view of our race an ideal hero, living at the height of the
epical progress of the American Indian and maintaining in his own
character all that was most subtle and ennobling of their spiritual
life, and that has since been lost in the contact with a material
civilization.
He loved Hump, that peerless warrior, and the two became close friends,
in spite of the difference in age. Men called them "the grizzly and his
cub." Again and again the pair saved the day for the Sioux in a skirmish
with some neighboring tribe. But one day they undertook a losing battle
against the Snakes. The Sioux were in full retreat and were fast
being overwhelmed by superior numbers. The old warrior fell in a last
desperate charge; but Crazy Horse and his younger brother, though
dismounted, killed two of the enemy and thus made good their retreat.
It was observed of him that when he pursued the enemy into their
stronghold, as he was wont to do, he often refrained from killing, and
simply struck them with a switch, showing that he did not fear their
weapons nor care to waste his upon them. In attempting this very feat,
he lost this only brother of his, who emulated him closely. A party of
young warriors, led by Crazy Horse, had dashed upon a frontier post,
killed one of the sentinels, stampeded the horses, and pursued the
herder to the very gate of the stockade, thus drawing upon themselves
the fire of the garrison. The leader escaped without a scratch, but his
young brother was brought down from his horse and killed.
While he was still under twenty, there was a great winter buffalo
hunt, and he came back with ten buffaloes' tongues which he sent to the
council lodge for the councilors' feast. He had in one winter day killed
ten buffalo cows with his bow and arrows, and the unsuccessful hunters
or those who had no swift ponies were made happy by his generosity. When
the hunters returned, these came chanting songs of thanks. He knew that
his father was an expert hunter and had a good horse, so he took no meat
home, putting in practice the spirit of his early teaching.
He attained his majority at the crisis of the difficulties between the
United States and the Sioux. Even before that time, Crazy Horse had
already proved his worth to his people in Indian warfare. He had risked
his life again and again, and in some instances it was considered almost
a miracle that he had saved others as well as himself. He was no orator
nor was he the son of
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