“I have but little to say,” was the response, the speaker's eyes dancing with delight at the triumph he had gained. “Squatting Bear came to our lodges long ago. He brought a cargo of fire-water among us. He lived with us till he married one of our women, but we would not call him chief. In the land of the Teton Sioux he began to steal; he treated his Indian wife badly, and one night he slew her in the little wigwam; not only that, but he slew a brother. The red wife was Running Water's sister. He swore revenge; he has trailed the white Sioux night and day—he and his brother, the Red Jingo. He has been found, and the fire-water chief lies dead before you. It is the law of the red-man that the nearest of kin must avenge. We have done that; in the camp of the southern Sioux we have appeased our sister's spirit. What say Setting Sun and the chiefs? Has Running Water broken the laws that our fathers made long ago?”
“By the jumpin' jingo, what a speech!” ejaculated the Red Jingo, as Midnight Jack finished, and with folded arms, after the Indian fashion, waited for a reply.
He was the observed of all observers.
He stood erect in the hour of his victory, knowing that the lips which had almost denounced him to death were speechless.
Beyond a slight murmur of rough applause that had greeted his speech no sound followed it.
“Go on!” he cried to the four chiefs, who were looking undecided into each other's eyes.
“I say the same!” suddenly broke in a harsh voice, and Rube Rattler sprung back from the cord which he threw away. “We have tracked the white dog down, an' Runnin' Water has carried out the law of our people.”
And to Gopher Gid, near whom his spring had landed him, he said, in a startling undertone—
“We've got the winnin' kerds, boy. I'm still the Screamin' Eagle of Smoky Roost!”
“The law of the Indians has not been broken,” said Setting Sun at last. “Squatting Bear is not red. Red Cloud made him a chief; he got not his feathers on the war-path; he never hung in the sun-dance; his blood is not Sioux blood, it is thinner than the blood of our people. What say our people? Has our Teton brother broken the law?”