OPENING THE WEST WITH LEWIS AND CLARK
I
THE COMING OF THE WHITE CHIEFS
"They are many," reported Shon-go-ton-go, or
Big Horse, sub-chief of the Otoes.
"How many?" asked We-ah-rush-hah, or Little Thief, the head chief.
"As many," replied Big Horse, "as five times the fingers on two hands."
"Wah!" gravely grunted the circle, where the chiefs and warriors squatted in their blankets and buffalo robes.
For August, the Ripe Corn month, of 1804, had arrived to the Oto Indians' country in present Nebraska beyond the Missouri River; but now at their buffalo-*hunt camp north of the River Platte the chiefs of the combined Oto and Missouri nations sat in solemn council instead of chasing the buffalo.
Through a long time, or since the month when the buffalo begin to shed, the air had been full of rumors. Five moons back, when the cottonwood buds first swelled, down at the big white village of "San Loui'" there had been a ceremony by which, according to the best word, all this vast land watered by the Missouri River had changed white fathers. The Span-
