For several summers the bands roaming in the Powder River country had perpetrated not a few murders of whites, had run off stock and destroyed property to a considerable extent, in short, had taken the war-path, and this although nominally at peace. Now it was by virtue of keeping the peace that their exclusive rights over the encroached-upon territory had been conceded. We have said that the Sioux were made up of various sub-divisions or clans. Now at that time there was not one of these which did not furnish a quota of warriors to swell the ranks of the hostiles. Nominally at peace, and drawing rations from the Government, the turbulent spirits of these tribes would slip away quietly in small parties, to join the hostile chiefs for a summer raid, returning to the agencies when they had had enough fighting and plunder, and becoming--in popular parlance--"good Indians" again. These escapades were either winked at by the tribal chiefs, who remained quietly at the agencies, "keeping in" with the Government, or were simply beyond their power to prevent. Probably both attitudes held good, for the control exercised by an Indian chief over his band or tribe seldom amounts to more than moral suasion. Briefly, then, the Sioux and their allies, the Northern Cheyennes, might be thus classified:-- 1. The hostiles, _i.e._, the bold and lawless faction who hardly made any secret of being on the war-path. These held the broken and rugged fastnesses of the Powder River country already referred to. 2. The Agency Indians who, sitting still on their reserves, helped their hostile brethren with information and supplies. 3. The turbulent youths on the reservation, always ready to slip away on their own account, or to join the hostiles, in search of scalps, plunder, and fun in general. 4. The whole lot, ripe for any devilment, provided it offered a safe chance of success. Such was the state of affairs in 1873-4-5, and now apologising to the reader for this digression, let us get back to our council. CHAPTER SEVEN. THE COUNCIL.