selected for the feast was white as the driven snow. If a black hair,
or a blue hair, or a brown hair was discovered anywhere upon his body
he was taken away; but if he were _sans reproche_ he was put into the
pot just as he was, with head, and hide, and paws, and tail, his throat
simply having been cut.

Six dogs were thrown in, and the roots and stalks of the prairie
plants, together with salt, and bunches of the wild pepper-plant, and
of swamp mustard, were added for seasoning. Through the reserves
round about for many miles swarthy heralds proclaimed that the great
Chief Big Bear was giving a White Dog feast to his braves before
summoning them to the war-path. The feast was, in Indian experience,
a magnificent one, and before the young men departed they swore to
Big Bear that they returned only for their war-paint and arms, and
that before the set of the next sun they would be back at his side.

True to their word the Indians came, hideous in their yellow paint.
If you stood to leeward of them upon the plain a mile away you could
clearly get the raw, earthy smell of the ochre from their hands and
faces. Some had black bars streaked across their cheeks, and hideous
crimson circles about their eyes. Some, likewise, had stars in
pipe-clay painted upon the forehead, and others were diabolical in the
figures of horrid beasts, painted with savage skill upon their naked
breasts.

The beleaguered could notice all these preparations with their
glasses; and the men spoke to each other in low tones. Savages seemed
to be gathering from all points of the compass, and massing upon the
plateau round about the camps of the Cree Chief. But several bands
were stationed around the Fort, in such a manner as to cut off