"Well, I've often told ye that them Redskins think it a disgrace to
give in eatin' till all that's set before them at a feast is bolted.
We'll ha' to stretch oursel's, we will."

"I'se got a plenty room," remarked Henri.

"Ye have, but ye'll wish ye had more in a little."

"Bien, I not care!"

In quarter of an hour all the guests invited to this great "medicine
feast" were assembled. No women were admitted. They never are at
Indian feasts.

We may remark in passing that the word "medicine," as used among the
North American Indians, has a very much wider signification than it
has with us. It is an almost inexplicable word. When asked, they
cannot give a full or satisfactory explanation of it themselves. In
the general, we may say that whatever is mysterious is "medicine."
Jugglery and conjuring, of a noisy, mysterious, and, we must add,
rather silly nature, is "medicine," and the juggler is a "medicine
man." These medicine men undertake cures; but they are regular
charlatans, and know nothing whatever of the diseases they pretend
to cure or their remedies. They carry bags containing sundry relics;
these are "medicine bags." Every brave has his own private medicine
bag. Everything that is incomprehensible, or supposed to be
supernatural, religious, or medical, is "medicine." This feast, being
an unusual one, in honour of strangers, and in connection with a
peculiar and unexpected event, was "medicine." Even Crusoe, since his