XIIIFour Against the Crows
Dry snow whined to the footstep in the hush of the blue-cold morning, and the tepee smoke stood straight. Before I entered I could hear the old man blowing meditatively upon his eagle-bone whistle—like a sleepy bird questioning the first promise of a summer dawn. “I thought you might not come,” he said, “for it is very cold; but it is good that you are here. We are getting closer to that story about this whistle, and I was sitting here thinking about it, and about the quirt too.
“This would be a bad day for going to war,” he continued after we had passed the pipe awhile; “goingmaka manitoo. I think our feet would freeze before we found Crow horses. And scrawny horses they would be, with pawing snow for little grass and gnawing frozen bark along the creeks. But horses are fat where we are going, for the Moon of Making Fat [June] is nearly full, the grass is good, and cherries are beginning to darken; also, we are young.
“High Horse was not sick any more, because we had talked so much about going to war that it had made him well. Also, he was either going to feed the wolves, or have so many ponies that the girl’s father could not laugh at him.
“Looks Twice, my father’s brother-friend, was like my father now, for he had come to live with us and my mother was his woman. He was very good to me, and I learned much from him. When our war party came back from across Mini Shoshay, he gave me a good gun that loaded from behind. He got it from somebody who brought it from Red Cloud’s camp. High Horse’s father gave him a gun too, but it was not as good as mine.
“We did not say anything to anybody about going after Crow horses, because the councilors had not announced that war parties could go forth, and they might not let us go. So when we were ready, we started with the first sunlight on our backs. Somewhere over towards the mountains we would come upon the Crows. We had not eaten yet, so when we were out of sight behind a hill we sat down to eat somepapaso thatwe might be strong to walk fast and far. While we were eating, somebody came over the hill, and it was Kicking Bear. He was a Hunkpapa, and a small band of his people had come to visit and camp with us. He was not very much older than we were, but he had come from far away, and he seemed to us like a man who had counted many coups. He said, ‘Where are you going, cousins?’ And we said, ‘We are going to get some Crow ponies, but do not tell anybody.’ And he said, ‘You are very brave men to do thatmaka mani, and I am going with you.’ So that was good; and when we had eaten somepapa, we started walking towards Crow country. But we had not gone far when two horsebacks came, and they wereakichitasbearing a pipe from the council. When they had held the pipe out for us to touch, they said, ‘Where are you going?’ The pipe was sacred and we had to tell, so we did. And they said, ‘You are brave young men to do thatmaka mani; but it is not the time for war parties and you must come back. The council has spoken.’
“So we went back.
“That night High Horse and I were sitting outside the village. The moon was bright and we were talking about what we could do next. Afterwhile there were two people coming in the half-dark. It was Kicking Bear with a friend called Charging Cat. And Kicking Bear said, ‘How, cousins! We are going after those Crow ponies tonight, for we are men. If you are men too, we will all go together.’ And I said, ‘You will see that we are men too.’ And High Horse said, ‘We might as well go now, for if we make awakte-agli[kill-come-back] with horses, there will be a victory dance and nobody will be angry at us for going. This we will do, or else we will feed the wolves yonder, and then nobody will be angry either.’
“So we went, and there were four of us. When the moon was low in front of us and the morning star shone upon our backs, above a streak of daybreak, we were far away, for we had walked fast. There was a place with rocks around it, and a clear creek was flowing there with grass beside the water. And near the place was a high hill that was not quite a mountain. It was a good place to eat what was left of thepapaand to sleep awhile. But before we did this, Kicking Bear took a pipe out of a deerskin bag. The stem was wrapped with red porcupine quills and an eagle feather was hanging from it, and there was bison-hide on the mouthpiece. And Kicking Bear said, ‘My Brothers, this is one of the hardest things we are doing, and we shall need help, for we are only men. We will go up on the high hill yonder before we rest and eat, and there we will dedicate this pipe to Wakon Tonka and make a sacred vow.’
“So we climbed the high hill, the four of us, and when we stood breathing on the top the day had grown and spread, and the prairie ’rose steep from beneath us to the end of the world. We stood and looked until the sun leaped up and blazed against our eyes. Then Kicking Bear gave me the pipe and I held it high to the place whence comes the light of seeing; and on my left side Charging Cat was standing and on my right stood High Horse, both with their hands upraised palms forward; and behind us Kicking Bear was sending forth a voice. He was asking the Great Mysterious One to behold us and the pipe we offered and to hear the sacred vow we made. We were four young men with strong hearts who wanted to do great deeds that our people might praise us, and by ourselves we could do nothing. So we were dedicating this pipe and asking that we might return as victors to our people. And if this should be, then we four would dance the sun dance, piercing our flesh with thongs; and this we would do for thanks. And when Kicking Bear had finished, we all cried, ‘hetchetu aloh!’ Then we left the pipe on the hilltop with the mouthpiece pointing towards the sunrise, and went down to the place with rocks around it and a clear stream flowing through, with grass beside the cool water. And there, with hearts made stronger by the prayer upon the hill, we ate what was left of the papa, and lay down in the grass to rest.
“And all at once the sun was on the other side and getting low, for we had walked far and fast and our sleep was deep. The first thing we saw when we looked around us was a deer drinking from the creek not far away; and because I had the best gun, the others waited for me to shoot while we were still lying down. I hit it just behind the front leg, and it fell down and did not get up. By this we knew that Wakon Tonka had beheld us on the hill and heard us, and that our offering was received. So we made a little fire and feasted there beside the running water; but the first piece of meat and the tenderest we each gave to the Spirit that helped us; and our hearts were stronger than before.
“When we had eaten, we took some of the best meat and followed the last light of day. All night we walked; and the moon traveled with us and all the star nations, going yonder to the country of the Crows. Then we ate and slept; and two more nights we traveled in the same way, and Wakon Tonka sent us meat. And then when the moon was shining in our faces and the morning star stood up behind us we lay down in some brush to rest, for we thought by now we must be in the country of the enemy. We slept, and when the sun found us there and blazed in upon us, we awoke.
“There was a high hill that was almost a mountain, and on it scatteredpine trees grew to the top. And I said, ‘From the top of that high hill yonder we can see everything. Let us go up there to look. Maybe there will be a Crow village.’ And Kicking Bear said, ‘Cousins, that is what we are going to do.’ And High Horse said, ‘There may be a valley full of horses.’ And Charging Cat said, ‘We can eat what is left of the meat up there while we are looking.’ So we went.
“When we stood breathing hard on the very top, there was a wide empty land to the end of the world—valleys without smoke and hills with pines upon them; and then beyond the hills of pine, the mountains. So we made a little fire where it could not be seen and roasted what we had left of the meat. When we were eating and talking about what we could do next, High Horse said, ‘Look, cousins! Something is coming down that valley. See? It is coming this way.’ We looked hard where he pointed, and Kicking Bear said, ‘Maybe it is some deer or maybe elk coming.’ After we had looked awhile longer, I said, ‘It is neither elk nor deer. I think it is aniglakacoming.’ And Kicking Bear said, ‘I think it does look like aniglaka.’ And Charging Cat said, ‘It is aniglaka, cousins; and there are some loose horses following.’ And High Horse said, ‘Now we shall have horses to ride, and then it will be easier to get all we want.’
“So we made a plan for attacking theiglaka. I would go with Charging Cat down the left side of the hill, Kicking Bear with High Horse down the right side. We did this because High Horse and I had guns that loaded from behind. Theiglakawas coming from the right side. I would shoot when the man in front came close to me. The others would hear. High Horse and Kicking Bear would shoot then, and all of us would charge, coming from in front and behind theiglaka.
“Then we started down the hill. When we were at the bottom, Charging Cat and I hid behind some rocks where we could see the valley in front of us, and afterwhile we could see theiglakacoming. There was a man in front, not young but not very old; and when I saw the horse he was riding, I whispered to Charging Cat, ‘There is the horse I have been looking for.’ And he said, ‘I have been looking for the same horse.’ It was gray-spotted and taller than Whirlwind, and it held its head high and kept looking all around as it came. Back of the man on the fine horse was an old woman riding on a pony-drag, and she was driving the pony with a long stick. She made me think of my grandmother, and I whispered to Charging Cat, ‘Be careful and do not shoot the old woman.’ And he said of course he would not shoot her. I thought more about this when I was older. When the man was in front of us, he was close enough for a good bow-shot. I put my gun on top of the rock and tooka good aim. I must have hit him in the spine, for he fell back screaming; and while he was falling Charging Cat’s arrow stuck in his shoulder. All at once there was shooting over there where Kicking Bear and High Horse were—one shot, and yelling; another shot, and more yelling, and horses squealing and the sound of hoofs. The old woman’s pony started running away with her as we came out of the rocks yelling, ‘hoka-hey! hoka-hey!’ She was bouncing and holding on tight and screaming. When we came to the man on the ground he was not through dying yet. I let Charging Cat count the first coup, because I had killed. When I leaned down to take the man’s scalp he looked at me once and then died. I think I did not see that look until I was older. There was more yelling over to the right, and there were horses milling around in the valley, maybe eight or ten. The old woman’s pony was running in a big circle off yonder to our left. She was fat and she looked funny bouncing that way, but we did not laugh. Then the drag hit something, maybe a rock, and she rolled over and over on the ground. When she got up, she just stood screaming and shaking her long stick at us. Then there was a horseback coming fast from over on the right. It was a young Crow, and we shot at him as he passed, and he shot back, but we all missed, and he did not stop to fight. He was going over there to help the old woman. Then High Horse and Kicking Bear came running, and High Horse had a scalp, for there were two driving the Crow horses, and one of them died.
“By now the Crow that rode past us was waiting over there with the old woman behind him. He just sat on his horse and waited. And Charging Cat said, ‘When we have caught some horses, we can go over there and kill him.’ And I said, ‘Maybe that is his grandmother.’ And High Horse said, ‘Maybe it is; and he is a brave man to wait for four of us.’ And Kicking Bear said: ‘We will let him go if he does not charge us while we are catching some horses. That is what we are going to do. If he wants to die, he can charge us.’
“So we spread out and began trying to round up the horses. It was not easy, because they were still frightened. They would sniff and snort at us and then start running. But afterwhile we got three of them in some brush up against a steep place, and Kicking Bear caught one. Most of them had thin rawhide lariats looped around their necks for staking out. Kicking Bear tied the lariat around the horse’s jaw and rode after some more. When he caught one, I rode and helped him; and in a little while we were all riding. The fine horse the older man was riding got away. I chased him, but he ran like a high wind blowing. I think he was the best horse I never had.
“By that time we could see the old woman was on her drag again and we could hear her mourning. The young Crow was riding beside her pony and leading it. We watched them going and listened until they were out of sight around a bend in the valley. Then Kicking Bear said, ‘I think there is a Crow village up yonder and they were going visiting with some horses to give away.’ And I said, ‘They will have a story to tell, and the village will be looking for us.’ And High Horse said, ‘If they were going to visit, maybe they came from another village and that is the one we can attack, for they will not hear the story.’ And Kicking Bear said, ‘That is what we are going to do, cousins.’
“So we started up the back trail of theiglaka, and Charging Cat said, ‘We ought to take the other horses with us.’ And High Horse said, ‘There are only four and I have so many cousins that one more horse would not be much.’ And I said, ‘If there is a village, there will be a herd of horses, and these here will only bother us.’ And Kicking Bear said, ‘You are right, cousin; we will find the village and drive off the whole herd. The Crow can have his four horses when he comes back for the old man and the other young man yonder.’
“So we rode on up the back trail of theiglaka, and we were careful when we came to a bend, for there might be a village. But there was no village, and we rode on; and still there was no village, and the sun was getting low. So Kicking Bear said, ‘Cousins, we must find that village before it is dark. Eagle Voice can climb up that hill yonder and High Horse can climb up this one here. Maybe they will see something and they can hurry back and tell us. Charging Cat and I will keep the horses here in the brush.’ So we did this, and when I was on the top of my hill, there were smokes yonder below me. There were many smokes in a circle, for the night is not warm in that country and it was getting time to eat. On the other side of the smokes there was a valley sloping up to a big gulch through the hills towards where the sun comes up; and in the valley and up along the slope there were horses, horses. My heart was drumming, and I looked all around to see how we could get in there; and I saw another deep gulch through the hills that stood between the valley of the village and the valley where Kicking Bear and Charging Cat had our horses. When I saw this, I knew again that Wakon Tonka had heard us when we made our vow and dedicated the pipe. We could go in through that gulch and come out right between the village and the herd. Then we could scare the horses and drive them through the other gulch towards our home.
“I ran down the hill and told the others; for High Horse was there by now and he had not seen anything. So we rode on up the valley until wecame to the gulch I saw, and there we waited in some brush. The sun was under a hill and there were shadows. We waited, and it was getting dark. We waited, and moonlight was beginning to show over the hill ahead of us. When the moon looked over into our valley, High Horse said, ‘Let us go in now.’ And Kicking Bear said, ‘Cousins, we must wait until the village is asleep and the horse-guards are nodding. That is what we are going to do.’ And I said, ‘Yes, we will do that.’ And Charging Cat said, ‘I could eat the hump of a fat bison cow.’ And I said, ‘The four of us could eat the cow.’ And High Horse said, ‘We can eat tomorrow when we are far away with all those horses.’ And Kicking Bear said, ‘We are men, and that is what we can do.’
“The moon was high, and we waited. Sometimes one would fall asleep and the others would wake him. The moon was above us, and we waited. It was starting down, and we waited. It was halfway down, and Kicking Bear said, ‘Cousins, they are sleeping hard and the horse-guards will be nodding. Eagle Voice has seen, and he will lead the way. Remember the vow and have strong hearts. Nothing lasts but the hills.’ Then High Horse said to me, ‘Brother, if you die in there tonight, look back as you are going to the spirit land, for I will be coming.’ And I said, ‘I will remember to look back, and if you die, look back and wait for me, for I will be coming too.’
“So we rode into the gulch. It was steep at the top and there were some rocks. When one rolled and bounced it made a big noise, for the night was still and cold. Then we would wait and listen awhile. We came to the mouth of the gulch. There were tepees to our left, all asleep in their shadows. To the right there were shadows scattered on the slope and we knew that was the herd. We lay down close to our horses and rode in slowly. If someone saw, we would look like strays from the herd. A dog raised a long howl. And for a while there was barking. We just lay flat on our horses, and let them graze until the dogs were still again. Then we moved ahead slowly, one behind the other, and I was ahead. We would move a little and then stop to let our horses graze. Then we would move ahead a little more and stop to graze, like strays eating their way back to the herd. I looked ahead, and looked, and I saw my horse’s shadow. I could hear horses blowing in the grass, and I could see they were grazing towards the gulch that opened to where the sun comes from. That was good.
“I moved slowly and stopped; moved and stopped. There was something ahead a little way. It was like a shadow, with nothing to make a shadow. All at once it stood up, and it was a man. He said something like a question, but I could not understand. I touched my horse’s flank withmy heel, and he moved ahead quickly. The man yelled. My gun was ready; and I was so close, I could almost touch him with it. When he yelled, I shot. He went down, but my horse reared and leaped and I did not stop to count coup. There were two shots behind me, and I could hear the other three yelling where they were strung out behind the herd. Dogs were barking among the tepees and there was shouting yonder. I heard this, and then I heard only myself yelling. Then my own yelling was not loud, for there was thunder in the moonlight, thunder roaring from the ground and a thin cloud rising with the thunder.
“They were running, the herd was running away. I could see their heads and backs tossing, but they were shadows in the thin, rising cloud that thundered in the moonlight.
“The hills that were yonder came closer and all at once they were standing dark above the thundering cloud with moonlight on their heads. The herd was slowing. Horses were crowding and screaming, crowding and rearing and screaming. By now I was waving my blanket above my head, and I was still yelling. When I looked off to my right I could see blankets waving in the moonlight like great wings flapping, and I knew the others were working as hard as I was. The cloud ahead was thinning a little, and I could see a dark river of horses flowing up the break in the hills that was narrow at the bottom. They flowed and tossed and roared the way a sudden flood in a coulee does. I rode at a run up and down the flank of the crowding herd, waving my blanket and yelling to keep horses from breaking away and heading back towards the village. If they had no horses to ride back there, they could not catch us. When I looked back I could see only dusty moonlight; and if there was yelling yonder, the river of horses was louder.
“Then I knew the herd had narrowed ahead and the rear was crowding into the mouth of the gulch—horses on top of horses, rearing and fighting and screaming. And all at once, the four of us were together again, and Kicking Bear was yelling, ‘We have got them, cousins! Drive them hard! We have got them!’ So we kept on yelling and waving our blankets. And when we rode into the mouth of the gulch behind the last of the herd, we rode over horses that were down, kicking and squealing, and trying to get up.
“In a little while we were at the top of the gulch, and the herd was a river of shadows roaring in the moonlight ahead of us. They were flowing fast into a wide valley that we could not see across. The gulch widened and we spread out. Charging Cat and High Horse stayed behindthe herd to keep them going. Kicking Bear rode up the right side and I up the left, so that they would keep bunched and not stray off.
“When the morning star was up and there was a streak of day on the range of hills ahead of us, the herd was getting harder to keep going, and they would not gallop any more. They would only trot. Sometimes my horse would stop all at once with his four legs spread out, and wobble and pant. I caught a bigger horse, and it was not hard to catch him. Then I turned mine loose with the others.
“We pushed the herd on over the next range of hills, and when the sun came up we let them stop to rest and graze awhile. There was a creek, and they made for it, crazy with thirst. Many of them piled up in a bend of the creek where it was easy to reach the water. Some died there and some died later, from drinking too much I think. Also, we had lost some in the night, but there were many left. We had not slept or eaten and we had been riding hard. Charging Cat said, ‘We can kill a yearling and eat the best of it while they are grazing.’ And High Horse said, ‘Maybe they will be catching strays and following us.’ And I said, ‘If there were some strays near the village they could catch others fast, and maybe a big party is on our trail now.’ And Kicking Bear said, ‘We can kill a yearling beyond that next range of hills there. Maybe there will be a deer or a fat cow. We can eat over there. We are men, and that is what we are going to do.’ And Charging Cat said, yes, we were men, and we could do that.
“So we filled ourselves with water, and when we had changed horses we began driving the herd again. They were so tired that they did not try to run away, and we had to ride up and down and wave our blankets and yell to make them trot. When the sun was high we were over the next range. Even then we did not stop. Sometimes a horse would just lie down and stay there. If we kicked him, he would not get up. And we said, when we got home there would be only good ones. All the time we kept looking back at the ridge behind us. Maybe there would be a party of Crows coming yonder. But the ridge got lower and the sun blazed there. High hills were ahead of us, and there was a place in the edge of them like the one beyond Mini Shoshay where we kept our horses that time. It was open towards where the sun goes down, and we could rest. So we drove the herd in there and made a little fire where we could see back and watch the horses too. No game was in sight, and we were too tired to hunt. So we cut a yearling’s throat. The backbone meat was good when it was roasted, and we ate the liver too.
“When we had eaten, Charging Cat rolled over like dead, and it washard to hold my head up; but I thought of Crazy Horse and I wanted to be like him. So I said, ‘Cousins, go to sleep and I will watch. Then I can ’waken you and sleep too.’ And they rolled over and were like dead men.
“The sun was gone. There were stars, and the tops of the hills saw the moon coming far away, but it was dark around me yet, and the herd was only shadow. I kept staggering around to stay awake. It was not easy to be like Crazy Horse. I thought hard about the victory dance they would have for us. So I made myself dance the way I would be doing then, and sang to myself. All at once I would be down on my hands and knees, and it would be hard to get on my feet again. The moon looked over a hill at me, and it was trying to dance. The stars danced too. I tried to ’waken somebody.
“All at once it was not the moon looking over the hill. It was the sun blazing on us and I was lying on the grass. I looked around, and when I did not see any horses, I yelled. The others jumped up, excited and ready to fight. But there was nothing to see. The place in the hills was empty.
“When we had looked awhile, Kicking Bear said, ‘We are not dead, so it was not enemies that did this.’ And I said, ‘Maybe they went looking for water.’ And Charging Cat said, ‘That is what they did, and we can find them.’ And High Horse said, ‘If we do not find them, we can go backmaka manithe way we started and find another village.’ And we all said, yes, we could do that.
“But it was easy to track the horses, for they were all going one way down along the edge of the hills. And after a while we saw them. They were scattered out in a valley below us. The hills opened up there and a creek was running through towards where the sun comes up, and the grass along the creek was deep. It was not hard to catch the horses we had been riding, because their lariats were looped around their necks, and they were tired; but this time we tied them to bushes. It was a good place to rest the horses and get them full of grass; and it was a good place for us to eat and sleep.
“There were deer in the valley, and some of them were grazing with the horses at the edge of the herd. I think they had not learned to be afraid of men. So I got on my horse with my gun ready and rode slowly among the grazing herd towards where the deer were. I was lying close to the horse’s neck, and a little wind was blowing towards me. I got a fat one. When I shot, the horses nearby started milling and crowding, but they were so tired they stopped soon and began grazing again.
“We ate plenty. Then before we slept, High Horse and I preparedthe two scalps we had taken. There were four of us, so we cut the scalps in two; and when we had soaked them in water awhile, we scraped them thin and stretched them on hooped sticks to dry. Also, we had to have drums for the victory; so we scraped enough of the deer-hide to make four and stretched it on hoops. When we had done this, sitting by a little fire, we slept; but this time two slept while two watched.
“When the morning star looked over the edge of the world, we ate again. And when we had bunched the horses and started driving down the valley of the creek, a streak of day was growing away off yonder towards our home. We drove all that day, but sometimes we stopped a little while to let the herd rest and drink and graze. There were many lame ones, and it was hard to keep them going with the others, for we were in a hurry yet. Maybe the enemy had caught enough strays by now to follow with a large party. Maybe they thought there were many of us, and so they waited until they could find enough horses. We talked about this, and we said if they came we would fight them; it was not good to grow old; nothing remained but the hills; we were men and we could die. But all day, whenever we came to a ridge and looked behind us, the back trail was empty. I think the pipe helped us, the pipe and the vow we made on the high hill.”
The old man fell silent, and for some time he sat with closed eyes, head bowed, his hands on his knees.
“It was many snows ago,” he said at length, emerging slowly from his reverie. “That was my first victory. Before it was dark that day, we began to know our own country again, and we sang to see all the good horses we had, for we began to feel safer. There were about seventy-five of them, and they were the good ones. We had done great deeds; the people would praise us; and we would not be boys any more, but men.
“There was a ridge that looked down on our village, and there next day, when the sun was high above us, the people saw us coming with the horses. They were getting ready for the sun dance, and the other bands had come to camp with the Oglalas in one big circle, because it was a good place for the dance. Some rode out to meet us, singing as they came. These took care of the horses and went back with them to the village, telling the people to prepare for a kill-come-back and a victory.
“We had to get ready; so we made a fire back under the ridge; and when there was charred wood, we blackened our faces with it. If any of our party had been killed, we could not have blackened our faces, and the people seeing would have known, and there would have been mourning with the rejoicing. If I had been killed, maybe, and was feeding the coyotes, then the people would sing to my spirit as the othersrode in the victory, ‘Aah hey! Aah hey!Eagle Voice, it is so! We have heard about you, and it is good to hear!Aah hey, aah hey, aah hey! Aah hey!’ They would sing that song because any old man would tell you it was an honor to die on the prairie when you were young, and it was not good to grow old. But we were all alive, and so we blackened our faces. Then we tied the scalps to coup-sticks, and each had one. The deer-hide drums we made had dried tight in the hot sun, and we were ready. While we were waiting, we danced around the fire and sang the way we would do before all the people. And afterwhile two came to tell us the people were waiting for us; and when they had gone away, we got on our horses, and we had chosen the best and strongest ones for this. Then we charged over the ridge single file. I was first because I had killed first, and after me was High Horse, for he had killed after me. Then came Charging Cat who had counted the first coup, and last rode Kicking Bear, who had counted coup also. We went galloping down the hill, crying, ‘hown, hown, hown,’ all together, as though we were going into battle; and when we were near the village we all yelled, ‘hoka-hey’ and shot the guns in the air. With our horses on the run, we swung low on the off-side and charged around the circle of tepees, left to right. And as we rode, the people raised one great voice, ‘hiyay, hiyay’; and we could hear the women all making the tremolo high above the voices of the men.
“When we had circled the village outside and come to the opening towards where you are always facing, we stopped in a line and the people sang a welcoming song. Then, because High Horse and I had killed, we rode first around the circle inside the village, left to right, which is the sacred manner, while the two others waited. Our relatives had all blackened their faces and they were all together watching and feeling proud of us. Our horses were tired, but we made them prance around, and they were excited too. As I rode, I looked straight ahead, singing to my drum, ‘Eagle Voice, you have said, I have met an enemy and killed him.’ And when I had sung this four times, High Horse sang the same about himself, and all the men cried, ‘hiyay hiyay,’ and the women raised the tremolo all around the big circle.
“When we were at the opening again, the women came, with blackened faces, to walk ahead of us around the circle inside the big village, and we four rode abreast behind them with the scalps held high on our coup-sticks. And as they walked, the women sang about the enemies we had killed and the many horses we had brought them.
“Then when we came again to the opening, the four of us rode to the center of the big village circle where they had made a tepee-thrown-over-together,and there the chiefs and the councilors sat waiting to welcome us. When we had got off our horses and sat down in a row before the head chief, he prepared a pipe and offered it to the six powers. And when we had smoked after him, he spoke to us and praised us. I think he forgot about us running away, because of the horses and the scalps. And all the people cried out with one voice.
“Then the victory dance began, and the feasting and the giving away; and the night was old when it was over. Kicking Bear told the story of our going to warmaka maniand of the vow we made on the hill. Charging Cat made the tale longer with the taking of horses. High Horse and I made kill talks, telling how it was. And all the people, hearing, cheered each of us in turn, and the drums beat and the victory song was loud. And after the men, the women danced in their best buckskin dresses, beautiful with beads and colored porcupine quills.
“There was much giving away. It was time for the sun dance, and the hearts of the people were strong. Our relatives gave horses to many, showing their gladness for our safe return; and the four of us gave and gave, until we had left only the horses we had before. If there had been more, we would have given them too; for the heart grows stronger with giving. I gave most of mine to old people, and some to old women who were my grandmother’s friends. Maybe I was remembering the old woman bouncing on her pony-drag, and the pony running away.”