The Challenge shows the start of a confrontation between a Sioux warrior riding upstream and an enemy in the forest up ahead. He waves his coup stick in defiance at the adversary, who remains unseen by the viewer. The coup stick was important in Indian warfare. A coup was like scoring a point in a deadly game of war; if a warrior could touch the enemy with the coup stick it could be more important than if he killed him. McCarthy said, “In painting this scene, I began to think that it would be both interesting and exciting to see just who this unseen adversary is. So, immediately upon finishing The Challenge I began working on Whirling, He Raced to Meet the Challenge.”