case of the first, under his own roof. He saw above
him an immense sloping thatch of bark on poles, and his eyes,
wandering lower, saw walls of bark, also fastened to poles.
He himself was lying on a large rush mat, and beside the door
of the great tepee sat two Sioux warriors cleaning their rifles.

Dick's gaze rested upon the warriors. Curiously, he felt at that
time neither hostility nor apprehension. He rather admired
them. They were fine, tall men, and their bare arms and legs
were sinewy and powerful. Then he thought of Albert. He was
nowhere to be seen, but from the shadow of the wall on his right
came a tall figure, full of dignity and majesty. It was Bright
Sun, who looked down at Dick with a gaze that expressed inquiry
rather than anger.

"Why have you come here?" he asked.

Although Dick's head ached and he was a captive, the question
made a faint appeal to his sense of humor.

"I didn't come," he replied; "I was brought."

Bright Sun smiled.

"That is true," he said, speaking the precise English of the
schools, with every word enunciated distinctly. "You were
brought, and by my warriors; but why were you upon these hills?"

"I give you the best answer I can, Bright Sun," replied Dick
frankly; "I don't know. My brother and I were lost upon the
plains, and we wandered here. Nor have I the remotest idea now
where I am."

"You are in a village of the tribe of the Mendewahkanton Sioux,
of the clan Queyata-oto-we," replied Bright Sun gravely, "the
clan and tribe to which I belong. The Mendewahkantons are one of
the first tribes of the Seven Fireplaces, or the Great Sioux
Nation. But all are great--Mendewahkanton, Wahpeton, Sisseton,
Yankton, Teton, Ogalala, and Hunkpapa--down to the last clan of
every tribe."

He began with gravity and an even intonation, but his voice rose
with pride at the last. Nothing of the white man's training was
left to him but the slow, precise English. It was the Indian,
the pride of his Indian race, that spoke. Dick recognized it and
respected it.

"And this?" said Dick, looking around at the great house of bark
and poles in which he lay.

"This," replied Bright Sun, pride again showing in this tone, "is
the house of the Akitcita, our soldiers and policemen, the men
between twenty and forty, the warriors of the first rank, who
live here in common, and into whose house women and children
may not enter. I have read in the books at your schools how the
Spa