But Mika'pi's helpers were not far off. It was at the very verge of a high cut wall over hanging the river that Mlka'pi fell, and even as the Snakes shouted he rolled over the brink into the dark rushing water below. The Snakes ran along the edge of the river, looking into the water, with bent bows watching for the enemy's head or body to appear, but they saw nothing.
MIKA'PI—RED OLD MAN
Carefully they looked along the shores and sandbars; they did not find him.
Mlka'pi had sunk deep in the water. The swift current carried him along, and when he rose to the surface he was beyond his enemies. For some time he floated on, but the arrow in his leg pained him and at last he crept out on a sandbar. He managed to draw the arrow from his leg, and finding at the edge of the bar a dry log, he rolled it into the water, and keeping his hands on it, drifted down the river with the current. Cold and stiff from his wounds, he crept out on the bank and lay down in the warm sunshine. Soon he fell asleep.
When he awoke the sun was in the middle of the sky. His leg and arm were swollen and pained him, yet he started to go home, and for a time struggled onward; but at last, tired and discouraged, he sat down.
"Ah," he said to himself, "true were the signs! How crazy I was to go against them! Now my bravery has been useless, for here I must stop and die. The widows will still mourn, and who will care for my father and
BLACKFEET INDIAN STORIES
mother in their old age? Pity me now, O Sun; help me, 0 Great Above Person! Give me life!"
Something was coming through the brush near him, breaking the sticks as it walked. Was it the Snakes following his trail? Mlka'pi strung his bow and drew his arrows from the quiver. He waited.
No, it was not a Snake; it was a bear, a big grizzly bear, standing there looking down at Mlka'pi. "What is my brother doing here?" said the bear. "Why does he pray for life?"
"Look at my leg," said Mlka'pi; "swollen and sore. See my wounded arm; I can hardly hold the bow. Far away is the home of my people, and my strength is gone. Surely here I must die, for I cannot walk, and I have no food."
"Take courage, my brother," said the bear. "Keep up a strong heart, for I will help you, and you shall have life."
When he had said this he lifted Mlka'pi in his arms and took him to a place where there was thick mud, and there he took great hand-
MIKA'PI—RED OLD MAN
fuls of the mud and plastered it on the wounds, and while he was putting on the mud he sang a medicine song. Then he carried Mika'pi to a place where there were many service berries, and he broke off great branches of the fruit and gave them to him, saying, "Eat, my brother, eat." He kept breaking off branches full of large, ripe berries until Mika'pi was full and could eat no more.
Then said the bear, "Now lie down on my back and hold tight by my hair and we will go on"; and when Mika'pi had got on his back and was ready the bear started. All through the night he travelled on without stopping, and when morning came they rested for a time and ate more berries, and again the bear put mud upon the man's wounds. In this way they travelled on, until, on the fourth day, they had come close to the lodges of the Piegans and the people saw them coming, and wondered.
"Get off now, my brother, get off," said the bear. "There is the camp of your people. I shall leave you"; and at once he turned and went off up the mountain.
BLACKFEET INDIAN STORIES
All the people came out to meet Mika'pi, and they carried him to his father's lodge. He untied the scalps from his belt and gave them to the poor widows, saying, "These are the scalps of your enemies; I wipe away your tears." Then every one rejoiced. All Mika'pi's women relations went through the camp, shouting out his name and singing songs about him, and all prepared to dance the dance of triumph and rejoicing.
First came the widows. They carried the scalps tied on poles, and their faces were painted black. Then came the medicine men, with their medicine pipes unwrapped, and then the bands of the All Friends dressed in their war costumes; then came the old men; and, last of all, the women and children., They went all through the village, stopping here and there to dance, and Mika'pi sat outside the lodge and saw all the people dance by him. He forgot his pain and was happy, and although he could not dance, he sung with them.
Soon they made the medicine lodge, and first of all the warriors, Mika'pi was chosen to cut
MIKA'PI—RED OLD MAN
the rawhide to bind the poles, and as he cut the strips he related the coups he had counted. He told of the enemies he had killed, and all the people shouted his name and the drummers struck the drum. The father of those two sis ters gave them to him. He was glad to have such a son-in-law.
Long lived Mlka'pi. Of all the great chiefs who have lived and died he was the greatest. He did many other great things. It must be true, as the old men have said, that he was helped by the ghosts, for no one can do such things without help from those fearful and ter rible persons.
RED ROBE'S DREAM
E>NG, long ago, Red Robe and Talking Rock were young .men in the Blackfeet camp. In their childhood days and early youth their life had been hard. Talking Rock was an orphan without a single relation and Red Robe had only his old grandmother.
This old woman, by hard work and sacrifice, had managed to rear the boys. She tanned robes for the hunters, made them moccasins worked with porcupine quills, and did everything she could to get a little food or worn out robes and hide, from which she made clothes for her boys. They never had new, brightly painted calf robes, like other children. They went barefoot in summer, and in winter their toes often showed through the worn out skin of their moccasins. They had no flesh. Their ribs could be counted beneath the skin; their cheeks were hollow; they looked always hungry.
RED ROBE'S DREAM
When they grew to be twelve or fifteen years old they began to do better, for now they could do more and more for themselves. They herded horses and performed small services for the wealthy men; then, too, they hunted and killed a little meat. Now, for their work, three or four dogs were given them, so with the two the old woman owned, they were able to pack their small lodge and other possessions when the camp moved, instead of carrying everything on their backs.
Now they began to do their best to make life easier for the good old woman who had worked so hard to keep them from starving and freezing.
Time passed. The boys grew old enough to go out and fast. They had their dreams. Each found his secret helper of mysterious power, and each became a warrior. Still they were very poor, compared with other young men of their age. They had bows, but only a few arrows. They were not able to pay some great medicine man to make shields for them. ( As yet they went to war only as servants.
About this time Red Robe fell in love» 131
BLACKFEET INDIAN STORIES
In the camp was a beautiful girl named Ma-min'—the Wing—whom all the young men wished to marry, but perhaps Red Robe loved her more than all the rest. Her father was a rich old medicine man who never invited any except chiefs and great warriors to feast with him, and Red Robe seldom entered his lodge. He used to dress as well as he could, to braid his hair carefully, to paint his face nicely, and to stand for a long time near the lodge looking entreatingly at her as she came and went about her work, or fleshed a robe under the shelter of some travois over which a hide was spread. Then whenever they met, he thought the look she gave him in passing was friendly—perhaps more than that.
Wherever Ma-min' went her mother or some woman of the family went with her, so Red Robe could never speak to her, but he was often near by. One day, when she was gather ing wood for the lodge, and her companion was out of sight behind some willow bushes some distance away, Red Robe had a chance to tell Ma-min' what was in his heart. He walked