1840 Indian Rebirth

Chapter 25 [Bison]

"Because he is my father." Ma Whistle was confident.

"..." Shi Ya froze, wanting to ask something more, but didn't know how to ask.

The crowd ate roast beef.

"In the next period of time, we are going to hunt bison." When the barbecue was almost finished, the stone crow said again, "In order to supplement food and collect fur—the merchant may come in the near future, we can exchange some things. "

"American businessman?" Ma Whistle asked casually.

"That's right, even white people. There are always some people who are willing to go anywhere and do anything for money." Shi Ya said, "These businessmen are often dangerous, and each of them will wear weapons. We have to be careful when the time comes. "

Hearing this, Ma Shao felt a little hopeful in his heart. After all, American businessmen would inevitably bring a lot of new news from the outside world, and the information of the Indians was really too closed.

But then, a question made him a little worried.

His level of English.

As a science student from an ordinary university, Ma Shao's English level is not good. After living in an Indian society where English letters are difficult to see for a few years, his English level is even worse.

How bad is it?
He couldn't even remember how to spell the full name of Station P.

In addition, there are some differences between the English of this era and the later generations. Ma Shao felt that he probably could not understand a few words.

"After the American businessmen come, how do we communicate with them?" Ma Shao then asked.

"Some of them understand some Apache language." Stone Crow explained, "Of course, we also have people who understand English. Normal communication is not a big problem."

"Who?"

"It's our high priest, rainy day."

This answer is not surprising, Ma Shao nodded.

Stone Crow said slowly: "Rainy Day is a formidable person. Besides Apache, he also understands many languages, such as Sioux, Arapaho, Comanche...and of course some white people's language, though he said he was not fluent in the white language."

This surprised Shi Mashao, who did not expect to master so many foreign languages ​​​​on rainy days.

Even if he is not proficient in English on a rainy day, he should be better than himself - Ma Shuo has no confidence in his poor English.

In the next period of time, the Arapaho did not come, and the Apaches defending this place were quite comfortable.

The main job of the horse post is to make and promote stirrups and strong bows among the tribesmen, and strive to make all Apaches equip them as soon as possible.

At that time, the fighting power of the whole family will definitely be improved to a higher level. Even if the Arapaho people attack on a large scale, there is no need to worry too much.

During this process, Ma Shao communicated with the high priest a lot in rainy days, and took the opportunity to "learn" some English from him.

The so-called "learning" is that Ma Shao pretended to learn English starting from knowing 26 English letters, and then showed a level of English that was close to that of a primary school student in a few days, becoming the second person who can speak English in the entire Apache camp. It shocked the rainy day and everyone.

In addition, the horse whistle sometimes joins the hunting team and goes out to the camp to hunt bison.

The process of hunting bison is not easy, it can be regarded as a low-intensity battle, and people are often injured.

These bison are huge in size, can easily reach a ton, and have a fierce personality, and they always appear in large groups, all over the mountains and plains, rampaging.

Once a hunter is besieged by a herd of cattle, his life is in danger. If a few cattle come to the top, all the people and horses will die.

Of course, the Indians have been hunting these bison for a long time and have rich experience. Although injuries are inevitable, fatalities are rare.

For tens of thousands of years, many Indians have been hunting bison for a living. The huge herd of cattle as large as the ocean provided them with various necessary materials such as meat, bones, and fur.

Now, bison also secure their most important trade route: the fur trade.

For most Indians, if they want to obtain something produced by whites, the main way is to find a merchant and exchange fur with them.

Among all kinds of furs, bison hide is not the most expensive, but it is undoubtedly the most abundant, at least for now.

Many whites have long joined the ranks of hunting bison, and they are almost rushing to the goal of exterminating bison, because this can effectively reduce the living space of Indians.But for now, the number of bison is still huge, and it can also produce rich fur.

"Boom boom boom——"

"Moo-moo-"

On the plain, the mighty herd of bison is rushing, making earth-shattering hooves, and of course their calls.

Along with the pace of the buffalo herd, as far as the eye can see, smoke and dust are everywhere.

In the smoke, skilled Apache hunters rode their warhorses back and forth between the herds, picking targets and timing.

In this process, they must be extremely careful and vigilant at all times, so as not to be surrounded by cattle, otherwise they may be trampled into meat paste at any time.

There are about seven to eighty Apache hunters here, and Horse Whistle is one of them.

He rode the black blade through the vast herd of bison, looking for suitable prey according to the ancient and simple rules - hunting the old and lonely bison first.

Plains Indians know very well that they cannot do without bison, so in order to survive for a long time, they must consider the survival and reproduction of the cattle as much as possible when hunting.

Since it is necessary to take care of the reproduction of the cattle herd, of course the calves and cows can not be killed, and the old and weak cattle are the primary targets for hunting.Such cattle are also relatively easy to obtain.

Soon, the horse sentry found an ideal target.

He looked around again, then drove his horse closer, and at the same time bent his bow and set his arrows, aiming at the selected old bison.

"Hush-hush-hush-"

He fired several arrows in rapid succession, nearly all of them hitting the target, and the arrows pierced the bison's body, causing it to howl.

The North American bison has a strong physique, and of course its vitality is not ordinary. At least it will not lose its stability after being hit by an arrow like a human being.

In most cases, even if they are hit by several arrows, they will not fall to the ground immediately, but will go on a rampage for a while until they are exhausted from blood loss.

During this period, all the hunters need to do is to stay away and let the injured bison run to death by themselves, and then wait for the herd to leave this area, and then go forward to collect the carcass of the bison.

The injured old cow ran slower and slower, and was completely thrown away by the cows in front after a while, and then fell to the ground exhausted.

At this time, the horse sentry stepped forward, and after confirming that the bison was dead, he tied up the body with a rope and waited for the arrival of the hunting team's horses.

When they hunted bison, they also needed to bring a group of horses to drag the cattle back.

At the end of a day of hunting, Apache hunters dragged dozens of bison carcasses back to camp, and they were greeted by a barbecue party.

Of course, before the barbecue starts, people also need to let skinning masters peel off the fur of these bison as well as possible. The level of skinning technology will directly affect the price of cowhide.

In the camp, the Apaches had accumulated thousands of bison hides, and now they were waiting for the white fur traders who came to buy them.

(End of this chapter)