eled his horse in
a wide circle, and made him describe various mystic figures upon the
prairie; and Henry immediately compelled Five Hundred Dollar to execute
similar evolutions. "It IS Old Smoke's village," said he, interpreting
these signals; "didn't I say so?"

As the Indian approached we stopped to wait for him, when suddenly he
vanished, sinking, as it were, into the earth. He had come upon one of
the deep ravines that everywhere intersect these prairies. In an instant
the rough head of his horse stretched upward from the edge and the rider
and steed came scrambling out, and hounded up to us; a sudden jerk of
the rein brought the wild panting horse to a full stop. Then followed
the needful formality of shaking hands. I forget our visitor's name.
He was a young fellow, of no note in his nation; yet in his person and
equipments he was a good specimen of a Dakota warrior in his ordinary
traveling dress. Like most of his people, he was nearly six feet high;
lithely and gracefully, yet strongly proportioned; and with a skin
singularly clear and delicate. He wore no paint; his head was bare; and
his long hair was gathered in a clump behind, to the top of which was
attached transversely, both by way of ornament and of talisman, the
mystic whistle, made of the wingbone of the war eagle, and endowed with
various magic virtues. From the back of his head descended a line of
glittering brass plates, tapering from the size of a doubloon to that of
a half-dime, a cumbrous ornament, in high vogue among the Dakotas, and
for which they pay the traders a most extravagant price; his chest and
arms were naked, the buffalo robe, worn over them when at rest, had
fallen about his waist, and was confined there by a belt. This, with the
gay moccasins on his feet, completed his attire. For arms he carried a
quiver of dogskin at his back, and a rude but powerful bow in his hand.
His horse had no bridle; a cord of hair, lashed around his jaw, served
in place of one. The saddle was of most singular construction; it was
made of wood covered with raw hide, and both pommel and cantle rose
perpendicularly full eighteen inches, so that the warrior was wedged
firmly in his seat, whence nothing could dislodge him but the bursting
of the girths.

Advancing with our new companion, we found more of his people seated in
a circle on the top of a hill; while a rude procession came straggling
down the neighboring hollow, men, women, and children, with hors