“We did not care for the agent at that time for we had plenty of buffalo meat and skins. Some of the camp went over and drew rations, it is true, but others did not go. I pretended to be very indifferent, but I was crazy to go, for I had never seen a white man’s house and had never stood close to any white man. I heard the others tell of a great many wonderful things over there—and they said there were white women and children also.
“I was ambitious to do a great deed in those days and had made myself the leader of some fourteen reckless young warriors like myself. I sat around and smoked in tepee, and one night I said, ‘Brothers, let us go to the agency and steal the horses.’
“This made each one of them spring to his feet. ‘Good! Good!’ they said. ‘Lead us. We will follow. That is worth doing.’
“‘The white men are few and cowardly,’ I said. ‘We can dash in and run off the horses, and then I think the old men will no longer call us boys. They will sing of us in their songs. We shall be counted in the council thereafter.’
“They were all eager to go and that night we slipped out of camp and saddled and rode away across the prairie, which was fetlock deep in grass. Just the time for a raid. I felt like a big chief as I led my band in silence through the night. My bosom swelled with pride like a turkey cock and my heart was fierce.
“We came in sight of the white man’s village next day about noon, and veering a little to the north, I led my band into camp some miles above the agency. Here I made a talk to my band and said: ‘Now you remain here and I will go alone and spy out the enemy and count his warriors and make plans for the battle. You can rest and grow strong while I am gone.’”
Big Elk’s eyes twinkled as he resumed. “I thought I was a brave lad to do this thing and I rode away trying to look unconcerned. I was very curious to see the agency. I was like a coyote who comes into the camp to spy out the meat racks.” This remark caused a ripple of laughter, which Big Elk ignored. “As I forded the river I glanced right and left, counting the wooden tepees” (he made a sign of the roof), “and I found them not so many as I had heard. As I rode up the bank I passed near a white woman and I looked at her with sharp eyes. I had heard that all white women looked white and sicklike. This I found was true. This woman had yellow hair and was thin and pale. She was not afraid of me—she did not seem to notice me and that surprised me.
“Then I passed by a big wooden tepee which was very dirty and smoky. I could see a man, all over black, who was pounding at something. He made a sound, clank, clank, clunk-clank. I stood at the door and looked in. It was all very wonderful. There were horses in there and this black man was putting iron moccasins on the horses’ feet.