is unexpected ending
to their adventure, having lost some of their bravest and best men. The
camp was instantly thrown into mourning. Many were in heavy grief, but
none was more deeply stricken than the maiden called the Blue Sky, the
daughter of their chief.

She remained within her teepee and wept in secret, for none knew that
she had the right to mourn. Yet she believed that her lover had met with
misfortune, but not death. Although his name was announced among those
warriors who fell in the field, her own heart assured her that it was
not so. "I must go to him," she said to herself. "I must know certainly
whether he is still among the living!"

The next evening, while the village was yet in the confusion of great
trouble and sorrow, Blue Sky rode out upon her favorite pony as if to
take him to water as usual, but none saw her return! She hastened to
the spot where she had concealed two sacks of provisions and her extra
moccasins and materials for sewing. She had no weapon, save her knife
and a small hatchet. She knew the country between the Black Hills and
the Big Horn, and knew that it was full of perils for man and much more
for woman. Yet by traveling only at night and concealing herself in the
daytime she hoped to avoid these dangers, and she rode bravely forth on
the trail of the returning warriors.

Her dog, Wapayna, had followed the maiden, and she was not sorry to
have so faithful a companion. She cautioned him not to bark at or attack
strange animals unless they attacked first, and he seemed to understand
the propriety of remaining on guard whenever his mistress was asleep.

She reached the Powder River country in safety, and here she had more
than once to pick her way among the buffaloes. These wily animals seemed
to realize that she was only a woman and unarmed, so that they scarcely
kept out of her path. She also crossed the trails of riders, some of
them quite fresh, but was fortunate enough not to meet any of them.

At last the maiden attained the divide between the Tongue and the Big
Horn rivers. Her heart beat fast, and the sudden sense of her strange
mission almost overwhelmed her. She remembered the only time in her life
that the Sioux were upon that river, and so had that bit of friendly
welcome from the valley--a recollection of childhood!

It was near morning; the moon had set and for a short time darkness
prevailed, but the girl's eyes had by this time become accustomed to
the dark. She k