University of Virginia Library

PAYTON SKAH.

We have before intimated that we cannot pretend
to much accuracy with regard to dates. So
we are not certain that the events we are about to
relate did not happen five centuries ago, perhaps
more; but it is probable that the time was not so
remote. Be that as it may, we shall give the facts
in the same order in which tradition hands them
down.

The Dahcotahs were at war with the Mandans.
Many were the onslaughts they made on each
other, and long were they remembered. Among
the Sioux warriors who struck the post, [25] and
took the war path, none was more conspicuous
that Payton Skah, or The White Otter. He belonged
to the Yankton band. When he returned
from the field with his head crowned with laurels,

or more properly with his bridle rein adorned with
Mandan scalps, the seniors of the tribe pointed to
him and exhorted their sons to ride, to draw the
bow, and to strike the enemy like Payton Skah.[73]

Payton Skah was a husband and a father. As
soon as he was reckoned a man, and able to support
a family, he had taken to his bosom the young
and graceful Tahtokah, (The Antelope) thought
to be the best hand at skinning the buffalo, making
moccasins, whitening leather, and preparing marrow
fat, in the tribe. She was not, as is common
among the Dahcotahs, carried an unwilling or indifferent
bride to her husband's lodge. No, he
had lighted his match in her father's tent, and held
it before her eyes, and she had blown it out, as instigated
by love to do. [26] And when he had
espoused her in form, her affection did not diminish.
She never grumbled at pulling off his leggins
and moccasins when he returned from the chase,
nor at drying and rubbing them till they became
soft and pliant. [27] A greater proof of her regard
was, that she was strictly obedient to her mother
in law. And Payton Skah's attachment, though
his endearments were reserved for their private
hours, was not less than hers. No woman in the
camp could show more wampum and other ornaments,
than the wife of the young warrior. He
was even several times known, when she had been
to bring home the meat procured by his arrows, to
relieve her of a part of the burthen by taking it
upon his own manly shoulders. [28] In due time,

she gave him a son; a sure token that however
many more wives he might see proper to take, he
would never put her away. The boy was the idol
of his old grandmother, who could never suffer him
out of her sight a moment, and used constantly to
prophecy, that he would become a brave warrior
and an expert horse stealer; a prediction that his
manhood abundantly verified.

In little more than a year the youngster was
able to walk erect. About this time the band began
to feel the approach of famine. Buffaloes
were supposed to abound on the river Des Moines,
and thither Payton Skah resolved to go. His mother
had cut her foot while chopping wood and
was unable to travel; but she would not part
with her grandchild. Tahtokah unwillingly consented
to leave her boy behind, at the request of
her husband, which indeed she never thought of
disputing. One other family accompanied them.
They soon reached the Des Moines, and encamped
on its banks. Many wild cattle were killed,
and much of their flesh was cured. The young
wife now reminded her spouse that his mother
must by this time be able to walk, and that she
longed to see her child. In compliance with her
wishes he mounted his horse and departed, resolved
to bring the rest of the band to the land of
plenty.

At his arrival his compatriots, on his representations,
packed up their baggage and threw
down their lodges. A few days brought them to
where he had left his wife and her companions.
But the place was desolate. No voice haned their

approach; no welcome greeted their arrival. The
lodges were cut to ribbons,[74] and a bloody trail
marked where the bodies of their inmates had been
dragged into the river. Following the course of
the stream, the corpses of all but Tahtokah were
found on the shores and sand-bars. Hers was
missing, but this gave her husband no consolation.
He knew that neither Sioux nor Mandans spared
sex or age, and supposed it to be sunk in some
eddy of the river. And Mandans the marks the
spoilers had left behind them, proved them to be.

Now Payton Skah was, for an Indian, a kind
and affectionate husband. The Sioux mothers
wished their daughters might obtain partners like
him; and it was proverbial to say of a fond couple,
that they loved like Payton Skah and Tahtokah.
Yet on this occasion, whatever his feelings might
have been, he uttered no sigh, he shed no tear.
But he gave what was, in the eyes of his co-mates,
a more honorable proof of his grief. He vowed
that he would not take another wife, nor cut his
hair, till he had killed and scalped five Mandans.
And he filled his quiver, saddled his horse, and
raised the war song immediately. He found followers,
and departed incontinently. At his return
but three obstacles to his second marriage remained
to be overcome.

In the course of the year he fulfilled the conditions
of his vow. The five scalps were hanging
in the smoke of his lodge, but he evinced no inclination
towards matrimony. On the contrary, his

countenance was sorrowful, he pined away, and
every one thought he was in a consumption. His
mother knew his disposition better. Thinking, not
unwisely, that the best way to drive the old love
out of his head was to provide him a new one, she
with true female perseverance, compelled him by
teazing and clamor to do as she wished.

So the old woman selected Chuntay Washtay
(The Good Heart) for her son, and demanded her
of her parents, who were not sorry to form such a
connexion. The bride elect herself showed no
alacrity in the matter; but this was too common a
thing to excite any surprise or comment. She
was formally made over to Payton Skah, and duly
installed in his lodge.

He was not formed by nature to be alone. Notwithstanding
the contempt an Indian education inculcates
for the fair sex, he was as sensible to female
blandishments as a man could be. Though
his new wife was by no means so kind as the old
one, yet as she fulfilled the duties of her station
with all apparent decorum, he began to be attached
to her. His health improved, he was again
heard to laugh, and he hunted the buffalo with
as much vigor as ever. Yet when Chuntay
Washtay, as she sometimes would, raised her voice
higher than was consistent with conjugal affection,
he would think of his lost Tahtokah and struggle
to keep down the rising sigh.

A young Yankton who had asked Chuntay
Washtay of her parents previous to her marriage,
and who had been rejected by them, now became
a constant visiter in her husband's lodge. He

came early, and staid and smoked late. But as
Payton Skah saw no appearance of regard for the
youth in his wife, he felt no uneasiness. If he had
seen what was passing in her mind, he would have
scorned to exhibit any jealousy. He would have
proved by his demeanor `that his heart was
strong.' He was destined ere long to be more
enlightened on this point.

His mother was gone with his child, on a visit
to a neighboring camp, and he was left alone with
his wife. It was reported that buffaloes were to
be found at a little oasis in the prairie, at about the
distance of a day's journey, and Chuntay Washtay
desired him to go and kill one, and hang its
flesh up in a tree out of the reach of the wolves.
`You cannot get back to night' she said, `but you
can make a fire and sleep by it, and return tomorrow.
If fat cows are to be found there we will
take down our lodge and move.'

The White Otter did as he was desired. His
wife brought his beautiful black horse, which he
had selected and stolen from a drove near the
Mandan village, [29] to the door of the lodge. He
threw himself on its back, and having listened to
her entreaties that he would be back soon, rode
away.

His gallant steed carried him to the place of
his destination with the speed of the wind. The
buffaloes were plenty, and in the space of two
hours he had killed and cut up two of them.
Having hung the meat upon the branches, he
concluded that as he had got some hours of daylight,

he would return to his wife. He applied
the lash, and arrived at the camp at midnight.

He picketed his horse carefully, and bent his
way to his own lodge. All was silent within, and
the dogs, scenting their master, gave no alarm.
He took up a handful of dry twigs outside the
door and entered. Raking open the coals in the
centre of the lodge he laid on the fuel, which presently
blazed and gave a bright light. By its aid
he discovered a spectacle that drove the blood
from his heart into his face. There lay Chantay
Washtay, fast asleep by the side of her quondam
lover. Payton Skah unsheathed his knife
and stood for a moment irresolute; but his better
feelings prevailing, he returned it to its place in
his belt, and left the lodge without awakening
them. Going to another place he laid himself
down, but not to sleep.

But when the east began to be streaked with
grey, he brought his horse, his favorite steed, to
the door of the tent. Just as he reached it those
within awoke, and the paramour of Chantay
Washtay came forth and stood before him. He
stood still. Fear of the famous hunter and renowned
warrior kept him silent. Payton Skah,
in a stern voice commanded him to re-enter; and
when he had obeyed followed him in. The
guilty wife spoke not, but covered her face with
her hands, till her husband directed her to light a
fire and prepare food. She then rose and hung
the earthen utensil over the fire,[30] and the repast
was soon ready. At the command of Payton
Skah she placed a wooden platter or bowl

before him, and another for his unwilling guest.
This last had now arrived at the conclusion that
he was to die, and had screwed up his courage to
meet his fate with the unshrinking fortitude of an
Indian warrior. He ate therefore, in silence, but
without any sign of concern. When the repast
was ended Payton Skah produced his pipe, filled
the bowl with tobacco mixed with the inner bark
of the red willow, and after smoking a few whiffs
himself, gave it to the culprit. Having passed
from one to the other till it was finished, the aggrieved
husband ordered his wife to produce her
clothing and effects, and pack them up in a bundle.
This done he rose to speak.

`Another in my place,' he said to the young
man, `had he detected you as I did last night,
would have driven an arrow through you before
you awoke. But my heart is strong, and I have
hold of the heart of Chantay Washtay. You
sought her before I did, and I see she would rather
be your companion than mine. She is yours;
and that you may be able to support her, take
my horse, and my bow and arrows also. Take
her and depart, and let peace be between us.'

At this speech the wife, who had been trembling
lest her nose should be cut off, and her lover,
who had expected nothing less than death,
recovered their assurance and left the lodge.
Payton Skah remained; and while the whole
band was singing his generosity, brooded over his
misfortunes in sadness and silence.

Notwithstanding his boast of the firmness of his
resolution, his mind was nearly unsettled by the

shock. He had set his whole heart upon Tahtokah,
and when the wound occasioned by her loss
was healed, he had loved Chantay Washtay with
all his might. He could vaunt of his indifference
to any ill that woman could inflict to the warriors
of his tribe, but the boast that they could
have truly made, was not true coming from him.

Though one of the bravest of men his heart
was as soft as a woman's, in spite of precept and
example. At this second blight of his affections,
he fell into a settled melancholy, and one or two
unsuccessful hunts convinced him that he was a
doomed man; an object of the displeasure of
God; and that he need never more look for any
good fortune. A post dance, at which the performers
alternately sung their exploits, brought
this morbid state of feeling to a crisis. Like the
rest, he recounted the deeds he had done, and
declared that to expiate the involuntary offence
he had committed against the Great Spirit, he
would go to the Mandan village and throw away
his body. All expostulation was vain; and the
next morning he started on foot and alone to put
his purpose in execution.

He travelled onward with a heavy heart, and
the eighth evening found him on the bank of the
Missouri, opposite the Mandan village. He swam
the river, and saw the lights shine through the
crevices, and heard the dogs bark at his approach.
Nothing dismayed, he entered the village, and
promenaded through it two or three times. He
saw no man abroad, and impatient of delay, entered
the principal lodge. Within he found two

women, who spoke to him, but he did not answer.
He drew his robe over his face, and sat down in
a dark corner, intending to await the entrance of
some warrior, by whose hands he might honorably
die. The women addressed him repeatedly,
but could not draw from him any reply. Finding
him impenetrable, they took no further notice,
but continued their conversation as if no one had
been present. Had they known to what tribe
he belonged they would have fled in terror; but
they supposed him to be a Mandan. He gathered
from it that the men of the village were
all gone to the buffalo hunt, and would not return
till morning. Most of the females were with
them. Here then, was an opportunity to wreak
his vengeance on the tribe such as had never before
occurred, and would probably never occur
again. But he refrained in spite of his Indian
nature. He had not come to kill any one as on
former occasions, but to lay down his own life;
and he remained constant in his resolution.

If it be asked why the Mandans left their village
in this defenceless condition, we answer,
that Indian camps are frequently left in the same
manner. Perhaps they relied on the broad and
rapid river, to keep off any roving band of Dahcotahs
that might come thither. Payton Skah
sat in the lodge of his enemies till the tramp of a
horse on the frozen earth, and the jingling of the
little bells round his neck, announced that a warrior
had returned from the hunt. Then the
White Otter prepared to go to whatever lodge the
Mandan might enter, and die by his arrows or

tomahawk. But he had no occasion to stir. The
horseman rode straight to the lodge in which he
sat, dismounted, threw his bridle to a squaw, and
entered. The women pointed to their silent
guest, and related how unaccountably he had behaved.
The new comer turned to Payton Skah,
and asked who and what he was. Then the
Yankton, like Caius Marcius within the walls of
Corioli, rose, threw off his robe, and drawing himself
up with great dignity, bared his breast and
spoke. `I am a man. Of that, Mandan, be assured.
Nay, more: I am a Dahcotah, and my
name is Payton Skah. You have heard it before.
I have lost friends and kin by the arrows of your
people, and well have I revenged them. See, on
my head I wear ten feathers of the war eagle.[31]
Now it is the will of the Master of life that I
should die, and to that purpose came I hither.
Strike therefore, and rid your tribe of the greatest
enemy it ever had.'

Courage, among the aborigines as charity
among Christians, covereth a multitude of sins.
The Mandan Warrior cast on his undaunted foe
a look in which respect, delight, and admiration
were blended. He raised his war club as if
about to strike, but the Siou blenched not; not a
nerve trembled — his eyelids did not quiver. The
weapon dropped from the hand that held it. The
Mandan tore open his own vestment, and said,
`No, I will not kill so brave a man. But I will
prove that my people are men also. I will not be
outdone in generosity. Strike thou; then take
my horse and fly.'

The Siou declined the offer, and insisted upon
being himself the victim. The Mandan was
equally pertinacious; and this singular dispute
lasted till the latter at last held out his hand in
token of amity. He commanded the women to
prepare a feast, and the two generous foes sat
down and smoked together. The brave of the
Missouri accounted for speaking the Dahcotah
tongue by saying that he was himself half a Siou.
His mother had belonged to that tribe and so did
his wife, having both been made prisoners. In
the morning Payton Skah should see and converse
with them. And the Yankton proffered,
since it did not appear to be the will of the Great
Spirit that he should die, to become the instrument
to bring about a firm and lasting peace between
the two nations.

In the morning the rest of the band arrived,
and were informed what visitor was in the village.
The women screamed with rage and cried for
revenge. The men grasped their weapons and
rushed tumultuously to the lodge to obtain it. A
great clamor ensued. The Mandan stood before
the door, declaring that he would guarantee the
rights of hospitality with his life. His resolute demeanor,
as well as the bow and war club he held
ready to make his words good made the impression
he desired. The Mandans recoiled, consulted,
and the elders decided that Payton Skah
must be carried as a prisoner to the council
lodge, there to abide the result of their deliberations.

Payton Skah, indifferent to whatever might

befall him, walked proudly to the place appointed
in the midst of a guard of Mandans, and accompanied
by the taunts and execrations of the
squaws. The preliminary of smoking over, the
consultation did not last long. His new friend
related how the prisoner had entered the village,
alone and unarmed save with his knife; how he
had magnanimously spared the women and children
when at his mercy; and how he had offered
to negotiate a peace between the two tribes. Admiration
of his valor overcame the hostility of the
Mandans. Their hatred vanished like snow before
the sun, and it was carried by acclamation,
that he should be treated as became an Indian
brave, and dismissed in safety and with honor.

At this stage of proceedings a woman rushed
into the lodge, broke through the circle of stern
and armed warriors, and threw herself into the
arms of the Dahcotah hero. It was Tahtokah,
his first, his best beloved! He did not return her
caresses; that would have derogated from his
dignity; but he asked her how she had escaped
from the general slaughter at the Des Moines,
and who was her present husband.

She pointed to the Mandan to whom he had
offered his breast. He it was she said, who had
spared her, and subsequently taken her to wife.
He now advanced and proposed to Payton Skah
to become his kodah, or comrade, and to receive
his wife back again, two propositions to which the
latter gladly assented. For according to the
customs of the Dahcotahs, a wife may be lent to
one's kodah without any impropriety.[32]

The Mandans devoted five days to feasting the
gallant Yankton. At the end of that time he departed
with his recovered wife, taking with him
three horses laden with robes and other gifts bestowed
on him by his late enemies. His kodah
accompanied him half way on his return, with a
numerous retinue, and at parting received his promise
that he would soon return. We leave our
readers to imagine the joy of Tahtokah at seeing
her child again on her arrival among the Sioux,
as well as the satisfaction of the tribe at hearing
that its best man had returned from his perilous
excursion alive and unhurt. In less than two
months Payton Skah was again among the Mandans
with six followers, who were hospitably received
and entertained. An equal number of
Mandans accompanied them on their return home,
where they experienced the like treatment. As
the intercourse between the tribes became more
frequent hostilities were discontinued, and the
feelings that prompted them were in time forgotten.
The peace brought about as above related
has continued without interruption to this day. As
to Payton Skah, he recovered his health and spirits,
was successful in war and the chase, and was
finally convinced that the curse of the Almighty
had departed from him.