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employing his time in hunting and sell
ing the game he killed in the neighbor
ing village. In this way he would ac
cumulate considerable money during
the hunting season, and in the spring
he would generally return to his wives,
(the Mormon had three of them,) and
his children, and we would see him no
more until cool weather set in the next
fall.
Tiger Tail took a great fancy to me,
and as at that early clay there were no
schools in the country, and I had plenty
of leisure for hunting and fishing, I of
ten went out with him upon his hunting
expeditions.
It was to him that I am indebted for
my first lessons in “woodcraft.” He
taught me how to make a fire at night
when the wood, lea\es and grass were
all wet from recent rains ; how to skin
the bark off of certain kinds of trees,
and to build a temporary hut with it
that would make a dry and comfortable
shelter in the heaviest storms of rain ;
how to steer my way through the dense
forest in any direction I wished to go,
when the sun was not visible, by the
moss on the trees, and by other indica
tions of the true north point, known to
the Indians. For instance, when a lit
tle bothered about the right course to
pursue on a cloudy day, I have seen
him stick a splinter upright in a piece
of white cloth or paper, and, although
the sun was not atall visible, a faint
shadow of the splinter would be thrown
on the paper or cloth, showing, o f
course, that the sun was in the opposite
direction. He also taught me how to
take advantage of all sorts of game, so
as to get within rifle shot without alarm
ing it. These early lessons in wood
craft I never forgot, and the knowledge
I acquired in this way was often of
great service to me afterwards in my
campaigns and hunts upon the frontier
of Texas. Like all uncivilized and un
educated people, Tigertail was very
superstitious, and believed implicitly in
hobgoblins, ghosts and witchcraft. He
always wore two or three charms upon
his person, to ward off the influence of
the “ evil eye,” and to give him good
luck in hunting and fishing. I remem
ber, upon a certain occasion, when we
were on our way to a noted turkey
roost two or three hours before day
light, I noticed that he took a round
about way to reach it, instead of fol
lowing the direct route, which led by
the ruins of an old Spanish fort.
“ What is the reason, Tigertail,”
1 asked, “that you don’t take the
straight road to the roost?”
“Well,” said he, “ mebbe so no
good to go by dat ole house.”
“Why,” replied I, “ there is noth
ing to hurt us there.”
“ Dunno,” he said, “long time ago
when I was a belly little boy, me and
my fader camp close by dat place one
night,—no white people here den, and
no chicken and no cow —but de next
mornin when de daylight come de chick-
BURKE’S WEEKLY FOR BOYS AND GIRLS.
en begin to crow and de cow to bellow
all aroun dat place, and me and my
fader got up and leave dar mity fast.
No, 1 teli you, dat place no good, and
Ino want to go about him.” And he
never did go near it, I believe, even in
the day time.
When he bade me good-bye, the last
time I saw him, he took me to one side
and told me he had something to give me
—a “ great medicine” —“ mity strong ”
—that I must always wear it around my
neck, and it would keep the bullets from
striking me in battle; that, like some
of our patent nostrums, it would cure
all sorts of diseases, and would make
me proof against the 1 evil eye ’ and all
kinds of witchcraft.” Saying this, he
pulled out a little parcel from his shot
pouch, carefully wrapped in buckskin,
and handed it to me. I thanked him
for his present, and although I had
ver3 r little confidence in the charm, I
did not tell him so, of course, for I
knew it would have wounded his feel
ings greatly if I had told him I had no
faith in its efficacy. After Tigertail left
me, I untied the numerous strings with
which the package was secured, unfold
ed the buckskin wrapper, and out
dropped a dried terrapin’s tail! Though
probably not so efficacious a medicine
as Tigertail had stated, it was un
doubtedly a strong one in one scents of
the word, owing, perhaps, to the fact
that it was not entirely cured. He fully
believed he had made me a most valua
ble present, aud I appreciated it accord
ly, but I never had sufficient confidence
in its virtues to wear it around my
neck.
One day I was sitting in my room
reading, when Tigertail came in,
dressed up in a “stove pipe” hat, (in
which he had cut a hole and stuck a
feather,) frock coat, vest and panta
loons. His usual eostome was a hunt
ing shirt, buckskin leggins and a flashy
vest, ihe only article of white man’s ap
parel he appeared to fancy. “Why,
Tigertail,” I said, “you are dressed
up mighty fine this evening. You must
be going a courting.”
“No,” he replied, “me grot tree wife
now —plenty wife for sub-chief. I bin
in de town, and heap young men at de
store (my flens) say Tigertail, you lib
here mong de white people now, and
you'must wear de clothes same like
white people. So one gim me hat and
I put him on, one gim me coat and I
put him on, one gim me breeches and
I put him on, and more coat and
more breeches and I put em all on
but I no like ’em!”
It was in the month of July, and very
hot weather, and Tigertail did not
seem at all at his ease in his new rig,and
no wonder; for, after puffing and blow
ing and twisting and turning in his seat
for fifteen or twenty minutes, he jumped
up and exclaimed:
“Ugh? coat no good for Ingin, hot
too much!” and commenced stripping
off the tight-fitting garments. He pull-
ed off two coats, two vests and three
pairs of thick cloth pantaloons, which
left him in his ordinary dress —the hunt
ing shirt, vest and leggins.
“Why, Tigertail,” said I, “what
made you put them all on at once?”
“ Oh my flens gim me all and I must
put ’em on.”
He evidently thought that good man
ners required him to put on at once ev
erything “his flens” had given him,
and I have not the least doubt but that
he would have put on a dozen more
coats and pantaloons if they had been
given to him.
Coming home one evening, after
hunting all day, Tigertail discovered
that some light-fingered individual had
stolen six specie dollars from a shot
pouch he had left hanging up in our
room. He went out and cut a small
twig from a tree, and carefully measur
ed the track in the sand outside the
door. Two of these tracks corres
ponded in length with his and my own
track, but there was a third one shorter
and broader than either. Who could
have made the third track was the
question. There were three or four
negro boys about the place, and Tiger
tail, with his measure in hand, started
off to hunt them up, and I followed on,
as I was curious to know what he in
tended to do. He found the boys chop
ping at a wood-pile, and went up to the
nearest one and deliberately applied
the measure to his foot.
“ITello!” said the boy, “what yon
’bout, Mr. Ingin?”
“ Oh I want makee you pair of moc
asins,” said Tigertail. Finding the
measure did not fit, he went on to the
next with the same result and then
started for the third one, a great scamp
by the name of Nat. Nat showed a
guilty conscience at once, for he en
deavored to evade the measuring pro
cess, by taking to his heels, but Tiger
tail soon overtook him, seized him by
the neck and applied the measure to his
foot. It fitted exactly.
“You lascal,” said the Indian, “gim
me my sis dollars !”
“ Oh I declar, Mass Tigertail, I neb
ber tuck de money.”
“ You lie too much,” said Tigertail,
and pulling out his butcher knife, he
grabbed Nat by his wooly top-knot, and,
with a most diabolical scowl upon his
face, flourished his knife as if he was
just preparing to take the scalp from his
head.
“Oh! don’t kill me this time,”
screamed Nat, in mortal terror, “and
I’ll nebber take your money any more.
Here it is—all of it, Mass Tigertail,’’
and he fished up the six dollars from
the bottom of his breeches pocket.
Tigertail let him go for a moment, to
count his money, when Nat dashed into
the house, and slammed the door be
hind him. But Tigertail had given him
such a fright that I am confident he
never afterwards ventured to put his
foot in our quarters.
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