ir wedding
garb.

"Never bride pledged her troth amid greater beauty. Overhead a canopy of
blue, with here and there a fleecy cloud daintily edged with pink. Round
about were walls of massive, towering rock, stately evergreens and the
thousand surrounding lodges, and under foot a carpet of grass and ferns
and flowers.

"Just as the sun's rim cleared the horizon, the lovers met at the door
of the lodge and stood side by side on the great bear skin, while the
blowing of horns and the chanting of twenty-eight maidens and
twenty-eight braves made the mountains ring with joy. Then a thousand
voices swelled the chorus of praise to the young aristocrats.

"The great medicine chief came forward and performed the rites of the
tribe. The pair knelt on the bear skin with their faces to the sun,
while he joined them together in marriage. The ceremonies finished, the
brave and his bride entered the lodge he had prepared, while the
villagers went to their tepees, chanting songs of praise to the new made
bride.

"At evening, when the sun had gone to rest and the stately peaks had
changed from pink to lavender, from gold to copper, and from purple to
gray, when the evening star had cleared the horizon and had begun to
wink and beckon to the laggard moon, then again the village awoke to
life, and the royal feast began. Fires were kindled and great flat
stones were heated. Choice cuts of elk, the tenderloin and tongues and
hams of sheep were roasted. Venison steak and ribs were broiled to a
turn. The bridal couple came forth and once more took their place on
the bear skin. The singers and dancers in the center of the great throng
began their weird chants and slow rhythmical steps. The tom-tom burst
forth, the chants became louder, the dance swifter. The maidens took up
the chant, first low and sweet, and as it grew higher and louder, the
young braves added their voices, then the older people joined the
chorus. Torches of cedar, burning like rockets, were thrown into the
air, the tom-toms pealed out their muffled notes, and from a thousand
throats rolled the great wedding song, until the tepees shook, and the
hills and valleys echoed with the sounds of rejoicing. They danced and
chanted and feasted while the stars came out till the sky seemed
crowded, while the camp-fires leaped and blazed. They danced and feasted
and sang, until the camp-fires smouldered and died out, and the night
birds made their last faint twitterings before seek