While some were dancing, others were preparing for the expedition, getting extra mocassins made, drying meat, or parching corn.
When all was ready, the party set out, with every confidence in their war chief.

He was to direct them where to find the enemy, and at the same time to protect them from being killed themselves.
For a few days they hunted as they went along, and they would build large fires at night, and tell long stories, to make the time pass pleasantly.
The party was composed of about twenty warriors, and they all obeyed implicitly the orders of their war chief, who appointed some warriors to see that his directions were carried out by the whole party.

Wo to him who violates a single regulation! his gun is broken, his blanket cut to pieces, and he is told to return home.

Such was the fate of Iron Eyes, who wandered from the party to shoot a bird on the wing, contrary to the orders of their chief.

But although disgraced and forbidden to join in the attempt to punish the Chippeways for the outrage they had commited, he did not return to his village; he followed the tracks of the war party, determining to see the fun if he could not partake of it.
On the fourth night after they left home, the warriors were all assembled to hear the war song of their chief.