THE GAME OF BALL.



husbands and lovers. This game is not confined to the
warriors, but is also a favorite amusement of the Dakota
maidens, who generally play for prizes offered by the
chief, or warriors."
  This reminds me of a most thrilling scene which
occurred at a game of ball at Fort Mackenzie during
the time when the French and English were contending
for territory now belonging to the United States, and
had it not been for the keen sagacity of the commander
of the post, a most horrible massacre would have fol-
lowed. It seems that the early French traders were
favorites with the Indians, while the English were
looked upon as interlopers, so that when war was
declared between the two nations, the Indians sided
with the French, and thus combining, made sad havoc
with their enemy. Three forts had been established in
the Indian country by the English, and two of these
forts had been burned by the treacherous savages, and
every soul killed. Flushed with the recent victory, the
blood-thirsty Indians, with a large number of men,
women and children, appeared in front of the third
fort, and asked for an audience, as they desired peace.
The commander, anxious to hear what the chiefs had
to say, made his appearance on the ramparts and
learned from the wily foe that they were tired of blood-
shed; that they desired to bury the tomahawk and the
scalping-knife, and to ever after live in harmony with
the whites; so an arrangement was made to the effect,
that on the morning of a beautiful day, stipulated by
both parties, all the tribe should appear on the plateau
below the fort, men, women and children, unarmed,
and while the chiefs were negotiating a peace inside of
the fort, the warriors outside were to engage in a game
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