The moon turns the smoke into wannish clouds of white and yellow, which slowly rise, break, and disappear.
There is another roll of drums.

Wild cries are heard in the forests.

The "biters" are beginning their hunt.
Who are the biters?
They are Indians in hides of bears and wolves, who run on their hands and feet, uttering terrible cries, and are followed by women, who, to make the scene more fearful, pretend to hold them back, and restrain them from violence.

The Spirit-dance is held to be a sacred frenzy, and before it begins the biters are charged to hunt the woods for any who have not joined the army of dancers, and, if such are found, to bite them and tear their flesh with their teeth.

They also guard the dance like sentinels, and fly at one who attempts to leave it before it is done.
The frenzied shrieks of these human animals, and of the women who follow them, produce a wonderful nervous effect upon the listening multitudes.
All feel that they are about to enter into the ecstatic spiritual condition of departed souls, and are to be joined by the shades of the dead heroes and warriors of tradition and story.
Each dancer has a masque.