them a halo of glory and
weirdlike appearance, that the imaginative might compare to _the
garments that mantle the spirits of the blessed in Paradise_!

Iron Bull said that about two hundred years ago, when the moon shone
brighter, and there were more stars, his nation was a great people, and
they roamed over all that country from the Missouri River to the west
of the Yellowstone, and no dog of a Sioux dare show himself there. But
the people had been wicked, and the Great Spirit had darkened the
heavens and made the sun to shine with such heat that the streams were
dried up, and the snow disappeared from the highest peaks of the
mountains. The buffalo, the elk, the mountain sheep, the deer, and the
rabbit, all disappeared and died away, bringing a great famine upon his
tribe, and the spirit of the air breathed death into the lodges, so
that the warrior saw his squaw and papooses die for want of the food he
could not find on all the plain, or on the mountain-sides; so that the
whole nation grieved and mourned in sorrow of heart.

Still, they kept up their wars with the Sioux, and fought many a bloody
battle with them when they suffered most, and the game had entirely
disappeared. Their great medicine-man called a council, and when the
head-men had assembled, he told them of a wonderful dream that he had
had, when he was bidden by the Great Spirit to gather the chiefs of the
tribe at the fork of the stream where they lived.

Their ponies had all been eaten for food, so the proud Indians were
compelled to make the journey on foot to the place of meeting.

But when they had arrived at the bluffs, on the edge of the valley,
they were surprised to see a bountiful supper spread on the bank of the
stream, close by the Forks, and a white woman close by, standing up and
making signs to them to descend from the bluffs.

Having never before seen a "white squaw," they were greatly astonished.
The medicine-man descended to the valley. The white woman told him that
the Great Spirit would talk to the council through her. She told him
that the wars of the tribe were displeasing to the Great Spirit, and
they must make peace with the Sioux nation. When that was done, the
great chief, "The-Bear-that-grabs," must return to her.

They sent out runners to the Sioux, and peace was declared between the
tribes for the first time in one hundred years.

She then told the great chief to follow the mountain in a westerly
course, until he cam