ing to happen; they are always able to take
care of themselves. You shall be like the wolf; you shall be able to creep
close to your enemies, and they shall not see you; you shall be a great man
for surprising people. In the bundle that you wear tied to your necklet,
you shall carry a little wolf hair, and your quiver and your bow-case shall
be made of the skin of a wolf." The wolf ceased speaking, yet for a time he
sat there looking at me, and I at him; but presently he yawned, and stood
up on his feet, and trotted off a little way, and suddenly I could not see
him.

So then in these five times that I went to war, once I counted the first
coup of all on an enemy; and three times I crept into camp and brought out
horses, twice going with other men who went in to cut loose the horses, and
once going in alone. For these things I came to be well thought of by the
tribe. My uncle praised me, and said that the time was coming when I would
be a good warrior. All my relations felt proud and glad that I had such
good luck.

I knew why all this had come to me. I had done as the wolf had said, and
often I went out from the camp--or perhaps I stopped when I was traveling
far from the village--and went up on a hill, and, lighting a pipe, offered
a smoke to the wolf, and asked him not to forget what he had said to me.

I was now a grown man, and able to do all the things that young men do. I
was a good hunter; I had a herd of horses, and had been to war, and been
well spoken of by the leaders whose war parties I went with. I was old
enough, too, to think about young girls, and to feel that some day I wanted
to get married, and to have a lodge and home of my own. There were many
nice girls in the camp; many who were hard workers, modest, and very
pretty. I liked many of them, but there was no one whom I liked so much as
Standing Alone. I often saw her, but sometimes she would not look at me,
and sometimes she looked, but when she saw me looking at her she looked
down again; but sometimes she smiled a little as she looked down. It was
long since we had played together, but I thought that perhaps she had not
forgotten the time, so many years ago, when she pretended to be my wife,
and when she had mourned over me once when I was killed by a buffalo.

As I grew older I felt more and more that I wished to see and talk with
her. Of course I was too young to be married yet, but I was not too young
to want to talk with Standing Alone. I us