n by necessity. The Sauks
lived too far south of the frozen regions to suffer such hardships, but
one of the requirements of the war-feast was that each one of the party
should eat all that he had cut from the carcass. To fail to do so was a
sign of weakness sure to subject him to ridicule.

So resolutely did the warriors address themselves to the task, as it may
be called, that they succeeded with the exception of a single one. Two
or three, however, found it all they could do, and another mouthful of
the coarse, oily meat, would have raised a rebellion within their
internal economy, which would have caused general wreck and desolation.

The youthful warrior who failed was the one who was the most eager at
the first for the feast. He toiled like a hero, and all went well until
he reached the last half pound. The others, grinning queerly through
their grease and paint, watched him as did the group on the outside of
the circle, while he, fully alive to the fact that he was the center of
attention, went to work as if resolved to do or die.

It took several vigorous swallows to keep down the installment which had
descended, while he held the last piece in his hand and surveyed it with
doubtful eye. It finally rested uneasily on the stomach, and he looked
more hopefully than ever at the remaining portion, suspended on the
point of his hunting knife.

Evidently he was not afraid of that, if what had preceded it would only
keep quiet. Finally he made a desperate resolve and quickly crammed his
mouth with the oleaginous stuff, upon which he began chewing with savage
voracity. Possibly, if he could have got it masticated enough to force
down his throat with only a few seconds' delay, all would have been
well, but suddenly there was an upward heave of the chest, a sort of
general earthquake; the eyes closed, and the mouth opened with a gape so
prodigious that it seemed to extend from ear to ear, and threatened to
bisect his head. That which followed may be left to the imagination of
the reader.

General laughter and taunts greeted the failure, in which Ogallah
heartily joined; but the warrior took it in good part, and doubtless
felt better than did any of the others participating in the scene of
gluttony, inasmuch as his stomach was in its normal condition.

The war feast finished, the fourteen resumed the form of a circle, stood
motionless a few minutes, and, all at once, began dancing in the most
furious manner. The spec