nary council. No one was in
gala-dress, no one was painted, all were serious or sad or morose. Upon
their folded blankets the head men sat in a small circle on the smooth
sod, exposed to the blazing sun. Behind them stood or knelt a larger
circle, the men and boys on one side, the women on the other, while in
the rear, mounted on their fleetest ponies, some two hundred of the
young men were ranked, enthralled listeners to the impassioned speeches
of the old men.

Crawling Elk made the first address, repeating the story which the agent
had told and calling upon all those who sat before him to search for the
guilty one and report to him if they found him. His words were received
in silence.

Then Grayman rose, and, stepping into the circle, began to speak in a
low and sorrowful voice. Something in his manner as well as in his words
enlisted the almost breathless interest of the crowd. There was a tragic
pathos in his voice as he called out: "You see how it is, brothers; we
are like a nest of ants in a white man's field, which he is ploughing.
We are only a few and weak, while all around us our enemies press in
upon us. We have only one friend--our Little Father. We must do as he
says. We must give up a man to the war chief of the cowboys. They will
never believe that any one else killed the sheep-man. The cattlemen and
sheepmen are always quarrelling, but they readily join hands to do the
Tetongs harm."

"It is death to us to fight the white man; I know it. Unless we all wish
to be shot, we must not become angry this time; we must do as the Little
Father says, and if we cannot find the man who did this thing, I will go
and give myself into the hands of the white war chief." A murmur of
protest and anger ran round the circle. "It is better for one to suffer
than many," he said, in answer to the protest, "and I am old. My wife is
dead. I have but one son, and he is estranged from me. I say, if we
cannot find who did this thing, then I am willing to go and be killed of
the white people in order to keep the peace. I have said it."

Standing Elk leaped to his feet, tall, gaunt, excitable. "We will not do
this," he said. "We will fight first." And among the young warriors
there was applause. "The Tetongs are not dogs to be always kicked in the
ribs. I have fought the white man. I have met 'Long Hair' and 'Bear
Robe' in battle. I am not afraid of the cattlemen. I am old, but my
heart is yet big. Let us do battle and die like