her flight. She then placed an arrow in the string of her bow, and, retreating a few steps, called upon the approaching party to stop. There was something so imperious in her tone that they instantly obeyed. She then briefly told them that she had withdrawn from her tribe; that she looked to none of them for support; and that she wished to be alone. To this her father replied in violent language, ordering her to come to him. She refused by a significant gesture. He ran forward to meet her, but she soon doubled the distance between them. With true Indian craft, he then changed his policy, and asked We-no-na whiningly if she would not come to her dear, affectionate parents? At the same time, We-no-na could see him threaten her mother with his hatchet, bidding her to join in his entreaties and lamentations. This the old woman readily did. But We-no-na was inexorable. Then the amiable Ha-o-kah approached; but as We-no-na aimed, or pretended to aim, an arrow at him, he dodged behind a bush, and begged her to hear him. This, she assured him, she would do if he would stay where he was. Ha-o-kah then informed her that he had bought her in fair trade of her parents, and that in common honesty she ought to come and be his wife; he told her that he had but three wives, all of whom were happy women; he had been very successful in hunting, and had collected a good number of skins, beside a quantity of bear's-grease; he had also taken the scalp of a Pawnee, and stolen a horse; in short, there was not a young woman in the tribe who would not be proud of the position he now offered to the disdainful We-no-na.
We-no-na, leaning scornfully on her bow, replied: "Thief of a Dahcotah, your wife I will never be! You say you have but three: there was a fourth, who died of a blow from her husband. What a brave he must be! There is another, who is blind of an eye. How did she lose it, O great warrior, with your one scalp, and that, I will venture to say, a woman's? Never will I be your wife! never will I be one of your people again! Go vent your anger upon the poor slaves who are left to you, and be content!"
By this time the rage of Ha-o-kah was at its height; and, regardless of danger, he rushed forth with a howl to seize her who had dared to give utterance to such unwelcome truths. But We-no-na
