As their preparations were completed, each family moved off the ground.  The crowd was rapidly melting away.  I could see them crossing the river, and passing in quick succession along the profile of the hill on the farther bank.  When all were gone, I mounted and set out after them, followed by Raymond, and as we gained the summit, the whole village came in view at once, straggling away for a mile or more over the barren plains before us.  Everywhere the iron points of lances were glittering.  The sun never shone upon a more strange array.  Here were the heavy-laden pack horses, some wretched old women leading them, and two or three children clinging to their backs.  Here were mules or ponies covered from head to tail with gaudy trappings, and mounted by some gay young squaw, grinning bashfulness and pleasure as the Meneaska looked at her.  Boys with miniature bows and arrows were wandering over the plains, little naked children were running along on foot, and numberless dogs were scampering among the feet of the horses.  The young braves, gaudy with paint and feathers, were riding in groups among the crowd, and often galloping, two or three at once along the line, to try the speed of their horses.  Here and there you might see a rank of sturdy pedestrians stalking along in their white buffalo robes.  These were the dignitaries of the village, the old men and warriors, to whose age and experience that wandering democracy yielded a silent deference.  With the rough prairie and the broken hills for its background, the restless scene was striking and picturesque beyond description.  Days and weeks made me familiar with it, but never impaired its effect upon my fancy.

As we moved on the broken column grew yet more scattered and disorderly, until, as we approached the foot of a hill, I saw the old men before mentioned seating themselves in a line upon the ground, in advance of the whole.  They lighted a pipe and sat smoking, laughing, and telling stories, while the people, stopping as they successively came up, were soon gathered in a crowd behind them.  Then the old men rose, drew their buffalo robes over their shoulders, and strode on as before.  Gaining the top of the hill, we found a very steep declivity before us.  There was not a minute’s pause.  The whole descended in a mass, amid dust and confusion.  The horses braced their feet as they slid down, women and children were screaming, dogs yelping as they were trodden upon, while stones and earth went rolling to the bottom.  In a few moments I could see the village from the summit, spreading again far and wide over the plain below.