Page:Hendryx--Connie Morgan with the Mounted.djvu/82

64 white man has finished with us, you shall go with him to the tepee of Long Raven, who is covered with the sores of the Red Death, and you shall touch him with your hands, and we shall see whose medicine is strong." The young men bound Spotted Dog and carried him howling to his lodge and pitched him into its blackness.

One by one, following the lead of their chief, the braves of the Yellow Knives bared their arms and allowed Connie to scratch the skin with the tiny vaccination points. Then the squaws and papooses were herded to the fire and it was long past midnight when Connie scratched the last arm and returned the remaining points to his pocket. Then he turned to White Eagle and extended his hand:

"Your words are words of wisdom. The Red Death will depart from your lodges. Only those already sick shall die. Loose, now, my brother. We shall remain among you until the danger is past. We shall carry food to the sick, and bury those who die, that the Yellow Knives need not visit the lodges of the Red Death."

And White Eagle himself stooped and cut the thongs and, as Rickey rose stiffly, he spoke: