Black Arrow waved his hand, and the whole crowd squatted around him in the most undignified fashion.
The white members of the party also drew near, for they were greatly interested in this odd affair.
Black Arrow spoke in the Indian tongue:
“Many moons ago this white brave found a beautiful Indian princess and her aged father in the great forest in mid-winter, held prisoners in the hands of our most deadly enemies, the Snake Indians, for the chief of the Snakes sought to make the princess his squaw, and therefore had stolen her and her father in the dead of night, with the aid of two comrades.
“This noble brave, with a white skin, but with the heart of a true Indian, roamed the forest and came upon them. He was seen by the beautiful princess, and implored his protection.
“He was as brave as the tiger, as cunning as the fox, as strong as the buffalo, and as keen as the lynx. With the spring of a wild panther he bounded upon them and struck them to the ground. His knife drank their blood, his bullets found their heart. He killed them all with his own hands, and then he conducted the old chieftain and the beautiful young princess back to their village, where he was marked with this totem belt that tells the story. The beautiful princess was the light of the wigwam, Neoskaleeta, and her father the great chieftain to whom we all pay allegiance, Black Hawk. You know what to do, my braves.”
A great cry went up from the interested braves, and they stood erect.
Their weapons flashed in the slanting rays of the dying sunlight, and they pressed forward eagerly, placing their weapons at Van Dorn’s feet as they knelt before him, while a united cry assailed his ears:
“Ne ka qua bah!” (“You may command us.”)