ple with the
white soldiers because they found them too slow to run away and enemies
who always fought wildly, like bears. Occasionally the Indians caught
one of them alive, staked him out on a hill, and burned him in sight of
his camp. These Yellow-Eyes were poor warriors, for they always whined
and yelled under the torture. Half-breeds who came from the camp of the
Yellow-Eyes said that this sight always made the white soldiers' blood
turn to water. Still the invaders continued to crawl slowly along the
dusty valleys. The buffalo did not come up from the south--from the
caves of the Good Gods where they were made--in such numbers as they
once did, and the marching soldiers frightened those which did and kept
them away. The young warriors never wearied of the excitement of
these times, with its perpetual war-party, but old men remembered the
prophecies of the beaver-men and that the times had changed.

The Fire Eater, as he talked to old Weasel Bear over their pipes and
kettles, said:

"Brother, we used to think Yellow Horse had lost the Power of his Eyes
when he came from his journey with the talking white man. We thought
he had been made to dream by the Yellow-Eyes. We have seen the talking
wives and we have seen the fire wagon. We have seen the white men
come until there are as many as all the warriors in this camp. All the
foolish half-breeds say it is as the talking men say. Brother, I have
seen in my dreams that there are more of them than the buffalo. They
have their caves to the east as the buffalo do to the south, and they
come out of them in the time of the green-grass just as the buffalo do.
The Bad Gods send the Yellow-Eyes and the Good Gods send the buffalo.
The gods are fighting each other in the air."

Weasel Bear smoked in silence until he had digested the thoughts of his
friend, when he replied:

"Your talk is good. Two grasses ago I was with a war-party and we caught
a white man between the bends of the Tois-ta-to-e-o. He had four eyes
and also a medicine-box which we did not touch. All the hair on his head
and face was white as the snow. While we were making the fire to burn
him with, he talked much strong talk. Before we could burn him he sank
down at our feet and died a medicine-death. We all ran away. Bad Arm,
the half-breed who was with us, said the man had prophesied that before
ten snows all our fires would be put out by his people. Brother, that
man had the Power of the Eyes. I looked at h