When he had finished, the chief rose and made a long speech, excusing himself and his tribe on the plea that the Long-knives had been the aggressors; that they had killed their people, driven them from their hunting-grounds, and destroyed the buffalo on which they lived.  No sooner did the chief begin to speak than Uncle Donald recognised him as a Sioux whose life he had saved some years before.  He therefore addressed him by his name of Ponoko, or the Red Deer, reminding him of the circumstance.  On this the chief, advancing, embraced him; and though unwilling to acknowledge that he had acted wrongly, he expressed his readiness to follow the advice of his white friend.  He confessed, however, that his hand had only one captive, a little girl, whom he was carrying off as a present to his wife, to replace a child she had lost. "She would be as a daughter to me; but if my white father desires it, I will forego the pleasure I expected, and give her up to him.  As for what the rest of my people may determine I cannot be answerable; but I fear that they will not give up their captives, should they have taken any alive," he added.