The party that went west did not fail to real-
ize the perilous nature of their wanderings, for
they were trespassing upon the country of the
warlike Crows.
On the third day at sunrise, the Sioux crier's
voice resounded in the valley of the Powder,
announcing that the lodges must be razed and
the villagers must take up their march.
Breakfast of jerked buffalo meat had been
served and the women were adjusting their
packs, not without much chatter and apparent
confusion. Weeko (Beautiful Woman), the
young wife of the war-chief Shunkaska, who
had made many presents at the dances in honor
of her twin boys, now gave one of her remain-
ing ponies to a poor old woman whose only
beast of burden, a large dog, had died during
the night.
This made it necessary to shift the packs of
the others. Nakpa, or Long Ears, her kitten-
like gray mule, which had heretofore been hon-
ored with the precious burden of the twin babies,
was to be given a heavier and more cumbersome
load. Weeko's two-year-old spotted pony was
selected to carry the babies.
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