would be soft and warm, to keep out the winter cold.

I remember that before the tribe started there used to be a great ceremony,
but I was too young to understand what it all meant, though with the others
I watched what the old men did, and wondered at it, for it seemed very
solemn. There was a big circle about which the people stood or sat, and in
the middle of the circle there were buffalo heads on the ground, and before
them stood old men, who prayed and offered sacrifices, and passed their
weapons and their sacred implements over the skulls, and then people
danced; and not long after this the women loaded their lodges and their
baggage on the horses, and put their little children into the cages on the
travois, or piled them on the loaded pack horses; and then presently, in a
long line, the village started off over the prairie, to look for buffalo.

Most of the way I walked or ran, playing with the other little boys, or
looking through the ravines to try and find small birds, or a rabbit, or a
prairie chicken. Sometimes I rode a colt, too young yet to carry a load, or
to be ridden by an older person, yet gentle enough to carry me. In this way
I learned to ride.

When buffalo were found, the young men killed them, and then the whole
camp, women and children, went out to where the buffalo lay, and meat and
hides were brought in to the camp, where the women made robes, and dried
meat. Food was plenty, and everybody was glad.

My grandmother lived in our lodge. She was an old woman with gray hair, and
was always working hard. Whenever there were skins in the lodge she worked
at them until they were tanned and ready for use. Often she used to talk to
me, telling me about the old times; how our tribe used to fight with its
enemies, and conquer them, and kill them; and how brave the men always