I saw that they had met each other before, and they acted 

 as if they were good friends. Presently the black-gown got 

 down on his knees by the side of the sick man and talked a while, 

 as it seemed, to the Great Spirit. But what he said sounded 

 new and strange, and I could not understand it. Then he 

 put his hands on the face and the head of the sick man, still 

 talking in this strange language. While this was being done, 

 the other red men all stood near by, giving close attention, 

 but saying nothing. Finally the black-gown finished and rose 

 to his feet. He stood a little while in silence, looking down 

 sorrowfully on the old chief. He then leaned over him, placed 

 his hand on his head, spoke a few words which seemed in the 

 natm-e of a farewell, then turned and slowly walked away, 

 shaking his head sadly as he did so. He said something to 

 the other red men, then mounted his pony and departed. He 

 had not been gone long before loud and mournful cries broke 

 forth from the little group at my foot, and I knew from that 

 and their other actions that the chief was dead. They con- 

 tinued this for some time, and finally secured the dead body 

 on the back of one of their ponies, and then all rode away. 

 I never saw any of them again, but the crows told me that 

 the body was taken to a high bluff a few miles away, where 

 it was buried. The way these red men buried their dead was 

 just to place them in a sitting posture, wrapped in buffalo robes, 

 and then securely inclose them and cover them with big, heavy 

 stones, in such a manner that they were protected from the 

 wolves. 



"A few years after the death of this old chief came an- 

 other war, the greatest, so far as I know, that ever was in this 

 country. It seemp that the white people of this land, who 

 had lived together in peace and friendship for a long, long time, 

 at last fell out among themselves and went to killing one an- 

 other. Those on one side wore blue clothes, and the others 

 wore gray; so the birds called thejn the Blues and the Grays. 

 The most of the fighting was done away off in the direction 

 of the rising sun, so I never saw any of it. But, when the 

 wind blew from that direction towards me, there were a few 

 times that I faintly heard the thunder of the big guns that 



17 



