s can be either
selected or drawn by lot. Whoever takes this part in the game should be
capable of considerable dramatic action. Among the Indians the person who
does the hiding of the disks personifies one who practices magic; he makes
passes over the disks and the cedar fiber under which the disks are hidden,
makes signs and movements, and does what he can to throw a spell of
confusion over those who are to guess where the "chief" is hidden.

When the players about the mat, the singers about the board drum and the
messenger standing at the eastern end of the mat are all in readiness, the
singers begin the following song, keeping time by beating with their
drum-sticks on the board drum; the players about the mat join in the
singing.

HIDING THE DISKS

[Music]

The player at the western end of the mat opens the bundle of excelsior or
other material and spreads it on the mat and then puts all the nine disks
under the material, making many movements as he does so, all of which must
be in rhythm with the song, rolling the disks about under the material and
finally dividing them into two parts, well covered up by the material. He
continues to make passes with his hands as though invoking mysterious
forces and to shuffle around the two piles of material in which the disks
are hidden. Suddenly a player points to one of the piles; the player at the
end ceases to shuffle and sends the disks concealed in the pile rolling
down the mat to the messenger standing at the other end, who looks to see
if the "chief" is among the disks rolled toward him. If he finds it, all of
the players on the side of the guesser give the victory shout and the
messenger goes to the small mat, brings one of the tally-sticks and stands
it before the successful guesser. Then the messenger rolls the disks back
to the other end of the mat where the person sits who hides the disks. That
player begins again his passes and movements as he mixes together the nine
disks and hides them under the material; then he divides the disks and the
material under which they are hidden into two piles, shuffles them about
until a player points to a pile, when he at once stops shuffling and sends
the disks under the pile pointed at rolling down the mat to the messenger.
If the "chief" is not found among the disks, the side to which the
unsuccessful guesser belongs loses a point, and the messenger takes from
the small mat a tally-stick and stands it at the end of the row of