THE Mi'-ka-thi songs are sung by warriors as they
leave the village on their way to battle. They all
originate in some personal experience, and both
story and song are handed down with care and pre-
cision.

A Ponka war party once camped near the enemy.
The usual sentinels had been stationed, with special
injunctions to be vigilant, that the camp might not
be discovered and surprised. Among those assigned
to duty as sentinel that night was a young man
ambitious to win preferment and honour in the tribe.
His career was yet all to make, and he was on the
alert for opportunity to distinguish himself.

There was no moon, and only the keenest eye
could discern any distant object in the darkness.
The silence was unbroken save by the occasional
cry of the wolf, the creaking of a cricket, or the
rustle of a passing breeze.

The young man, intently on the watch, scanned
the country from right to left, searching through the
dimness for any moving thing; but all was motion-
less beneath, while overhead the stars moved slowly
through the heavens, as the night wore on.

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