of a towering black
figure fixed upon me. The chap was seeking a spot for a snooze among us;
but finding every inch of room occupied, gazed for a moment at a tree,
flung down his blanket, and tumbled on the grass, the tall tree he had
been eyeing, at his head, and a lesser one at his heels. The female side
of my house was divided from the male side by Du Bois, who slept between
the ladies and the gentlemen. Our party consisted of nine in all, Indian
ladies included. In the morning, at day-break, we were up. With a joke
to Milly about 'de rule,'--which she answered with a good-humored smile,
covering her face as she smiled,--we went back to the sacred square
among the Indians, who had been all night awake and at their devotions.

I found them preparing for the ceremonies which close the fast. Many
were standing about, and all intent on the preparations for the morning
forms. They went through the taking of the black drink, repeating all
they had done the day previous. But on this occasion I more particularly
observed two circular plates of brass and steel, which appeared the
remains of very antique shields. They were borne with great reverence by
two chiefs. The natives do not pretend to explain whence they came. They
keep them apart, as something sacred. They are only produced on great
occasions. I was told, too, that ears of green corn were brought in at a
part of the ceremony to-day, which I missed, and that they were
presented to a chief. He took them, and, after an invocation that the
corn might continue plentiful among them the year through, handed them
back.

This seemed the termination of the peace-offerings, and the religious
part of the affair was now to wind up with emblems of war. These were
expressed in what they call a Gun-Dance. When the dispositions were
making for it, some persons in carriages were desired by a white
_linkister_ to fall back and to remove their horses to a distance. Some
ladies, especially, were warned. 'Keep out of their way, ma'am,' said
the _linkister_ to a lady, 'for when they come racing about here with
their guns, they gits powerful sarcy.' I saw them dressing for the
ceremony, if it may be called dressing to throw off nearly every part of
a scanty covering. But the Indians are especially devoted to dress, in
their way. Some of them went aside to vary their costume with nearly
every dance.

Now appeared a procession of some forty or fifty women. They entered the
square, and too