He next left the drum and went directly back to the foot of the center pole, where he rejoined the rest of the ghost-dancers. The remaining dancers went, one by one, or in small groups, and performed exactly the same ceremony as that just described. When all had disrobed, each took his costume and retired to the woods or brush, redressed himself, endeavoring to change his painting to one as different as possible from that which he wore before. Later the same performance was repeated: the calling by the crier, entry of the dancers, series of dances, and ceremonial disrobing. On the first day this entire series of dances was repeated four times in all--at about 5 a.m., 10 a.m., 2 p.m., and 5 p.m., respectively. After the ceremonial disrobing at the end of the fourth series, the ghost-dancers left their suits in the dance-house and repaired to the river or lake to swim, after which they returned to the dance-house. During the other three days of the ceremony they might appear any desired number of times during the day. The dancers were forbidden to eat or drink on any particular day as long as the dance continued, but as soon as they had gone down to swim this restriction was removed. As a rule, fire-eating and fire-handling were only incidental to the ghost dance proper. However, if occasion arose, the ghost-dancers themselves might handle fire, though they could not eat it. This privilege was especially reserved to the ash-devils, nō' xahlūīgak (E). In case something was done to offend the ghost-dancers, such as an inadequate provision of wood or some inattention on the part of the officials, they might attempt to show their displeasure by throwing fire about the dance-house. It then became the duty of the two fire-tenders to hold sticks of wood across the fire. This operated as a taboo to the ghost-dancers, who were prevented from touching the fire. If there were any of the ash-devils present, even though not regularly participating in this particular ceremony, they at once brought their special bird-shaped staffs, which served as their badges of authority,[19] and gave them absolute control over the entire assemblage, including even the head captain. This caused the fire-tenders to remove their restriction, and the ghost-dancers were then privileged to do as they wished as long as they were under the patronage of the ash-devils.