Iron Hawk, who was fourteen years old at the time, adds to the story: He, too, dressed and painted himself for battle, armed with only a bow and arrow. He tells of a Shyela Indian who was so sacred that he rode into battle in the thick of bullets firing at him, but the soldiers could not hurt him. Iron Hawk says that he was so angry thinking about the Indian women and children who were frightened that he beat to death a soldier he had shot. When the soldiers were beaten and had retreated, the Indian women closed in and began to strip the bodies. One of the soldiers pretended to be dead, until the women tried to castrate him. He then jumped up and fought them, but they stabbed him, and he died. Iron Hawk says it was funny to see.
Black Elk continues. He and some other boys rode around the scene of the battle, shooting arrows into the wounded soldiers. He stole a watch from one. His cousin, called Black Wasichu, was severely wounded in the battle. His father and Black Elk's father were so angry that they butchered a white man. Black Elk says that the white man was fat, and his meat looked good, but they did not eat any. He and some other boys surround a soldier who has hidden in a bush and kill him. Black Elk's mother joins them. Black Elk scalps a soldier for another Indian boy. He says that he is not at all sorry for participating in the battle because the Indians were in their own land, doing no harm, and were attacked without provocation. The Indians danced and sang all night.
