The British were to celebrate
the day by sports and feasting, and the Chippewas and
Sacs asked to be allowed to entertain the officers with
a game of lacrosse. Etherington expressed pleasure at
the suggestion, and told the chiefs who waited on him
that he would back his friends the Chippewas against
their Sac opponents. On the morning of the 4th posts were
set up on the wide plain behind the fort, and tribe was
soon opposed to tribe. The warriors appeared on the field
with moccasined feet, and otherwise naked save for
breech-cloths. Hither and thither the ball was batted,
thrown, and carried. Player pursued player, tripping,
slashing, shouldering each other, and shouting in their
excitement as command of the ball passed with the fortunes
of the game from Chippewa to Sac and from Sac to Chippewa.
Etherington and Lieutenant Leslie were standing near the
gate, interested spectators of the game; and all about,
and scattered throughout the fort, were squaws with
stoical faces, each holding tight about her a gaudily
coloured blanket. The game was at its height, when a
player threw the ball to a spot near the gate of the
fort. There was a wild rush for it; and, as the gate was
reached, lacrosse sticks were cast aside, the squaws
threw open their blankets, and the players seized the
tomahawks and knives held out in readiness to them.
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