He had a high sense of duty and honor. Patriotism was his ideal
and goal of life.

As a young man he was modest and even shy, although both his
father and grandfather were well-known chiefs. I could find few
noteworthy incidents in his early life, save that he was an expert
rider of wild horses. At one time I was pressing him to give me
some interesting incident of his boyhood. He replied to the effect
that there was plenty of excitement but "not much in it." There
was a delegation of Sioux chiefs visiting Washington, and we were
spending an evening together in their hotel. Hollow Horn Bear
spoke up and said:

"Why don't you tell him how you and a buffalo cow together
held your poor father up and froze him almost to death?"

Everybody laughed, and another man remarked: "I think he had
better tell the medicine man (meaning myself) how he lost the power
of speech when he first tried to court a girl." Two Strike,
although he was then close to eighty years of age, was visibly
embarrassed by their chaff.

"Anyway, I stuck to the trail. I kept on till I got what I
wanted," he muttered. And then came the story.

The old chief, his father, was very fond of the buffalo hunt;
and being accomplished in horsemanship and a fine shot, although
not very powerfully built, young Two Strike was already following
hard in his footsteps. Like every proud father, his was giving him
every incentive to perfect his skill, and one day challenged his