company of warriors to remain together, in order not to lose their way. After some hours' march, the sound of a gun discharged in front of the line informed those who brought up the rear that an attack had commenced. Every one pressed forward to join the combatants. It was a rencontre with a troop of twenty or thirty Blackfeet that the fog had
separated from their companions. Notwithstanding all the manoeuvres of Tchatka to shelter himself from danger, he found himself enveloped in the midst of the fight, ignorant which way to turn. The Blackfeet defended themselves courageously, but they were forced to yield to the superior number of adversaries. Several escaped by means of the fog, which covered them from view.
In the heat of the engagement, Tchatka's horse was killed under him; the horseman and his steed rolled in the dust. At the same instant a Blackfoot, of lofty stature and prodigious strength, hurled his lance at him, which only grazed the head of his enemy, and struck deep, quivering in the earth. Then he attacked him, knife in hand. Tchatka rose rapidly from his fall, and, coward as he was, in self-defense he displayed skill and strength. He seized the arm of his terrible adversary, and used every effort to wrest the knife. As the combat in front of the line had ceased, the Assiniboins, perceiving the absence of their chief, returned to look for him. They found him prostrate, and still combating
with his powerful enemy. The Blackfoot, now disengaged, raised his arm to plunge his knife into the heart of Tchatka, when he received the blow of a tomahawk on his skull, which stretched him without consciousness beside his van quished adversary. The latter, in his turn, seized the murderous instrument and finished the Blackfoot. On rising he shouted: " Friends, behold the chief of the Blackfeet, for his medal reveals and proclaims him! I hold in my hand the knife of Mattan Zia (Bear's Foot), whose mighty deeds you know, and who has been, during many years, the terror of our nation." With the same blood-stained knife he scalped him and cut off his two hands, in order to accom-