The Winslow mail., 1900-07-12

he was there he saw this dance, and
he liked it, for it was a war dance. He
was taken into the society, and the
Rees gave him the secrets of the dance.
So, when he got back to his own tribe,
he told his people, the Pawnee Loups,
about the dance and advised them to
take it up and learn it. All this hap
pened before L was born.
When L was a big boy, growing up,
almost a young man, old enough to 60
to war, Medicine Chief was the leader
of the Young Dogs society. He was
a very old man. When 1 considered
this society, l saw that those who be-
longed to it were the men 1 wished to
be like; they were great warriors, men
who had but one heart, those who stood
foremost of all men by their victories
over their enemies. They took many
horses and were rich.
Now man who wanted to learn the
secrets of this society and how to prac-
tice this dance had to go through hard
trial. He had to dance for long time
without food or drink, until he was
very tired, and hungry, and thirsty,
and he had to have his flesh pierced and
cords tied to his skin, an he had to
pull himself free from the cords by
tearing them out of his skin. He had
to endure the sufferings that a war;
rior bears.
L had friend named Big Spotted
Horse who belonged to the Young
Dogs society. At the time he was
dancing and fasting so as to learn the
secret of the dance, the Sioux came
down to fight us, and we all went out to
meet them. At this time he was wear
ing the ornaments which belonged to
the dance. In the fight Spotted Horse,
who was in the front of the battle, was
wounded in the arm, but even though
he was wounded he rode right over his
enemy and struck him. Soon after
this he got the secrets of this dance,
and after that became a great warrior,
and every time he went on the warpath
against his enemies he would bring
back many horses and scalps. At last
he became chief.
1 used to talk with my friend Spotted
Horse about the dance, for | had seen
with my own eyes the great things that
he had done and how fortunate he had
been in war ever since joining it, and L
had thought great deal about joining
it myself. He told me that all his luck
came from this dance, and that he be-
lieved that the dog which lived up
above with Tirawa was taking pity on
him and helping him, and he advised
me to join the society. At length I
made up my nina that / would do this,
and / went to the old man, Medicine
Chief, and said: "Grandfather, | am
very poor in my mind and want to be
taken into this society. I am willing
to do whatever must be done, for | do
not care what becomes of me, for | am
very unhappy and have always been
unlucky." On the day when [ was taken
in we began to dance, 1 and IA others.
We were obliged to dance for four days
and four nights without eating or
drinking, and Medicine Chief told us to
fix our eyes on the Sun as we danced
and at night to look at the Moon. On
this day, while we were dancing, there
were in the lodge with us people be-
longing to the society; some were maxi
ing shoulder belts, others tying up owl
feathers to wear in the head, others
making ready eagle feathers, and four
women were putting porcupine quills
on the belts.
The man whose duty it waste pierce
the breasts of the young braves for this
suffering was named Pahu Katawah
Oknee print by the water). He was
a great warrior and had struck his enc
mics many times. He pierced my breast
and put the wooden skewers through
the skin and tied them to the ropes and
strung me up. While he was doing this
asking that he would take pity on me,
as he had taken pity on him. So | be-
gan to dance and to try to break loose,
and l kept dancing day and night.
On the fourth day, which was the
last of the dance, tore loose from the
sticks that were through my breast
and Pahu Katawah led me around the
ring four times, and then had me stand
in front of Medicine Chief, who put on
me the different ornaments, one by
one, in the order in which they had been
given by the animals to the Rec brave
who first received them.
Some time after this dance was over
Spotted Horse determined to make a
Journey to war and he led us about
through the village, dancing, to get us
ready. We started, and went far up on
the head of the South Platte river,
close to the Rocky mountains. AS we
were travelling along we came to trail
where a number of people had passed,
and this trail led into the mountains.
We followed it, and when it became
fresher Spotted Horse sent me with
another ahead of the party to follow
the trail and see where the camp was.
We followed this trail, and at length,
when we looked over hill, we saw close
to us large herd of horses, and beyond
them the camp. Then we turned about.
and came back to our party and told
Spotted Horse what we had seen.
Here we held a council to decide what
we should do, whether to attack the
camp and try to kill some people, or to
drive off the horses. We decided to
take the horses. The people of this
camp were Cheyennes.
Before we started we prayed and
made sacrifices to Tirawa and to the
sun and moon and stars. After night
had come we went down to the camp,
and Mhi,e the YnunU men pat hered LID