"There hasn't been any trouble of the kind for a long time, has there?"
asked Dick.

"No, not for a good many years," answered Mr. Melton; "and that inclines
me all the more to take the present situation seriously. These uprisings
come only at long intervals now, but it seems impossible to prevent them
altogether. After an outbreak has been put down the Indians are very
quiet for a time. They have probably suffered considerable loss of life,
and been severely punished by the government. For years the memory of
this lingers, but gradually it fades away, and the rising generation of
young bucks, with the inherited lust of fight and warfare running riot in
their blood, become restless and rebellious under the restraints of
civilization and government. They hear stories of their ancestors'
prowess from the lips of the old men of the tribe, and they long to go
out and capture a few 'pale face' scalps on their own account. After a
while they work themselves up to the required pitch, and some fine day a
band of them sallies forth on the 'war path.' Then there is a brief time
of plundering and murdering, until the troops can come up with them. Then
there's a scrimmage, in which most of the band is exterminated, and the
rest are herded back to the reservation, with most of the fight gone out
of them."

"I should think a few experiences like that would teach them wisdom, and
keep them from repeating the experiment," commented Bert.

"It would seem so," assented Melton, "but," with a smile, "youth is
always prone to disregard what is told it by its elders, and to insist on
finding out the why and wherefore of things by bitter experience."