nd. The deed was committed without just cause; therefore all
the braves were agreed to punish the murderer with death. When your
grandfather was approached with this suggestion, he replied that he and
the remaining brothers could not condescend to spill the blood of such a
wretch, but that the others might do whatever they thought just with the
young man. These men were foremost among the warriors of the Sioux, and
no one questioned their courage; yet when this calamity was brought upon
them by a villain, they refused to touch him! This, my boy, is a test of
true bravery. Self-possession and self-control at such a moment is proof
of a strong heart.

"You have heard of Jingling Thunder the elder, whose brave deeds are
well known to the Villagers of the Lakes. He sought honor 'in the gates
of the enemy,' as we often say. The Great Mystery was especially kind to
him, because he was obedient.

"Many winters ago there was a great battle, in which Jingling Thunder
won his first honors. It was forty winters before the falling of many
stars, which event occurred twenty winters after the coming of the
black-robed white priest; and that was fourteen winters before the
annihilation by our people of thirty lodges of the Sac and Fox Indians.
I well remember the latter event--it was just fifty winters ago.
However, I will count my sticks again."

So saying, Smoky Day produced his bundle of variously colored sticks,
about five inches long. He counted and gave them to me to verify his
calculation.

"But you," he resumed, "do not care to remember the winters that have
passed. You are young, and care only for the event and the deed. It was
very many years ago that this thing happened that I am about to tell
you, and yet our people speak of it with as much enthusiasm as if it
were only yesterday. Our heroes are always kept alive in the minds of
the nation.

"Our people lived then on the east bank of the Mississippi, a little
south of where Imnejah-skah, or White Cliff (St. Paul, Minnesota), now
stands. After they left Mille Lacs they founded several villages,
but finally settled in this spot, whence the tribes have gradually
dispersed. Here a battle occurred which surpassed all others in history.
It lasted one whole day--the Sacs and Foxes and the Dakotas against the
Ojibways.

"An invitation in the usual form of a filled pipe was brought to the
Sioux by a brave of the Sac and Fox tribe, to make a general attack
upon their common