Page:The life and adventures of James P. Beckwourth, mountaineer, scout, pioneer, and chief of the Crow nation of Indians (IA lifeadventuresof00beckrich).pdf/322

304 manufactured there, and brought up the river in great boats by our white friends.

They then inquired by what means they had gained the alliance of the whites; that, instead of killing them and banishing them from their hunting-ground, as they did to many nations, they should give themselves the great trouble to serve them with their boats, and bring them such immense supplies.

The Crows informed them that their great chief, the Medicine Calf, had been instrumental in accomplishing all this. By his long residence with the whites, after his sale to them by the Cheyennes when he had become a great brave, he had gained surprising influence with the great white chief, who loved the Medicine Calf, and had taught him to make forts, and had suffered him to come back to his people in order to teach them to become great, and overcome all their enemies.

The Snakes were wonder-stricken at such marvels. The unassailable fort (which a single bomb-shell would have blown to atoms), filled with an inexhaustible store of rich goods; our great fort down the river, in comparison with which this was but a small lodge, and where all these marvellous products of our ingenuity were manufactured; our mysterious connection with the whites, which procured us the advantage of their unremunerated services, and shielded us with the irresistible succour of the great white chief—all this overpowered their imagination. The wealth and power of the Crow nation exceeded all conception, and to oppose them in war was to incur unavoidable destruction.

After the Snakes had traded off their stock of peltry, obtaining large supplies in exchange, we returned to the village. They had wonderful narratives of the big fort and wealth of the Crow nation to spin to their fellow-villagers. In fact, they were so impressed with the idea of our superiority that two hundred lodges of the Snakes joined our nation, and never separated from them. They had a chief of their own, but conformed to our laws and regulations, proving themselves faithful fellow-citizens, and emulating our best warriors in battle. This coalition increased our force to the number of five hundred warriors—more than we had lost in battle for four years