It was in the winter too, and sickness and cold together are hard to bear.

Want was an evil from which they were suffering; though the Dahcotahs were not so poor then as they are now.

They had not given so much of their lands to the white people; and they depended more upon their own exertions for support than they do at present.
The medicine men did all they could to cure Ahaktah; they tried to charm away the animal that had entered into his body; they used the sacred rattle.

But Ahaktah's throat got worse; he died, and while his wives and children wept for him, he had started on his long journey to the land of spirits.
He was wrapped in scarlet cloth, and laid upon a scaffold.

His wives sat weeping in their teepee, when a cry from their young children drew their attention to the door.