

  "Then the first square is covered with a basket or anything and thesecond player must cover the other skin with counters just the samefrom memory. For every counter he gets on the right square he countsone, and loses one for each on the wrong square."

  "I'll bet I kin----" Guy began, but Sam's hand gripped his moss-tuft.

  "Here, you let me alone. I ain't bragging. I'm only telling the simpletruth."

  "Ugh! Better tell some simple lies, then--much safer," said the GreatWoodpecker, with horrid calm and meaning. "If ever I lift that scalpyou'll catch cold and die, do ye know it?"

  Again Yan could see that Caleb had to look far away to avoid taking anapparent interest.

  "There's another game. I don't know as it's Injun, but it's the kindo' game where an Injun _could_ win. They first made two six-inchsquares of white wood or card, then on each they made rings like atarget or squares like the quicksight game, or else two Rabbits thesame on each. One feller takes six spots of black, half an inchacross, an' sticks them on one, scattering anyhow, an' sets it up ahundred yards off; another feller takes same number of spots an' theother Rabbit an' walks up till he can see to fix his Rabbit the same.If he kin do it at seventy-five yards he's a swell; if he kin do it atsixty yards he's away up, but less than fifty yards is no good. I seenthe boys have lots o' fun out o' it. They try to fool each other everyway, putting one spot right on another or leaving some off. It's asure 'nough test of good eyes."

  "I'll bet--" began Sappy again, but a loud savage "Grrrr" fromSam, who knew perfectly well what was coming, put a stop to the bet,whatever it was.

  "There was two other Injun tests of eyes that I mind now. Some oldBuck would show the youngsters the Pleiades--them's the little starsthat the Injuns call the Bunch--an' ask 'How many kin you see?' Somecould sho'ly see five or six an' some could make out seven. Them assees seven is mighty well off for eyes. Ye can't see the Pleiadesnow--they belong to the winter nights; but you kin see the Dipper thehull year round, turning about the North Star. The Injuns call thisthe 'Broken Back,' an' I've heard the old fellers ask the boys: 'Yousee the Old Squaw--that's the star, second from the end, the one atthe bend of the handle--well, she has a papoose on her back. Kin yousee the papoose?' an' sure enough, when my eyes was real good I couldsee the little baby star tucked in by the big un. It's a mighty goodtest of eyes if you kin see that."

  "Eh--" began Guy.

  But "Grrrrrrrrr" from Sam stopped him in time. Again Caleb's eyeswandered afar. Then he stepped out of the teepee and Yan heard himmutter, "Consarn that whelp, he makes me laugh spite o' myself."He went off a little way into the woods and presently called "Yan!Guy! Come here." All three ran out. "Talking about eyes, what'sthat?" An opening in the foliage gave a glimpse of the distantBurns's clover field. "Looks like a small Bear."

  "Woodchuck! That's our Woodchuck! That's the ole sinner that throwedPaw off'n the mower. Where's my bone-arrer?" and Guy went for hisweapons.

  The boys ran for the fence of the clover field, going more cautiouslyas they came near. Still the old Woodchuck heard something and sat uperect on his haunches. He was a monster, and out on the smooth cloverfield he did look like a very small Bear. His chestnut breast wascuriously relieved by his unusually gray back and head.

  "Paw says it's his sins as turned his head gray. He's a hoary headedsinner, an' he ain't repented o' none o' them so far, but _I'm_after him now."

  "Hold on! Start even!" said Sam, seeing that Guy was prepared toshoot.

  So all drew together, standing in a row like an old picture of thebattle of Crecy. The arrows scattered about the Woodchuck. Most wentmuch too far, none went near because he was closer than they hadsupposed, but he scuttled away into his hole, there, no doubt, to plana new trap for the man with the mower.