large fire was built upon the prairie, a short distance
from the chief's lodge, and the huge festival pot was
suspended from a crane over the roaring flames. First,
about fifteen gallons of water were put into this pot;
then Big Bear's wives, some of whom were old and wrinkled,
and others of which were lithe as fawns, plump and
bright-eyed, busied themselves gathering herbs. Some
digged deep into the marsh for roots of the "dog-bane,"
others searched among the knotted roots for the little
nut-like tuber that clings to the root of the flag, while
others brought to the pot wild parsnips, and the dried
stalks of the prairie pusley. A coy little maiden, whom
many a hunter had wooed but failed to win, had in her
sweet little brown hands a tangle of winter-green, and
maiden-hair. Then came striding along the young hunters,
with the dogs. Each dog selected for the feast was white
as the driven snow. If a black hair, or a blue hair, or
a brown hair, was discovered anywhere upon his body he
was taken away; but if he were _sans reproche_ he was
put, just as he was, head, and hide, and paws, and tail
on--his throat simply having been cut--into the pot, Six
dogs were thrown in, and the roots and stalks of the
prairie plants, together with salt, and bunches of the
wild pepper-plant, and of swamp mustard were thrown in
for seasoning. Through the reserves round about for many
miles swarth heralds proclaimed that the great Chief Big
Bear was giving a White Dog feast to his braves before
summoning them to follow him upon the war-path. The feast
was, in Indian experience, a magnificent one, and before
the young men departed they swore to Big Bear that they
returned only for their war-paint and arms, and that
before the set of the next sun they would be back at his
side.

True to their word the Indians came, hideous in their
yellow paint. If you stood to leeward of them upon the
plain a mile away you could clearly get the raw, earthy
smell of the ochre upon their hands and faces. Some had
black bars streaked across their cheeks, and hideous
crimson circles about their eyes. Some, likewise, had
stars in pipe-clay painted upon the forehead.

Now the immediate object of the warlike enthusiasm of
all these young men was the capture of Fort Pitt, an
undertaking which they hardly considered worth shouldering
their rifles for. But when it came to the actual taking
it was a somewhat different matter. There were twenty-one
policemen in t