the eyes of the warriors, as well as those of women and children,
followed him, showed that he was a great leader.

After ten days or so in the great lodge of the Akitcita, Dick and
Albert were removed to a small bark tepee of their own, to which
they were content to go. They had no arms, not even a knife, but
they were already used to their captivity, and however great
their ultimate danger might be, it was far away for them to think
much about it.

They observed, soon after their removal, that the life of the
village changed greatly. The old women were not often to be
found in the shadow of the lodges playing Woskate Tanpan, the men
gave up wholly Woskate Painyankapi, and throughout the village,
no matter how stoical the Sioux might be, there was a perceptible
air of excitement and suspense. Often at night the boys heard
the rolling of the Sioux war drums, and the medicine men made
medicine incessantly inside their tepees. Dick chafed greatly.

"Big things are afoot," he would say to Albert. "We know that
the Sioux and our people are at war, but you and I, Al, don't
know a single thing that has occurred. I wish we could get away
from here. Our people are our own people, and I'd like to tell
them to look out."

"I feel just as you do, Dick," Albert would reply; "but we might
recall our promise to Bright Sun. Besides, we wouldn't have the
ghost of a chance to escape. I feel that a hundred eyes are
looking at me all the time."

"I feel that two hundred are looking at me," said Dick, with a
grim little laugh. "No, Al, you're right. We haven't a chance
on earth to escape."

Five days after their removal to the small lodge there was a
sudden and great increase in the excitement in the village. In
truth, it burst into a wild elation, and all the women and
children, running toward the northern side of the village, began
to shout cries of welcome. The warriors followed more sedately,
and Dick and Albert, no one detaining them, joined in the throng.

"Somebody's coming, Al, that's sure," said Dick.

"Yes, and that somebody's a lot of men," said Albert. "Look!"

Three or four hundred warriors, a long line of them, were coming
down the valley, tall, strong, silent men, with brilliant
headdresses of feathers and bright blankets. Everyone carried a
carbine or rifle, and they looked what they were--a truly
formidable band, resolved upon some great attempt.

Dick and Albert inferred the character of the