“Listen, Kit, you’re a top notch Injun scout! Everyone knows that!”
“What’re you getting at, Bill?”
“Well, have you ever in your life met an Injun with a lick of sense?”
“Let me tell you, Bill. The wisest, most smartest man of all I ever met was an Injun.”
“How so?”
“Well, y’see, Bill, ‘twas in the April of ’86. I rode into the Arapaho camp, just’a thirstin’ for water.”
“What happened then?”
“Their chief greeted me. He said, “Got plenty of water for you” afore I could say a word.”
“How’d he know?”
“Well, I wondered myself, so I asked him. He said, “You seem confused, lightheaded, somewhat dizzy. All signs of dehydration.”
“An Indian Chief actually said all that?”
“All that and aplenty more! I was invited to rest there a few days and the things what I seen were plumb amazin’!”
“Tell me ‘bout some of them, Kit!”
“Well, one day, I seen a redskin walk up to him. Before he could open his mouth, the Chief said, “Take three leaves of the Ongawa plant. Boil water, stir in the leaves, and make a poultice.”
“Gee willikers! What’d he tell him that for?”
“Well, Bill, I found out seven years earlier, the same redskin had a terrible infection and the Chief recognized him, though he only seen him that onced.”
“Were that the onliest thing you seen him do?”
“Oh, no! There werst so many, I kin hardly know whar to begin!”
“Tell me some more!”
“One day, an Injun by the name of Dyami came into camp. I found out later he had only met the chief once in his life, when he was a young’n. His family moved to a location fur west.”
“Then what happened?”
“Well, the Chief, he not only called him by his name, but asked about his fathers and forefathers, Ahtahkakoop, Elan, Ciquala, a whole mess o’them, I tell ya!”
“He remembered them all?”
“Them, and a whole lot more! And there were dozens o’times just like that, I promise!”
“Say, Kit, whatever happened to that old chief?”
“I purely don’t know, Bill! One day, I asked him about how he growed that memory of his.”
“What’d he say, Kit?”
“Well, he told me ‘twas his diet. He said he always started off with a mess o’ eggs.”
“And…?”
“Well, just at that point, the calvary rode in, a’thinkin’ I were captive, and they tore me away.”
“Gee, Kit, do you think we could go visit that chief? I’d like to see for myself!”
“Well, Bill, ‘tis been a long, hard ride, but now, I’ll show you the chief. I’ll make sure I greet him, friendly-like!”
“How!”
“Scrambled!”
