ou as far as Custer."

We had no real need of a guide but I was glad to have Wolf Voice riding
with me, for I had grown to like him and welcomed any opportunity for
conversing with him. He was one of the few full-bloods who could speak
English well enough to enjoy a joke.

As we were passing his little cabin, just at the edge of the Agency, he
said, "Wait, I get you somesing."

In a few moments he returned, carrying a long eagle feather in his hand.
This he handed to me, saying, "My little boy--him dead. Him carry in
dance dis fedder. You my friend. You take him."

Major Stouch had told me of this boy, a handsome little fellow of only
five years of age, who used to join most soberly and cunningly with the
men in their ceremonial dances; and so when Wolf Voice said, "I give you
dis fedder--you my friend. You Indian's friend," I was deeply moved.

"Wolf Voice, I shall keep this as a sign, a sign that we are friends."

He pointed toward a woman crouching over a fire in the corral, "You see
him--my wife? Him cry--all time cry since him son die. Him no sleep in
house. Sleep all time in tepee. Me no sleep in house. Spirit come, cry,
_woo-oo-oo_ in chimney. My boy spirit come,--cry--me 'fraid! My heart
very sore."

The bronze face of the big man was quivering with emotion as he spoke,
and not knowing what to say to comfort him I pretended to haste. "Let us
go. You can tell me about it while we ride."

As we set forth he recovered his smile, for he was naturally of a
cheerful disposition, and in our long, leisurely journey I obtained many
curious glimpses into his psychology--the psychology of the red man. He
led us to certain shrines or "medicine" rocks and his remarks concerning
the offerings of cartridges, calico, tobacco and food which we found
deposited beside a twisted piece of lava on the side of a low hill were
most revealing.

"Wolf Voice, do you believe the dead come back to get these presents," I
asked.

"No," he soberly replied. "Spirit no eat tobacco, spirit eat spirit of
tobacco."

His reply was essentially Oriental in its philosophy. It was the
_essence_ of the offering, the _invisible_ part which was taken by the
invisible dead.

Many other of his remarks were almost equally revelatory. "White soldier
heap fool," he said. "Stand up in rows to be shot at. Injun fight
running--in bush--behind trees."

We stopped again at The Half-Way Ranch, and the manner in which the
cattlemen treated Wolf Voice