in one of his most violent fits of drunkenness, and in this condition, on a dark and inclement night, drove his wives out of doors.  Two men of his tribe, who witnessed these circumstances, persuaded the women to fly in their company.  One of these men had formerly been dangerously stabbed by I-e-tan.  Actuated by hatred, calculating the chief’s power was on the decline, and depending on the strength of their connections, which were influential, the seducers became tired of living out in hunting-camps and elsewhere, and determined to return to the village and face it out.  Such cases of elopement are not very frequent; but after a much longer absence the parties generally become silently reconciled, if necessary, through the arrangement of friends.  I-e-tan said, however, that it was not only a personal insult and injury, but an evidence of defiance of his power, and that he would live or die the chief of the Otoes.  His enemies had prepared their friends for resistance, and I-e-tan armed himself for the conflict.  He sought and found the young men in the skirts of the village, near some trees where their supporters were concealed.  I-e-tan addressed the man whom he had formerly wounded:  “Stand aside!  I do not wish to kill you; I have perhaps injured you enough.”  The fellow immediately fled.  He then fired upon the other, and missed him.  As the white man was about to return the fire, he was shot down by a nephew of I-e-tan’s from a great distance.  I-e-tan then drew a pistol, jumped astride his fallen enemy, and was about to blow out his brains, when the interpreter, Dorian, hoping even then to stop bloodshed, struck up his pistol, which was discharged in the air, and seized him around the body and arms.  At this instant the wounded man, writhing in the agony of death, discharged his rifle at random.  The ball shattered Dorian’s arm and broke both of I-e-tan’s, but the latter, being then unloosened, sprang and stamped upon the body, and called upon his sister, an old woman, to beat out his brains.  This she did with an axe, with which she had come running with his friends and nephews from the village.  At this instant—­Dorian being out of the way—­a volley was fired at I-e-tan, and five balls penetrated his body.  Then his nephews, coming too late to his support, took swift vengeance.  They fired at his now flying enemies, and, although they were in motion, nearly two hundred yards distant, three of them fell dead.

I-e-tan was conveyed to his lodge in the village, where being surrounded by many relations and friends, he deplored the condition of the nation, and warned them against the dangers to which it was exposed.  He assured them most positively that if he willed it, he could continue to live, but that many of the Otoes had become such dogs that he was weary of governing them, and that his arms being broken, he could no longer be a great warrior.  He gave some messages for his friend, the agent, who was expected at the village, and then turning to a bystander, told him he had heard that day that he had a bottle of whiskey, and ordered him to bring it.  This being done, he caused it to be poured down his throat, and when drunk he sang his death song and died.