ng low as they stood side by side
fell silent at the spectacle. They could not shoot until some Indian
should shoot. They watched him and the gray pony pass and return to the
hostiles on the hill. Then they saw the hostiles melt away like magic.
Their prophet had told them to go to their tepees and wait for the great
rain he would now bring. It was noon, and the sky utterly blue over the
bright valley. The sun rode a space nearer the west, and the thick black
clouds assembled in the mountains and descended; their shadow flooded
the valley with a lake of slatish blue, and presently the sudden
torrents sluiced down with flashes and the ample thunder of Montana.
Thus not alone the law against our soldiers firing the first shot in an
Indian excitement, but now also the elements coincided to help the
medicine-man's destiny.

Cheschapah sat in a tepee with his father, and as the rain splashed
heavily on the earth the old man gazed at the young one.

"Why do you tremble, my son? You have made the white soldier's heart
soft," said Pounded Meat. "You are indeed a great man, my son."

Cheschapah rose. "Do not call me your son," said he. "That is a lie."
He went out into the fury of the rain, lifting his face against the
drops, and exultingly calling out at each glare of the lightning. He
went to Pretty Eagle's young squaw, who held off from him no longer, but
got on a horse, and the two rode into the mountains. Before the sun had
set, the sky was again utterly blue, and a cool scent rose everywhere in
the shining valley.

The Crows came out of their tepees, and there were the white soldiers
obeying orders and going away. They watched the column slowly move
across the flat land below the bluffs, where the road led down the river
twelve miles to the post.

"They are afraid," said new converts. "Cheschapah's rain has made their
hearts soft."

"They have not all gone," said Pretty Eagle. "Maybe he did not make
enough rain." But even Pretty Eagle began to be shaken, and he heard
several of his brother chiefs during the next few days openly declare
for the medicine-man. Cheschapah with his woman came from the mountains,
and Pretty Eagle did not dare to harm him. Then another coincidence
followed that was certainly most reassuring to the war party. Some of
them had no meat, and told Cheschapah they were hungry. With consummate
audacity he informed them he would give them plenty at once. On the same
day another timely electric sto