human
This here Swift had a wife and ten childer, that he thought a power of. He hunted for 'em night and day; and he come to be known as the best provider in the tribe. Well, come one winter he went crazy; yes, ma'am, plumb looney; and he went for 'em with his hatchet. He killed and _et_ 'em one at a time, beginning with the youngest; while the others waited their turn. You see an old-fashioned Indian was the boss of his family; and they didn't dast fight him back. Right up there on that hill, under that very same tree; I seen the ashes of their bones myself. In the Spring he come down to the settlement and give himself up; said he didn't want to live no more. Shouldn't think he would.
gpt
Are you making the round trip with the Bishop?
human
I have a rabbit-skin robe at the Landing I'd be glad to lend the lady,
gpt
Much obliged, said Garth agreeably;
human
What does _she_ say?
gpt
Thank you very much, said Natalie quickly;
human
Indians think when they go off their heads they're obliged to be cannibals, he continued agreeably.
gpt
They can't separate the two idees somehow. So when a redskin feels a screw beginning to work loose up above, he settles on a nice, fat, tender subject. He says his head's full of ice, and has to be melted. I mind one winter at Caribou Lake forty years back, we were all nigh starving, and our bones was comin' through our skins, like ten-p'ny nails in a paper bag. And one night they comes snoopin' into the settlement an Indian woman as sleek and soft and greasy as a fresh sausage--and lickin' her chops--um--um! There was a man with her and he let it out. She had knifed two young half-breed widows, as fair and beautiful a two girls as ever I see--and she et 'em, yes, ma'am! And nobody teched her; they warn't no police in them days. She lives to the Lake at this day!
human
Good Law! Mr. Smiley!
gpt
Keep cool, old gal! growled Nick.
human
Nobody wouldn't pick you out for a square meal!
gpt
I suppose you hunted buffalo in the old days,
human
Sure, I was quite a hunter, he returned with a casual air.
gpt
It weren't everybody as was considered a hunter, neither. You had to earn your reppytation. We didn't do no drivin' over cliffs or wholesale slaughterin'; it was clean huntin' with us, powder and ball. I mind they used to make a big party, as high as two hundred men, whites, breeds, and friendly redskins. Everything was conducted regular; camp-guards and a council and a captain was elected; and all rules strict observed. Every night we camped inside a barricade. One of the rules was, no tough old bulls useless for meat should be killed under penalty of twenty-five dollars. I was had up before the council for that; but I proved it was self-defense.
human
Tell us about it,
gpt
I ain't sure as this is quite a proper story, he said.
human
You see, I was having a wash, as it might happen, at the edge of a slough--a slough is a little pond in the prairie, Miss, as you're a stranger--and my clothes and my gun was lying beside me, and my horse was croppin' the grass at the top of the rise. When I was as clean as slough water would make me, which isn't much, 'cause I stirred up a power of mud, and soap was an extravagance them days, I begun to dress myself. Well, I had my shirt on, and was sittin' down to pull on my pants, when I heard my cayuse start off on a dead run. I looked up quick-like and blest if there wasn't old Bill Buffalo a-pawin' and a-bellerin' and a-shakin' of his head, not thirty yards away! Soon as he see me look up he come chargin' down on me with his big head close to the ground like a locomotive cow-catcher. And me in that awkward state of dishabilly!
gpt
What did you do, Mr. Smiley?
human
G'lang there, he cried shaking the reins.
gpt
I reached my gun before he reached me, he said;