the ordeal. It was mostly about
gallantries and dreams--all made like the confessions which followed.
They were the deeds and thoughts common to young Indian men. They
ministered to the curiosity of people whose world lay within the camping
circle of their small tribe, and they were as truthful as a fear of God
could make them, except the dreams, and they too were real to the Indian
mind.

The men now began to paint themselves and to take their paraphernalia
from their war-bags and put it on. Iron Horn said: "Brothers--when it is
dark I will put a medicine-arrow Into the ground where my feet are now,
and if in the morning it has not moved we will go back to the lodges;
but if it has moved, we will go in the direction in which it points.
When we start toward the enemy no man must eat, drink or sit down by
day, no matter how long or fatiguing the march; if he halts for a moment
he must turn his face toward his own country so that the Gods may see
that it is his wish to return there. We must sleep with our own faces
toward our village. No two men must lie covered by the same robe. He
must not ride or walk in a beaten path lest the spirit of the path go
running on ahead of us to warn the enemy, and if by chance we do, we
must come to the big medicine and rub it on the horses' legs to ward
off the danger." This said, Iron Horn said much more to his young
braves--all the demon fears which the savage mind conjures up in its
contact with the supernatural, together with stated forms of decorations
to be painted on the ponies, and then he dismissed them, saying: "Come
to the circle before the moon rises while it is yet dark, but meanwhile
sit each man alone and in silence and we will see what the Good Gods do
with the arrows."

The warriors led their ponies off to various points in the savage gorge
and sat motionless the live-long day while the river rushed ceaselessly
over the wild rocks and the ravens soared in the blue heavens.

By night they came gliding back--picking their way among the rocks and
stood by the bared earth of the mystery place. The chief struck a light
and bending over saw the arrow lying out in the middle of the space many
feet away from where he had placed it. The smooth earth was dotted by
the tracks of coyotes but the arrow pointed nearly southwest, and it was
the way they must take. Rising, he pointed, saying: "The Good Gods say
we must go this way--where they point. The medicine is strong--the Gods
se