Page:History of the Ojibway Nation.djvu/348

338 ing, but the wife appeared not to notice his words. He spoke to her a second time, and she still remaining unmindful, the husband got up, and taking down his gun he left the lodge, remarking, "Well, then, if you refuse to do as I wish you, I will join the warriors." He never returned to his disobedient wife, and his bones are bleaching on the sandy shores of Battle Lake.

After four days' travel to the westward, the war party arrived in the vicinity of Leaf Lake, within the country of their enemy, and discovered fresh signs of their hunters. In the evening they heard the report of Dakota guns booming in the distance. Early in the morning of the fifth day, they came across a beaten path, following which led them towards a large lake, which, from the ensuing fight, has borne the name of Lac du Battaile, or Battle Lake. As they neared this lake, they again heard the report of the enemy's guns, gradually receding in the distance, as if they were moving away from them. Uk-ke-waus, the leader of the party, insisted that the Dakotas must have discovered them, and were running away, and he importuned the party to quicken their steps in pursuit. The leading, and more experienced warriors, however, halted, and filling their pipes, gravely consulted amongst themselves the best course to be pursued. From the repeated firing of guns, in almost every direction, it was argued that the enemy must be occupying the country in great force, and probably some of their hunters, having discovered their trail, were preparing to cut off their retreat. A return home was seriously talked of under these circumstances, but Uk-ke-waus, being a passionate and withal a determined man, violently opposed this measure, and upbraided his fellows for their faint-heartedness in unmeasured terms. On this, the determination of their warriors was instantly formed, for none could brook the reproval of cowardice.