“Ree is after the sioux, and you see the sioux is frighten his mouth is wide open/ crying. he thinks his going to get killed, his crying now, he had been trying/ to steal some horses, & they found him, the ree killed him, with his svord,/ Ahuka” (Artist’s inscription, verso)

“At the right a mounted Arikara warrior chases a mounted Sioux warrior, who whips his horse with his riding quirt in an attempt to escape. The Arikara is dressed for battle: he carries his feathered society lance and his shield with a design painted on it that originated in a dream. Also his horse's tail is bound up. Ahuka's text states that the Sioux was caught stealing a horse. Among all Plains Indians, to be successful at horse stealing was as good as being successful at war or hunting. It was a way to win prestige and wealth, for horses were a very valued item.” (p.22)

William S. Wierzbowski and Helen M. Mangelsdorf in Images of a Vanished Life: Plains Indian Drawing from the Collection of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1985.