e you talk."

The crowd suited the action to the word. Mr. Allen pulled his hat far
down over his eyes, picked up several little white pebbles from the
ground and put them into his mouth to disguise his voice, then began:

"Eagle-Foot had been for many years the mighty medicine man of the
great Ute Indians, who were probably the strongest and most warlike of
all the mountain tribes. Their home was in the Middle Park at the north
base of Pike's Peak, shut in from the other tribes in a fertile and
absolutely safe valley, which could be guarded by a few men at a certain
point. Here in this mountain valley the Utes grew into a strong Indian
state. During the hunting season large parties of them would ride to the
plains to hunt buffalo, returning after several weeks with immense
supplies of jerked meat, which is the choice steaks sun-cured, and with a
goodly number of buffalo hides. Now, Eagle-Foot was a great doctor. He
knew all about the mountain herbs and the medicinal properties of certain
mineral waters as well as of the ancient sweating of disease out of the
body by mud baths--a method used by the Indians of the South. He was so
successful that the Indians began to believe him infallible as a doctor
and medicine man.

"Well, one season, following a great buffalo hunt on the plains, a
strange itching skin disease broke out among the hunters, causing a great
number of them to die. Eagle-Foot could not find a satisfactory remedy,
although he tried many mixtures. At last they held long fasts, and prayed
the Great Spirit to remove the curse from them. But the next season
it was worse than ever. The big Chief himself lost his favorite son,
Megaleep, and Eagle-Foot began to lose his influence among the people.

"Some thought the Great Spirit was punishing them for stealing the
buffalo from their brothers of the plains; others said that the Evil
Spirit had come back from the great desert to haunt them with disease and
famine. Eagle-Foot remained silent and downcast, spending much time alone
in the mountains fasting. One day as the warriors returned from the
burying ground they found Eagle-Foot awaiting them at the camp, decked in
his full regalia, his face painted as if for a great occasion, all his
feathers hanging from his belt. He told the chief that the Great Spirit
had at last spoken to him, and that he was going on a long quest into the
limestone canyons. There the Great Spirit would reveal to him a cure for
the dread