[Illustration: FIG. 95--Summer 1846--Hornless-bull initiated.]
Whenever a leader died or was killed another was selected from among the Kâ´itséñko to carry the arrow. As the regulations governing it were adhered to very strictly, it can readily be understood that on the occasion of an election the office usually sought the man. As the Kiowa or other tribes, however, had no desire to sacrifice their bravest men needlessly, the ceremonial arrow or its equivalent was carried only when the expedition meant war to the bitter end against the enemy. In the absence of this emblem of his rank the owner took his place as an ordinary warrior. He might even lend it to a warrior who wished to distinguish himself in a war party while the owner remained at home; but should he do this when any serious expedition was in preparation, he was considered to be a coward and was degraded from his rank. The leaders of the Tóñkóñko, "Black legs," another warrior order, carried a lance somewhat resembling a shepherd's crook and called a _pabón_, which had nearly the same purpose as the arrow of the Kâ´itséñko. The noted chief Set-ängya, who was killed at Fort Sill in 1871, was the leader of the Kâ´itséñko at that time, and deliberately invited death in accordance with the obligation of his office.
The Kâ´itséñko initiations took place only on the occasion of a sun dance and were not of frequent occurrence, so that the event was always a matter of considerable importance. The membership was always kept up to the requisite number of ten. The prominent feature of the ceremony was the investiture of the new members with the _ópäm-yaípo_, or collar sash of the order; hence the verb _äópä_, "to initiate into the Kâ´itséñko," which is derived from the verb _äópäñ_, "to tie with a rope around the neck." This ceremony evidently explains the picture from the Dakota calendar (figure 96) which Mallery translates "they made bands of strips of blankets in the winter," and goes on to say: "These bands were of mixed colors and reached from the shoulders to the heels. They also made rattles of deer-hoofs by tying them to sticks with bead-covered strings. The man has a sash over his shoulders and a rattle in his hand." The rattle was also a part of the ceremonial equipment of the Dog-soldiers, and as the Dakota calendar does not distinguish between seasons, the ceremony may as easily have taken place in the summer, the ordinary season for Indian celebrations on the plains.