There had recently been a fight near the spot where they were,
and the Dahcotahs were seeking the bodies of their friends who had been
slain, that they might take them home to bury them.
They moved noiselessly along, for their enemies were near. Occasionally,
one of them would imitate the cry of a bird or of some animal, so that
if the attention of their enemies should be drawn to the spot, the
slight noise they made in moving might be attributed to any but the
right cause.
They had almost given up the hope of finding their friends, and this was
the close of their last day's efforts to that intent. In the morning
they intended to return to their village.
It was a bright clear evening, and the rays of the setting sun fell upon
some objects further on. For a time the Dahcotahs gazed in silence; but
no movement gave sign of what it was that excited their curiosity. All
at once there was a fearful foreboding; they remembered why they were
there, and they determined to venture near enough to find out what was
the nature of the object on which the rays of the sun seemed to rest as
if to attract their notice.
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