k Cloud puts his knife back in his
belt, gets into his saddle ag'in an' rides away.

"The next day a Creek boy finds the body of Sunbright where she rolls
herse'f into the Greyhoss an' is drowned.

"When the Lance hears the story an' sees the knife slash on Sunbright's
heel, he reads the trooth. It gives him a bad heart; he paints his
face red an' black an thinks how he'll be revenged. Next day he sends
a runner to Black Cloud with word that Black Cloud has stole his hoss.
This is to arrange a fight on virtuous grounds. The Lance says that in
two days when the sun is overhead Black Cloud must come to the three
cottonwoods near the mouth of the Cimmaron an' fight, or the Lance on
the third day an' each day after will hunt for him as he'd hunt a wolf
ontil Black Cloud is dead. The Black Cloud's game, an' sends word that
on the second day he'll be thar by the three cottonwoods when the sun
is overhead; also, that he will fight with four arrows.

"Then Black Cloud goes at once, for he has no time to lose, an' kills a
dog near his lodge. He cuts out its heart an' carries it to the rocky
canyon where the rattlesnakes have a village. Black Cloud throws the
dog's heart among them an' teases them with it; an' the rattlesnakes
bite the dog's heart ag'in an' ag'in ontil it's as full of p'isen as a
bottle is of rum. After that, Black Cloud puts the p'isened heart in
the hot sun an' lets it fret an' fester ontil jest before he goes to
his dooel with the Lance. As he's about to start, Black Cloud dips the
four steel arrowheads over an' over in the p'isened heart, bein'
careful to dry the p'isen on the arrowheads; an' now whoever is touched
with these arrows so that the blood comes is shore to die. The biggest
medicine in the nation couldn't save him.

"Thar's forty Osage and forty Creek bucks at the three cottonwoods to
see that the dooelists get a squar' deal. The Lance an' Black Cloud is
thar; each has a bow an' four arrows; each has made medicine all night
that he may kill his man.

"But the dooel strikes a obstacle.

"Thar's a sombre, sullen sport among the Osages who's troo name is the
'Bob-cat,' but who's called the 'Knife Thrower.' The Bob-cat is one of
the Osage forty. Onknown to the others, this yere Bob-cat--who it
looks like is a mighty impressionable savage--is himse'f in love with
the dead Sunbright. An' he's hot an' cold because he's fearful that in
this battle of the bows the Lance'll down Black Clo