Rensselaer Republican, Volume 24, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 October 1891 — DRIVING TOTE-TEAM. [ARTICLE]

DRIVING TOTE-TEAM.

. Month's Companion. My uncle, with whom I lived when I was a boy, had a large family of his awn. He was one of the first sett) ers In Western Wisconsin, and. besides carrying on a large farm on the banks of one of the principal lumbering streams, he took a large logging crew into the woods every winter. The logging camp was sixty miles up the river, and all the supplies for the men and the teams were hauled from home.. The team which did this hauling—the “tote team” as it was called—made one trip each week from the time the men went into the woods in the fall until they came out in the spring. The winter I was 14, my cousin Ted 15, and his brother George 13, man were very scarce; and, although wo were rather young for such work, my uncle thought it safe to "allow two ot us to take charge of the toteteam. I was always one of the two who went with the team; Ted and George took “turn about"—one going with me every other trip, while the other stayed at home to do the chores. We were tough, hardy beys, well used to handling horses;and,although ‘‘toting” was anything but play, we enjoyed it greatly. We thought it mr.de men of us to do men’s work. We had a great deal of sport, but some of the incidents of these toting trips were far from funny, At one place the road ran through a Targe swamp of cranberry marsh, upon the edge of which along the banks of a small river a band of Winnebago Indians encamped every winter. In this place game abounded, including the fur-bearing animals which the Indians trapped. The site afforded them besides good opportunities to “swap” with the numerous tote-teams which traveled the roa<l. . - We sometimes bartered with the Indians such articles as flour, sugar, coffee, bacon, and tobacco for buckskin moccasins and ax helves. Nearly dll the men at the logging camps wore moccasins, and of course there was need of many ax-helves. Many of these Indians were industrious and could make the best of axhelves. They were sharp traders, too; but some of them had the reputation of stealing everything thev could get in their hands. We were ai'wayscareful to treat them well and gave them full value for all that we traded for. There were so many of those Win nebago's—or “Bagos" as we called them—scattered about that the whites were slow to do anything that was-likely to provoke their iii will. We always arranged the front end of our sleigh before we reached the Indians’ camp, so that we could trade with them as expeditiously as possi- , ble. We gave them a quart cup full i of coffee for a good ax-helve and twice as much for a pair of moccasins. Of sugar we gave them twica= the amount we did of coffee, and of flour five times. Qne time when we reached my uncle s lumber camp we found our load short a ham or two or several - pieces of bacon, the loss of which; we ; could account for only on the suppo- ; sition that the Bagos had stolen the , meat while crowding around the sleigh to do their trading. My uncle scolded us a little for allowing the Indians to steal things “right from under our noses.” as he Eut it. We made up dUr minds to ?ep a sharp lookout whenever we ' stopped at the camp again. On our next trip the jingle of our sleigh bells brought the whole camp out to the road, and when westopped the Indians all crowded around, as usual. ' ' It was a sharp, cold morning, and all had their long blankets wrapped, about them. Ted and I were soon busy dealing out “tobac” “coppt'e" and “soog” to this one and that one, wnen Tea noticed a sudden opening a'nd.closing of the blanket of a tall ypung Indian who stood leaning up against the back of the sleigh. Keeping his eye on the fellow he so.m saw hin move away from the sleigh, turn his back to us and walk slowly t nvard the camp. Tea scrambled quickly to the rear of the load and found that one of the largest hams, worth >2 or $3. was missing. “Here, you thieving rascal!” he shouted at the retreating Indian, ■“bring that ham back here and be quick about it.” The young Bago simply quickened his pace without turning around or seeming to notice Ted’s shouts/-I ■was desperately afraid of getting into trouble with go many of these strapping red men. but Ted was not. In fact I never knew that boy to meet anything in the shape of man or beast that he was afraid of. He was large and very strong for his age and almost as dark skinned as an Indian. Before I knew what he was about Ted sprang to the ground and chased the Bago as fast as he could run. The young Indian ran toward his wigwam, which stood with the rest of th? village about 200 yards back from the road. But Ted overtook him in little more than half the distance. When the Indian saw that hispur--surer was about to spring upon aim he turned around and faced Ted. The Indian had a great advantage „in size and strength, but he was r heavily handicapped for a struggle by the necessity of his keeping his blanket folded tightly about him in order to conceal the stolen ham. This kept both his hands occupied, and all he could do in defense was to kick

out vigorously with his moccasined feet. He proved no mean antagonist as it was, for he was quick as a flash and his legs were long and sturdy, I expected to see the other ’Bagos run to the support of their comrade, but they seemed to think the young brave would ’have little trouble in handling the white boy, and laughed heartily as he wheeled first one way and then another, keeping his pursurer at a distance by his furious kicks. *• Ted dodged his heels, and watching for an opening, suddenly leaped straight at the rascal and caught him bv the throat with both hands.

Quick as thought the Indian let go of the blanket, ham and all, and seized Ted around the body. He had clung to the ham a little too long, however, for Ted had seoured a hold Which even the Indian’s superior strength could not shake off. Ted knew that he would be no match for the strapping fellow in an even handed contest, and held his throat with a grip of iron. The struggle was short and fierce. Ted managed to keep on his feet, and tightening his grasp on the Indian’s windpipe as he felt him begin to weaken, soon had the thief at his mercy. — — His long arms suddenly relaxed their held around Ted s waist and dropped to his sides, his tongue hung out, and his eyes began to roll upward.

Then, just as he was about to fall, Ted gave him a tremendous push, which sent him headlong into the deep snow, and, snatching up the ham, hurried back to the sled with it upon his shoulder. Now, an Indian’s sense of right and justice is often as keen as that of his white brother, and he can appreciate a plucky act as well. Perhaps these Winnebagos would have been just as well pleased if the young man had been able to escape with flie! stolen ham; but, as it was. they could not help admiring the white boy’s daring, and yelled with delight at the discomfiture of the young brave as he picked himself up out of thesnow and skulked off to his wigwam. “ White papoose heap brave! ’— they shouted as Ted camo back to the sled. “Ketchum bad Injun stealum ham!” We thought that would put a stop to the stealing from our load, but my uncle told us to be on our guard, for the young brave whom Ted had so disgraced in the eyes of his brothers would be sure to take revenge upon us in some way if he could. On the next trip up we traded with the Winnebagos, as usual, and I was certain that nothing was stolen® while we stopped at their village, for I had George keep strict watch of everything on the load while I did the trading. But, when we unloaded that night in campa fifty pound sack of flour was missing. What hadmecome of it was more than we could tell.

„I studied the matter over for several days, and I came to the conclusion thpt some thieving ’Bago had been hidden behind a tree close to the road, just beyond the Indian village, and that after we had finished trading and had seated ourselves on the front end of the load and started on he had sprung out, snatched the sack of fiour from the rear of our sleigh, and dodged back behind the tree until we were out of sight. I told Ted about it when we reached home. the way it was done,” said he; “but just let them try that game again! We’ll be ready for them next trip.” And so we were. It was George’s turn to stay at home: and after Ted and I had arranged our load we took four heavy,double spring otter traps and set them around the rear end of our sleigh among the sacks of flour, baeou., hams, and other supplies, fasteningfhe chain of each securely to the sleigh box, while over the top of everything we spread, as usual. a piece of limp canvas. George and I, on the trip we had just made, noticed that the young fellow who had tried to steal the ham was not in the crowd which surrounded our sled the week before. Neither was he to be seen when Ted and I stopped at the viHagg this time. This was very much what we had expected. My customers kept me dishing out cups of sugar and coffee and Ted was trying to cut a plug of tobacco in two with his jackknife for an Indian who wanted half a ulug, when he slyly nudged me and pointed up the road with his thumb. Without stopping my work I glanced in the direction Ted indicated, and saw about half a black head peering out from behind a big pine which stood within three feet of the sled track and about forty rods up the road. We traded as long as the Indians had anything to barter, and then straightened up the load, mounted our seat in front, and drove leisurely on, looking neither to the right nor the left. We had barely passed the big pine when we heard a swift movement behind us; and then, in an instant, we heard one of our traps close with a “click” and a kind of a thumping noise. » Knowing that we must have the thief in tow, Ted carelessly cracked his whip at the team, and away we went at a brisk trot. The road for several miles ahead ran along the stream and. was so level, awl smooth that the horftg scarcely felt the load behind them, while we chatted and laughed as though nothing had happened, though of course we were really much ex-

cited and Mt an Intense curiosity to look around. We could hear the regular pat, pat, pat of the captive’s moccasined feet upon the well-packed snow as he kept pace with the team, but were careful not to turn our heads in his direction. 'We must have driven on this way nearly a mile when the fatigue and pain, together with the hopelessness of trying to get his hand out of the trap, made it impossible for the thief to control his rage longer. He uttered a yell that seemed almost to lift the caps from our heads, and when we turned around he shouted:

“White boy, stop ’um horse! White boy, stop ’um horse!” But Ted only cracked his whip and made the team go faster. Then the ’Bago’s black eyes sparkled with, rage and fury as he yelled at the top of his voice, at the same time making a leap as if to jump on the sled. “White boy, stop’um horse! Let Injun go! Injun killum white boy!” “Oh, you will, will you?” said Ted. as he grasped one of the newlypurchased ax-helves and sprang to the rear of the load.

“Drive faster, Ben,” he shouted to me, “and we’ll make him sing a different tune before he gets his hand out of that trap.” I touched up the team, while Ted stood ready to strike the man if he attempted to board the sleigh. I have heard it said that an Indian never sheds tears; but before we had gone half a mile farther this young brave stopped his raving and threatening and began to blubber like a little child. I suppose he thought we meant to take him clear to camp with us, but when Ted thought he had punished him enough he called to me to bring the team down to a slower pace. “Now,” said he, “you bad Injun, you stealum white man’s meat, stealum flour, stealum everything. You go stealum any more from white man?” “No! no!” blubbered the Indian. “White man let Injun go, Injun stealum no more. Injun be white man’s friend. No killum —no stealum!” “AH right,” said Ted, “then I’ll let you go. ” The trap had caught the fellow around the wrist, and would not have hurt him much but for his frantic efforts to escape, which bruised the flesh quite badly. Ted made him hold the trap on top of a sack of oats while he pressed down the heavy springs and released the ’Bago s swollen hand. He started for home at a run the moment he was liberated. My uncle was afraid this affair might causems more trouble, but it did not. That was the last time the ’Bagos ever tried to steal anything from us. . . I