90 SEEKING SHELTER AMONG THE INDIANS. [1858, At the end of these nocturnal journeys I often reached home with bloodshot eyes, and every shred of skin shaven from my lips by the wind as if by a razor. But one or two days always restored me: for nature pardons every hygienic sin in him who loves her free, healthgiving atmosphere. Hardships which would prove fatal in cities, are easily endured upon prairie or mountain. On a dark December evening I left Lawrence for Quin. daro. Fifteen miles out on the lonely road, the clouds gathered themselves into an unbroken dome of black; and the darkness grew so dense that I could hardly see my open hand two inches before my eyes. Then the rain poured in torrents. Fortu nately I was in a little strip of forest, where my horse could not leave the track without running against the trees. In this extremity I joyfully detected lights, shining through the chinks of a log-cabin. Riding up and pushing open the door, I was greeted with the clamor of half a dozen noisy dogs. It was the only dwelling within ten miles; and its interior conveyed a certain suggestion of comfort. I asked: A COMFORTABLE SLUMBER. 'Can I find lodgings here to-night?" There were three Indians upon stools around the rude supper table. The oldest and most stolid grunted an affirmative, beckoned me in, and sent one of his companions to care for my horse. Throwing off my dripping overcoat, I stretched myself before the log fire, which from the great hearth lighted up the whole cabin. It was a single room, ten or twelve feet square. The 1858.] A NIGHT WITH A DELAWARE FAMILY. 91 three men, dressed in coats and pantaloons, had long coarse black hair, sinister eyes, and brooding, suspicious countenances. A stout squaw, cheery and open-faced, who wore zinc ear-rings as large as silver dollars, sat humbly waiting for the nobler sex to finish their repast. Crouching beside her was a girl of eight years also wearing the metallic ear-rings. Before I had completed this inventory, a vigorous squall drew my attention to a distant corner. There, from a swinging hammock, an Indian papoose of American descent screeched so lustily that his dusky mother seized him, dandled him on her knee, and soothed him with the sweetest baby-talk of the Delaware tongue. He looked like an infant mummy. He was on his back, bandaged so tightly to a board that he could only scream, roll his head and wink; but he performed all these functions at once with miraculous vehemence. His lips were at last silenced by application to 'the maternal fount;' and then he was set up against the wall like a fire-shovel, to inspect the company. Supper over, the little girl filled and lighted an earthern pipe with reed stem a foot long. Smoking a few whiffs she handed it to her mother. That stolid matron finished it; and we all sat staring silently into the fire. The girl, true to her sex, found courage to scrutinize my gold sleeve-buttons, watch and chain, and every other glittering article she could find about me, greeting each with some fresh ejaculation of delight. Then she kissed the papoose, and crept to her straw nest in another corner. Mine host knew a few English words and I asked him: 'What is your name?' 'Umph. Four Miles.' 'And his? 'Umph. Fall Leaf.' 'And the little girl's?' 'O-kee-au-kee. No English.' And Four Miles was again overcome by one of his brilliant flashes of silence. At bed-time, as I unbuckled my revolver, he glanced inquiringly toward it, took it with nervous care, turned it over and over, stared solemnly into the barrels, and then returned it. 'Umph. Good. How much?" 92 ORIGIN OF INDIAN APPELLATIONS. 'Twenty dollars.' [1858. And with another grunt, Four Miles relapsed into speechless ness. My bed was of plank, well covered with blankets. Through the whole night I had a dreamy consciousness of shivering; and when daylight appeared I noticed the absence of a log in the cabin wall beside me, which left an aperture sufficiently large to admit either a man or enough cold air to cover him. A generous style of ventilation for which I was not adequately grateful. Upon the stone hearth blazed a bright log fire, and around it were grouped the family, all with colds in the head, and all in fearful contiguity to the open cooking utensils. I forced down a few morsels of breakfast; but it was a signal triumph of mind over matter. My horse was brought to the door, and I asked: 'How much?' 'Umph-two dollars.' Which I paid and departed, while the noble savage grunted a friendly adieu. A few weeks later while driving to Lawrence, with my wife and child, and the wife and child of a friend, another sudden and violent storm compelled us all to spend a night in the same cabin. The ladies relished the novelty of the experience but when breakfast appeared, no entreaties could induce them to taste it. After we reached our journey's end, they began a vigorous scrutiny of the children's heads, which, judging from their ejaculations of horror, was not altogether barren of results. Four Miles received his name because he once ran four miles without stopping. Another Delaware taken captive in war, escaped and made a long journey back to his own village, eating nothing on the way but a little loaf of corn bread. He was immediately re-christened 'Journey-cake.' Several of his descendants yet survive and bear that family name, though the white settlers corrupt it into Johnny-cake. Years ago, in battle with the whites, a Delaware youth was made prisoner. One day he took up a plank from the floor of his guard-house, descended to the ground, and crept out in the long grass, eluding the sentinel. Finally, having a fair start, he rose |