our
war party and the young women began to dance. Although I could not dance,
my face was painted black like those of other men of the war party, and I
sat there and watched the young people dance and saw the old men and women
carry about the scalps. That was one of the last of the old-fashioned war
dances that I ever saw held.

The days went by, and before the birds had flown over on their way to the
south, and the weather became cold, I could walk pretty well, and could
ride easily. One day about this time a doctor whom I had given many
presents a year or two before to cure my sickness came to my lodge and
asked me if I did not think I ought to give him a present because he had
cured me of the swollen knee that I had had so long. I said to him that I
believed that not he but the Great Power, to whom I had prayed and to whom
I had offered my body as a sacrifice, had cured me. The doctor said that
this was a mistake; that really he had cured me, but that his power had not
had time to work until after I had started on my warpath.

I did not think that this was true, but I remembered that this man
possessed mysterious power, and I felt that perhaps it would not be wise to
refuse what he asked. I told him I must have time to think about this, and
that in seven days he should return and I would talk further with him about
it. Not long after this I told my uncle what the doctor had said. At first
he was angry and said that I would do well to refuse what had been asked of
me, but after we had talked about it, he came to think as I thought, that
perhaps it would be better to make the doctor a present, rather than to
have his ill will, for it was possible that he might be able to harm us. My
uncle, therefore, told me to give the doctor a certain horse, and a day or
two after that he sent me the horse, to be put with my band and later to be
given to the doctor. When he received the horse, the doctor was glad, and
he told me that after this he would protect me in case any danger
threatened me.

The winter passed, the snow melted, the birds went north in spring, and the
buffalo began to get poor. It seemed to me now that I was as strong and
well as ever I had been. I walked alike on both legs, and was as active as
any of the young men. During this summer I joined one of the soldier
societies of the tribe, and in this I followed the advice of my uncle, who
had belonged to this same society.

_A Lie That Came True._

So