be, but is not the medicine of the Chis-chis-chash
also strong? Why do we not strike them, Red Arrow? That I could never
understand. They have many guns, blankets, paints, many strong
ponies and the strong water, which we might take," added the Bat, in
perplexity.

"Yes, true, we might take all, but the old men say that the Yellow-Eyes
would not come again next green grass--we would make them afraid. They
would no more bring us the powder and guns or the knives. What could
we do without iron arrow-heads? Do you remember how hard it was to make
bone arrowheads, when we were boys and could not get the iron? Then, the
Yellow-Eyes are not so many as the Chis-chis-chash, and they are afraid
of us. No, we must not make them more timid," replied the wise Red
Arrow.

"But we may steal a gun or a strong pony, when they do not look,"
continued the indomitable Bat.

"Yes--we will try."

"I will go down the hill, and make my pony go around in a circle so that
the camp may send the warriors out to us," saying which, the Bat rode
the danger-signal, and the Chis-chis-chash riders came scurrying over
the dry grass, leaving lines of white dust in long marks behind them.
Having assembled to the number of a hundred or so, the chiefs held
a long consultation, each talking loudly from his horse, with many
gestures. After some minutes, the head war-chief declared in a high,
rough voice that the man must go to the Yellow-Eyes with the peace-sign,
and that they must not do anything to make the Yellow-Eyes afraid. The
white men had many guns, and if they feared the Indians they would fire
on them, and it would be impossible to get near the powder and paints
and knives which were in the carts.

The warriors took each from a little bag his paints and plumes.
Sitting in the grass, they decorated themselves until they assumed all
hues--some red, and others half white or red across the face, while the
ponies came in for streaks and daubs, grotesque as tropic birds.

So over the hill rode the line of naked men, their ponies dancing with
excitement, while ahead of them a half-breed man skimmed along bearing a
small bush over his head. The cavalcade of the Yellow-Eyes had halted in
a compact mass, awaiting the oncoming Indians. They had dismounted and
gone out on the sides away from the carts, where they squatted quietly
in the grass. This was what the Yellow-Eyes always did in war, unlike
Indians, who diffused themselves on their speeding poni