The leader of our war party sent word to me that this night there would be a war dance over the scalps that had been taken.  Although I could walk a little, I could not dance, yet I wished to go to the dance and watch the others.  All through the afternoon boys and young men were bringing wood to a level place in the circle of the camp, and there they built what we call a “skunk,” piling up long poles together in a shape somewhat like a lodge, so that when finished the “skunk” looked like a war lodge.

Late in the night the people gathered near the “skunk,” called together by the sound of the singing and the drumming.  Leaning on a stick, I walked down there, and before long the “skunk” was lighted, and the members of our war party and the young women began to dance.  Although I could not dance, my face was painted black like those of other men of the war party, and I sat there and watched the young people dance and saw the old men and women carry about the scalps.  That was one of the last of the old-fashioned war dances that I ever saw held.

The days went by, and before the birds had flown over on their way to the south, and the weather became cold, I could walk pretty well, and could ride easily.  One day about this time a doctor whom I had given many presents a year or two before to cure my sickness came to my lodge and asked me if I did not think I ought to give him a present because he had cured me of the swollen knee that I had had so long.  I said to him that I believed that not he but the Great Power, to whom I had prayed and to whom I had offered my body as a sacrifice, had cured me.  The doctor said that this was a mistake; that really he had cured me, but that his power had not had time to work until after I had started on my warpath.

I did not think that this was true, but I remembered that this man possessed mysterious power, and I felt that perhaps it would not be wise to refuse what he asked.  I told him I must have time to think about this, and that in seven days he should return and I would talk further with him about it.  Not long after this I told my uncle what the doctor had said.  At first he was angry and said that I would do well to refuse what had been asked of me, but after we had talked about it, he came to think as I thought, that perhaps it would be better to make the doctor a present, rather than to have his ill will, for it was possible that he might be able to harm us.  My uncle, therefore, told me to give the doctor a certain horse, and a day or two after that he sent me the horse, to be put with my band and later to be given to the doctor.  When he received the horse, the doctor was glad, and he told me that after this he would protect me in case any danger threatened me.

The winter passed, the snow melted, the birds went north in spring, and the buffalo began to get poor.  It seemed to me now that I was as strong and well as ever I had been.  I walked alike on both legs, and was as active as any of the young men.  During this summer I joined one of the soldier societies of the tribe, and in this I followed the advice of my uncle, who had belonged to this same society.