On the Move

Nast stages a tense border scene in snow: Sitting Bull stands wrapped in a blanket and war bonnet, looking up at a clifftop where "the Great Mother" (Queen Victoria, representing Canada) turns her back. The caption has Sitting Bull declare he must leave Canada and return to "the liars and cheats" of the United States because Yankee excitement beats Canadian monotony. Nast's argument is sardonic: Sitting Bull, who had fled to Canada after the Little Bighorn, is about to surrender — not from U.S. pressure, but from sheer boredom. The composition mocks American lawlessness as perversely irresistible.