Little was said until the meal was over. Occasionally a man chatted in a low voice with his neighbour, or some more loudly spoken jest was uttered, at which all laughed. Jack was surprised to see that the host was not served with food. He did not eat anything, but occupied his time during the meal by cutting up tobacco on a board in front of him, and mixing it preparatory to filling the great stone pipe, which was to be smoked after all had finished eating. As the dishes were cleared away by the watchful women, Pis'kun pushed the tobacco and the pipe over to Joe, and made a sign to him. The boy cleaned out the pipe, filled it, and passing it back to the host, reached over, and with a pair of tongs made from a forked twig, drew from the fire a coal which he placed on the pipe. The host smoked until the pipe was well going, then blew a puff of smoke to the sky, turned the stem toward the earth, and made a low voiced prayer. Then he handed the pipe to the man on his left, who, without smoking, passed it to the next one, and so from hand to hand it passed along until it reached the guest nearest the door. He smoked as the host had done, made a prayer, passed the pipe back to the man on his right, who in turn smoked, and so the pipe passed round the circle, until it reached the host again.
Soon after the pipe had passed him, the oldest man present, Calf Robe, rose to his feet and spoke for some little time. When he had finished, Joe whispered to Jack that the man had been praising John Monroe, and had also spoken of Hugh's return to the tribe, and of the young man that he had brought with him. Calf Robe's speech was followed by others, and Jack waited for Joe to tell him what they were talking about; but, although he nudged Joe two or three times to try to get him to look at him, Joe seemed to be so much interested in the speeches, that he paid no attention to Jack, who sat there, altogether in the dark as to what was going on. Presently another one of the elder men, whom Jack recognised as Iron Shirt, the head chief, stood up and said a few words, and then, to Jack's surprise, Hugh turned to him and said, "Son, Iron Shirt wants me to interpret to you what he is going to say." Then Iron Shirt went on, speaking slowly, a sentence at a time, and waiting until Hugh had interpreted it to Jack, and this was the speech he made:
"My Son, you have come here from a far country with this white man, who is our old friend, White Bull. We have known him for many years. He tells us that you have come from the edge of the world, from where the earth runs down to meet the salt water. He has told us about you, that you are a good young man, true, speaking only the things that are, and neither talking foolishly nor falsely. Before you had come into our camp, but while you were yet in sight of it, you did a brave thing and saved from death the child of one of those sitting here. Since you have been with us, we have watched you in the camp. We have seen that you are quiet and orderly, and we have found too that you are brave. A few nights ago, when our people, with whom you were camped, were attacked by enemies, you defended them and killed one of these enemies. I am glad that so good a person has come to stay with us, and all the camp are glad too. I should like to have you stay with us always, and become one of my children. Sitting about you to-night there are chief men of the camp and we all of us wish to have you become a Piegan, and to be in fact, what I think you are in your heart, one of our people. Therefore, now this day, although your skin is white, we have chosen you one of us, and from this time you belong to the tribe of the Piegans. What I say to you now, I do not say for myself alone, but I say it for these who are sitting here, and also for the whole tribe."
The old man ceased speaking and sat down. Jack had grown red and white alternately, as he had heard Hugh's interpretation, and his feelings were so strong, that for a moment he had almost felt like crying. He turned to Hugh and said:
"What shall I do, Hugh? Shall I say anything?"
"Why," said Hugh, "I expect they'd like to have you say something, even if it is only a little, in answer."
It was the first time that Jack had ever spoken in public, and as he stood upon his feet, his knees shook, and his tongue seemed dry. All he could say was, "Hugh, I wish you would tell them how proud I feel to have them talk as they have talked, and how glad I am to be a member of the tribe. Tell them I'll never forget this night, if I live to be a thousand years, and that when I go back East, wherever I may be, I'll always think of the members of the Piegan tribe as my friends and my brothers."
Jack sat down with his ears ringing from the effort that he had made, and overwhelmed with shyness and embarrassment. At the same time his heart swelled with pride at the honour that had been done him and he squeezed Joe's hand, which had sought his, with a fervent clasp. Soon after this, the guests rose, one by one and filed out of the lodge, and the last to go was Joe, who, dragging Jack with him, rushed out of the lodge, and standing in front of it, gave vent to a series of shrill whoops and yells, and then he and Jack, throwing their arms about each other, wrestled in the darkness until both were exhausted.