The Great Sioux Trail - A Story of Mountain and Plain

Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander) Altsheler

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• Publié par: shoum
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 20
• Langue: English

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Sioux Trail, by Joseph Altsheler
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Title: The Great Sioux Trail
A Story of Mountain and Plain
Author: Joseph Altsheler
Illustrator: Charles L. Wrenn
Release Date: February 18, 2009 [EBook #28115]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT SIOUX TRAIL ***
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THE GREAT SIOUX TRAIL
A STORY OF MOUNTAIN AND PLAIN
BY
JOSEPH A. ALTSHELER
AUTHOR OF
"THE RULERS OF THE LAKES,"
"THE SHADOW OF THE NORTH," ETC.ILLUSTRATED BY
CHARLES L. WRENN
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
NEW YORK LONDON
1918
Copyright, 1918, by
D. Appleton and Company
Printed in the United States of America
THE GREAT SIOUX TRAIL
By JOSEPH A. ALTSHELER
THE CIVIL WAR SERIES
The Guns of Bull Run The Star of Gettysburg
The Rock of
The Guns of Shiloh ChickamauguaThe Scouts of The Shades of the
Stonewall Wilderness
The Sword of The Tree of
Antietam Appomattox
THE WORLD WAR SERIES
The Guns of Europe
The Forest of Swords The Hosts of the Air
THE YOUNG TRAILERS SERIES
The Young Trailers The Free Rangers
The Riflemen of the
The Forest Runners
Ohio
The Keepers of the The Scouts of the
Trail Valley
The Eyes of the
The Border Watch
Woods
THE TEXAN SERIES
The Texas Star
The Texan Scouts The Texan Triumph
THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR SERIES
The Hunters of the The Shadow of the
Hills North
The Rulers of the Lakes
BOOKS NOT IN SERIES
The Great Sioux Trail A Soldier of Manhattan
Apache Gold The Sun of Saratoga
The Quest of the Four A Herald of the West
The Last of the Chiefs The Wilderness Road
In Circling Camps My Captive
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW
YORKA stroke of a great paw and the rifle was dashed from the hands of the old
ToListchief. [PAGE 288.]
FOREWORD
"The Great Sioux Trail" is the first of a group of romances concerned with the
opening of the Great West just after the Civil War, and having a solid historical
basis. They will be connected by the presence of leading characters in all the
volumes, but every one will be in itself a complete story.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
THE SIOUX WARNINGI 1
THE NARROW ESCAPEII 25
THE LITTLE GIANTIII 53
THE FLIGHTIV 84V THE WHITE DOME 111
THE OUTLAWVI 134
THE BEAVER HUNTERVII 157
THE MOUNTAIN RAMVIII 177
THE BUFFALO MARCHIX 199
THE WAR CLUB'S FALLX 229
THE YOUNG SLAVEXI 246
THE CAPTIVE'S RISEXII 266
THE REWARD OF MERITXIII 290
XIV THE DREADFUL NIGHT 315
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
A stroke of a great paw and the rifle was
dashed from the hands of the old chief Frontispiece
FACING PAGE
The rifle sprang to his shoulder, a jet of
flame leaped from the muzzle 48
The body of a warrior shot downward,
striking on the ledges 190
"If he ever looks upon a white face again
it will be the face of one who is a friend of
the Sioux" 256
[Pg 1]
THE GREAT SIOUX TRAIL
CHAPTER ITHE SIOUX WARNING
The scene cast a singular spell, uncanny and exciting, over young Clarke.
The sweep of plains on one side, and on the other the dim outline of mountains
behind which a blood-red sun was sinking, gave it a setting at once majestic
and full of menace. The horizon, as the twilight spread over its whole surface,
suggested the wilderness, the unknown and many dangers.
The drama passing before his eyes deepened and intensified his feeling that
he was surrounded by the unusual. The fire burned low, the creeping dusk
reached the edge of the thin forest to the right, and soon, with the dying of the
flames, it would envelop the figures of both Sioux and soldiers. Will's gaze had
roved from one to another, but now it remained fixed upon the chief, who was
[Pg 2]speaking with all the fire, passion and eloquence so often characteristic of the
great Indian leaders. He was too far away to hear the words, as only the officers
of the troop were allowed at the conference, but he knew they were heavy with
import, and the pulses in his temples beat hard and fast.
"Who is the Indian chief?" he said to Boyd, the scout and hunter, who stood
by his side. "He seems to be a man."
"He is," replied Boyd with emphasis. "He's a man, and a great man, too.
That's Red Cloud, the war chief of the Ogalala Sioux, Mahpeyalute, they call
him in their language, one of the bravest warriors that ever lived, and a thinker,
as well. If he'd been born white he'd be governor of a big state by this time, and
later on he might become president of 'em all."
"I've heard of him. He's one of our most dangerous enemies."
"So he is, Will. It's because he thinks we're going to spread over the Sioux
country—in which he's right—and not because he hates us as men. I've known
him in more peaceful times, and we've done each other good turns, but under
that black hair of his beats a brain that can look far ahead and plan. He means
to close to us the main trail through the Sioux country, and the Sioux range
running halfway across the continent, and halfway from Canada to Mexico.
Mountain and plain alike are theirs."
"I can't keep from having a certain sympathy with him, Jim. It's but natural that
they should want to keep the forests and the great buffalo ranges."
[Pg 3]"I share their feelings, too, though white I am, and to the white people I
belong. I hate to think of the continent ploughed into fields everywhere, and
with a house always in sight. Anyhow, it won't happen in my time, because in
the west here there are so many mountains and the Sioux and Cheyennes are
so warlike that the plough will have a hard time getting in."
"And the country is so vast, too. But watch Red Cloud. He points to the west!
Now he drops his hand, doubles his fist and stretches his arm across the way.
What does it mean, Jim?"
"It's a gesture telling Captain Kenyon that the road is barred to soldiers,
settlers, hunters, all of us. Far to the south we may still follow the gold trails to
California, but here at the edge of this mighty wilderness we must turn back.
The nations of the Dakota, whom we call the Sioux, have said so."
Mahpeyalute lowered his arm, which he had thrust as a barrier across the
way, but his fist remained clenched, and raising it he shook it again. The sun
had sunk over the dim mountains in the north and the burning red there was
fading. All the thin forest was clothed now in dusk, and the figure of the chief
himself grew dimmer. Yet the twilight enlarged him and lent to him new aspectsof power and menace. As he made his gesture of defiance, young Clarke,
despite his courage, felt the blood grow chill in his veins. It seemed at the
moment in this dark wilderness that the great Indian leader had the power to
make good his threats and close the way forever to the white race.
[Pg 4]The other Indians, ten in number, stood with their arms folded, and they
neither stirred nor spoke. But they listened with supreme attention to every word
of their redoubtable champion, the great Mahpeyalute. Will knew that the Sioux
were subdivided into nations or tribes, and he surmised that the silent ones
were their leaders, although he knew well enough that Red Cloud was an
Ogalala, and that the Ogalalas were merely one of the Tetons who, federated
with the others, made up the mighty Sioux nation. But the chief, by the force of
courage and intellect, had raised himself from a minor place to the very
headship.
Red Cloud was about fifty years old, and, while at times he wore the white
man's apparel, at least in part, he was now clothed wholly in Indian attire. A
blanket of dark red was looped about his shoulders, and he carried it with as
much grace as a Roman patrician ever wore the toga. His leggings and
moccasins of fine tanned deerskin were decorated beautifully with beads, and
a magnificent war bonnet of feathers, colored brilliantly, surmounted his thick,
black hair.
He was truly a leader of wild and barbaric splendor in surroundings that fitted
him. But it was not his tall, powerful figure nor his dress that held Will's gaze. It
was his strong face, fierce, proud and menacing, like the sculptured relief of
some old Assyrian king, and in very truth, with high cheek bones and broad
brow, he might have been the reincarnation of some old Asiatic conqueror.
[Pg 5]The young officer seemed nervous and doubtful. He switched the tops of his
riding boots with a small whip, and then looked into the fierce eyes of the chief,
as if to see that he really meant what he said. Kenyon was fresh from the
battlefields of the great civil war, where he had been mentioned specially in
orders more than once for courage and intelligence, but here he felt himself in
the presence of an alarming