At ten o’clock the barn was lit up, and strangely bizarre was the result.  The draught through the broken windows set the candles a-guttering, until rivers of yellow fat decorated the black bottles in which they were set.  The stench from these, and from the badly-trimmed coal oil lamps down the center, blended disgustingly with the native odor of the place, until the atmosphere became heavy, pungent, revolting in the nostrils, and breathing became a labor after the sweet fresh air of the prairie outside.

Soon after this the dancers began to arrive.  They came in their strange deckings of glaring colors, and many and varied were the types which soon filled the room.  There were old men and there were young men.  There were girls in their early teens, and toothless hags, decrepit and faltering.  Faces which, in wild loveliness, might have vied with the white beauty of the daughters of the East.  Faces seared and crumpled with weight of years and nights of debauchery.  Men were there of superb physique, whilst others crouched huddled, with shuffling gait towards the manger seats, to seek rest for their rotting bones, and ease for their cramping muscles.

Many of the faces were marred by disease; small-pox was a prevalent scourge amongst these people.  The effect of the pure air of the prairie was lost upon the germ-laden atmosphere which surrounded these dreadful camps.  Crime, too, was stamped on many of the faces of those gathering in the reeking ballroom.  The small bullet head with low, receding forehead; the square set jaws and sagging lips; the shifty, twinkling little eyes, narrow-set and of jetty hue; such faces were plentiful.  Nor were these features confined to the male sex alone.  Truly it was a motley gathering, and not pleasant to look upon.

All, as they came, were merry with anticipation; even the hags and the rheumatism-ridden male fossils croaked out their quips and coarse pleasantries to each other with gleeful unctuousness, inspired by thoughts of the generous contents of the secreted barrel.  Their watery eyes watered the more, as, on entering the room, they glanced round seeking to discover the fiery store of liquor, which they hoped to help to dispose of.  It was a loathsome sight to behold these miserable wretches gathering together with no thought in their beast-like brains but of the ample food and drink which they intended should fall to their share.  Crabbed old age seeking rejuvenation in gut-burning spirit.

The room quickly filled, and the chattering of many and strange tongues lent an apish tone to the function.  The French half-breed predominated, and these spoke their bastard lingo with that rapidity and bristling elevation of tone which characterizes their Gallic relatives.  It seemed as though each were trying to talk his neighbor down, and the process entailed excited shriekings which made the old barn ring again.

Baptiste, with a perfect understanding of the people, served out the spirit in pannikins with a lavish hand.  It was as well to inspire these folk with the potent liquor from the start, that their energies might be fully aroused for the dance.