“When he drove his horses through the opening of the hoop, and rode around the village, left to right, the song of welcome was so loud that no one heard the song that he was singing; and he was holding up a coup-stick with a scalp upon it. He had made a kill-come-back with horses. There were tears upon his face--and it was thin, but it was shining while he rode and sang. “In front of Standing Hawk’s tepee he stopped his horses, and they stood, with hanging heads, for they were very tired; and Standing Hawk was waiting there. The song of the people was still, and everybody listened. Then Running Wolf said, ‘My father, I have come back with a clean heart to be your son until I die, and I have brought you horses. They are few, but they are Shoshoni horses, and it is far to that country. I was all alone and could not hold the others.’ Then Standing Hawk raised his arms for his son to come to him, and Running Wolf got down and put his head upon his new father’s shoulder. And all the people cried, ‘_Hiyee!_ Thanks! _Hiyee!_’ “There was a victory dance for Running Wolf. When he made his kill-talk, he was bashful and the words came broken. And when the people praised him and the drums beat and the women’s tremolo was loud, he stood like one ashamed, looking at the ground. And when the voices and the drums were still, he said, ‘I prayed and prayed and Wakon Tonka heard me.’ “Standing Hawk made a feast for the people and gave away all that he had, because his son who was dead had come back home to him. But when his hands were empty, the people began giving to him and his son, until they had even more than before. “And after that there was no Running Wolf. They called him Many Horses.” XXII _Why the Island Hill Was Sacred_ “I did not know it then, for I was young,” the old man began after a prolonged meditative silence. “All that time the sacred hoop was breaking, but I did not know. Red Cloud’s people were calling us the wild Lakota, because we would not eat Wasichu food and went on living in the sacred manner. The hoop was smaller, but our country looked the same. Only what we heard was different, but the words had traveled far; and when we looked around us, the prairie and the hills were there and the round sky above them. The morning star did not forget to come. The sun measured the days and the moon the seasons. The creeks and rivers ran, the wind blew, the snow came, the rain brought forth the young grass for the bison and the elk and the deer. And Wakon Tonka heard on any hill.