court-room believed it. Standing Bear's heart warmed. He was no
Indian; he was a man.

The judge decided. He said that an Indian was a person, and had a
right to the courts, and to liberty when he had not done wrong. The
Poncas had been unjustly removed by force from their lands, and
Standing Bear's party had been unjustly arrested. Therefore they
should be released.

When this word was carried to Standing Bear by his lawyers, he was so
pleased that he almost wept.

"Before this," he said, "when we have been wronged we went to war to
get back our rights and avenge our wrongs. We took the tomahawk. We
had no law to punish those who did us wrong, and we went out to kill.
If they had guns and could kill us first, it was the fate of war. But
you have found us a better way. You have gone into court for us, and I
find that our wrongs can be righted there. Now I have no more use for
the tomahawk. I want to lay it down forever." So he put it on the
floor. "I lay it down. I have found a better way. I can now seek the
ways of peace."

He gave the tomahawk to Attorney Webster, "to keep in remembrance of
the great victory."

And a great victory it was, not only for the Poncas, but for all the
Indians. Standing Bear's trip with the bones had gained him many new
friends.

Now he traveled straight to the Niobrara, and nobody dared to stop him.

The next winter he made a tour of the East, with interpreters, and with
Mr. Tibbles the newspaper ally. He spoke from many platforms, telling
of the wrongs of the Indians. The newspapers everywhere spread his
talk wider. Soon letters from white people and their societies began
to pour into Washington, for the President and for the Congressmen.

As a result, in the spring of 1880 the Senate of the United States sent
a commission into the West, to find out if Standing Bear's stories were
really true.

They were true. Therefore the Poncas were told that they might go back
to the Niobrara, if they wished. Some did so. They were called the
Cold Country Band. Those who were willing to stay in the Indian
Territory were granted better lands, and they were paid for the lands
that they had lost in the north. They were called the Hot Country Band.

Each band was given titles to the lands held by it. The Omahas, too,
won out, and were given titles. They and the Poncas secured the rights
of citizens of the United States.

As for Standing Bear, he died, well satisfied