A Blackfoot Conspiracy
Directed by Frank MontgomeryThe old blind chief, believing it time to appoint a new chief to succeed him, selects Swift Wind, his son. The latter is promised the beautiful Rainbow for his squaw, and thereby incurs the enmity and hatred of the warrior Black Ox, his half-brother, and Dark Cloud, the latter's mother. Black Ox and Dark Cloud plot to get the chieftainship away from Swift Wind, and Dark Cloud steals Swift Wind's fur covering and bear's tooth necklace and puts them on Black Ox. The two enter the old chief's tepee and make him believe that Black Ox is Swift Wind, and the old man orders Dark Cloud to put his head dress, necklace and other articles on Black Ox. As they emerge from the tepee Dark Cloud encounters Rainbow, claps her hand over the astonished maiden's mouth and drags her from the scene. Black Ox is acclaimed the new chief and the Indians greet him. The feast is prepared, and while it is in progress Swift Wind returns. He scents the treachery and, after a desperate knife fight with Black Ox, he succeeds in telling the old chief of the deception. The chief commands silence and summons the tribe, and is about to address them when the dread call comes and he falls dead. Despite his protests Swift Wind is banished and the struggling and heart-broken Rainbow is held by Black Ox and his mother, Dark Cloud. Swift Wind wanders in the desert and suffers from hunger and thirst. He is eventually rescued by a company of trappers, who take him with them. Later Black Ox and his warriors attack the trappers' camp, and as Black Ox scales the defenders' stockade he comes face to face with Swift Wind. They have a knife duel, and as Swift Wind is about to kill his rival he is wounded by a shot from the outside, and Black Ox escapes. Dark Cloud shows Rainbow her wedding dress, and the latter watches her chance and escapes, after half strangling Dark Cloud. She meets the trappers on their way to punish the Indians, and mounts behind her lover, Swift Wind. The Indians suffer defeat, and Black Ox is banished and Swift Wind is proclaimed the chief of the tribe, and the trappers and Indians smoke the pipe of peace.
