Chief Gall was one of the most aggressive leaders of the Sioux nation in their last stand for freedom.
The westward pressure of civilization during the past three centuries has been tremendous.When our hemisphere was "discovered",it had been inhabited by the natives for untold ages,but it was held undiscovered because the original owners did not chart or advertise it.Yet some of them at least had developed ideals of life which included real liberty and equality to all men,and they did not recognize individual ownership in land or other property beyond actual necessity.It was a soul development leading to essential manhood.Under this system they brought forth some striking characters.
Gall was considered by both Indians and whites to be a most impressive type of physical manhood.From his picture you can judge of this for yourself.
Let us follow his trail.He was no tenderfoot.He never asked a soft place for himself.He always played the game according to the rules and to a finish.To be sure,like every other man,he made some mistakes,but he was an Indian and never acted the coward.
The earliest stories told of his life and doings indicate the spirit of the man in that of the boy.
When he was only about three years old,the Blackfoot band of Sioux were on their usual roving hunt,following the buffalo while living their natural happy life upon the wonderful wide prairies of the Dakotas.
It was the way of every Sioux mother to adjust her household effects on such dogs and pack ponies as she could muster from day to day,often lending one or two to accommodate some other woman whose horse or dog had died,or perhaps had been among those stampeded and carried away by a raiding band of Crow warriors.On this particular occasion,the mother of our young Sioux brave,Matohinshda,or Bear-Shedding-His-Hair (Gall's childhood name),intrusted her boy to an old Eskimo pack dog,experienced and reliable,except perhaps when unduly excited or very thirsty.
On the day of removing camp the caravan made its morning march up the Powder River.Upon the wide table-land the women were busily digging teepsinna (an edible sweetish root,much used by them)as the moving village slowly progressed.As usual at such times,the trail was wide.An old jack rabbit had waited too long in hiding.Now,finding himself almost surrounded by the mighty plains people,he sprang up suddenly,his feathery ears conspicuously erect,a dangerous challenge to the dogs and the people.
A whoop went up.Every dog accepted the challenge.Forgotten were the bundles,the kits,even the babies they were drawing or carrying.The chase was on,and the screams of the women reechoed from the opposite cliffs of the Powder,mingled with the yelps of dogs and the neighing of horses.The hand of every man was against the daring warrior,the lone Jack,and the confusion was great.
When the fleeing one cleared the mass of his enemies,he emerged with a swiftness that commanded respect and gave promise of a determined chase.Behind him,his pursuers stretched out in a thin line,first the speedy,unburdened dogs and then the travois dogs headed by the old Eskimo with his precious freight.The youthful Gall was in a travois,a basket mounted on trailing poles and harnessed to the sides of the animal.
"Hey!hey!they are gaining on him!"a warrior shouted.At this juncture two of the canines had almost nabbed their furry prey by the back.But he was too cunning for them.He dropped instantly and sent both dogs over his head,rolling and spinning,then made another flight at right angles to the first.This gave the Eskimo a chance to cut the triangle.He gained fifty yards,but being heavily handicapped,two unladen dogs passed him.The same trick was repeated by the Jack,and this time he saved himself from instant death by a double loop and was now running directly toward the crowd,followed by a dozen or more dogs.He was losing speed,but likewise his pursuers were dropping off steadily.Only the sturdy Eskimo dog held to his even gait,and behind him in the frail travois leaned forward the little Matohinshda,nude save a breech clout,his left hand holding fast the convenient tail of his dog,the right grasping firmly one of the poles of the travois.
His black eyes were bulging almost out of their sockets;his long hair flowed out behind like a stream of dark water.
The Jack now ran directly toward the howling spectators,but his marvelous speed and alertness were on the wane;while on the other hand his foremost pursuer,who had taken part in hundreds of similar events,had every confidence in his own endurance.Each leap brought him nearer,fiercer and more determined.The last effort of the Jack was to lose himself in the crowd,like a fish in muddy water;but the big dog made the one needed leap with unerring aim and his teeth flashed as he caught the rabbit in viselike jaws and held him limp in air,a victor!
The people rushed up to him as he laid the victim down,and foremost among them was the frantic mother of Matohinshda,or Gall.
"Michinkshe!michinkshe!"(My son!my son!)she screamed as she drew near.The boy seemed to be none the worse for his experience.
