CHAPTER VIII
VISITORS FROM THE NORTH
AT dawn the three lads stole noiselessly from the lodge and raced away to the stream, lured on by the shouts and laughter of a jolly little company who were already in the water. The first plunge into the icy current from the mountains dispelled the last traces of drowsiness and sent the blood bounding through their veins. Then followed a few moments of wild frolicking, for all the boys and most of the younger men of the tribe were assembled at the stream. When they emerged from the water they chased one another about the plain until they were thoroughly dry and glowing with health. Then they ran to the camp to eat bountifully of the food which the women were already preparing.
At sunrise the warriors who had been selected to dance in the Buffalo Dance walked to the center of the village. Each of the dancers wore the skin of a bull buffalo, including the head and horns, and about his ankles were tied tufts of buffalo hair. Their faces and bodies were streaked and spotted with clay of various colors, and fastened to their backs were small bundles of willow branches. They carried their hunting weapons, and small rawhide rattles filled with pebbles.
While the dancers were assembling, a number of scouts mounted their ponies and galloped away to watch from the ridges about the camp. At the same time Rain Crow made his way out on the plain with the sacred medicine-pipe, and seated himself beside a painted buffalo skull to smoke and petition the Great Mystery to send the great herds of buffaloes near the Minneconjoux camp.
The beating of the war drums drew the people to the spot selected for the ceremony, and when the tribe was finally assembled the dance commenced. About twenty warriors took part, and as the old men sang the sacred buffalo songs the dancers began to imitate the animals which they were supposed to represent. Keeping time with the drums, they moved slowly around in a circle, performing all the antics of the great beasts which they believed they were luring to their hunting grounds. Once begun, the dance might be continued for several days, unless the animals suddenly appeared and abruptly ended the ceremony. When a dancer became tired he stooped over, and one of the onlookers, who were waiting to take advantage of such an emergency, immediately pretended to drive an arrow through him. Then the exhausted dancer fell and was dragged from the circle, and the fresh recruit gladly surrendered himself to the strenuous exertions of the dance.
"That man who is throwing dirt over himself is Kicking Bull. He is a great hunter," Sun Bird told White Otter. "Once he sent his arrow right through a bull buffalo. Another time he killed three bears that were bigger than his pony. You will see him do some great things when we go out to hunt the buffaloes."