Traditions of the Arikara

When the Indians used to live at the Fort Berthold village a few of them moved about ten miles west of Fort Berthold, on the Missouri River bottom, in the timber. This was in the winter time. Strike-Enemy and some others went to the Fort Berthold village.

When Strike-Enemy was about a mile from the village he was attacked by a hundred or more Sioux. He held them back, for he had a rifle. He reached the fort; then the Sioux surrounded it. The people in the fort all fought the Sioux. It seems that one man had gone out to hunt antelope. He had killed one antelope, and was bringing it towards the fort. He could not see ahead, for he was carrying a whole antelope upon his back; but when he heard a noise he saw that the Sioux had attacked the fort. He threw down the antelope and ran. This all happened in the winter time when the snow was on the ground. The Sioux found the man’s tracks, and they followed him. They caught up with the man about six miles west of the fort. Here he stopped, and the first Sioux he came to he killed. He then jumped on the enemy he had killed and cut him open with his knife, cut his arm off at the shoulder and commenced to hit the man on his head with his own arm. The Sioux were shooting at him from behind with their arrows. The hunter did not pay any attention to the shooting. He stood up, gave a big yell, like that of a bear, and the Sioux ran. Then the hunter again cut the Sioux upon the breast and began to put blood upon his face. When he straightened up, the Sioux saw that he had a piece of liver in his mouth. He chased them and took away all their ponies. He caught one pony, got on it, and ran after them. The Sioux say that they were scared, for they had never seen anybody acting in this way, for the hunter seemed like a bear. He gave them back their ponies, then went away, but the Sioux would not come near him. He took only one pony and went into some timber. That night a blizzard set in. The next day he was found frozen. He still had the arrows in his back. The Arikara and Sioux both tell this story.