ent, and said some
words in the Sioux tongue. Dick feared it was a suggestion
that he be put to the torture, and he was glad when Bright Sun
shook his head.

"There are such places," said Bright Sun, "because the mountains
are high and vast and but few people travel among them. It may
be that he tells the truth."

"It is the truth. I swear it!" said Dick earnestly.

"Then why do you refuse to tell of this place?" asked Bright Sun.

"Because we wish to keep it for ourselves," replied Dick frankly.

The faintest trace of a smile was visible in Bright Sun's eyes.

"Wherever it may be it belongs to us," said the chief; "but I
believe that you are telling the truth. Nor do I hesitate to
tell you that we have asked these questions because we wish to
learn all that we can. The soldiers of your people are advancing
under the yellow-haired general, Custer, Terry, Gibbon, and
others. They come in great force, but the Sioux, in greater
force and more cunning will destroy them."

Dick was silent. He knew too little to make any reply to the
statements of Bright Sun. Rain-in-the-Face and Crazy Horse spoke
to Bright Sun, and they seemed to be urging something. But the
chief again shook his head, and they, too, became silent. It was
obvious to both boys that his influence was enormous.

"You can go," he said to Dick and Albert, and they gladly left
the lodge. Outside, Lone Wolf and Pine Tree fell in on either
side of them and escorted them to their own tepee, in front of
which they stood guard while the boys slept that night.

Chapter XVII
The Great Sun Dance

Dick and Albert remained in their tepee throughout the next
morning, but in the afternoon they were allowed to go in the
village a second time. Lone Wolf and Pine Tree, who had slept in
the morning, were again their guards. Both saw at once that some
great event was at hand. The excitement in the village had
increased visibly, and a multitude was pouring toward a certain
point, a wide, grassy plain beside the Little Big Horn. Lone
Wolf and Pine Tree willingly took the captives with the crowd,
and the two boys looked upon a sight which few white men have
beheld in all its savage convulsions.

The wide, grassy space before them had been carefully chosen by
the great medicine men of the nation, Sitting Bull at their head.
Then the squaws had put up a great circular awning, like a
circus tent, with part of the top cut out. This awning was over
on