He understands that
he saw only an ignis fatuus, a phenomenon easily explained; but he
believes that it was sent that night by the great Pilot to guide a
helpless human being out of danger.
Two days later he saw the Indian agency of Fort Berthold on a bluff
overlooking the river. He sounded the bugle and soldiers and
Indians swarmed to the water's edge. The latter covered the sloping
bank, standing like statues, watching for the water spirit whom they had
been told was coming down the river. Each one wore a blanket of bright
red or blue and they formed a picturesque foreground to the high bluff
and sullen fort. As Boyton came opposite, he stood up in the water and
lighted a detonating rocket. Not a breath of air was stirring and the
thick white smoke from the rocket hung on the surface of the water,
hiding him from sight. Indeed, it looked to the Indians as though he
had disappeared entirely, and when the rocket exploded over their heads
with the roar of a cannon, their superstitious hearts could stand it no
longer and they rushed up the slope like a flock of frightened sheep,
tumbling over one another in their anxiety to get out of the way.
That night he stopped with the Agent who informed him that the tribe had
pronounced him good medicine, (lucky) at one of their pow wows.
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