grandfather. It was three seasons
after the big flood of 1812, he said, and the grass was high on Bad
River, bringing many buffalo down from the north. About two weeks after
the leaves turned they went to the prairie to get the winter's meat.
Being a hunting party, the women and children accompanied them. The
young boys wandered from the camps, shooting prairie dogs and small
birds. One day when a number of boys were returning to camp, a great
prairie fire swept down from the north.

The boys ran for the river, but the fire was too swift for them, and
they were overtaken. Throwing themselves on the ground, they turned
their faces from the fire and wrapped their heads and bodies in their
robes, waiting for the fire to pass. Where they lay the grass was high
and there were many small bushes; so when the fire came, the ground was
hot and they were all burned on the right thigh, though otherwise
unhurt.

The escape of the boys was considered so remarkable that the Sioux
called this tribe the "people with the burnt thigh." Apparently some
French trader rendered the name into his language, and thus we have
"Brule" or burned.

The Land of the Burnt Thigh was famous not only for its great prairie
fire and the fact that it had been the feeding ground of the buffalo,
which had come in big herds to winter pasture; but also because it had
been a notorious rendezvous for horse thieves. In the early days lawless
gangs turned to stealing horses instead of robbing banks. A bold outfit
of horse thieves plied their trade over a vast section of the Bad River
country, of which the Brule had been a part. Here in the tall grass they
found refuge and feed for the horses, with water in the creeks and water
holes almost the year around. In the night they would drive their loot
in, and the law was helpless in dealing with them.

Much has been said of Indians stealing the white man's horses and little
of the depredations of the whites upon the Indians. These gangs stole
constantly from the Indians, taking the best of their herds. A little
band of Indians, realizing that they must get back their horses at any
cost, tracked the thieves and here on the Burnt Thigh attacked them. But
they were driven back by the outlaws, who had their lookout, according
to the Indians, on the very site of Ammons; concealing themselves here
in the tall grass, they could see anyone approaching for miles around.
They had seen the Indians coming, just as we had seen