-feet; they were always bitter enemies. When the
battle began, the leader of the Crees came right up to our tepee and slit
it, and said: 'You people are sleeping yet, and I came,' I fired a gun
and killed him. The Crees took their knives and slit the tepees of our
village down the sides and then rushed in. When the Crees rushed into the
tepees they took everything they could lay their hands on, killing the
women and children, and that made me mad. That was why I fought so hard
that day."

[War Memories]

War Memories

Mountain Chief's Boyhood Sports

"I remember when I was a boy how we used to trap foxes. We all got
together and took our sisters along, took the axe, went into the woods and
cut willows, tied them up in bundles, and put them on our backs, our
sisters doing the same thing. We would go to the east of the camp, where
the smoke and all of the scent would go, find a snowdrift in the coulee
and unload our packs. The first thing we did was to stamp on the snow--to
see if it was solid. We would drive four sticks into the snow, and while
driving in the sticks we would sing: 'I want to catch the leader.' The
song is a fox song to bring good luck. As far as I can remember I got
this story from my grandfather. There was an old man in the camp who went
to the mountains, and stayed there for four days without anything to eat
in order that he might get his dream. A fox came to him and told him:
'This is one way you can kill us,' and this is why we put in this song
while we were making the deadfall. After we got through fixing up our
deadfall we returned home, a boy in the lead, then a girl, then a boy,
then a girl, and while we were returning to the camp we sang the fox song,
putting in these words: 'I want to kill the leader.' Then we fell down,
imitating the fox in the trap. When we got back to camp we took buffalo
meat, covering it with fat and roasted it a while so that the fox would
get the scent. Then we took the bait and put it on a stick and put it
over our left arm, and then the boys and girls all went back again,
singing as we went; 'We hope to have good luck.' This song was a
good-luck song. After we put the bait in the trap we all went home
silently, not saying a word. But before we went to bed my mother said to
me: 'I am going to get a piece of dried beef without any fat, and you take
it over to the old man who alway