me. Sitting-Bull, Red Cloud,
Looking-Glass, Chief Joseph, Two Moons, Grass, Rain-in-the-Face, American
Horse, Spotted Tail, and Chief Gall are names that would add lustre to any
military page in the world's history. Had they been leaders in any one of
the great armies of the nation they would have ranked conspicuously as
master captains. The Indian, deprived of the effectiveness of supplies
and modern armament, found his strongest weapon in the oratory of the
council lodge. Here, without any written or established code of laws,
without the power of the press and the support of public sentiment,
absolutely exiled from all communication with civilized resources, unaided
and alone, their orators presented the affairs of the moment to the
assembled tribe, swaying the minds and wills of their fellows into
concerted and heroic action. The wonderful imagery of the Indian
orator--an imagery born of his baptism into the spirit of nature--his love
of his kind, and the deathless consciousness of the justice of his cause
made his oratory more resistless than the rattle of Gatling guns, and also
formed a model for civilized speech. It was an oratory that enabled a few
scattering tribes to withstand the aggressions of four great nations of
the world for a period of several centuries, and to successfully withstand
the tramping columns of civilization. The science and art of Indian
warfare would take volumes to compass. His strategy and statesmanship
compelled victory. He was almost always assured of victory before he
proceeded to battle. He knew no fear. A thousand lives would have been a
small gift had he the power to lay them on the altar of his cause. He
pitted the perfection of details against the wily strategy of his own
colour and the pompous superiority of the white man's tactics. On the
trail care was taken to cover up or obliterate his footprints. When a
fire became necessary he burned fine dry twigs so that the burning of
green boughs would not lift to the wind an odour of fire, nor carry a
trail of smoke. He conceived and carried out a wonderful deception in
dress. In winter a band of warriors were painted white. They rode white
horses and their war dress was all of it made of the plainest white so
that a group of warriors, stationed on the brow of a hill, would appear in
the distance like a statuesque boulder clad in snow. This disguise also
enabled them to come with stealthy step upon wild game. In autumn