ittle boys who were also novices. One of them
particularly was really too young to indulge in an exploit of that kind.
As it was the custom of our people, when they killed or wounded an enemy
on the battle field, to announce the act in a loud voice, we did the
same. My friend, Little Wound (as I will call him, for I do not remember
his name), being quite small, was unable to reach the nest until it had
been well trampled upon and broken and the insects had made a counter
charge with such vigor as to repulse and scatter our numbers in every
direction. However, he evidently did not want to retreat without any
honors; so he bravely jumped upon the nest and yelled:

"I, the brave Little Wound, to-day kill the only fierce enemy!"

Scarcely were the last words uttered when he screamed as if stabbed to
the heart. One of his older companions shouted:

"Dive into the water! Run! Dive into the water!" for there was a lake
near by. This advice he obeyed.

When we had reassembled and were indulging in our mimic dance,
Little Wound was not allowed to dance. He was considered not to be in
existence--he had been killed by our enemies, the Bee tribe. Poor little
fellow! His swollen face was sad and ashamed as he sat on a fallen log
and watched the dance. Although he might well have styled himself one of
the noble dead who had died for their country, yet he was not unmindful
that he had screamed, and this weakness would be apt to recur to him
many times in the future.

We had some quiet plays which we alternated with the more severe and
warlike ones. Among them were throwing wands and snow-arrows. In the
winter we coasted much. We had no "double-rippers" or toboggans, but six
or seven of the long ribs of a buffalo, fastened together at the larger
end, answered all practical purposes. Sometimes a strip of bass-wood
bark, four feet long and about six inches wide, was used with
considerable skill. We stood on one end and held the other, using the
slippery inside of the bark for the outside, and thus coasting down long
hills with remarkable speed.

The spinning of tops was one of the all-absorbing winter sports. We made
our tops heartshaped of wood, horn or bone. We whipped them with a
long thong of buckskin. The handle was a stick about a foot long and
sometimes we whittled the stick to make it spoon-shaped at one end.

We played games with these tops--two to fifty boys at one time. Each
whips his top until it hums; then one takes t