John Ermine of the Yellowstone (29 page)

T
HE HEART OF THE RIDER HUNG LIKE A LEADEN
weight in his body, as he cast accustomed glances at the old trail up the mountain to Crooked-Bear’s
cabin. He heard the dogs bark, and gave the wolf’s call which was the hermit’s countersign. The dogs grew menacing at his unfamiliar scent, but a word satisfied them. A dog forgets many
things about a person in a year, but never his voice. From out of a dark corner came the goblin of the desolate mountain, ready with his gun for the unwelcome, but to greet Ermine with what
enthusiasm his silent forest ways had left him. For a long time they held each other’s hands, while their faces lighted with pleasure; even the warmth of kindliness kindling in the
scout’s as he stood in the presence of one who did not seek him with the corner of his eyes.

As they built the fire and boiled the water, the old man noted the improved appearance of his protégé—the new clothes and the perfect equipment were a starched reminder of
the glories of the old world, which he had left in the years long gone. He plied his questions, and was more confused to uncover Ermine’s lack of enthusiasm concerning the events which must
have been tremendous, and with difficulty drew the belated news of war and men and things from him. Then like the raising of a curtain, which reveals the play, the hermit saw suddenly that it was
heavy and solemn—he was to see a tragedy, and this was not a play; it was real, it was his boy, and he did not want to see a tragedy.

He feared to have it go on; he shut his eyes for a long time, and then rose to his feet and put his hands on the young man’s shoulders. He sought the weak gleam of the eyes in the dusk of
the cabin. “Tell me, boy, tell me all; you cannot hide it any more than a deer can hide his trail in the snow. I can read your thoughts.”

Ermine did not immediately reply, but the leaden heart turned slowly into a burning coal.

“Crooked-Bear, I wanted a white girl for my wife, and I shot a soldier, who drew a revolver and said he would force me to give him her picture which I had in my pocket, and then I ran
away, everybody shooting at me. They may even come here for me. They want to stand me up beside the long table with all the officers sitting around it, and they want to take me out and hang me on a
tree for the ravens and magpies to pick at. That is what your white people want to do to me, Crooked-Bear, and by God they are going to have a chance to do it, for I am going back to kill the man
and get the girl or die. Do you hear that, Crooked-Bear, do you hear that?”

The hermit’s arms dropped to his side, and he could make no sound or sign. “Sit down, be quiet, boy; let us talk more of this thing. Be calm, and I can find a reason why you will not
want to stain your hands with this man’s blood. When I sent you to the white men to do a man’s work in a white man’s way, I did not think you would lock horns with any buck you
met on the trail, like the dumb things that carry their reason for being on the point of their antlers—sit down.” And the long arms of the hermit waved with a dropping motion.

Ermine sat down, but by no means found his composure. Even in the darkness his eyes gave an unnatural light, his muscles twitched, and his feet were not still. “I knew, Crooked-Bear, I
knew you would talk that way. It is the soft talk of the white men. She made a fool of me, and he was going to put his foot on me as though John Ermine was a grasshopper, and every white man would
say to me after that, ‘Be quiet, Ermine, sit down.’ Bah! I will be quiet and I will sit down until they forget a little, and then—” Ermine emitted the savage snarl of a lynx
in a steel trap. Slapping his knee, he continued: “The white men in the camp are two-sided; they pat you with a hand that is always ready to strike. When the girl looked at me, it lighted a
fire in my heart, and then she blew the flame until I was burning up. She told me as well as any words can say, ‘Come on,’ and when I offered her my hand she blatted like a fawn and ran
away. As if that were not enough, this Butler walked into the room and talked to me as though I were a dog and drew his gun; everything swam before my eyes, and they swim yet, Crooked-Bear. I tell
you I will kill him as surely as day follows night. These soldiers talk as white and soft as milk when it suits their plan, but old Major Searles says that they stand pat in war, that they never
give up the fight, that they must win if it takes years to do it. Very well, I shall not forget that.”

“But, my boy, you must not see red in a private feud; that is only allowed against the enemies of the whole people. Your heart has gone to your head; you can never win a white woman by
spilling the blood of the other man who happens to love her also. That is not the way with them.”

“No, it is not the way with them; it is the way with their women to set a man on fire and then laugh at him, and it is the way with their men to draw a gun. What do they expect,
Crooked-Bear? I ask you that!”

“Who was the girl, Ermine?”

The scout unwrapped the package from his bosom, and handed the photograph to the old man, saying, “She is like that.”

The hermit regarded the picture and ventured, “An officer’s daughter?”

“Yes; daughter of Major Searles.”

“Who was the man you shot?”

“A young pony soldier—an officer; his name is Butler.” And gradually Ermine was led to reveal events to the wise man, who was able to piece out the plot with much knowledge not
natural to the wilds of the Rocky Mountains. And it was a tragedy. He knew that the girl’s unfortunate shot had penetrated deeper than Ermine’s, and that the Law and the Lawless were in
a death grapple.

They sought their bunks, and in the following days the prophet poured much cold water on Ermine’s determination, which only turned to steam and lost itself in the air. The love of the
woman and the hate of the man had taken root in the bedrock of his human nature, and the pallid “should nots” and “must nots” of the prophet only rustled the leaves of
Ermine’s philosophy.

“He has taken her from me; he has made me lose everything I worked for with the white men; he has made me a human wolf, and I mean to go back and kill him. You say I may lose my life; ho!
What is a dead man? A dead man and a buffalo chip look just alike to these mountains, to this sky, and to me, Crooked-Bear,” came the lover’s reply.

And at other times: “I know, Crooked-Bear, that you wanted a girl to marry you once, and because she would not, you have lived all your life like a gray bear up here in these rocks, and
you will die here. I am not going to do that; I am going to make others drink with me this bitter drink, which will sweeten it for me.”

Sadly the hermit saw this last interest on earth pass from him; saw Fate wave her victorious banners over him; saw the forces of nature work their will; and he sank under the burden of his
thoughts. “I had hoped,” he said to himself, “to be able to restore this boy to his proper place among the white people, but I have failed. I do not understand why men should be
so afflicted in this world as Ermine and I have been, but doubtless it is the working of a great law, and possibly of a good one. My long years as a hunter have taught me that the stopping of the
heart-beat is no great thing—it is soon over; but the years of living that some men are made to undergo is a very trying matter. Brave and sane is he who keeps his faith. I fear for the
boy.”

After a few weeks Ermine could no longer bear with the sullen savagery of his emotions, and he took his departure. Crooked-Bear sat by his cabin door and saw him tie his blanket on his saddle;
saw him mount and extend his hand, which he shook, and they parted without a word. They had grown accustomed to this ending; there was nothing in words that mattered now. The prophet’s boy
disappeared in the gloom of the woods, snapping bushes, and rolling stones, until there was no sound save the crackling of the fire on the lonely hearth.

As Ermine ambled over the yellow wastes, he thought of the difference between now and his going to the white man one year ago. Then he was full of hopes; but now no Crow Indian would dare be
seen in his company—not even Wolf-Voice could offer him the comfort of his reckless presence. He was compelled to sneak into the Absaroke camp in the night, to trade for an extra pony with
his relatives, and to be gone before the morning. The ghostly tepees, in the quiet of the night, seemed to dance around him, coming up, and then retiring, while their smoke-flaps waved their giant
fingers, beckoning him to be gone. The dogs slunk from him, and the ponies walked away. The curse of the white man was here in the shadows, and he could feel the Indians draw their robes more
closely over their heads as they dreamed. The winds from the mountains blew on his back to help him along, and whispered ugly thoughts. All the good of the world had drawn away from Ermine, and it
seemed that the sun did not care to look at him, so long was he left to stumble through the dark. But Nature did not paint this part of her day any blacker than she had Ermine’s heart; each
footfall of his pony took him nearer to death, and he whipped on impatiently to meet it. Hope had long since departed—he could not steal the girl; he realized the impossibility of eluding
pursuit; he only wanted to carry Butler with him away from her. All the patient training of Crooked-Bear, all the humanizing influence of white association, all softening moods of the pensive face
in the photograph, were blown from the fugitive as though carried on a wind; he was a shellfish-eating cave-dweller, with a Springfield, a knife, and a revolver. He had ceased to think in English,
and muttered to himself in Absaroke. As his pony stumbled at a ford in the river, he cut it savagely with his whip—the pony which was the last of his friends—and it grunted piteously as
it scrambled for its foothold.

Day after day he crawled through the rugged hills far from the places where men might be; for every one was his enemy, and any chance rifle would take away from him his vengeance. The tale of
his undoing had travelled wide—he found that out in the Crow camp; Ba-cher-hish-a had told him that through her tears. He could trust no one; the scouts at Tongue River might be apathetic in
an attempt to capture him, but they could not fail to report his presence if seen in the vicinity. Butler was probably in the middle of the log-town, which swarmed with soldiers, but it was there
he must go, and he had one friend left, just one; it is always the last friend such a one has—the Night.

Having arrived in the vicinity of the post, he prowled out on foot with his only friend. It was early, for he must do his deed while yet the lights were lit. Any one moving about after
“taps” would surely be investigated by the guard. The country was not yet tranquil enough to permit of laxity in the matter of sentry duty, and the soldiers counted “ten”
very fast after they challenged. He had laid aside his big hat, and was wrapped in his blanket. Many Indians were about, and he was less apt to be spoken to or noticed. He moved forward to the
scout fire, which was outside of the guard-line, and stood for a time in some brushwood, beyond the play of the flames. He was closely enveloped in his blanket, and although Indians passed quite
near him, he was not noticed. Suddenly he heard a detail of wagons clanking up the road, and conjectured rightly that they would go into the post. He ran silently toward them, and stooping low, saw
against the skyline that the cavalry guard had worked up in front, impatient to shave the time when they should reach their quarters.

It was a wood train, and it clanked and ground and jingled to the quartermaster’s corral, bearing one log on the last wagon which was John Ermine and his fortunes. This log slid to the
ground and walked swiftly away.

The time for “taps” was drawing near, and the post buzzed in the usual expectation of that approaching time of quiet. A rifle-shot rang loud and clear up on the
officers’ row; it was near Major Searles’ house, every one said as they ran. Women screamed, and Tongue River cantonment laid its legs to the ground as it gathered to the place.
Officers came with revolvers, and the guard with lanterns. Mrs. Searles and her daughter were clasped in each other’s arms, while Mary, the cook, put her apron over her head. Searles ran out
with his gun; the shot had been right under the window of his sitting room. An Indian voice greeted him, “Don’ shoot; me killi him.”

“Who in h——are you?” swore Searles, at a present.

“Don’ shoot, me Ahhæta—all same Sharp-Nose—don’ shoot—me killi him.”

“Killi who? Who have you killed? Talk up quick!”

“Me killi him. You come—you see.”

By this time the crowd drew in with questions and eager to help. A sergeant arrived with a lantern, and the guard laid rude hands on the Crow scout, Sharp-Nose, who was well known. He was
standing over the prostrate figure, and continued to reiterate, “Me killi him.”

The lantern quickly disclosed the man on the ground to be John Ermine, late scout and fugitive from justice, shot through the heart and dead, with his blanket and rifle on the ground beside him.
As he looked through the window, he had been stalked and killed by the fool whom he would not allow to shake hands with Katherine Searles, and a few moments later, when Sharp-Nose was brought into
her presence, between two soldiers, she recognized him when he said, “Mabeso, now you shake hands.”

“Yes, I will shake hands with you, Sharp-Nose,” and half to herself, as she eyed her malevolent friend, she muttered, “and he kept you to remember me by.”

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