he party chanced upon an
enormous bone, which the surgeon pronounced the femur of a human body.
Will understood the Indian tongues well enough to be in part possession
of their traditions, and he related the Sioux legend of the flood.

It was taught by the wise men of this tribe that the earth was
originally peopled by giants, who were fully three times the size
of modern men. They were so swift and powerful that they could run
alongside a buffalo, take the animal under one arm, and tear off a leg,
and eat it as they ran. So vainglorious were they because of their own
size and strength that they denied the existence of a Creator. When it
lightened, they proclaimed their superiority to the lightning; when it
thundered, they laughed.

This displeased the Great Spirit, and to rebuke their arrogance he sent
a great rain upon the earth. The valleys filled with water, and the
giants retreated to the hills. The water crept up the hills, and the
giants sought safety on the highest mountains. Still the rain continued,
the waters rose, and the giants, having no other refuge, were drowned.

The Great Spirit profited by his former mistake. When the waters
subsided, he made a new race of men, but he made them smaller and less
strong.

This tradition has been handed down from Sioux father to Sioux son since
earliest ages. It shows, at least, as the legends of all races do, that
the story of the Deluge is history common to all the world.

Another interesting Indian tradition bears evidence of a later origin.
The Great Spirit, they say, once formed a man of clay, and he was placed
in the furnace to bake, but he was subjected to the heat too long a
time, and came out burnt. Of him came the negro race. At another trial
the Great Spirit feared the second clay man might also burn, and he was
not left in the furnace long enough. Of him came the paleface man. The
Great Spirit was now in a position to do perfect work, and the third
clay man was left in the furnace neither too long nor too short a time;
he emerged a masterpiece, the _ne plus ultra_ of creation--the noble red
man.

CHAPTER XX. -- PA-HAS-KA, THE LONG-HAIRED CHIEF.

ALTHOUGH the glory of killing the buffalo on our hunt was accredited to
sister May, to me the episode proved of much more moment. In the spring
of 1871 I was married to Mr. Jester, the bachelor ranchman at whose
place we had tarried on our hurried return to the fort. His house had a
rough exterior, but was