He never resented the frequent ingratitude of the Indians; he said little
when they quarrelled over the small comforts his little income brought
them yearly from the South. He had been doctor, lawyer, judge among
them, although he interfered little in the larger disputes, and was
forced to shut his eyes to intertribal enmities. He had no deep faith
that he could quite civilise them; he knew that their conversion was only
on the surface, and he fell back on his personal influence with them. By
this he could check even the excesses of the worst man in the tribe, his
old enemy, Silver Tassel of the bad heart, who yet was ready always to
give a tooth for a tooth, and accepted the fact that he owed Oshondonto
his life.
When famine crawled across the plains to the doors of the settlement and
housed itself at Fort O'Call, Silver Tassel acted badly, however, and
sowed fault-finding among the thoughtless of the tribe.
"What manner of Great Spirit is it who lets the food of his chief
Oshondonto fall into the hands of the Blackfeet?" he said. "Oshondonto
says the Great Spirit hears.
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