1840 Indian Rebirth

Chapter 13 [Horse Thief]

Resting on the spot for a while, beating his sore thighs, moving his hands and feet, the horse sentry rode Heifeng, and returned to the camp with Jumping Hooves.

Although Hei Feng didn't run a straight line away from the camp before, but after running for so long, the distance was not short. In addition, the men and horses had no physical strength at this time, so it would naturally take a lot of time to return.

By the time the two approached the camp, it was already late at night.

The two were chatting.

"Jumping Hoof, how did you get your two feathers?" The whistle noticed the two feathers on the head of Jumping Hoof.

Unlike some people, including his impression in previous lives, not all Indians wear a big hat that knows how to weave feathers. Some tribes don't have this thing at all, and not everyone in the tribe with this tradition is qualified to wear it.

Feathers mean meritorious deeds, and most people will get two or three feathers to wear on their heads throughout their lives.

Only a few people with high morals and outstanding achievements will weave them into battle crowns because they have obtained too many feathers, becoming the classic image of Indian warriors in people's impression.

As for the one with a lot of feathers on the battle crown, which are all dragged to the ground, in the eyes of today's horse post, it is actually similar to Brezhnev's style of painting.

In addition, the materials for the battle crown are not all eagle feathers, and sometimes you can find some similar bird feathers to make do with it, similar to "dog-tailed mink".

"One from my horse work, and one from combat," said Jumping Hoof.

"Who are you fighting with?"

"Of course our worst enemy, the Arapaho," blurted Hoof.

Hearing the whistle, he couldn't help frowning: "The Arapaho people are indeed our great enemy, but I think the white people are more of a threat."

He was disgusted by the complex and intense internal conflicts among the various tribes, and sometimes some tribes would even unite with white people to backstab other tribes.If it weren't for this, if the Indians could unite, why would they be beaten to this level by the whites.

Jumping Hood didn't take it seriously: "If I remember correctly, your father was killed by the Arapaho people."

"Yes, but my mother died at the hands of white men," said Horse Whistle.

"So you love your mother more?" Hoof asked.

"..." The horse whistle stopped, "This has nothing to do with personal hatred. The white people are more united than us and have a more advanced civilization. If we don't unite, all tribes will be driven to the barren reservation."

"Etiquette? White people burned, killed, looted, what kind of etiquette!" Tiao Ho said, with a bit of anger in his voice.

The horse whistle sighed.He didn't find an Apache word suitable for translating "civilization", but used a word with a concept very close to "etiquette".The Indians did not understand the connotations of the civilization he said, and there seemed to be no corresponding vocabulary in the language.

The atmosphere was a little awkward, and the two walked forward for a while without a word.

"Wait." The horse whistle suddenly whispered vigilantly, making Hei Feng stop, while staring at somewhere not far away.

Jumping Hooves stopped alertly and followed his gaze.

Thanks to a religious habit of eating raw bison livers, the Sleeping Bear clan does not have night blindness, and of course there is no horse whistle with a healthy and reasonable diet.

So in the night, the two quickly noticed something, it turned out to be a dark shadow sneaking among the horses.

"Someone is stealing the horse!" As an excellent horse breeder, Tiao Chi immediately understood what this figure was doing, and instantly became furious.

Immediately, he took out the battle ax at his waist and rushed towards the shadow with a roar: "If you dare to steal my horse, go to hell!"

The horses quickly parted ways for him to pass.The horse whistle also took out the tomahawk and followed closely.

After a while, the two met the horse thief who was about to escape.

There were also two people on the other side, Indians from other tribes. Their situation was obviously not good. After all, this place was next to the camp where the Mianxiong people lived. If they didn't escape in time, they would die without a place to die.

With excellent eyesight, the horse whistle became the first person on both sides to see the opponent's movements clearly.

Seeing that one of the horse-thieves was also holding a tomahawk and was about to throw it, he made a decisive decision, preemptively, and threw his own tomahawk with his backhand.

"Ah!" There was a scream, and the tomahawk hit the horse thief in the chest.

In fact, the whistle was missed, and his arm was still sore, otherwise this ax would have completely smashed the opponent.

The other horse thief suddenly became frightened and didn't want to fight back. He turned his head and was about to run away, but was chased by Jumping Hoof, and his arm was chopped off with an axe.

Naturally, there was another scream.

Of course, the clansmen had heard the movement long ago. The first person who rushed over was a tall and thin young man who was riding a horse with an anxious expression on his face: "Whistle, jump hoof, you are back? What was the voice just now?"

Tiao Hoo pointed to the two horse thieves on the ground, one dead and one wounded: "Blind shot, how do you look at the horse when I'm not around? I almost let these two horse thieves succeed."

Blind She looked ashamed: "I'm sorry, it was my dereliction of duty."

After a while, more than a dozen tribesmen came one after another, including the chief and the shaman.

They quickly understood the situation. The chief looked at the two horse thieves on the ground, one dead and one wounded, and said first: "Stone Crow, treat the injured man's wound and ask his identity."

Shi Ya nodded and left with the injured horse thief.

Then the chief looked at the horse whistle and smiled: "Whistle, you killed an enemy, and the clan will reward you with an eagle feather."

"Thank you, chief." The horse whistle was a little surprised, and then thanked him.

The old chief looked at Blind She again, with a serious expression on his face: "Blind She, this is your dereliction of duty, and the clan will deprive you of an eagle feather as a punishment for dereliction of duty."

Blind shot opened his mouth to argue, but he still lowered his head and said in frustration, "Yes, Chief."

The horse whistle hesitated for a moment, and then said: "Chief, this matter is caused by me. If I hadn't tamed the horse and ran out of the camp, Hop Hoof wouldn't have left the herd. And as the best horse breeder, he certainly wouldn't have left the camp." Let horse thieves come near."

"So, the responsibility lies with me, let's take away my eagle feathers. After all, blind shooting is just a temporary care for the horses. It can't be compared with jumping hoofs. It's normal to lack experience."

Hearing what he said, Blind She immediately showed gratitude, and the expression of Hoof Tiao was also faintly complacent.

The old chief also thought it made sense, he thought about it, and finally nodded: "That's right. If that's the case, let's cancel the reward and punishment just now."

"Let's go and see the horse thief. His injuries are serious, and he might die," someone said.

The crowd immediately came to where the stone crow was, and the injured horse thief lay beside him.

"Do you know his identity?"

Stone Crow was still bandaging the horse thief's wound, but nodded, "He's a Comanche from the Twin Wolf clan, not far to the southwest of us."

"Comanche!"

(End of this chapter)