Here was again "high jinks" in the camp. Captain Bonneville's men hailed
these wild scamperers as congenial spirits, or rather as the very game
birds of their class. They entertained them with the hospitality of
mountaineers, feasting them at every fire. At first, there were mutual
details of adventures and exploits, and broad joking mingled with peals
of laughter. Then came on boasting of the comparative merits of horses
and rifles, which soon engrossed every tongue. This naturally led to
racing, and shooting at a mark; one trial of speed and skill succeeded
another, shouts and acclamations rose from the victorious parties,
fierce altercations succeeded, and a general melee was about to take
place, when suddenly the attention of the quarrellers was arrested by a
strange kind of Indian chant or chorus, that seemed to operate upon them
as a charm. Their fury was at an end; a tacit reconciliation succeeded
and the ideas of the whole mongrel crowd whites, half-breeds and squaws
were turned in a new direction. They all formed into groups and taking
their places at the several fires, prepared for one of the most exciting
amusements of the Nez Perces and the other tribes of the Far West.
The choral chant, in fact, which had thus acted as a charm, was a kind
of wild accompaniment to the favorite Indian game of "Hand." This is
played by two parties drawn out in opposite platoons before a blazing
fire. It is in some respects like the old game of passing the ring or
the button, and detecting the hand which holds it.
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