FORT MAGINNIS, MONTANA TERRITORY,
September, 1880.
THERE is a large village of Cree Indians in the valley below, and for
several days they were a great nuisance in the garrison. One bright
morning it was discovered that a long line of them had left their
tepees and were coming in this direction. They were riding single
file, of course, and were chanting and beating "tom-toms" in a way to
make one's blood feel frozen. I was out on one of the little hills at
the time, riding Bettie, and happened to be about the first to see
them. I started for the post at once at a fast gait and told Faye and
Colonel Palmer about them, but as soon as it was seen that they were
actually coming to the post, I rode out again about as fast as I had
come in, and went to a bit of high ground where I could command a view
of the camp, and at the same time be screened by bushes and rocks. And
there I remained until those savages were well on their way back to
their own village.
Then I went in, and was laughed at by everyone, and assured by some
that I had missed a wonderful sight. The Crees are Canadian Indians
and are here for a hunt, by permission of both governments. They and
the Sioux are very hostile to each other; therefore when four or five
Sioux swooped down upon them a few days ago and drove off twenty of
their ponies, the Crees were frantic.
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