At another time, when I was fourteen years old, we had just
left Fort Ellis on the Assiniboine River, and my youngest uncle had
selected a fine spot for our night camp. It was already after
sundown, but my grandmother became unaccountably nervous, and
positively refused to pitch her tent. So we reluctantly went on
down the river, and camped after dark at a secluded place. The
next day we learned that a family who were following close behind
had stopped at the place first selected by my uncle, but
were surprised in the night by a roving war-party, and massacred to
a man. This incident made a great impression upon our people.

Many of the Indians believed that one may be born more than
once, and there were some who claimed to have full knowledge of a
former incarnation. There were also those who held converse with
a "twin spirit," who had been born into another tribe or race.
There was a well-known Sioux war-prophet who lived in the middle of
the last century, so that he is still remembered by the old men of
his band. After he had reached middle age, he declared that
he had a spirit brother among the Ojibways, the ancestral
enemies of the Sioux. He even named the band to which his brother
belonged, and said that he also was a war-prophet among his people.

Upon one of their hunts along the border between the two
tribes, the Sioux leader one evening called his warriors together,
and solemnly declared to them that they were about to meet a like
band of Ojibway hunters, led by his spirit twin. Since this was to
be their first meeting since they were born as strangers, he
earnestly begged the young men to resist the temptation to join
battle with their tribal foes.