e trail behind
the rest, when they came to a miserable old wornout dun horse, which
they supposed had been abandoned by some Indians. He was thin and
exhausted, was blind of one eye, had a bad sore back, and one of his
forelegs was very much swollen. In fact, he was so worthless that none
of the Pawnees had been willing to take the trouble to try to drive him
along with them. But when the old woman and her boy came along, the boy
said, "Come now, we will take this old horse, for we can make him carry
our pack." So the old woman put her pack on the horse, and drove him
along, but he limped and could only go very slowly.

II

The tribe moved up on the North Platte, until they came to Court House
Rock. The two poor Indians followed them, and camped with the others.
One day while they were here, the young men who had been sent out to
look for buffalo, came hurrying into camp and told the chiefs that a
large herd of buffalo were near, and that among them was a spotted
calf.

The Head Chief of the Pawnees had a very beautiful daughter, and when he
heard about the spotted calf, he ordered his old crier to go about
through the village and call out that the man who killed the spotted
calf should have his daughter for his wife. For a spotted robe is
_ti-war'-uks-ti_--big medicine.

The buffalo were feeding about four miles from the village, and the
chiefs decided that the charge should be made from there. In this way,
the man who had the fastest horse would be the most likely to kill the
calf. Then all the warriors and the young men picked out their best and
fastest horses, and made ready to start. Among those who prepared for
the charge was the poor boy on the old dun horse. But when they saw him,
all the rich young braves on their fast horses pointed at him and said,
"Oh, see; there is the horse that is going to catch the spotted calf;"
and they laughed at him, so that the poor boy was ashamed, and rode off
to one side of the crowd, where he could not hear their jokes and
laughter.

When he had ridden off some little way the horse stopped and turned his
head round, and spoke to the boy. He said, "Take me down the creek, and
plaster me all over with mud. Cover my head and neck and body and legs."
When the boy heard the horse speak, he was afraid; but he did as he was
told. Then the horse said, "Now mount, but do not ride back to the
warriors, who laugh at you because you have such a poor horse. Stay
right here until the