"Well, my brother, you have seen a great thing," said Sun Bird, when he and White Otter reached Rain Crow's lodge.
"It is true. Those songs will stay in my ears a long time," replied White Otter.
"Well, you will see something else when the next sun comes," declared Sun Bird. "My people will dance the great Buffalo Dance. You will see how they do it. You will see scouts go away to watch on the ridges. And I will tell you another thing. Our brothers, the brave Uncapapas, are coming to hunt with us. You will see a great camp. Many things will happen while these people are with us. Yes, we will run races, and ride horses, and try our arrows. The Uncapapas are great warriors. They have fought in many battles. You will hear about it. All the people will sing the buffalo songs, and you will see how my father brings the buffaloes to his people."
"When I have seen all these things, then I will tell my grandfather about it," said White Otter.
At dawn the three lads stole noiselessly from the lodge and raced away to the stream, lured on by the shouts and laughter of a jolly little company who were already in the water. The first plunge into the icy current from the mountains dispelled the last traces of drowsiness and sent the blood bounding through their veins. Then followed a few moments of wild frolicking, for all the boys and most of the younger men of the tribe were assembled at the stream. When they emerged from the water they chased one another about the plain until they were thoroughly dry and glowing with health. Then they ran to the camp to eat bountifully of the food which the women were already preparing.
At sunrise the warriors who had been selected to dance in the Buffalo Dance walked to the center of the village. Each of the dancers wore the skin of a bull buffalo, including the head and horns, and about his ankles were tied tufts of buffalo hair. Their faces and bodies were streaked and spotted with clay of various colors, and fastened to their backs were small bundles of willow branches. They carried their hunting weapons, and small rawhide rattles filled with pebbles.
While the dancers were assembling, a number of scouts mounted their ponies and galloped away to watch from the ridges about the camp. At the same time Rain Crow made his way out on the plain with the sacred medicine-pipe, and seated himself beside a painted buffalo skull to smoke and petition the Great Mystery to send the great herds of buffaloes near the Minneconjoux camp.
