Hunting at High Altitudes 



During all this time there was a camp of four or 

 iive hundred Indians only a short distance from the 

 agency. It was occupied by old men, women and 

 children, the families of the actively hostile young 

 men who were with Sitting Bull fighting the 

 soldiers, while these non-combatants were being fed 

 and cared for by the Government. The warriors 

 recently returned from the hostile camp, thirty to 

 fifty in number, and bringing with them the spoils 

 of the fight in the shape of cavalry horses, arms 

 and other plunder, were going directly to this 

 camp. 



One day word was brought to the agency that a 

 war dance would be held at the camp that night. 

 The affair was genuine, the participants having just 

 returned from the slaughter of a part of Custer's 

 regiment. During the previous winter I had at- 

 tended a war dance by a band of Chippewa In- 

 dians, at Vermillion Bay, Minnesota, and I was 

 curious to see the difference between this dance as 

 performed by tame Indians and by these thor- 

 oughly savage people of the plains. Believing that 

 "one might as well be killed for a sheep as a lamb," 

 I set out with one or two employees of the post, 

 and was on hand soon after the performance 

 began. 



The tipi used in the dance was the usual living 

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