I Was Often A Visitor There, For The White
Shield Being Rather Partial To White Men, Used To Invite Me To
Continual Feasts At All Hours Of The Day.
Once when the substantial
part of the entertainment was concluded, and he and I were seated
cross-legged on a buffalo robe smoking together very amicably, he
took down his warlike equipments, which were hanging around the
lodge, and displayed them with great pride and self-importance.
Among the rest was a most superb headdress of feathers. Taking this
from its case, he put it on and stood before me, as if conscious of
the gallant air which it gave to his dark face and his vigorous,
graceful figure. He told me that upon it were the feathers of three
war-eagles, equal in value to the same number of good horses. He
took up also a shield gayly painted and hung with feathers. The
effect of these barbaric ornaments was admirable, for they were
arranged with no little skill and taste. His quiver was made of the
spotted skin of a small panther, such as are common among the Black
Hills, from which the tail and distended claws were still allowed to
hang. The White Shield concluded his entertainment in a manner
characteristic of an Indian. He begged of me a little powder and
ball, for he had a gun as well as bow and arrows; but this I was
obliged to refuse, because I had scarcely enough for my own use.
Making him, however, a parting present of a paper of vermilion, I
left him apparently quite contented.
Unhappily on the next morning the White Shield took cold and was
attacked with a violent inflammation of the throat. Immediately he
seemed to lose all spirit, and though before no warrior in the
village had borne himself more proudly, he now moped about from lodge
to lodge with a forlorn and dejected air. At length he came and sat
down, close wrapped in his robe, before the lodge of Reynal, but when
he found that neither he nor I knew how to relieve him, he arose and
stalked over to one of the medicine-men of the village. This old
imposter thumped him for some time with both fists, howled and yelped
over him, and beat a drum close to his ear to expel the evil spirit
that had taken possession of him. This vigorous treatment failing of
the desired effect, the White Shield withdrew to his own lodge, where
he lay disconsolate for some hours. Making his appearance once more
in the afternoon, he again took his seat on the ground before
Reynal's lodge, holding his throat with his hand. For some time he
sat perfectly silent with his eyes fixed mournfully on the ground.
At last he began to speak in a low tone:
"I am a brave man," he said; "all the young men think me a great
warrior, and ten of them are ready to go with me to the war.
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