twinkled beneath it, with a mischievous luster.  He had a fine cream-colored horse whose speed he must needs try along with the rest.  So he threw off the rude high-peaked saddle, and substituting a piece of buffalo robe, leaped lightly into his seat.  The space was cleared, the word was given, and he and his Indian rival darted out like lightning from among the crowd, each stretching forward over his horse’s neck and plying his heavy Indian whip with might and main.  A moment, and both were lost in the gloom; but Antoine soon came riding back victorious, exultingly patting the neck of his quivering and panting horse.

About midnight, as I lay asleep, wrapped in a buffalo robe on the ground by the side of our cart, Raymond came up and woke me.  Something he said, was going forward which I would like to see.  Looking down into camp I saw, on the farther side of it, a great number of Indians gathered around a fire, the bright glare of which made them visible through the thick darkness; while from the midst of them proceeded a loud, measured chant which would have killed Paganini outright, broken occasionally by a burst of sharp yells.  I gathered the robe around me, for the night was cold, and walked down to the spot.  The dark throng of Indians was so dense that they almost intercepted the light of the flame.  As I was pushing among them with but little ceremony, a chief interposed himself, and I was given to understand that a white man must not approach the scene of their solemnities too closely.  By passing round to the other side, where there was a little opening in the crowd, I could see clearly what was going forward, without intruding my unhallowed presence into the inner circle.  The society of the “Strong Hearts” were engaged in one of their dances.  The Strong Hearts are a warlike association, comprising men of both the Dakota and Cheyenne nations, and entirely composed, or supposed to be so, of young braves of the highest mettle.  Its fundamental principle is the admirable one of never retreating from any enterprise once commenced.  All these Indian associations have a tutelary spirit.  That of the Strong Hearts is embodied in the fox, an animal which a white man would hardly have selected for a similar purpose, though his subtle and cautious character agrees well enough with an Indian’s notions of what is honorable in warfare.  The dancers were circling round and round the fire, each figure brightly illumined at one moment by the yellow light, and at the next drawn in blackest shadow as it passed between the flame and the spectator.  They would imitate with the most ludicrous exactness the motions and the voice of their sly patron the fox.  Then a startling yell would be given.  Many other warriors would leap into the ring, and with faces upturned toward the starless sky, they would all stamp, and whoop, and brandish their weapons like so many frantic devils.