One morning, a few days after Jack's sheep hunt, Joe made his appearance at John Monroe's lodge, carrying a bundle under his arm, and finding Jack eating his breakfast within, sat down beside him. When Jack had finished, Joe removed the piece of calico which covered the bundle, and held out to Jack a buckskin shirt, heavily fringed along the arms and on the sides, and beautifully ornamented on back and front with stained porcupine quills.
"My aunt, Fox Eye's woman, sent you this," said Joe.
"Sent it to me?"
"Yes, she made it. Part of it is the skin of the sheep we killed. She thought maybe you'd like it."
"Like it, well I should say I do. It's the handsomest thing I ever saw. I've seen some of the men wearing coats and shirts fixed up like this, and I've wished I had one, too. Tell her I'm awfully obliged to her, won't you?"
"Well," said Joe, "you can't say that in Indian. I'll tell her it made you laugh when you got the shirt; then she'll be glad, too. Fox Eye and Six Lodges are going over to Grassy Lakes to kill antelope, for clothing; do you want to come?"
"Why yes, of course I want to come. I wonder if I could. You see, I've got to talk to Hugh before I go off anywhere, for before I left the ranch I told my uncle I'd try to do what Hugh said, always."
"That's good, White Bull is a wise man; it's good to listen to him. Everybody in the camp respects him."
"When's Fox Eye going to start?"
"Goin' to start to-day, maybe go along the mountains to Little Lake, under Chief mountain; camp there to-night. It's not far. Then go on east."
"Let's go out and see if we can find Hugh now, but first, I want to put on my shirt."
Just as the boys were about to get up and leave the lodge, John Monroe's wife called to Jack, "Here, you goin' to be Injin, got to wear moccasins," and she threw across the lodge to him a pair of prettily beaded moccasins with parfleche soles.
"All right," said Jack, "I'll put on moccasins and leggings too, if you'll give them to me," and sitting down he removed his shoes and replaced them by the moccasins, which exactly fitted him. He did not know that the kind-hearted woman had taken one of his socks while he slept, and got the size of his foot from that.
The boys started out from the lodge to look for Hugh, Jack feeling a little shy in his new finery, and a little bit afraid that people who saw him might laugh at him. Nobody seemed to do so, and he saw only the pleasant smiles that had greeted him ever since he had first come into the camp.
After a little search they found Hugh sitting on the ground near one of the lodges, talking with two other old men, and stopped by them, waiting until they should have ceased talking. Then Hugh looked up at Jack and said, "Well, son, what is it? I can always tell when you want to ask me something, as far as I can see you. What are you proposing to do now?"
"Well, Hugh," said Jack, "it's this way; Joe says that his uncle and a few lodges are going off to Grassy Lakes after antelope skins, and he asked me if I'd like to go along. Of course I'd like to go, but I don't want to unless you think I'd better."
"Hum," said Hugh; "Grassy Lakes; that's about three or four days, isn't it, Joe?"
"Yes, sir," said Joe, "about that. They thought they'd go over and camp there three or four days, and then come back. They say there's lots of antelope on the prairie, and they thought they could get what skins they wanted and get back in that time."
"Well," said Hugh, "I don't know; I don't like to have you going so far off with such a little party, and then of course there's always a chance of your running onto a war party; like as not, Crows or Assinaboines or Gros Ventres may be wandering around there, killing buffalo, or going up to the Blood camp, and you might get into some trouble."
"Oh," said Jack, "I don't believe there's any danger of that kind. It'll be just a little hunting trip, and I'd like the ride; and I'll try to take good care of myself and not do any foolish things."
"Well, you've got pretty good sense, and I've always found I could depend on you pretty well. I guess if you like you can go, but I think I'll go too."
"Why that's better yet. I guess you'd like the ride too; you've been sitting round camp now for quite a while, and I haven't done anything except when I climbed the mountain the other day with Joe."
Hugh turned to Joe and said, "How is it, boy; is there plenty of room in Fox Eye's lodge?"
"I guess so," said Joe; "nobody lives there but him and my aunt and me. The lodge is big; there ought to be room for two more people."
"Well," said Hugh, "you go over and ask your uncle if Jack and me can come along and stop in his lodge, and let me know."
The boys walked quickly across the circle of the camp, and presently found themselves at Fox Eye's lodge. When they entered they found Joe's aunt busily engaged in packing things up, and the interior of the lodge almost dismantled. Fox Eye, himself, had gone out to bring in the horses, and when Joe gave Hugh's message, the woman replied in a high-pitched, scolding voice that almost alarmed Jack, for he could not think what she was finding fault with, unless it was the proposition that they should quarter themselves on her.
After she had finished speaking, Joe said to Jack: "Well, let's go over and tell him."
"Well, but Joe," said Jack, "what did she say? I thought she was mad because we wanted to go with you."
"Ho," said Joe, "she was mad; that is, she was a little mad, but that isn't the reason why; she said, 'Why does White Bull talk like that? Doesn't he know that if he wants to stop in our lodge he shall come into it and sit down and stay as long as he wants? Tell him he talks like a foolish person, and that Fox Eye will be glad to see him whenever he comes, and glad to have him stop as long as he feels like stopping.'"
The boys went back to Hugh and gave the message that Joe's aunt had sent, and Jack and Hugh went to the lodge, packed up the two beds, and got out some sugar and coffee and flour, luxuries which were to be their contribution to the supplies of Fox Eye's lodge. It occurred to Jack, also, that it would be a nice thing to give Fox Eye, himself, a present of tobacco, and to his wife some beads and red cloth, as some acknowledgement of her kindness to him. When the bundles were ready Jack went out and brought in Pawnee, saddled him, and riding out to the horse herd on the hills, selected one of their own pack animals, brought it in and tied it up ready for packing when the time should come for starting.
About mid-day the little train started northeast, and camped that night at a small lake not far from the base of the Chief Mountain, which rose like a great wall to the west of them. Two days more brought them to the Grassy Lakes, and there they camped, to stop for four or five days. While they were marching, Hugh usually rode with the two boys, off to one side, and they hunted antelope with some success. Jack killed two and Hugh three, and then Jack loaned his rifle to Joe, who proved himself a good hunter and a good shot, and killed four antelope. The hunters among the Indians had also killed a number, and before long much meat and many hides were put out to dry at each camp. Buffalo were in sight all the time, but the Indians did not disturb them, for it had been understood before they left the camp that no buffalo should be killed. A sharp lookout was kept all the time for enemies, but no signs were seen that any one was in the country.
The second day of their stay at Grassy Lakes was dull and overcast, and the wind which had been always from the west, now worked around to the north and northeast. Hugh and the Indians said that they were going to have a rain storm, and that it might be a long one. Jack and Joe hunted during the day not far from camp, and each killed an antelope. They reached camp with their game in the middle of the afternoon, and after eating, Jack lay down in the lodge on the bed and went to sleep and did not wake up until after dark. When he sat up to look about him he saw that it was night, and almost every one in the lodge was in bed, and the fire was beginning to burn low. He tried to talk a little with Joe and Hugh, but both were sleepy, and presently he lay down again to sleep through the night. The fire died down, so that now it gave no light, and the heavy, regular breathing of the people in the lodge showed that all were sleeping, but Jack could not go to sleep. His long rest in the afternoon had made him wakeful, and though he turned from side to side on his soft bed of robes, sleep would not come to him. At length, after what seemed to him three or four hours, he thought he would get up and go outside of the lodge, stretch his legs, and perhaps this would make him sleep. He rose very softly, for fear of disturbing any one, took his gun in his hand, and stepping over to the door, stood outside. For an instant he could hardly believe his eyes, for there, close in front of the lodge, was the dark form of some one stooping down and holding the rope by which one of the horses was tied in front of the lodge. Although the night was cloudy there was a moon, which enabled him to see very plainly that this was a man who was doing something with one of the ropes. In an instant it flashed through his mind that this must be an enemy stealing horses, and as he thought this, the man stood erect and then sprang on the back of the horse which started to walk away. Jack did not know what to do. A few jumps of the horse would take it out of sight. There was nothing that he could do to stop it, except to shoot, and possibly this might be one of the men in the camp who had a right to the horse. All these things flashed through Jack's mind in a moment, but he felt that he must find out what this was that was being done. He called out—not considering that the man could not understand him—"Hold on, there! What are you doing with that horse?" Evidently the man had not seen him, for as the call reached him he thrust his heels into the horse's side and brought down the rope on its back and it began to gallop.
"Hold on!" Jack called again, "or I'll shoot."
By this time there was stirring in the lodge, but there was no time to wait; Jack's gun was at his shoulder, he fired, and as the smoke cleared away he saw the riderless horse galloping on, and then it disappeared. He called:
"Help! Hugh! Joe! they're stealing the horses!" And throwing another cartridge into his gun he rushed forward to where he had last seen the horse. There on the ground was the man, trying to scramble to his feet. Jack pushed him back with the muzzle of his rifle and held the gun to his shoulder, ready to fire again, saying, "Lie still there, or I'll shoot." The man fell back and lay upon the ground still. Almost at the same instant, Hugh and Joe, followed by Fox Eye, came running up. Hugh's first question was:
"How many of 'em were there?"
"I only saw this one, I didn't want to shoot at him, but he had jumped on the horse and was riding off, and I didn't know what else to do."
Meantime, Joe and Fox Eye each, as he came up, had struck the man lying there, Joe with his bow and Fox Eye with the muzzle of his gun.
"What are they going to do with him, Hugh?" said Jack; "keep him for a prisoner?"
"Why no," said Hugh, stooping over and putting his hand on the man's breast; "I don't think we'll need to tie him up. You made a pretty good shot, son, even if it was dark."
"Did I hit him?" said Jack. "I thought he fell off the horse because I shot at him; he was just getting up when I got here, and I pushed him over with the muzzle of my gun and told him to lie still or I'd shoot again."
"Well," said Hugh, "he'll lie still all right. I guess we can leave him here till morning."
"Why, how do you mean, Hugh?" said Jack.
"Why son, he's dead."
"Dead," said Jack; "do you mean that I killed him?"
"I expect so," said Hugh, "and a good job, too." He lit a match, and stooping down, looked at the man's face and moccasins, and then spoke to Fox Eye and to the other men, who by this time had come up and were crowding about them, and then turned to Jack and said, "He's an Assinaboine, and a horse thief, and you done mighty well to shoot just the way you did. If you hadn't done that we might all have been left afoot before morning; no reason why he shouldn't have taken every hoof of stock there is in the camp. You done well, son, and I'm mighty glad of it; but how did you come to see him?"
Jack told how it was that he could not sleep, and how he had gone out of the lodge to stretch his legs, in the hope that this would make sleep come; and he gave a detailed account of all he had seen and thought and done. When he had finished, Hugh said to him again, "You done well. No man could have done better, and when you get back to the camp I expect these Indians'll think more of you than ever. Are you sure that when the man was trying to get up you touched him with your gun?"
"Why yes, of course I am, Hugh; I gave him a right hard punch with it, and he lay down right off."
"Well, if that's so, you've not only killed an enemy, but you've counted coup on him, and that makes you a warrior right off. All these people here have been thinking of you as just a boy, but from now on they'll say that you're a sure enough man, all right."
While they were talking, Hugh and Jack had returned to Fox Eye's lodge, in which his wife had built up a brilliant fire. They sat down there, and while Hugh told the woman what had happened, she was warming up a kettle of food, and presently set some of it before the two. While they were eating, Fox Eye came in, followed by several men, one of whom carried in his hand the scalp of the enemy and another his bow case and quiver. The scalp was, of course, the first that Jack had ever seen, and he looked at it with some awe, nor could he rid himself of a feeling of a good deal of solemnity when he thought that he had killed a man. Joe, who had come into the lodge and sat down near him, spoke to him presently, and said, "My friend, I am glad that you have done this great thing. You have shown that you are brave. I wish that I had had the chance."
"Well," said Jack, "I wish you had had it; you could have done as much with your bow as I did with my gun."
"Weren't you afraid," said Joe, "when you ran up to that person lying on the ground?"
"No," said Jack, "I didn't think about being afraid. I expect I didn't know enough to be scared. The only thing I was afraid of was that he'd get up and run away."
Meantime, Hugh had been talking to the men, and presently, when he stopped, Fox Eye spoke for quite along time. After he had finished, Joe whispered to Jack:
"Say, you ought to have heard what he said about you. Wouldn't I be glad if anybody talked that way about me."
"What did he say?" said Jack.
"Oh, he praised you," said Joe; "he said you were brave; didn't fear anything; that you were watchful; that you had eyes like an eagle; ears like a prairie fox; that you could hear a long ways, and see straight and shoot good. Lord, he said nice things about you."
Hugh had been speaking again, and now he turned to the two boys and said, "Now, boys, there may be more of these fellows around, and we've got to stand guard to-night and look out for these horses. I think you boys and young Bull Calf, here, had better go on watch for three hours, and then three of us will relieve you. Have you got your watch on, Jack?"
"Yes," said Jack, pulling it out, "it's half past twelve."
"Well, you three boys go out on three sides of the camp, a little way outside, and on the hills, and watch for three hours. Then, son, come in and call me, and three others will go out and relieve you. In the morning, as soon as it gets light, we'll pack up and strike for the main camp. It's liable to be dangerous here before long."
The three young men, each taking his robe, prepared to go out to stand guard. Hugh placed them, Joe to the north of the camp and Bull Calf to the south, while Jack he took up to the top of the hill, west of camp, telling him that this was the most important place of all. There was no danger of any approach from the east, since the lake would protect that side.
"Now," said Hugh, as he left Jack, "you want to lie here on the ground just below the crest of the hill and watch the sky line; then if anybody comes over the hill, you'll be dead sure to see him. I would not stay always in one place, but move about a little, but do it as quietly as you can. There isn't any danger of attack, but it might be such a thing as a man or two would try to slip into the camp before morning, and take some horses. If you keep low down, you're pretty sure to see anybody before he sees you, and you can let him come up pretty close before shooting. You don't want to shoot for nothing and scare the whole camp, and then find out that you made a fool of yourself. I don't expect you will see anything, but you might, and you want to keep a sharp lookout. Likely, these Indian boys will go to sleep before very long, but I depend on you to keep awake, and that is the reason I put you in the place where you're most likely to see anybody that comes into the camp. Call me in about three hours." Then Hugh went down to the camp.
Jack spread his robe on the ground and lay down on it and began to watch the sky line. For a little while this occupied him. He looked carefully at the different stars that showed themselves just above the crest of the hill, and after he had been there a little time, he found that although the night was dark—for by this time the moon had set and the clouds had disappeared, he could see quite plainly. After he had been watching for a while, his alertness wore off and he began to think about the events of the night.
It certainly had been exciting enough. It seemed very strange that he should happen to be the one to go out of the lodge and detect the man who was trying to take a horse, and hardly less strange that when he shot at him, he should happen to hit him. Of course, shooting quickly at a galloping figure in the dark, was a very different thing from taking a careful shot at an object during the day, and not only was it strange that he had hit him, but that he had hit him so as to kill him, for Jack now realised, that when the man was trying to get on his feet, he was only making a dying struggle. Then he thought, suppose he had only wounded him and knocked him off his horse and that, then when he ran up to him the man had shot him with his gun or with an arrow. It might just as well have happened that way as any other.
Then Jack asked himself, ought he to have shot at him? Certainly there was no other way to have recovered the horse, for if he had shot and missed the Indian, he would only have ridden away the faster. He might have killed the horse to be sure, but that would have been only to destroy his own people's property and would have been no better than to allow the thief to get away with the animal. It made him feel rather solemn to think what he had done; for he had never expected, that in all his life he would kill a man. He had often read about wars and the fighting of soldiers and about people being killed, but soldiers, as he had always heard, just shot at the mass of the enemy who were approaching and no man knew just what his own bullet had done. No matter how hard one of the soldiers had tried to kill an enemy, he never could feel sure that it was his bullet that had killed the man he shot at. It was a very different thing when a man fired a single shot at another and killed him. He wondered what the people at home would say, if they were to know what had happened, and he wondered, too, whether it would be best for him to tell them at home.
All the time that he was thinking, he was keeping a sharp lookout and once or twice, as Hugh had suggested, he moved a short distance north and then again south, going carefully and slowly, crouching low and keeping himself covered by his robe. Any one who had seen him at a little distance would have supposed that some large animal was passing along the hill-side. Nothing had been seen and nothing heard; a long time had passed and he had returned to the point where he had been stationed and lay there on his robe watching the crest of the hill. After a time he began to grow sleepy, but he shook off the feeling and rose to his knees, for after what Hugh had said to him, he felt bound in honour not to neglect his post. As he crouched there, trying hard not to yield to the drowsiness which was creeping over him, he suddenly saw a bright star close to the crest of the hill disappear, and then another. His sleepiness was forgotten in an instant, he grasped his rifle tightly and, every nerve on edge, watched to see what would happen next. For a little while nothing was seen, then again he saw a star disappear and then another. These which were hidden, were close to the line of the hill, and it looked as if something or somebody was passing along close behind the hill, between the boy and the stars. Suddenly two or three bright stars, one above another, went out and did not appear again. Some one was looking over the hill. Jack raised himself a little higher on his knees and with his finger on the trigger, so that the lock should make no noise, cocked his rifle and waited. He was keyed up to the very highest pitch of excitement, and was prepared for anything.
Then came the climax, and from the dark object, whose shape he could dimly discern on the hill top, arose the plaintive, melancholy howl of a coyote. The little animal, attracted by the smell of blood, had stolen up to the top of the hill and was now calling to its fellows.
The reaction from the excitement of the moment before was extreme, and Jack felt disgusted. He knew enough to feel sure that this animal would not be where it was, if there were any enemies immediately about the camp and felt that he would be safe in lying down on his robe and going to sleep; and now that the wolf had told what it was, he felt really sleepy.
As he looked toward the camp, he could see, far on the eastern horizon, a faint pale line, which told him that the dawn was near. Drawing his robe over his head and around him, so as to conceal the light, he lit a match and looked at his watch. It was half past three and time to call Hugh.
He slipped quietly down into the camp and going into the lodge roused Hugh, and telling him the time, Hugh said to him, "You lay down now and go to sleep and I'll call two other men and we'll watch until it gets light, which won't be long. Then, as soon as day breaks, we will start back for the main camp."
Jack was soon fast asleep, and it was two hours later when Hugh called him and told him to get up and eat breakfast, for the camp was ready to move. They were soon on their way and three days later reached the main camp on the Saint Mary's River without adventure.
Here they found that the ceremonies of the Medicine Lodge had for some reason been set forward and were already in progress. The Lodge had been built and consecrated by the Medicine Lodge women, the sacrifices had been hung on it, the sacred tongues had been divided among the people in the camp, presents had been given, old quarrels had been made up, old friendships strengthened. All day long in their shelter, the men, whose duty it was to keep the rain away, were dancing and whistling; and other sacred dances were going on in various parts of the camp.
After the returning party had pitched their lodges, Hugh and Jack started out to see what they could of the ceremonies that yet remained. Pushing their way through the crowd of people, who stood and sat about the Medicine Lodge, they reached the inner circle about which the men were seated.
Hugh whispered to Jack, "I am glad you are going to see this anyhow. These young men, that get up and make speeches, are counting their coups. They are telling the brave things that they have done in wars during the last year and you will notice whenever one tells of some very brave thing that he has done, the men sitting at the drums pound on them. There is Redshirt! I'll interpret to you what he says when he gets through." A young Indian rose to his feet, stepped out into the open space, spoke earnestly for three or four minutes, making many signs, and when he finished and sat down, the drummers beat their drums, and then a woman, leading two horses, made her way into the open space, and threw down the ropes.
"There," said Hugh; "Redshirt said something like this. 'In the Spring I went to war; I went down the Little river; I found a camp of Assiniboines. While I watched, a young man and a boy come riding out toward me. I think they were going to get horses. When they got close, I shot them both and counted coup and scalped them and took the horses they were riding!' You saw that woman come out and give him those two horses. She is Antelope Woman, and her uncle was killed last year by the Assiniboines. You see when Redshirt killed these two people, he wiped away her tears, and now she wants to show that she thanks him for giving her revenge on the Assiniboines."
Jack was intensely interested at all this and listened and watched, and although he could not understand what was said, he could gather from the signs and from the applause of the listeners something of the meaning of each man's speech. The counting of the coups lasted some time, but at last the intervals between the speakers grew longer. Suddenly Hugh rose to his feet and stepped forward to the open space, holding fast to Jack's arm and pulling him after him, so that in a moment they stood out there in the open, gazed at by all the people. Hugh made a short speech, pointing at Jack as he did so, and when he ended, the drummers struck their drums with a great noise and many of the people shouted. Hugh turned and was about to lead Jack back to the place where they had been sitting, when suddenly a woman's voice was heard at the edge of the crowd, and turning, Hugh saw John Monroe's wife leading a horse toward them; he waited a moment, and when she entered the open space, took the rope and, leading the horse, retired with Jack without the circle.
It had all happened so suddenly, that Jack did not know what to make of it, and when Hugh stopped and looked down at him with an amused twinkle in his eye, Jack said, "What in the world does this all mean, Hugh?"
"Why," said the old man, smiling, "I thought this was a pretty good time for you to count your first coup, and as I knew that you could not do it for yourself, because you can't talk Piegan, I had to do it for you, and John Monroe's wife, she came and gave you a horse. Pretty decent looking horse, too, it is," he said walking around the animal, "looks like it might run—"
"But say, Hugh, you don't mean to say that you told them about that Indian trying to steal our horse and said that I had killed him."
"That's what," said Hugh.
"Well, but, Hugh, that sounds like boasting, even if I didn't know what you were going to do. Nobody knows that I didn't know about it, except you."
"Pooh," said Hugh, "that's nothing; that's all right. This is the one time in the year when a man is expected to talk about the good things that he has done. All the rest of the time he has got to keep quiet about it, and only allow others to talk if they want to; but at the Medicine Lodge a man himself can tell what he has done.
"I wouldn't be surprised if they gave you a name now; maybe to-day. Likely enough some old man—likely some one of my friends will come over before the day is through and want to adopt you and give you a name. How'd you like that?"
"Oh," said Jack, "I'd like that. That would make me feel at home."
"Well," said Hugh, "it won't do you any harm, Come on, it is getting towards sun down, let us go to the lodge."
As Jack and Hugh walked away from the crowd, Hugh leading the horse, he talked with Jack about all the mysterious performances of the Medicine Lodge, and said how sorry he felt that they had been away when the ceremonies began.
"It's a great religious performance with these people," he said; "kind o' like Christmas, when everybody gives presents and everybody prays, and then the Medicine Lodge women pray for everybody in the camp and for the welfare of the whole tribe. It's a mighty solemn time, I tell you."
They had nearly reached the lodge when Hugh handed the horse's rope to Jack and told him to tie the animal near it.
"I want to stop to speak to Double Runner," he said, and he turned and entered one of the lodges.
Jack went on to John Monroe's and tied the horse to a pin, and then went on beyond, within the circle of the lodges, looking at the paintings on the different ones, and at the bundles tied to tripods that stood behind each. He wondered what the different paintings meant, and thought he would sometime get Hugh, or maybe Joe, to walk around the camp with him and see if they could explain them. As he was thinking about this, he suddenly heard quickly running footsteps behind him, and turned to see Joe rushing towards him as fast as he could; his hair flying in the wind, and his white teeth disclosed by a broad grin. His arms were stretched forward as if he were about to seize Jack. Jack sprang to one side, but Joe turned quickly and caught him around the body, trying to swing him off his feet, but Jack had the under-hold and resisted, and for a moment or two they wrestled there in silence. Then Joe laughed and said, "Can't I throw you?" and gave him a swift twist to the left, but Jack responded only by bending Joe's back toward him as strongly as he could. For a moment the back was stiff, and then, little by little it began to yield, but before this had gone far Joe made a mighty effort, and twisted himself free from the encircling arms, and started off running as hard as he could go. Jack pursued and for some minutes they raced around in and out among the lodges until at last, Joe finding himself before John Monroe's, threw himself on the ground, laughing merrily.
"Ha! my brave one," he said; "you are strong and run fast. I thought I should throw you at once, but I could not." Jack sat down beside him and for some moments nothing was heard except their quick breathing.
"Well," said Joe, "I think you must feel proud of what has happened this day. It was a great thing to be able to stand out in front of all the people and count a coup. I was proud myself to see this thing happen to my friend."
"Well," said Jack, "I was so surprised that I did not think anything about it, and I didn't know what Hugh was going to do when he dragged me out into the open space. I guess the idea must have come to him all of a sudden; anyhow, he never said a word to me about it, but just got up and took a hold of me, pulled me out, and the first thing I knew he was talking. Then I didn't know what he was talking about, but it made me ashamed to be standing with everybody looking at me."
"Well," said Joe. "It's a big thing. It's the biggest thing ever happened to anybody near your age since I have been in the camp. I tell you, if such a thing had happened to me, I wouldn't speak to anybody for a week, I think, I would feel so big.
"And then your having a horse given to you, that made it all the better. He is a nice horse, too, a good riding horse, maybe a buffalo horse."
"Yes," said Jack, "it's a pretty good looking horse. I am going to ask John Monroe about him when I see him."
"Why do you call him John Monroe?" said Joe; "that's his white man's name; but we here all call him Pis'kun; that means buffalo corral."
"Oh, yes," said Jack; "I have heard Hugh tell about how they used to drive the buffalo over the cliff into the pen. I don't suppose they do that any more, do they?"
"No," said Joe, "there's plenty of men in the camp that's helped to do that, but since they got so many guns and such good horses they don't do it no more. Some day likely the camp will stop near one of the old places where they used to jump the buffalo, and then we can go there and see the piles of stones on the prairie, where the buffalo used to run. And down under the jumping off place you can see yet lots of bones and old horns."
"I'd like to see one of those places," said Jack; "maybe you could dig round in the dirt and find some of the old tools that the Indians used to use."
"Sure," said Joe. "Often they dig up the old stone arrows, and sometimes other tools of stone and bone there, that were left by the old-time people."
"Gracious," said Jack, "I'd like to get some of those things to take back with me when I go home."
"When are you going?" said Joe.
"I don't know," said Jack; "not for a good while yet; not until the autumn comes."
"That's good," said Joe, "we will have plenty of fun first then."
"Oh, yes," said Jack, "I guess so. I expect we will be here a couple of months yet. I haven't spoken to Hugh yet about it."
There was a moment's pause, and presently Joe burst out, and said:
"Say, don't you want to go off on the warpath with some young men? There's a war party going to start out pretty soon, and the young men have asked me to go along, and the leader said he'd like to have you go too. He didn't say that until after you had counted your coup."
"Jerusalem," said Jack, "I'd like that. That would be fun," and he looked at Joe with his face beaming with excitement. Suddenly, his look changed, and he said:
"But no, I could not go anyhow. Hugh would never be willing for me to go on a trip like that, and I wouldn't sneak off without speaking to him about it.
"You see, Joe," he went on, "when I came up here, I promised my uncle that I would listen to Hugh about everything, and would take his advice always. It wouldn't be square either to Hugh or to my uncle if I didn't do as I promised I would. Besides that Hugh has been mighty good to me. He has helped me a whole lot and pretty much everything I wanted to do he's said I could. Look at his going off with us the other day when we went to hunt antelope. I don't expect that there was much fun for him in that. I think he went because he thought I wanted to go and wanted to give me pleasure. It wouldn't be the square thing for me to go back on Hugh that way.
"He'd be mighty uneasy all the time I'd be gone. Likely he'd be hunting for me, and what would be lots of fun for me would be giving him a mighty bad time. Besides, suppose anything should happen to me, and I should get hurt or killed, he'd feel mighty mean going back to my uncle and telling him what had happened."
"Well," said Joe, "I guess what you say is right. It would be mean to make White Bull feel that way. I'd like to have you come. We could go and get a lot of horses and come back and people would say we had done well. I wish you could go, but you have got to do what you think is good."
Jack felt badly. He could think of nothing that would be so much fun as to go off with these young men and make a long journey, and take some horses from the enemy's camp and then return and be praised by all the people, but he knew as well as he knew anything that Hugh would never consent to his going, and he felt that it was impossible to break faith, even for so great a pleasure. He remembered all that Hugh had done for him, and especially how he saved his life at the Musselshell River, and he knew well that the more he thought about it the more firm would be his resolve not to give Hugh this great anxiety.
They talked about it a little longer and at last Joe got up to go and Jack went into the lodge. There he found John Monroe's woman cooking supper, and spoke to her, thanking her for the gift of the horse made to him that afternoon.
"Why," she said, "I was proud that anybody living in my lodge should have done so brave a thing as you did. Many years ago the Assiniboines killed my brother. Since then my heart is always glad when I hear of one of their people being killed."
Jack sat down on his bed and gave himself up to gloomy reflections. What a wonderful time he could have if he were to go off with this war party; how much he could learn of the ways of the Indians in their fighting; what adventures he might perhaps have, and what strange stories he could tell to the people at home when he returned to New York. But there seemed no way in which he could decently go. He determined, at all events, he would speak to Hugh about it, and see what he said.
He had not long to wait, for presently, the curtain of the door was thrown aside and Hugh entered. When he had seated himself and had filled his pipe, and lighted it by a coal from the fire, Jack said:
"Hugh, I have got something to say to you, something that's troubling me and that I think I ought to tell you. Joe came to me this afternoon, and told me that a war party of young men is going to start out, and they'd like to have me go with them. At first I jumped at the invitation, but then when I thought about it, I felt 'most sure that you would not be willing for me to go, and I told Joe so. Of course, I'd love to go more than anything, but I suppose there's no use thinking about it."
For a moment or two, Hugh said nothing, and then he turned and looked at Jack.
"Well, son, suppose your uncle was here, do you think he'd be willing to have you go?"
"No," said Jack, "I don't believe he would."
"Well," said Hugh, "suppose your father and mother were here, what do you think they'd say about it?"
"Well," said Jack, "I suppose you know as well as I do."
"Yes," said Hugh, "I expect I do, and if you and I both know what your uncle and your father and mother would say about it, we both know what I will say about it."
"Yes," said Jack with a sigh, "I suppose so."
"You see, son," said the old man, "a good many people would have thought it was a mighty big risk for a boy of your age to go travelling across the country the way we done, to an Indian camp to stop here for two or three months. Of course, there's danger in it; but then there's danger everywhere, and if people have good sense, and keep their wits about them, there ain't no more danger travelling on the prairie, than there is travelling on a railroad train, or going about back in the states. Anyway that's how I look at it, but as I have often told you before, I don't want you to go hunting for danger. I want you to keep as far from it as you can. Now, I told your uncle when he let us come off up here, that I would take as good care of you as I knew how. I have done it and I am going to keep on doing it. You might go off on a war party and never have any trouble at all, and then again you might get killed. I don't want to see you get any nearer to danger than you have to, and I wouldn't let you go to war if I could help it. Now, there's one more thing. I understand just as well as if you'd told me how much you want to go with this party, and what fun you think you'd sure have. 'Course, you could have slipped away out of the camp without saying anything to me, and as likely as not I never would have seen you until you got back again, and of course, while you were gone I should have felt mighty bad, not knowing but what you might get killed. Your speaking to me this way just makes me think more than ever what I have always thought since I first got to know you; that you are square; that when you say you will do a thing you will do it. Now, it ain't every boy of your years that would have had the pluck to say no when a chance of this kind came to him, just because he knew that to say yes, would make a friend feel bad. I understand pretty well how you felt about it and just what has been going on in your mind, and I won't never forget it. It makes us closer friends than we have ever been yet;" and reaching out his hand, he grasped Jack's in a firm, close grip, that brought the tears to the boy's eyes.
"Never you mind, son," Hugh went on, "we'll have plenty of good times yet while we are in this camp, and we'll keep our words to the people down south and back east that we made promises to. We may have trouble of one sort or another, but we won't give anybody a chance to call us liars."
That night after supper as they were sitting around the fire, Hugh and John Monroe talking, and Jack listening, partly to what they said, and partly to the distant sounds of the camp—the singing, the drumming, the hum of conversation, the laughter and the galloping hoofs—he noticed that some of the singing sounded constantly more distinct, and presently it was directly in front of the lodge. Here two or three songs were sung, and Hugh taking a piece of tobacco from his pocket handed it to the woman who passed it out through the door of the lodge. A moment later Joe's smiling countenance appeared in the doorway, and he said to Jack:
"Come on out, and go round the camp with us."
"Go on," said Hugh to Jack. "They're a lot of young men going round singing in front of the different lodges; maybe it's your war party getting ready to start out."
Jack seized his hat and dived through the doorway, and when he was outside and his eyes had grown accustomed to the darkness he saw that a group of eight young men stood before the lodge. Joe took him by the arm and said to him:
"We're going round singing in front of the lodges, and sometimes they give us presents. These are the men that are going off to war. You know Bull Calf, and likely before you leave the camp you will know all the rest of them."
In a moment or two, the little group started on, and after passing several of the lodges, stopped before one, where they sang two or three songs. These were plaintive and melancholy to Jack's ear, and yet full of spirit. Of course, he did not know the airs and could not sing, but he listened. He looked about over his strange surroundings and half wondered whether it could be possible that he were standing here with these Indian boys under the brilliant moon and in this circle of white lodges. The music as it was sung thrilled and moved him strangely and it seemed to him as if it must all be a dream.
A little bundle was passed out from this lodge door, and they set out again. Jack whispered to Joe, as they walked along:
"How strange these songs are."
"Yes," said Joe, "they ain't much like white men's songs. These that they are singing now are all camp songs, but there are lots of other kinds. Some of them for war and some of them for dancing, or songs that young fellows sing when they are courting their girls, or songs that they sing when they are praying; lots of different kinds."
"Well," said Jack, "I'd love to know some of them so that I could sing them when I went back East."
For a long time the young men wandered about through the camp, but at last stopped not far from John Monroe's lodge. There they separated and went to their several homes. Joe walked back with Jack and said good night to him in front of the lodge. When Jack entered he found Hugh and John Monroe still talking. Soon after, they all went to bed and the fire died down.
Early next morning, Joe put his head in at the lodge door with a look of some importance on his face, and seeing Jack sitting by the fire, beckoned to him and then went out again. Jack followed and joined him a few steps from the lodge, and they walked out away from the circle, toward the prairie. Before they had gone far, Joe said: "Say, Jack, I started out this morning to tell you that I'd made up my mind that I wouldn't go on the war party, but would stay here in the camp. If you can't go, I don't want to go either. I'd rather stop here with you."
"That's good of you, Joe," said Jack, "I'd be mighty lonesome if you were to go off; it's kind of you to give up the trip for me."
"Hold on," said Joe, "I ain't got through yet. As I was coming around this morning to tell you about this, I met Bull Calf, and he says the whole party has been given up. Skunk Bear, he was the leader you know, had a bad dream, and now they're all afraid to go. They're afraid bad luck will happen, so they're none of 'em going."
"How do you mean a bad dream, Joe?" said Jack. "What's that got to do with their going to war?"
"Why," said Joe, "it's got a whole lot to do with it. Don't you know that dreams come to us to tell us what is going to happen? And if a man dreams that some bad luck is coming, he's got to look out, for if he isn't careful, the bad thing will happen and maybe he'll get killed, or hurt himself, or get sick."
"Well," said Jack, "that seems queer. I never heard of anything like that before. Doing things because dreams tell you to, or not doing them because dreams tell you not to!"
"Well," said Joe, "it's so. You ask any of the old men, they'll tell you. There have been lots of times when men have started off on the war-path, and dreamed they saw themselves wounded, and then have been wounded, and sometimes men have dreamed that they saw one of the party lying dead on the ground, and a little while after, the man that they dreamed about was killed by enemies. I tell you, the Indians depend a whole lot on dreams."
"Well, son," said Hugh to Jack later in the day, "don't you want to try your new horse? Let's saddle up and ride a few miles up the lakes and see what sort of a beast he is. I asked John Monroe about him, and he says he's a running horse, a good buffalo horse or a good pony for war."
"Yes, Hugh," said Jack, "I'd like to try him first-rate."
The two went out and saddled their horses and crossing the river, rode along the trail up the lake. When they came to one of the little open parks they ran a short race, and Jack's horse proved to be very fast. They kept on up the lake for five or six miles, and then, as the mosquitoes were bad, turned about and rode back to the camp.
As they drew up in front of the lodge, Jack saw sitting there, a man, whom at first he took to be very old, but after they had unsaddled and had walked up to him, he saw that he was not such a very old man, but that his hair was white, all except two black locks on the right side. He was extremely tall and very thin. Hugh seemed very glad to see the man and shook hands with him most cordially; then after speaking to him for a few moments, he called Jack to him and said, "Son, I want you to know this man; this is Last Bull. He is one of the best men of the tribe. He is getting old now, but in his time he has been a great warrior. He is not such a very old man as you would think from his white hair, he is one of those gray-haired people such as you see lots of in the tribe, and his hair has always been this colour since he was a little child. I'd like to have you know him well, and I want to have him like you. He is a good man."
Jack shook hands with the man who smiled in a most kindly way, and then turning to Hugh spoke at some length. Hugh looked greatly pleased and said, "Why, son, Last Bull has always been a great friend of mine, and he says that hearing that you had come to the camp with me, and hearing, too, about the good things that you have done since you came, he wants to give you a name; probably it will be some name that he has borne himself when he was a young man. What do you say, would you like to have him do so? If he gives you a name he will always regard himself as your adopted father, and will think a great deal of you."
"Why!" said Jack, "that would be splendid. I would love to have him do that, and I'd think it a great honour. It would make me feel mighty proud."
When Hugh had interpreted to Last Bull what Jack had said, the Indian seemed pleased. Stepping up to Jack, he took him by the right arm and led him a little way forward, turning him so that his face looked toward the sun, and stretching his own arms upward toward it, and then closing his hands as if grasping the sunlight, he turned again to Jack and rubbed them over his head, his shoulders, and down his arms, and over his body. Then Last Bull made a prayer, which Hugh interpreted to Jack afterward. He said:—
"O Sun, Old Man, Creator, look down. Have pity; have pity. Listen. Look down on this my son and on me. Pity us.
"I am old, but all my life you have looked after me. This, my son, is young, he is just beginning; care for him all through his life. Give to him, always, plenty of all those things that all men desire. Increase his body, so that he may grow strong. Harden his flesh, so that he may always be well. Give him health; give him full life; let him live to great age. Watch him as he journeys to and fro over the country; guard him against all dangers and against all harm. Protect him in battle. Let neither the arrows nor the bullets of the enemy strike his body, or if they must strike it, let them not pierce his flesh, but turn them aside, so that they shall do him no harm. Grant that he may always have good sense, and may act wisely; make his eyes keen to see danger at a distance, and his ears quick to hear the enemies that are creeping up on him. Let his wisdom be that of the raven, his craft that of the wolf, his sight like the eagles, and his hearing that of the little prairie fox. Give to him the strength of the buffalo bull, so that when he rushes upon his enemies, he will overthrow them as the bull overthrows his.
"Oh Sun, Old Man, Creator, look down. Have pity. Listen. Many years ago, when I was a young man, I went to sleep for power, up on the top of the pinnacle of a high mountain, where all men feared to go. For four days without food or drink, I slept there; for two days and two nights lying on my right side, and for two days and two nights on my left. On the fourth night my dream came to me and said, 'I have heard your prayers and your cryings, and I have taken pity on you, and henceforth I will be with you always, and now I will give you a name. You shall be a great man for fighting, and your name shall be Fighter, and, because, though you are yet young, your head is white, you shall call yourself White Warrior, and when your enemies see your white hair coming towards them, they shall be afraid.'
"My Son, for many years I had this name, but now I am growing old, and I no longer go on the war path. Now I do not need this name, and so, my Son, I give it to you. To me it has been fortunate and I can see that it will be so to you also."
Then Last Bull, again stretching his arms towards the sun, and again seeming to grasp the sunlight in his hands, passed them over Jack's head, and shoulders and body, then he turned away and walked to the lodge and sat down on the ground.
Jack had most curious feelings while this prayer was being made. The man, who was speaking, was so earnest, and so moved by the prayer that he had made, that Jack could not but be moved himself. He felt solemn, as if he were in a big gloomy church and the organ were playing solemn music that thrilled him. When Last Bull turned away from him and walked towards Hugh, Jack picked up his hat from the ground, where he had thrown it, and followed with his head bent down, and feeling as if he had just come out of the church.
Last Bull and Hugh talked together for some time, and Jack sat there and listened, though of course, he understood nothing of what was being said. At length Hugh went into the lodge, and after a few moments came out and handed a package to Last Bull, who presently arose, and after shaking hands again with Jack, stalked off across the camp.
"Gracious! Hugh," said Jack, "I wish you would tell me all about Last Bull and what he did, and what he said, and what you were talking about. I never saw such an interesting person, and it seems as if he must have a wonderful history, if it could only be told."
"Well, son, that's so," said Hugh, "he is a mighty queer man in some ways, but a mighty good man. There isn't an Indian in the camp that I'd rather have take an interest in you, than Last Bull; he is certainly the bravest man in the whole camp. He might easily enough be head chief, but he never would take it. When he was young, all his pleasure was going to war, and in his time he has killed a great many of his enemies. He has also had one big trouble that I know about and can tell you of. One time, a good many years ago, he was travelling with a party—just a few lodges; they were charged by the enemy and ran, but Last Bull's wife was on a slow horse and while he was trying to fight the enemy off, she was captured. He charged back into the thick of the enemy three or four times to try and rescue her, but couldn't, though his bravery stopped the pursuit, and the enemy drew off on a hill. Some of the attacking party could talk Piegan, and they asked the captive woman who she was. She was brave, too, and she laughed at them and told them that she was the wife of that brave man that had charged back on them so often, and that had killed three of their party. And when the enemy understood that, they pushed the woman out in front of their line, and shot her full of arrows, right there in Last Bull's sight. Last Bull was a young man when that happened, and I often thought, maybe that was one of the reasons why he was always going on the war-path. The people that killed his wife were Snakes, and I've always heard that he cared a great deal more to go on the war-path across the mountains looking for Snake camps, than he did for going to war on the prairie."
"Well," said Jack, "I don't wonder that he was a fighter after that."
"No," said Hugh, "these Indians are great hands to get revenge if they think they have been injured. They always want to get even.
"There was another queer thing happened to Last Bull," said Hugh. "He didn't know about it at the time, but he heard of it afterward, and I expect it must have made him feel pretty bad. When he was a little fellow, he had a brother two years older than himself, and one time, in a big fight that they had with the Snakes, this older brother was captured by the Snakes and was raised in their camp. Of course that made him a Snake in his feelings, and when he grew up and went to war, he fought with the enemies of the Snakes, and so with the Blackfeet tribes. After Last Bull had become a man and a good warrior, the Snakes and the Piegans one time had a big fight on the prairie. The parties were pretty evenly matched, and it was about a stand-off between the two. The fight was over and the Snakes were slowly drawing off; not running, but just moving off slowly, and the Piegans didn't dare to follow them, but just as they were getting out of range, Last Bull stepped out in front of the line and fired a last shot at the enemy. It was done more for brag than for anything else, but he happened to hit a man and kill him. Two years afterwards, the Snakes and the Piegans made peace for awhile, and then the Snakes told them that the man that was killed by that last shot was Last Bull's brother. Of course, Last Bull didn't know that his brother was in the fight, and in fact, never had known anything about him except that he had been captured by the Snakes; but I expect, likely, it made the old man feel pretty bad."
"I should think so," said Jack.
That afternoon, John Monroe told Hugh that he was going to give a feast that night, and was going to invite a number of the principal men of the camp to eat and smoke with him. He told Hugh, that although Jack was only a boy, he wanted him to sit in the circle with the feasters. And when Hugh heard this, he said to John, "Look here, John, why don't you ask Blood Man to come too? Jack will feel pretty lonely sitting there with a lot of old men and not understanding anything that's said, and with nobody to talk to; if you ask the other boy it will be a heap pleasanter for Jack, and I don't reckon the old men will mind it if you explain to them why you did it." John said that he thought that this would be good, and told Hugh that he would call Joe to the feast.
Jack was very much interested to hear what was going to take place, and greatly pleased to know that Joe was coming too, for he knew that if Joe sat by him he would at least get the general drift of what was said by the old men when they made their speeches, after eating.
All through the afternoon John's wife and her two sisters were busy cooking food. Bread was baked from flour which came from Hugh's supply, and he also provided enough coffee and sugar to make coffee for the guests. Besides this, the women boiled and cooked great kettles of antelope meat, and of dried buffalo tongues, and of back fat, as well as other kettles of sarvis berries. A little before sundown, all was ready, and John, going out in front of the camp, called out the names of the various guests, sometimes repeating the invitation over and over: "Last Bull, you are asked to eat. Last Bull, you are asked to eat. Last Bull, you are asked to eat; and you will smoke." In this way he called out names of fifteen of the important men of the camp, and not very long afterward the guests were seen approaching from different parts of the camp. John Monroe sat at the back of the lodge, with Hugh at his left hand and Jack and Joe on his right. The others, as they came in, had their seats pointed out to them by the host; the more important men sitting furthest back in the lodge, while the younger ones were nearer the door. It took some little time for the whole party to assemble, but when all were there, the women, at a sign from the host, passed around, first the dishes and cups, and then the food.
The dishes were a curious mixture of the ancient and the modern. There were some tin plates and spoons, but most of the dishes were great bowls hollowed out of wood, though two or three were made of strips split from the buffalo horn, and sewed together with sinew. Such dishes, though serviceable enough for holding meat, of course, leaked and could not be used for anything that was fluid.
Little was said until the meal was over. Occasionally a man chatted in a low voice with his neighbour, or some more loudly spoken jest was uttered, at which all laughed. Jack was surprised to see that the host was not served with food. He did not eat anything, but occupied his time during the meal by cutting up tobacco on a board in front of him, and mixing it preparatory to filling the great stone pipe, which was to be smoked after all had finished eating. As the dishes were cleared away by the watchful women, Pis'kun pushed the tobacco and the pipe over to Joe, and made a sign to him. The boy cleaned out the pipe, filled it, and passing it back to the host, reached over, and with a pair of tongs made from a forked twig, drew from the fire a coal which he placed on the pipe. The host smoked until the pipe was well going, then blew a puff of smoke to the sky, turned the stem toward the earth, and made a low voiced prayer. Then he handed the pipe to the man on his left, who, without smoking, passed it to the next one, and so from hand to hand it passed along until it reached the guest nearest the door. He smoked as the host had done, made a prayer, passed the pipe back to the man on his right, who in turn smoked, and so the pipe passed round the circle, until it reached the host again.
Soon after the pipe had passed him, the oldest man present, Calf Robe, rose to his feet and spoke for some little time. When he had finished, Joe whispered to Jack that the man had been praising John Monroe, and had also spoken of Hugh's return to the tribe, and of the young man that he had brought with him. Calf Robe's speech was followed by others, and Jack waited for Joe to tell him what they were talking about; but, although he nudged Joe two or three times to try to get him to look at him, Joe seemed to be so much interested in the speeches, that he paid no attention to Jack, who sat there, altogether in the dark as to what was going on. Presently another one of the elder men, whom Jack recognised as Iron Shirt, the head chief, stood up and said a few words, and then, to Jack's surprise, Hugh turned to him and said, "Son, Iron Shirt wants me to interpret to you what he is going to say." Then Iron Shirt went on, speaking slowly, a sentence at a time, and waiting until Hugh had interpreted it to Jack, and this was the speech he made:
"My Son, you have come here from a far country with this white man, who is our old friend, White Bull. We have known him for many years. He tells us that you have come from the edge of the world, from where the earth runs down to meet the salt water. He has told us about you, that you are a good young man, true, speaking only the things that are, and neither talking foolishly nor falsely. Before you had come into our camp, but while you were yet in sight of it, you did a brave thing and saved from death the child of one of those sitting here. Since you have been with us, we have watched you in the camp. We have seen that you are quiet and orderly, and we have found too that you are brave. A few nights ago, when our people, with whom you were camped, were attacked by enemies, you defended them and killed one of these enemies. I am glad that so good a person has come to stay with us, and all the camp are glad too. I should like to have you stay with us always, and become one of my children. Sitting about you to-night there are chief men of the camp and we all of us wish to have you become a Piegan, and to be in fact, what I think you are in your heart, one of our people. Therefore, now this day, although your skin is white, we have chosen you one of us, and from this time you belong to the tribe of the Piegans. What I say to you now, I do not say for myself alone, but I say it for these who are sitting here, and also for the whole tribe."
The old man ceased speaking and sat down. Jack had grown red and white alternately, as he had heard Hugh's interpretation, and his feelings were so strong, that for a moment he had almost felt like crying. He turned to Hugh and said:
"What shall I do, Hugh? Shall I say anything?"
"Why," said Hugh, "I expect they'd like to have you say something, even if it is only a little, in answer."
It was the first time that Jack had ever spoken in public, and as he stood upon his feet, his knees shook, and his tongue seemed dry. All he could say was, "Hugh, I wish you would tell them how proud I feel to have them talk as they have talked, and how glad I am to be a member of the tribe. Tell them I'll never forget this night, if I live to be a thousand years, and that when I go back East, wherever I may be, I'll always think of the members of the Piegan tribe as my friends and my brothers."
Jack sat down with his ears ringing from the effort that he had made, and overwhelmed with shyness and embarrassment. At the same time his heart swelled with pride at the honour that had been done him and he squeezed Joe's hand, which had sought his, with a fervent clasp. Soon after this, the guests rose, one by one and filed out of the lodge, and the last to go was Joe, who, dragging Jack with him, rushed out of the lodge, and standing in front of it, gave vent to a series of shrill whoops and yells, and then he and Jack, throwing their arms about each other, wrestled in the darkness until both were exhausted.