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How The Medicine Of The Arrows Was Broken At Republican River
by
“The Potawatami pulled himself free of his fallen horse as I came up, and it did me good to see the blood flowing from under his arm where my lance had scraped him. I rode straight at him, meaning to ride him down, but the horse swerved a little and got a long wiping stroke from the Potawatami’s knife, from which, in a minute more, he began to stagger. By this time the other men had got their guns and begun shooting. Suh-tai’s bow had been shot in two, and Red Morning had a graze that laid his cheek open. So we got on our own ponies and rode away.
“We saw other men riding into the open, but they had all been chasing buffaloes, and our ponies were fresh. It was not long before we left the shooting behind. Once we thought we heard it break out again in a different direction, but we were full of our own affairs, and anxious to get back to the camp and brag about them. As we crossed the creek Suh-tai made a line and said the words that made it Medicine. We felt perfectly safe.
“It was our first fight, and each of us had counted coup. Suh-tai was not sure but he had killed his man. Not for worlds would he have wiped the blood from his knife until he had shown it to the camp. Two of us had wounds, for my man had struck at me as he passed, though I had been too excited to notice it at the time … ‘Eyah!‘ said the Dog Chief,–‘a man’s first scar …!’ We were very happy, and Red Morning taught us his song as we rode home beside the Republican River.
“As we neared our own camp we were checked in our rejoicing; we heard the wails of the women, and then we saw the warriors sitting around with their heads in their blankets–as many as were left of them. My father was gone, he was one of the first who was killed by the Potawatami.”
The Dog Chief was silent a long time, puffing gently on his pipe, and the Officer of the Yellow Rope began to sing to himself a strange, stirring song.
Looking at him attentively Oliver saw an old faint scar running across his face from nose to ear.
“Is your name Red Morning?” Oliver wished to know.
The man nodded, but he did not smile; they were all of them smoking silently with their eyes upon the ground. Oliver understood that there was more and turned back to the Dog Chief.
“Weren’t they pleased with what you had done?” he asked.
“They were pleased when they had time to notice us,” he said, “but they didn’t know–they didn’t know that we had broken the Medicine of the Arrows. It didn’t occur to us to say anything about the time we had left the camp, and nobody asked us. A young warrior, Big Head he was called, had also gone out toward the enemy before the Mystery was over. They laid it all to him.
“And at that time we didn’t know ourselves, not till long afterward. You see, we thought we had got away from the Potawatami because our ponies were fresh and theirs had been running buffaloes. Rut the truth was they had followed us until they heard the noise of the shooting where Our Folks attacked the Kitkahhahki. It was the first they knew of the attack and they went to the help of their friends. Until they came Our Folks had all the advantage. But the Potawatami shoot to kill. They carry sticks on which to rest the guns, and their horses are trained to stand still. Our men charged them as they came, but the Potawatami came forward by tens to shoot, and loaded while other tens took their places … and the Medicine of the Arrows had been broken. The men of the Potawatami took the hearts of our slain to make strong Medicine for their bullets and when the Cheyennes saw what they were doing they ran away.