University of Virginia Library

2. CHAPTER II.

“Red Earth” sits by the door of her father's teepee;
while the village is alive with cheerfulness, she does not join
in any of the amusements going on, but seems to be occupied
with what is passing in her own mind.

Occasionally she throws a pebble from the shore far into
the river, and the copper-colored children spring after it, as
if the water were their own element, striving to get it before
it sinks from their view.

Had she been attentive to what is passing around her, she
would not have kept her seat, for “Shining Iron,” the son
of Good Road's second wife, approaches her; and she loves
him too little to talk with him when it can be avoided.

“Why are you not helping the women to make the teepee,
Red Earth?” said the warrior. “They are laughing
while they sew the buffalo-skin together, and you are sitting
silent and alone. Why is it so? Are you thinking of
`Fiery Wind?”'

“There are enough women to make the teepee,” replied
Red Earth, “and I sit alone because I choose to do so.
But it I am thinking of `Fiery Wind' I do right—he is a
great warrior!”

“Tell me if you love Fiery Wind?” said the young man,
while his eyes flashed fire, and the veins in his temple
swelled almost to bursting.

“I do not love you,” said the girl, “and that is enough.
And you need never think I will become your wife; your
spells cannot make me love you.[1] Where are Fiery Wind
and his relations? driven from the wigwam of the Chief by
you and your Chippeway mother. But they do not fear
you—neither do I!”

And Red Earth looked calmly at the angry face of her
lover. For Shining Iron did love her, and he had loved her
long. He had loaded her with presents, which she always
refused; he had related his honors, his brave acts to her,
but she turned a deaf ear to his words. He promised her
he would always have venison in her teepee, and that he
never would take another wife; she was the only woman
he could ever love. But he might as well have talked to
the winds. And he thought so himself, for, finding he
could not gain the heart of the proud girl, he determined
she should never be the wife of any other man, and he told
her so.

“You may marry Fiery Wind,” said the angry lover,
“but if you do, I will kill him.”

Red Earth heard, but did not reply to his threats; she
feared not for herself, but she trembled at the prospect of
danger to the man she loved. And while she turned the
bracelets on her small wrists, the warrior left her to her
own thoughts. They were far from being pleasant; she
must warn her lover of the threats of his rival. For a
while she almost determined she would not marry Fiery

Wind, for then his life would be safe; but she would not
break her promise. Besides, it was hard for her to destroy
all the air-built castles which she had built for her happy
future.

She knew Shining Iron's bravery, and she doubted not
he would fulfil his promise; for a moment prudence suggested
that she had better marry him to avoid his revenge.
But she grasped the handle of her knife, as if she would
plunge it into her own bosom for harboring the dark thought.
Never should she be unfaithful; when Fiery Wind returned
she would tell him all, and then she would become
his wife, and she felt that her own heart was true enough
to guard him, her own arm strong enough to slay his
enemy.

All women are wilful enough, but Dahcotah women are
particularly so. Slaves as they are to their husbands, they
lord it over each other, and it is only when they become
grandmothers that they seem to feel their dependence, and
in many instances yield implicit obedience to the wills of
their grandchildren.

They take great delight in watching over and instructing
their children's children; giving them lessons in morality,[2]
and worldly wisdom. Thus while Red Earth was making
her determination, her old grandmother belonging to the
village was acting upon hers.

This old woman was a perfect virago—an “embodied

storm.” In her time she had cut off the hands and feet of
some little Chippeway children, and strung them, and worn
them for a necklace. And she feasted yet at the pleasant
recollections this honorable exploit induced.

But so tender was she of the feelings of her own flesh
and blood, that the thought of their suffering the slightest
pain was death to her.

Her son ruled his household very well for a Dahcotah.
He had a number of young warriors and hunters growing
up around him, and he sometimes got tired of their disturbances,
and would use, not the rod but a stick of wood to
some purpose. Although it had the good effect of quelling
the refractory spirits of the young, it invariably fired the
soul of his aged mother. The old woman would cry and
howl, and refuse to eat, for days; till, finding this had no
effect upon her hard-hearted son, she told him she would
do something that would make him sorry, the next time he
struck one of his children.

But the dutiful son paid no attention to her. He had always
considered women as being inferior to dogs, and he
would as soon have thought of giving up smoking, as of
minding his mother's threats.

But while Red Earth was thinking of her absent lover,
Two Stars was beating his sons again—and when the
maiden was left alone by Shining Iron after the warning
he had given her, she was attracted by the cries of one of
the old women of the village, who was struggling 'mid
earth and heaven, while old and young were running to
the spot, some to render assistance, others to see the fun.

And glorious fun it was! the grandmother had almost
hung herself—that is, she seriously intended to do it. But

she evidently did not expect the operation to be so painful.
When her son, in defiance of her tears and threats, commenced
settling his household difficulties in his own way
she took her head-strap,[3] went to a hill just above the village,
and deliberately made her preparations for hanging,
as coolly too as if she had been used to being hung for a
long time. But when, after having doubled the strap four
times to prevent its breaking, she found herself choking,
her courage gave way—she yelled frightfully; and it was
well that her son and others ran so fast, for they had well
nigh been too late. As it was, they carried her into the
teepee, where the medicine man took charge of her case;
and she was quite well again in an hour or two. Report
says (but there is a sad amount of scandal in an Indian
village) that the son has never offended the mother since;
so, like many a wilful woman, she has gained her point.

Red Earth witnessed the cutting down of the old woman,
and as she returned to her teepee, her quick ear warned
her of coming footsteps. She lingered apart from the others,
and soon she saw the eagle feathers of her warrior as
he descended the hill towards the village. Gladly would
she have gone to meet him to welcome him home, but she
knew that Shining Iron was watching her motions, and she
bent her steps homeward. She was quite sure that it would
not be long before he would seek her, and then she would
tell him what had passed, and make arrangements for their
course of conduct for the future.

Fiery Wind was the nephew of Good Road, but he, like
the sons, was in disgrace with the chief, and, like them, he
had vowed vengeance against “Old Bets.”