relief the faces and unkempt figures
of a vast concourse of men and women gathered, in one great circle, within
the boundary limits of the fires. On the faces of all was an expression of
fierce revelry. A dark setting completed the picture. Beyond the fires all
was shadow, profound, ghostly. The woods in all directions closed in that
weird concourse of beings, and even the devilish light of the fires could
not relieve the savagery of the scene.

Like the hub of a gigantic wheel, in the midst of the circle stood a
cluster of leafless trees, mighty patriarchs, gnarled and twisted, with
great overhanging limbs as stout and rugged as only hoary age can make
them.

The clearing inside the human circle was empty for a time, but the crowd
without was momentarily increasing, augmented by an incessant stream of
dusky, silent figures pouring from the adjacent forest depths. As the
minutes wore on the human tide slackened; it became broken, finally it
ceased altogether. Men, women and children, all the able-bodied
inhabitants of the Rosebud Reservation had foregathered, and the
significance of the gathering could not be mistaken.

Now a distant murmur comes from out of the blackness of the woods. At
first it is low, faint, and without character. But it grows, it gains in
power till its raucous din breaks upon the waiting multitude, and
immediately a responsive murmur rises from ten thousand voices. Those who
hear know the meaning of the discordant noise. The "med'cine" men of the
tribe are approaching, chanting airs which accord with their "med'cine,"
and serve at the same time to herald the coming of the great Sioux chief,
Little Black Fox.

Nearer and nearer, louder and louder. All eyes are upon the black fringe
of the forest where the trees no longer have power to obstruct the
moonlight. And of a sudden a number of writhing, twisting figures come
dancing into view.

They draw nearer to the expectant throng. Necks are craned, eyes are
straining to watch the antics so significant to these creatures of
superstition. For have not these strange beings power to invoke the
spirits, to drive away evil influence from the path of him whose approach
they herald?

They reach the clearing; they leap within the human circle. Their painted
faces are distorted with the effort of their wild exertions; their
befeathered heads are rendered still more hideous by the lurid blending of
conflicting lights. Thirty creatures, hardly recognizable