And over the ridge rode Tatanka Yotanke, the greatest chief of his tribe, a man with intelligence, courage, viciousness, and implacable hatred toward his foes, the whites. But his face showed no hatred now, for he dismounted, laid his weapons upon his blanket, and came straight toward Kit Carey, his hands raised, while he said in his low, earnest voice: "The Crow Dog was wrong to fire upon the good friend of Sitting Bull, the brave War Eagle of the pale-faces. Tatanka Yotanke has not forgotten that many, many moons ago the White War Eagle found his redskin foe wounded and in distress, and helped him as one of his own people. Let the White War Eagle mount one of my braves' ponies and go on his way, for though red clouds obscure the sun, there must be no war to kill off my people." "The great chief has spoken well, and may his words come from his heart, for a war between his people and mine will but end in death to his braves, the destruction of their homes, the sorrow of their wives and children. The words of Sitting Bull shall be told to the great white chief of my people, and his friendship made known. The great chief has a good memory, and we are friends. The White War Eagle will take him at his word, and may it never be broken." As he spoke Kit Carey stepped out boldly from his cover, his hand grasped that of the chief, and the brave who had appropriated his saddle and bridle from his dead horse was ordered to bring them forward and place them upon the back of a clean-limbed pony that Sitting Bull pointed to. And mounting, just as the shadows of night deepened, Lieutenant Carey rode away, with the muttered words: "A close call that! but is Sitting Bull in earnest in his professions of friendship? I very much fear me not." FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 1: Sitting Bull was a chief of the Dakota Sioux, both by his inheritance and by his deeds, for according to his own statement it was necessary in his tribe for a brave to "achieve greatness." His father was a chief named Jumping Bull. Two of his uncles, Four Horns and Hunting His Lodge, were also chiefs. He was born in 1837, near old Fort George, on Willow Creek, near the mouth of the Cheyenne River. Before he was ten years old, he won fame as a hunter of buffalo calves, which he gave to the poor, his father being a rich man. Until he was fourteen years old, he was known as Sacred Stand, but at that age, having slain an enemy, he became known by his later name, Tatanka Yotanke, or Sitting Bull. This is the man's early history, as outlined by himself when he was a prisoner after his return from Canada, whither he fled after the troubles in the Black Hills.