The mysterious lake -- People of the lake -- Seasons at the lake -- The reservation and its leaders -- Permanent home -- "They shall not be compelled to remove" -- Communities at the lake -- The so-called settlers -- The Sabin-Wilder scheme -- A deep-laid plot -- The Mille Lacs Reservation in 1882 and 1883 -- The first Sabin-Wilder patents and the beginnings of white settlement -- The government breaks no treaties -- The white trespassers -- A mouthful here and a mouthful there -- The aftermath of the Nelson Act -- The seasonal round in the 1890s -- Land claims -- The burning of villages -- The Court of Claims case -- More burned villages -- Setting the stage for allotments -- Lake fishing -- New and continuing opposition to the Mille Lacs Band -- One parcel at a time -- A fraction of what they had been promised -- Epilogue: We are at an Indian reservation -- Appendix: Mille Lacs leaders in the 1820s to 1880s.