“_Dho_,” he said, regarding me with the crinkled, quizzical look; “but the meat is not the same. It has no strength in it.” He meditated awhile, gazing at the ground. Then his face brightened. “That was the time when High Horse and I killed our first bison bull,” he began, catching up the loose thread of yesterday’s narrative; “Also a young cow--fat--tender--strong meat to make a man of a boy. Thirteen winters made a man those days. It must have been the meat. “We had plenty of bull-hides to make the _watah_ [boats] we needed for crossing Mini Shoshay [the Missouri]. Also there were willows in plenty for making the frames. We tied these together with green rawhide thongs, and over the frames we stretched the green bull-skins tight, sewing them with strips of hide. Then we hung them up to dry in the wind and sun; and while they dried and shrank tight we rested and feasted three more days. _Washtay!_ Good boats! Kick them--they sound like big drums! Float high in the water! _Washtay!_ “We put all our belongings in the boats and most of us swam, pulling them with rawhide thongs that we held in our teeth. The ponies did not give us any trouble after we got the first ones into the water; and some of us swam with our horses, so that we could catch the others when we got across. “Our scouts had gone out while we were making boats, and they came back to our first camp beyond Mini Shoshay. They had been watching a big war party of Flatheads, Nez Percé and Absoraka [Crows] not far away, and they said we must attack as soon as we could that day and not wait for night, because the bands had not yet made camp together and were still coming up. If we waited, there would be too many for us. This was in the morning, and the sun was about straight up when we made the attack. There was a big butte close by, something like Bear Butte near Pa Sapa [the Black Hills], and we sneaked around that until we were close enough to charge. I think they did not know we were in the country, and it was a big surprise. Women were putting up tepees, children were playing anywhere, and the men were scattered around, not thinking of trouble because it was the middle of the day, and the ponies were grazing without guards. It was not much. There was no fight. We did not kill one man or count a coup. We just charged in there, waving blankets and yelling, and it was funny to see the people running here and running there all mixed up. The ponies had not had time to scatter far, and right away we got about a hundred started south on the run. When we reached the top of a ridge and looked back, we could see that we’d better hurry, because the warriors of the bands that were still coming in to camp back there were after us, and there were many.