Eagle Proudfoot

Eagle Proudfoot was born on a reservation in Oklahoma and grew up with little contact outside of his tribe. As an adult he worked as a scout for the cavalry and participated in many raids. On one of those raids his horse was shot out from under him, and he was left for dead. Upon waking, he spent hours extricating himself from below his dead mount, while being careful not to disturb his broken leg. He was weakened from blood loss, and passed out before he was able to free himself.

While he was unconscious, a rattlesnake bit him near the ankle of his broken leg. The pain of the bite woke him from his reverie, and he was able to kill the snake and extricate his leg in time to cut near the bite and release most of the venom. He was not able to remove all of the venom, and he fell into a pain and poison induced delirium.

While enveloped in this fugue state, two spirits visited him: coyote and mother earth. Both of them conveyed the same message. There are evil spirits contaminating the balance of the Fourth World. Coyote warned him that many of these spirits masquerade as men, so Eagle must be mindful of these tricks. Mother earth implored upon him the importance of restoring this balance, for without it the world will die. Both spirits told him that many of these unclean spirits live with the white man, but he must be careful not to destroy the good men of any ilk, for that would also upset the balance.

The next day, Eagle awoke with a new sense of purpose. While crawling through the desert he was spotted by a passer-by who happened to be a US Marshal. He came to his aid and brought him to Tombstone where he recuperated.