Im currently looking for some options to customize one of these old madcatz controllers. I wanna take the innards out and 3d print a shell thats more smooth and doesnt bave these weird grips that dig into my hands so it looks clean still, i really dont wanna take a dremel to the old shell if possible. Mine is basically the same as the one in the picture just without the "macro" button, and mine also doesnt have a blue z button on the left only the right.
Anyone have any shell models already or know how i would go about getting the dimensions of the shell for making my own custom one?

Hi all, I travel a lot for work on sketchy airlines. Thus I am always trying to perfect my carry-on only set up! Here is a recent trip itinerary:

• Day 1> Fly to Australia (mild weather), overnight
• Day 2> Fly to Vanuatu (tropical weather)
• Days 3-4> Work
• Day 5> Fly to Australia (mild weather), overnight
• Day 6> Fly back home

Bags

• Random coach backpack my MIL got my from the outlets, maybe 25l?
• Baggu packable tote, black
• Random woven crossbody purse (stuffed inside the Baggu)

My two bags. The woven purse is inside the black tote, along with my camera equipment and anything I would need easy access to on the plane.

Clothes

All of this goes into two random hand-me-down packing cubes I've accumulated over the years. Shoes go in a plastic grocery bag.

• Shirts:
  • Athleta turquoise linen wrap shirt
  • H&M brown wrap shirt
  • Target white button down (great, multipurpose piece) (worn)
  • REI turquoise t-shirt
  • REI crop trop / yoga bra thing
  • Work-issued polo
  • Black Diamond rain jacket (worn)
• Dress:
  • Amazon floral dress (super cheap, which also means the material is super thin and easy to pack)
• Bottoms:
  • Calvin Klein jeans (normally I wouldn't bring jeans but Australia was quite chilly so I wanted the thicker pant) (worn)
  • Athleta Brooklyn black pants (very thin, great for packing and for tropical weather)
• Workout:
  • Workout bra, quick dry t-shirt, quick dry shorts (The most important thing for workout gear is that I can wash it every day in my sink and it be dry by the morning. That way I only have to bring one set)
• Intimates:
  • 8x underwear, various Target brand (1 worn)
  • 1 underwire bra (worn)
  • 1 soft bralette
  • 3x Icebreaker wool socks (love these) (1 worn)
• Shoes:
  • Black pointed-toe Rothys (I just got these and I like how thin and light they are)
  • Old navy flip flops (flip flops are a must when traveling in the South Pacific)
  • Vivobarefoot primus trail knit black sneakers (amazing onebag shoe!! super light and can be worn on travel days, to the gym, or on the trail) (worn)

Clothes and shoes - PJs, undergarments, and workout gear not included.

Tech

I have one small random bag I use as a tech pouch for the chargers. The rest goes in the laptop section of my backpack or my tote.

• Macbook Air
• Two iPhones (work and personal)
• Kindle
• Apple Airpods
• Canon DSLR (necessary for work) + accessories
• iPhone charger, mini-USB, Macbook charger
• Wall block w/plug converter

Toiletries

• Anko large PVC pencil case (these things are amazing! so durable and cheap. I wish I could find a link for you all):
  • See photo caption below
• Random small canvas pouch:
  • Hair ties
  • Bobby pins
  • Tweezers
  • Nail clippers
  • Mascara
  • Eyebrow pencil + sharpener
  • Lipstick
  • Concealer + small brush
  • Multi stick (used for blush)
  • Two-in-one hairbrush and comb (foldable)
  • Toothbrush (used for brushing back baby hairs when my hair is up)

​
Toiletries. Top row: toothpaste, bug spray, conditioner, hair gel, toothbrush. Second row: itch cream, deodorant (decanted), mouth guard and floss, contact solution. Third row: face wash, face sunscreen, and homemade dry shampoo all in 1oz eye dropper bottles from Amazon, day and night lotion in the blue contact case, vitamin c serum and prescription in the green and white case, random pills in an old ear plug case. Bottom row: small slivers of shampoo and body bars in the Matador flatpack soap container, extra set of contacts, contact lens case, razor.
Packed, with makeup case

Other

• Anko pencil case:
  • Passports
  • Pens
  • Foreign sims (in an old gum container)
  • Foreign currency (held with a paper clip)
  • Boarding passes (this size pencil case is the exactly perfect size to fit a standard boarding pass)
  • Entry slips / customs forms, as needed
• Anko pencil case:
  • 6 granola bars, tea bags, instant coffee (snacks are a must for travel in places with unpredictable food supply)
  • Fork and spoon
• Random Walmart wallet w/ cards, currency, coins
• Lifestraw water bottle (seriously a lifesaver and plastic saver when you are traveling someone the water is not potable)
• Glasses, prescription sunglasses, non-prescription sunglasses
• Small umbrella
• Small first aid kit
• Notebook
• 10 Lysol wipes
• 2-3 sheets of laundry detergent + Tide pen in a ziplock bag

Thoughts

Overall, I thought I packed really well! With my camera gear and water bottle in my tote, the backpack weighed 8.5kg, but no one tried to weigh my bag. If I had been doing domestic travel in Vanuatu, I would have to get that down to 7kg.
I was wishing for a warmer jacket or a sweater while on my two overnight transits, so I might try to bring a packable down jacket next time.
I need a new backpack. This one is killing my back!! If you have any recommendations, please drop them here or in my post here.
Any feedback on how I can lighten the load or any feedback at all is welcome. Thank you for reading!

​
THE BADGER AND THE BEAR
​
On the edge of a forest there lived a large family of badgers.
In the ground their dwelling was made.
Its walls and roof were covered with rocks and straw.
Old father badger was a great hunter.
He knew well how to track the deer and buffalo.
Every day he came home carrying on his back some wild game.
This kept mother badger very busy, and the baby badgers very chubby.
While the well- fed children played about, digging little make-believe dwellings, their mother hung thin sliced meats upon long willow racks.
As fast as the meats were dried and seasoned by sun and wind, she packed them carefully away in a large thick bag.
This bag was like a huge stiff envelope, but far more beautiful to see, for it was painted all over with many bright colors.
These firmly tied bags of dried meat were laid upon the rocks in the walls of the dwelling. In this way they were both useful and decorative.
One day father badger did not go off for a hunt.
He stayed at home, making new arrows.
His children sat about him on the ground floor.
Their small black eyes danced with delight as they watched the gay colors painted upon the arrows.
All of a sudden there was heard a heavy footfall near the entrance way.
The oval- shaped door-frame was pushed aside.
In stepped a large black foot with great big claws.
Then the other clumsy foot came next.
All the while the baby badgers stared hard at the unexpected comer.
After the second foot, in peeped the head of a big black bear!
His black nose was dry and parched.
Silently he entered the dwelling and sat down on the ground by the doorway.
His black eyes never left the painted bags on the rocky walls.
He guessed what was in them.
He was a very hungry bear.
Seeing the racks of red meat hanging in the yard, he had come to visit the badger family.
Though he was a stranger and his strong paws and jaws frightened the small badgers, the father said,
"How, how, friend!
Your lips and nose look feverish and hungry.
Will you eat with us?"
"Yes, my friend," said the bear.
"I am starved.
I saw your racks of red fresh meat, and knowing your heart is kind, I came hither.
Give me meat to eat, my friend."
Hereupon the mother badger took long strides across the room, and as she had to pass in front of the strange visitor, she said:
"Ah han! Allow me to pass!" which was an apology.
"How, how!" replied the bear, drawing himself closer to the wall and crossing his shins together.
Mother badger chose the most tender red meat, and soon over a bed of coals she broiled the venison.
That day the bear had all he could eat.
At nightfall he rose, and smacking his lips together, -- that is the noisy way of saying "the food was very good!" -- he left the badger dwelling.
The baby badgers, peeping through the door-flap after the shaggy bear, saw him disappear into the woods near by.
Day after day the crackling of twigs in the forest told of heavy footsteps.
Out would come the same black bear.
He never lifted the door-flap, but thrusting it aside entered slowly in.
Always in the same place by the entrance way he sat down with crossed shins.
His daily visits were so regular that mother badger placed a fur rug in his place.
She did not wish a guest in her dwelling to sit upon the bare hard ground.
At last one time when the bear returned, his nose was bright and black.
His coat was glossy.
He had grown fat upon the badger's hospitality.
As he entered the dwelling a pair of wicked gleams shot out of his shaggy head.
Surprised by the strange behavior of the guest who remained standing upon the rug, leaning his round back against the wall, father badger queried: "How, my friend! What?"
The bear took one stride forward and shook his paw in the badger's face.
He said: "I am strong, very strong!"
"Yes, yes, so you are," replied the badger.
From the farther end of the room mother badger muttered over her bead work: "Yes, you grew strong from our well-filled bowls."
The bear smiled, showing a row of large sharp teeth.
"I have no dwelling.
I have no bags of dried meat.
I have no arrows.
All these I have found here on this spot," said he, stamping his heavy foot.
"I want them! See! I am strong!" repeated he, lifting both his terrible paws.
Quietly the father badger spoke: "I fed you.
I called you friend, though you came here a stranger and a beggar.
For the sake of my little ones leave us in peace."
Mother badger, in her excited way, had pierced hard through the buckskin and stuck her fingers repeatedly with her sharp awl until she had laid aside her work.
Now, while her husband was talking to the bear, she motioned with her hands to the children.
On tiptoe they hastened to her side.
For reply came a low growl.
It grew louder and more fierce.
"Wa-ough!" he roared, and by force hurled the badgers out.
First the father badger; then the mother.
The little badgers he tossed by pairs.
He threw them hard upon the ground.
Standing in the entrance way and showing his ugly teeth, he snarled,
"Be gone!"
The father and mother badger, having gained their feet, picked up their kicking little babes, and, wailing aloud, drew the air into their flattened lungs till they could stand alone upon their feet.
No sooner had the baby badgers caught their breath than they howled and shrieked with pain and fright.
Ah! what a dismal cry was theirs as the whole badger family went forth wailing from out their own dwelling!
A little distance away from their stolen house the father badger built a small round hut.
He made it of bent willows and covered it with dry grass and twigs.
This was shelter for the night; but alas! it was empty of food and arrows.
All day father badger prowled through the forest, but without his arrows he could not get food for his children.
Upon his return, the cry of the little ones for meat, the sad quiet of the mother with bowed head, hurt him like a poisoned arrow wound.
"I'll beg meat for you!" said he in an unsteady voice.
Covering his head and entire body in a long loose robe he halted beside the big black bear. The bear was slicing red meat to hang upon the rack.
He did not pause for a look at the comer.
As the badger stood there unrecognized, he saw that the bear had brought with him his whole family.
Little cubs played under the high-hanging new meats.
They laughed and pointed with their wee noses upward at the thin sliced meats upon the poles.
"Have you no heart, Black Bear?
My children are starving.
Give me a small piece of meat for them," begged the badger.
"Wa-ough!" growled the angry bear, and pounced upon the badger.
"Be gone!" said he, and with his big hind foot he sent father badger sprawling on the ground.
All the little ruffian bears hooted and shouted "ha-ha!" to see the beggar fall upon his face.
There was one, however, who did not even smile.
He was the youngest cub.
His fur coat was not as black and glossy as those his elders wore.
The hair was dry and dingy.
It looked much more like kinky wool.
He was the ugly cub.
Poor little baby bear! he had always been laughed at by his older brothers.
He could not help being himself.
He could not change the differences between himself and his brothers.
Thus again, though the rest laughed aloud at the badger's fall, he did not see the joke.
His face was long and earnest.
In his heart he was sad to see the badgers crying and starving.
In his breast spread a burning desire to share his food with them.
"I shall not ask my father for meat to give away.
He would say 'No!' Then my brothers would laugh at me," said the ugly baby bear to himself.
In an instant, as if his good intention had passed from him, he was singing happily and skipping around his father at work.
Singing in his small high voice and dragging his feet in long strides after him, as if a prankish spirit oozed out from his heels, he strayed off through the tall grass.
He was ambling toward the small round hut.
When directly in front of the entrance way, he made a quick side kick with his left hind leg.
Lo! there fell into the badger's hut a piece of fresh meat.
It was tough meat, full of sinews, yet it was the only piece he could take without his father's notice.
Thus having given meat to the hungry badgers, the ugly baby bear ran quickly away to his father again.
On the following day the father badger came back once more.
He stood watching the big bear cutting thin slices of meat.
" Give -- " he began, when the bear turning upon him with a growl, thrust him cruelly aside. The badger fell on his hands.
He fell where the grass was wet with the blood of the newly carved buffalo.
His keen starving eyes caught sight of a little red clot lying bright upon the green.
Looking fearfully toward the bear and seeing his head was turned away, he snatched up the small thick blood.
Underneath his girdled blanket he hid it in his hand.
On his return to his family, he said within himself :
"I'll pray the Great Spirit to bless it."
Thus he built a small round lodge.
Sprinkling water upon the heated heap of sacred stones within, he made ready to purge his body.
"The buffalo blood, too, must be purified before I ask a blessing upon it," thought the badger.
He carried it into the sacred vapor lodge.
After placing it near the sacred stones, he sat down beside it.
After a long silence, he muttered: "Great Spirit, bless this little buffalo blood."
Then he arose, and with a quiet dignity stepped out of the lodge.
Close behind him some one followed.
The badger turned to look over his shoulder and to his great joy he beheld a Dakota brave in handsome buckskins.
In his hand he carried a magic arrow.
Across his back dangled a long fringed quiver.
In answer to the badger's prayer, the avenger had sprung from out the red globules.
"My son!" exclaimed the badger with extended right hand.
"How, father," replied the brave;
"I am your avenger!"
Immediately the badger told the sad story of his hungry little ones and the stingy bear.
Listening closely the young man stood looking steadily upon the ground.
At length the father badger moved away.
"Where?" queried the avenger.
"My son, we have no food. I am going again to beg for meat," answered the badger.
"Then I go with you," replied the young brave.
This made the old badger happy.
He was proud of his son.
He was delighted to be called "father" by the first human creature.
The bear saw the badger coming in the distance.
He narrowed his eyes at the tall stranger walking beside him.
He spied the arrow.
At once he guessed it was the avenger of whom he had heard long, long ago.
As they approached, the bear stood erect with a hand on his thigh.
He smiled upon them.
"How, badger, my friend!
Here is my knife.
Cut your favorite pieces from the deer," said he, holding out a long thin blade.
"How!" said the badger eagerly.
He wondered what had inspired the big bear to such a generous deed.
The young avenger waited till the badger took the long knife in his hand.
Gazing full into the black bear's face, he said:
"I come to do justice.
You have returned only a knife to my poor father.
Now return to him his dwelling.
His voice was deep and powerful.
In his black eyes burned a steady fire.
The long strong teeth of the bear rattled against each other, and his shaggy body shook with fear.
"Ahow!" cried he, as if he had been shot.
Running into the dwelling he gasped, breathless and trembling, "Come out, all of you!
This is the badger's dwelling.
We must flee to the forest for fear of the avenger who carries the magic arrow."
Out they hurried, all the bears, and disappeared into the woods.
Singing and laughing, the badgers returned to their own dwelling.
Then the avenger left them.
"I go," said he in parting, "over the earth."

​
THE BAD WIFE
​
There was once a man who had but one wife.
He was not a chief, but a very brave warrior.
He was rich, too, so he could have had plenty of wives if he wished ; but he
loved his wife very much, and did not want any more.
He was very good to this woman.
She always wore the best clothes that could be found.
If any other woman had a fine buckskin dress, or something very pretty, the man would buy it for her.
It was summer. The berries were ripe, and the woman kept saying to her husband, "Let us go and pick some berries for winter."
" No," replied the man. " It is dangerous now. The enemy is travelling all around."
But still the woman kept teasing him to go. So one day he told her to get ready.
Some other women went, too. They all went on horseback, for the berries were a long way from camp.
When they got to the place, the man told the women to keep near their horses all the time. He would go up on a butte near by and watch.
"Be careful," he said. " Keep by your horses, and if you see me signal, throw away your berries, get on your horses and ride towards camp as fast as you can."
They had not picked many berries before the man saw a war party coming.
He signaled the women, and got on his horse and rode towards them.
It happened that this man and his wife both had good horses, but the others, all
old women, rode slow old travois horses, and the enemy soon overtook and killed them.
Many kept on after the two on good horses, and after a while the woman's horse began to get tired ; so she asked her husband to let her ride on his horse with him.
The woman got up behind him, and they went on again.
The horse was a very powerful one, and for awhile went very fast ; but two persons make a heavy load, and soon the enemy began to gain on them.
The man was now in a bad plight ; the enemy were overtaking him, and the woman holding him bound his arms so that he could not use his bow.
"Get off," he said to her. "The enemy will not kill you. You are too young and pretty.
Some one of them will take you, and I will get a big party of our people and rescue you."
" No, no," cried the woman ; " let us die here together." " Why die ? " cried the man.
" We are yet young, and may live a long time together.
If you don't get off, they will soon catch us and kill me, and then they will take you any how. Get off, and in only a short time I will get you back."
" No, no," again cried the woman ; " I will die here with you."
" Crazy person ! " cried the man, and with a quick jerk he threw the woman off.
As he said, the enemy did not kill her. The first one who came up counted coups and took her.
The man, now that his horse was lightened, easily ran away from the war party, and got safe to camp.
Then there was great mourning.
The relatives of the old women who had been killed, cut their hair and cried.
The man, too, cut off his hair and mourned. He knew that his wife was not killed, but he felt very badly because he was separated from her.
He painted himself black, and walked all through the camp, crying.
His wife had many relations, and some of them went to the man and said : " We pity you very much. We mourn, too, for our sister.
But come. Take courage. We will go with you, and try to get her back."
" It is good," replied the man. " I feel as if I should die, stopping uselessly here.
Let us start soon." That evening they got ready, and at daylight started out on foot.
There were seven of them in all. The husband, five middle-aged men, the woman's relations, and a young man, her own young brother.
He was a very pretty boy.
His hair was longer than any other person's in camp.
They soon found the trail of the war party, and followed it for some days.
At last they came to the Big River, and there, on the other side, they saw many lodges.
They crept down a coulee into the valley, and hid in a small piece of timber just opposite the camp.
Toward evening the man said : "All, my brothers. To-night I will swim across and look all through the camp for my wife.
If I do not find her, I will cache and look again to-morrow evening.
But if I do not return before daylight of the second night, then you will know I am killed.
Then you will do as you think best.
Maybe you will want to take revenge. Maybe you will go right back home.
That will be as your hearts feel."
As soon as it was dark, he swam across the river and went all about through the camp, peeping in through the doorways of the lodges, but he did not see his wife.
Still, he knew she must be there. He had followed the trail of the party to this place.
They had not killed her on the way. He kept looking in at the lodges until it was late, and the people let the fires go out and went to bed.
Then the man went down to where the women got their water from the river.
Everywhere along the stream was a cut bank, but in one place a path of steps had been made down to the water's edge.
Near this path, he dug a hole in the bank and crawled into it, closing up the entrance, except one small hole, through which he could look, and watch the people who came to the river.
As soon as it was daylight, the women began to come for water.
Turn, tiim, turn, turn, he could hear their footsteps as they came down the path, and he looked eagerly at every one.
All day long the people came and went, the young and old ; and the children played about near him.
He saw many strange people that day. It was now almost sunset, and he began to think that he would not see his wife there.
Turn, turn, tuni, turn, another woman came down the steps, and stopped at the water's edge.
Her dress was strange, but he thought he knew the form.
She turned her head and looked down the river, and he saw her face.
It was his wife. He pushed away the dirt, crawled out, went to her and kissed her.
"Kyi,'' he said, " hurry, and let us swim across the river.
Five of your relations and your own young brother are waiting for us in that piece of timber."
"Wait," replied his wife. "These people have given me a great many pretty things.
Let me go back. When it is night I will gather them up, steal a horse, and cross over to you."
" No, no," cried the man. " Let the pretty things go ; come, let us cross at once."
" Pity me," said the woman. " Let me go and get my things. I will surely come to-night.
I speak the truth." " How do you speak the truth? " asked her husband.
, " That my relations there across the river may be safe and live long, I speak the truth."
" Go then," said the man, " and get your things. I will cross the river now."
He went up on the bank and walked down the river, keeping his face hidden.
No one noticed him, or if they did, they thought he belonged to the camp.
As soon as he had passed the first bend, he swam across the river, and soon joined his relations.
" I have seen my wife," he said to them, " She will come over as soon as it is dark.
I let her go back to get some things +hat were given her."
" You are crazy," said one of the men, " very crazy.
She already loves this new man she has, or she would not have wanted to go back."
" Stop that," said the husband ; " do not talk bad of her.
She will surely come." The woman went back to her lodge with the water, and, sitting down near the fireplace, she began to act very strangely.
She took up pieces of charred wood, dirt, and ashes in her hands and ate them, and made queer noises.
" What is it?" asked the man who had taken her for a wife. " What is the matter with you ? " He spoke in signs.
The woman also spoke in signs. She answered him : " The Sun told me that there are seven persons across the river in that piece of timber.
Five of them are middle-aged, another is a young boy with very long hair, another is a man who mourns.
His hair is cut short."
The Snake did not know what to do, so he called in some chiefs and old men to advise with him.
They thought that the woman might be very strong medicine.
At all events, it would be a good thing to go and look.
So the news was shouted out, and in a short time all the warriors had mounted their best horses, and started across the river.
It was then almost dark, so they surrounded the piece of timber, and waited for morning to begin the search.
"Aja," said one of the woman's relations to her husband.
" Did I not speak the truth ? You see now what that woman has done for us."
At daylight the poor husband strung his bow, took a handful of arrows from his quiver, and said : " This is my fault.
I have brought you to this. It is right that I should die first," and he started to go out of the timber.
"Wait," said the eldest relative. " It shall not be so. I am the first to go.
I cannot stay back to see my brother die. You shall go out last." So he jumped out of the
brush, and began shooting his arrows, but was soon killed.
" My brother is too far on the road alone," cried another relation, and he jumped out and fought, too.
What use, one against so many? The Snakes soon had his scalp.
So they went out, one after another, and at last the husband was alone.
He rushed out very brave, and shot his arrows as fast as he could.
" Hold ! " cried the Snake man to his people.
" Do not kill him ; catch him.
This is the one my wife said to bring back alive. See ! his hair is cut short."
So, when the man had shot away all his arrows, they seized and tied him, and, taking the scalps of the others, returned to camp.
They took the prisoner into the lodge where his wife was.
His hands were tied behind his back, and they tied his feet, too. He could not move.
As soon as the man saw his wife, he cried. He was not afraid.
He did not care now how soon he died.
He cried because he was thinking of all the trouble and death this woman had caused. " What have I done to you," he asked his wife, " that you should treat me this way?
Did I not always use you well? I never struck you.
I never made you work hard."
"What does he say?" asked the Snake man.
" He says," replied the woman, " that when you are done smoking, you must knock the ashes and fire out of your pipe on his breast."
((( Meaning that his brother's spirit, or shadow, was travelling alone the road to the Sand Hills, and that he must overtake him.)))
The Snake was not a badhearted man, but he thought now that this woman had strong medicine, that she had Sun power ; so he thought that everything must be done as she
said.
When the man had finished smoking, he emptied the pipe on the Piegan's breast, and the fire burned him badly.
Then the poor man cried again, not from the pain, but to think what a bad heart this woman had.
Again he spoke to her. " You cannot be a person," he said. " I think you are some fearful animal, changed to look like a woman."
"What is he saying now? " asked the Snake.
** He wants some boiling water poured on his head," replied the woman.
" It shall be as he says," said the Snake ; and he had his women heat some water.
When it was ready, one of them poured Hot water of it here and there on the captive's head and shoulders.
Wherever the hot water touched, the hair came out and the skin peeled off.
The pain was so bad that the Piegan nearly fainted.
When he revived, he said to his wife : " Pity me. I have suffered enough.
Let them kill me now. Let me hurry to join those who are already travelling to the Sand Hills."
The woman turned to the Snake chief, and said, " The man says that he wants you to give him to the Sun."
"It is good," said the Snake. "Tomorrow we move camp.
Before we leave here, we will give him to the Sun."
There was an old woman in this camp who lived all alone, in a little lodge of her own.
She had some friends and relations, but she said she liked to live by herself.
She had heard that a Piegan had been captured, and went to the lodge where he was.
When she saw them pour the boiling water on him, she cried and felt badly.
This old woman had a very good heart.
She went home and lay down by her dog, and kept crying, she felt so sorry for this poor man.
Pretty soon she heard people shouting out the orders of the chief.
They said : " Listen ! listen ! Tomorrow we move camp.
Get ready now and pack up everything. Before we go, the Piegan man will be given to the Sun."
Then the old woman knew what to do.
She tied a piece of buckskin around her dog's mouth, so he could not bark, and then she took him way out in the timber and tied him where he could not be seen.
She also filled a small sack with pemmican, dried meat, and berries, and put it near the dog.
In the morning the people rose early. They smoothed a cottonwood tree, by taking off the bark, and painted it black.
Then they stood the Piegan up against it, and fastened him there with a great many ropes. When they had tied him so he could not move, they painted his face black, and the chief Snake made a prayer, and gave him to the Sun.
Every one was now busy getting ready to move camp.
This old woman had lost her dog, and kept calling out for him and looking all around. " Tsis'-if" she cried. " Tsis'-if Come here.
Knock the dog on the head ! Wait till I find him, and I'll break his neck."
The people were now all packed up, and some had already started on the trail. "Don't wait for me," the old woman said.
"Go on, I'll look again for my dog, and catch up with you."
When all were gone, the old woman went and untied her dog, and then, going up to where the Piegan was tied, she cut the ropes, and he was free.
But already the man was very weak, and he fell down on the ground.
She rubbed his limbs, and pretty soon he felt better.
The old woman was so sorry for him that she cried again, and kissed him.
Then the man cried, too. He was so glad that some one pitied him.
By and by he ate some of the food the old woman had given him, and felt strong again.
He said to her in signs : " I am not done. I shall go back home now, but I will come again.
I will bring all the Piegans with me, and we will have revenge."
" You say well," signed the old woman.
" Help me," again said the man. " If, on the road you are travelling, this camp should separate, mark the trail my wife takes with a stick.
You, too, follow the party she goes with, and always put your lodge at the far end of the village.
When I return with my people, I will enter your lodge, and tell you what to do."
"I take your speech," repHed the old woman. "As you say, so it shall be."
Then she kissed him again, and started on after her people.
The man went to the river, swam across, and started for the North.
Why are the people crying? Why is all this mourning?
Ah ! the poor man has returned home, and told how those who went with him were killed. He has told them the whole story.
They are getting ready for war. Every one able to fight is going with this man back to the Snakes.
Only a few will be left to guard the camp. The mother of that bad woman is going, too.
She has sharpened her axe, and told what she will do when she sees her daughter.
All are ready. The best horses have been caught up and saddled, and the war party has started, hundreds and hundreds of warriors.
They are strung out over the prairie as far as you can see.
When they got to the Missouri River, the poor man showed them where the lodge in which they had tortured him had stood.
He took them to see the tree, where he had been bound.
The black paint was still on it.
From here, they went slowly. Some young men were sent far ahead to scout.
The second day, they came back to the main body, and said they had found a camping place just deserted, and that there the trail forked.
The poor man then went ahead, and at the forks he found a willow twig stuck in the ground, pointing to the left hand trail.
When the others came up, he said to them : " Take care of my horse now, and travel slowly. I will go ahead on foot and find the camp.
It must be close. I will go and see that old woman, and find out how things are."
Some men did not want him to do this ; they said that the old woman might tell about him, and then they could not surprise the camp.
" No," replied the man. " It will not be so. That old woman is almost the same as my mother. I know she will help us."
He went ahead carefully, and near sunset saw the camp. When it was dark, he crept near it and entered the old woman's lodge.
She had placed it behind, and a little way off from, the others.
When he went in the old woman was asleep, but the fire was still burning a little.
He touched her, and she jumped up and started to scream ; but he put his hand on her mouth, and when she saw who it was she laughed and kissed him.
"The Piegans have come," he told her. "We are going to have revenge on this camp tonight.
Is my wife here?"
" Still here," replied the old woman. "She is chief now.
They think her medicine very strong."
"Tell your friends and relations," said the Piegan, " that you have had a dream, and that they must move into the brush yonder.
Have them stay there with you, and they will not be hurt.
I am going now to get my people."
It was very late in the night. Most of the Snakes were in bed and asleep.
All at once the camp was surrounded with warriors, shouting the war cry and shooting, stabbing, and knocking people on the head as fast as they came out of the lodges.
That Piegan woman cried out : " Don't hurt me. I am a Piegan.
Are any of my people here ? "
" Many of your relations are here," some one said. " They will protect you."
Some young men seized and tied her, as her husband had said to do.
They had hard work to keep her mother from killing her.
''Hai yah/ " the old woman cried. "There is my Snake woman daughter.
Let me split her head open."
The fight was soon over.
The Piegans killed the people almost as fast as they came out of their lodges.
Some few escaped in the darkness.
When the fight was over, the young warriors gathered up a great pile of lodge poles and
brush, and set fire to it.
Then the poor man tore the dress off his bad wife, tied the scalp of her dead Snake man
around her neck, and told her to dance the scalp dance in the fire.
She cried and hung back, calling out for pity.
The people only laughed and pushed her into the fire.
She would run through it, and then those on the other side would push her back.
So they kept her running through the fire, until she fell down and died.
The old Snake woman had come out of the brush with her relations.
Because she had been so good, the Piegans gave her, and those with her, onehalf of all the horses and valuable things they had taken.
"Aj//" said the Piegan chief.
" That is all for you, because you helped this poor man. Tomorrow morning we start back North.
If your heart is that way, go too and live with us." So these Snakes joined the Piegans and lived with them until they died, and their children married with the Piegans, and at last they were no longer Snake people.
1 When the Hudson's Bay Company first established a fort at Edmonton,
a daughter of one of these Snakes married a white employee of the company,
named, in Blackfoot, 0-wai, Egg.