Page:History of the Ojibway Nation.djvu/498

488 The Sioux assented, and at half past five in the afternoon, two sons of Tokali were delivered with much ceremony. Their old mother said: "Of seven sons, only three are left; one of them was wounded and soon would die, and if the two now given up were shot, her all was gone. I called on the head men to follow me to the fort. I started with the prisoners, singing their death song, and have delivered them at the gates of the fort. Have mercy upon them, for their folly and for their youth."

But this night, notwithstanding the murdered man of Hole-in-the-Day's party had been buried in the military graveyard for safety, an attempt was made by the Sioux, to dig up his remains. On the evening of the sixth of August, Major Plympton sent Hole-in-the-Day and party home, giving them provisions, and sending them across the Mississippi.

In June, 1839, Hole-in-the-Day again determined to come down to Fort Snelling, and on the 18th the Indian agent sent a letter to him by Stephen Bonga or Bungo, but on the 20th, Hole-in-the-Day arrived with five hundred Ojibways and asked permission to remain three days. The next day, under a canopy near the walls of the fort, the Ojibways held a council with the Sioux, Bonga acting as their interpreter. On Sunday the 23d, the whole number of Ojibways at the fort was eight hundred and forty-six, and twelve hundred Sioux. The day was passed in danc-