en her charge. Her anxiety
was apparently shared by several other chaperons who stole occasional
suspicious glances in the direction of certain of the young braves.
It had been known to happen that a girl unworthy to join in the sacred
feast was publicly disgraced.

A special police force was appointed to keep order on this occasion,
each member of which was gorgeously painted and bedecked with eagle
feathers, and carried in his hand a long switch with which to threaten
the encroaching throng. Their horses wore head-skins of fierce animals
to add to their awe-inspiring appearance.

The wild youths formed the outer circle of the gathering, attired like
the woods in autumn, their long locks glossy with oil and perfumed with
scented grass and leaves. Many pulled their blankets over their heads as
if to avoid recognition, and loitered shyly at a distance.

Among these last were Antelope and his cousin, Red Eagle. They stood
in the angle formed by the bodies of their steeds, whose noses were
together. The young hero was completely enveloped in his handsome robe
with a rainbow of bead-work acros the middle, and his small moccasined
feet projected from beneath the lower border. Red Eagle held up an
eagle-wing fan, partially concealing his face, and both gazed intently
toward the center of the maidens' circle.

"Woo! woo!" was the sonorous exclamation of the police, announcing the
beginning of the ceremonies. In the midst of the ring of girls stood the
traditional heart-shaped red stone, with its bristling hedge of arrows.
In this case there were five arrows, indicating that Taluta had already
made as many maidens' feasts. Each of the maidens must lay her hand upon
the stone in token of her purity and chastity, touching also as many
arrows as she herself has attended maidens' feasts.

Taluta advanced first to the center. As she stood for a moment beside
the sacred stone, she appeared to the gazing bystanders the embodiment
of grace and modesty. Her gown, adorned with long fringes at the seams,
was beaded in blue and white across the shoulders and half way to her
waist. Her shining black hair was arranged in two thick plaits which
hung down upon her bosom. There was a native dignity in her gestures
and in her utterance of the maidens' oath, and as she turned to face the
circle, all the other virgins followed her.

When the feast was ended and the gay concourse had dispersed, Antelope
and his cousin were among the last to w