Not until Cortez came with his cavalry from
Spain, were there horses on this continent, and
then generations passed ere the plains tribes
possessed this valuable animal, that so ma-
terially changed their lives. Dogs dragged
the Indian's travois or packed his household
goods in the days before the horse came, and
for hundreds--perhaps thousands of years,
these people had no other means of trans-
porting their goods and chattels. As the Indian
is slow to forget or change the ways of his
father, we should pause before we brand him
as wholly improvident, I think.

He has always been a family-man, has the
Indian, and small children had to be carried, as
well as his camp equipage. Wolf-dogs had
to be fed, too, in some way, thus adding to his
burden; for it took a great many to make it
possible for him to travel at all.

When the night came and we visited War
Eagle, we found he had other company--so
we waited until their visit was ended before
settling ourselves to hear the story that he
might tell us.

"The Crows have stolen some of our best
horses," said War Eagle, as soon as the other