The Sioux had been a thief,
therefore the Crees cut off his right hand, fastened it to a long
Pole
with the fingers pointing up, and with much fuss and
feathers - particularly feathers - brought it to the "White Chief," to
show him that the good, brave Crees had killed one of the white man's
enemies! The leading Indian carried the pole with the hand, and almost
everyone of those that followed carried something also - pieces of
flags, or old tin pans or buckets, upon which they beat with sticks,
making horrible noises. Each Indian was chanting in a sing-song,
mournful way. They were dressed most fancifully; some with red coats,
probably discarded by the Canadian police, and Faye said that almost
everyone had on quantities of beads and feathers.
Bringing the hand of a dead Sioux was only an Indian's way of begging
for something to eat, and this Colonel Palmer understood, so great tin
cups of hot coffee and boxes of hard-tack were served to them. Then
they danced and danced, and to me it looked as though they intended to
dance the rest of their lives right on that one spot. But when they
saw that any amount of furious dancing would not boil more coffee,
they stopped, and finally started back to their village.
Faye tells me that as he was going to his tent from the dancing, he
noticed an Indian who seemed to be unusually well clad, his moccasins
and leggings were embroidered with beads and he was wrapped in a
bright-red blanket, head as well as body.
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