When I Looked Again, The Combatants Were Once More
Mingled Together In A Mass.
Though yells sounded, occasionally from
the throng, the firing had entirely ceased, and I observed five or
six persons moving busily about, as if acting the part of
peacemakers.
One of the village heralds or criers proclaimed in a
loud voice something which my two companions were too much engrossed
in their own observations to translate for me. The crowd began to
disperse, though many a deep-set black eye still glittered with an
unnatural luster, as the warriors slowly withdrew to their lodges.
This fortunate suppression of the disturbance was owing to a few of
the old men, less pugnacious than Mene-Seela, who boldly ran in
between the combatants and aided by some of the "soldiers," or Indian
police, succeeded in effecting their object.
It seemed very strange to me that although many arrows and bullets
were discharged, no one was mortally hurt, and I could only account
for this by the fact that both the marksman and the object of his aim
were leaping about incessantly during the whole time. By far the
greater part of the villagers had joined in the fray, for although
there were not more than a dozen guns in the whole camp, I heard at
least eight or ten shots fired.
In a quarter of an hour all was comparatively quiet. A large circle
of warriors were again seated in the center of the village, but this
time I did not venture to join them, because I could see that the
pipe, contrary to the usual order, was passing from the left hand to
the right around the circle, a sure sign that a "medicine-smoke" of
reconciliation was going forward, and that a white man would be an
unwelcome intruder. When I again entered the still agitated camp it
was nearly dark, and mournful cries, howls and wailings resounded
from many female voices. Whether these had any connection with the
late disturbance, or were merely lamentations for relatives slain in
some former war expeditions, I could not distinctly ascertain.
To inquire too closely into the cause of the quarrel was by no means
prudent, and it was not until some time after that I discovered what
had given rise to it. Among the Dakota there are many associations,
or fraternities, connected with the purposes of their superstitions,
their warfare, or their social life. There was one called "The
Arrow-Breakers," now in a great measure disbanded and dispersed. In
the village there were, however, four men belonging to it,
distinguished by the peculiar arrangement of their hair, which rose
in a high bristling mass above their foreheads, adding greatly to
their apparent height, and giving them a most ferocious appearance.
The principal among them was the Mad Wolf, a warrior of remarkable
size and strength, great courage, and the fierceness of a demon. I
had always looked upon him as the most dangerous man in the village;
and though he often invited me to feasts, I never entered his lodge
unarmed.
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