Page:On the border with Crook - Bourke - 1892.djvu/434

 countries. Mr. Strahorn, who was often with us, had wandered about in many curious spots of our own territory, and was brimful of anecdote of quaint types of human nature encountered far away from the centres of civilization. Crook and Mackenzie and Mason would sometimes indulge in reminiscences to which all eagerly listened, and it is easy to see that such a mess would of itself have been a place of no ordinary interest; but for me the greatest attraction was to be found in the constant presence of distinguished Indian chiefs whose names had become part and parcel of the history of our border. General Sheridan had paid one hurried visit and remained a day, but being better known to American readers, there is no use in speaking of him and his work during the war.

There were two cooks, Phillips and Boswell, the former of whom had shared the trials and tribulations of the terrible march down from the head of Heart River, and seemed resolved to make hay while the sun shone; he could make anything but pie—in that he failed miserably. I think it was Oliver Wendell Holmes who once wrote an essay to demonstrate that the isothermal line of perpetual pumpkin pie was the line of highest civilization and culture. The converse of the proposition would seem to be equally true: pie, of any kind, cannot be made except under the most æsthetic surroundings; amid the chilling restraints of savagery and barbarism, pie is simply an impossibility. It did not make much difference what he prepared, Boswell was sure of an appreciative discussion of its merits by a mess which was always hungry, and which always had guests who were still hungrier and still more appreciative.

Taking our aboriginal guests in order of rank, the chief, of course, was "Spotted Tail." This is, unfortunately, not the age of monument-building in America; if ever the day shall come when loyal and intelligent friendship for the American people shall receive due recognition, the strong, melancholy features of "Siutiega-leska," or "Spotted Tail," cast in enduring bronze, will overlook the broad area of Dakota and Nebraska, which his genius did so much to save to civilization. In youth a warrior of distinction, in middle age a leader among his people, he became, ere time had sprinkled his locks with snow, the benefactor of two races. A diplomatist able to hold his own with the astutest agents the Great Father could depute to confer