164 ADVENTURES OF DR. ALLEN. 



skin had to be cut from the flesh and only the very best 

 knife would hold an edge. Little Horn stretched the skin 

 around his head, allowing a large portion of it to form a 

 graceful fold behind, and gave another exhibition of his war- 

 dances. He related many incidents connected with his boy- 

 hood, spoke of the first Sioux ponies he had stolen, how he 

 was followed by the owners and had killed one of their num- 

 ber, and how, when he reached his own tribe, they made a 

 hero of him, dancing around the scalp and chanting his 

 praises. 



The young squaws all loved him after that, but he liked 

 none so well as Pretty Nose, so he courted and married her. 

 He dwelt with pleasure on the fact that a brave chief can 

 have as many squaws as he can take care of, and I joined 

 him in chanting their old "Ha, O, ha, ha, O." until he grew 

 inexpressibly happy. We had no bedding except our saddle 

 blankets, which were light, and as the night was cold,, we 

 were glad when morning dawned, that we might rise and 

 stretch our chilled limbs before a blazing fire. 



As we rode up the creek after breakfast the mountains 

 seemed very near, but neverthless we were a long time in 

 reaching them. At noon we stopped for refreshments and 

 caught a fine mess of trout, which, with venison, constituted 

 our bill of fare. We turned the horses' heads to the south- 

 west and traveled through the main range. Upward we 

 went through green, grassy parks, then down through the 

 timber, walking for miles and leading our ponies. 



As the twilight was gathering we reached a beautiful 

 green spot, containing about twenty acres, all alive with 

 elks. I think there must have been a thousand. I shot a 

 fine calf and the others went crashing through the timber, 

 crushing before them everything that would yield to their 

 strength. Lying on our blankets beside a good fire, our 



