young men to
the Wind River country against the Shoshones. At last they discovered
a large camp, but there were only a dozen or so of the Sioux, therefore
they hid themselves and watched for their opportunity to attack an
isolated party of hunters. While waiting thus, they ran short of food.
One day a small party of Shoshones was seen near at hand, and in the
midst of the excitement and preparations for the attack, young American
Horse caught sight of a fat black-tail deer close by. Unable to resist
the temptation, he pulled an arrow from his quiver and sent it through
the deer's heart, then with several of his half-starved companions
sprang upon the yet quivering body of the animal to cut out the liver,
which was sometimes eaten raw. One of the men was knocked down, it is
said, by the last kick of the dying buck, but having swallowed a few
mouthfuls the warriors rushed upon and routed their enemies. It is still
told of American Horse how he killed game and feasted between the ambush
and the attack.

At another time he was drying his sacred war bonnet and other gear
over a small fire. These articles were held in great veneration by the
Indians and handled accordingly. Suddenly the fire blazed up, and our
hero so far forgot himself as to begin energetically beating out the
flames with the war bonnet, breaking off one of the sacred buffalo horns
in the act. One could almost fill a book with his mishaps and exploits.
I will give one of them in his own words as well as I can remember them.

"We were as promising a party of young warriors as our tribe ever sent
against any of its ancestral enemies. It was midsummer, and after going
two days' journey from home we began to send two scouts ahead daily
while the main body kept a half day behind. The scouts set out every
evening and traveled all night. One night the great war pipe was held
out to me and to Young-Man-Afraid-of-His-Horses. At daybreak, having met
no one, we hid our horses and climbed to the top of the nearest butte to
take an observation. It was a very hot day. We lay flat on our blankets,
facing the west where the cliff fell off in a sheer descent, and with
our backs toward the more gradual slope dotted with scrub pines and
cedars. We stuck some tall grass on our heads and proceeded to study the
landscape spread before us for any sign of man.

"The sweeping valleys were dotted with herds, both large and small,
of buffalo and elk, and now and then we caught a gli