and the passage of the purchase bill assured
to them, they deeply appreciated the significance of the immediate
withdrawal of the settlers. They rejoiced in full-toned song as their
implacable and sleepless enemies drove their heavily laden wagons across
the line, leaving their farms, sheds, and houses to the government for
the use of the needy tribe.

The urgency of the case being fully pleaded, the whole readjustment was
permitted to be made the following spring, and the powers of the agent
and his employes were taxed to the uttermost. When the order actually
came to hand, Curtis mounted his horse and rode from camp to camp,
carrying the good news; calling the members of each band around him, he
told the story of their victory.

"Your days of hunger and cold will soon be over," he said. "The white
man has gone from the reservation. The water of the streams, the
ploughed fields, are all yours. Now we must set to work. Every one will
have good ground; all will share alike, and every one must work. We must
show the Great Father at Washington that we are glad of his kindness.
Our friends will not be ashamed when they come to see us, and look upon
our corn and wheat."

Every man, woman, and child did as they had promised. They laid hands to
the duties appointed them, and did so merrily. They moved at once to the
places designated. A mighty shifting of dwellings took place first of
all, and when this was finished they set to work. They built fences,
they dug ditches, they ploughed and they planted, cheery as robins. Even
the gaunt old women lifted their morose faces to the sun and muttered
unaccustomed thanks. The old men no longer sat in complaining council,
but talked of the wonderful things about to be.

"Ho! have you heard?" cried one. "Grayman lives in the house the white
man has left; Elk too. Two Horns sleeps in the house above Grayman, and
is not afraid. Ah, it is wonderful!"

The more thoughtful dwelt in imagination on the reservation completely
fenced, and saw the hills swarming with cattle as in the olden time it
swarmed with the wild, black buffalo. They helped at the gardens, these
old men, and as they rested on their hoes and listened to the laughter
of the women and children, they said one to the other: "Our camp is as
it was in the days when game was plenty. Every one is smiling. Our worst
days are over. The white man's road is very long, and runs into a
strange country, but while Swift Eagle leads we