It was a peculiarly trying and hazardous
moment in which to perform the duties of a
scout. The Sioux were encroaching upon the
territory of hostile tribes, here in the foot-hills
of the Big Horn Mountains, and now and then
one of their hunters was cut off by the enemy.
If continual vigilance could not save them, it
might soon become necessary to retreat to their
own hunting-grounds.
It was a savage fetish that a warrior must
be proof against the alluring ways of pretty
maidens; that he must place his honor far
above the temptations of self-indulgence and
indolence. Cold, hunger, and personal hard-
ship did not count with Antelope when there
was required of him any special exertion for
the common good. It was cause to him of
secret satisfaction that the council-men had se-
lected him for a dangerous service in prefer-
ence to some of his rivals and comrades.
He had been running for two or three hours
at a good, even gait, and had crossed more
than one of the smaller creeks, yet many deep
gulches and bad lands lay between him and the
furthest peak that melted into the blue dome
above.
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