old custom to retrace one's trail before
leaving it forever! I know that I am at the door of the spirit home.

"I was born near the forks of the Cheyenne River, about seventy years
ago. My father was not a chief; my grandfather was not a chief, but
a good hunter and a feast-maker. On my mother's side I had some noted
ancestors, but they left me no chieftainship. I had to work for my
reputation.

"When I was a boy, I loved to fight," he continued. "In all our boyish
games I had the name of being hard to handle, and I took much pride in
the fact.

"I was about ten years old when we encountered a band of Cheyennes.
They were on friendly terms with us, but we boys always indulged in sham
fights on such occasions, and this time I got in an honest fight with a
Cheyenne boy older than I. I got the best of the boy, but he hit me hard
in the face several times, and my face was all spattered with blood and
streaked where the paint had been washed away. The Sioux boys whooped
and yelled:

"'His enemy is down, and his face is spattered as if with rain!
Rain-in-the-Face! His name shall be Rain-in-the-Face!'

"Afterwards, when I was a young man, we went on a warpath against the
Gros Ventres. We stole some of their horses, but were overtaken and had
to abandon the horses and fight for our lives. I had wished my face to
represent the sun when partly covered with darkness, so I painted it
half black, half red. We fought all day in the rain, and my face was
partly washed and streaked with red and black: so again I was christened
Rain-in-the-Face. We considered it an honorable name.

"I had been on many warpaths, but was not especially successful until
about the time the Sioux began to fight with the white man. One of the
most daring attacks that we ever made was at Fort Totten, North Dakota,
in the summer of 1866.

"Hohay, the Assiniboine captive of Sitting Bull, was the leader in this
raid. Wapaypay, the Fearless Bear, who was afterward hanged at Yankton,
was the bravest man among us. He dared Hohay to make the charge. Hohay
accepted the challenge, and in turn dared the other to ride with him
through the agency and right under the walls of the fort, which was well
garrisoned and strong.

"Wapaypay and I in those days called each other 'brother-friend.' It was
a life-and-death vow. What one does the other must do; and that meant
that I must be in the forefront of the charge, and if he is killed, I
must fight until I die also!