146 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BuU. 194 



When I got back my mother told me what had happened but I did not say 

 anything for I knew another girl who had not been married. I liked this Bird 

 Woman very much but it was awful hard to see her alone. Her mother watched 

 her all the time and never let her go out alone. Her father never paid much 

 attention to her for while he was caring for this family he was also running around 

 with other women all the time. His wife did not worry for she was caring for, and 

 was good to, her husband's mother who was old. They had lived together so long 

 that she no longer paid attention to his love affairs and knew that he would 

 always come back. It was a long time before I was able to get Bird Woman alone 

 where I could talk to her, for William Bell was watching to catch her alone to 

 talk to her, too, even though he was also watching for Looking-for-Sweetgrass. 

 At last she learned that I was watching and following her and that I wanted to 

 marry her. She made it as hard as possible for me to talk to her. One night I 

 met her and asked her to marry me. She said, "You are married; you don't 

 need me." When I told her that I had sent my wife out she said, "I am not a 

 foolish girl; I won't marry you unless you give me a horse." 



I gave her the horse which she took to her brothers who gave me a poorer one 

 in return. Then she came to my parents' lodge to live. Bell married Looks-for- 

 Sweetgrass. That summer we were out hunting along the Yellowstone for we 

 heard that there were many buflfaloes out there. Because my wife was young, 

 I took my sister along to teach her how to cure meat and hides. I had a good 

 running horse and killed several buffaloes so we had plenty of meat and hides. 

 We were hunting about 10 miles from the Yellowstone and my father said that 

 we should take care when skinning the buffaloes not to cut holes in the hides or 

 they could not be used for bullboats. My father thought that we would need 

 four bullboats for our meat so my wife and I went out to get the poles. While 

 we were cutting the poles, scouts rode by and called that a small herd was nearby 

 so I left my wife to finish trimming the poles while I went out for another hide 

 for the boats. 



When I came back with the hide, from a distance I saw two people talking to- 

 gether. I discovered that it was William Bell talking to my wife. Then I 

 remembered that I used to meet his wife before he married her and could have 

 taken her away from him instead of marrying Bird Woman so I did not worry. 

 When I came back to camp my sister was worried because Bird Woman had not 

 come back and thought that she might have drowned. She kept looking out and 

 wondering about my wife's disappearance until I told her that my wife was out 

 with William Bell. 



My sister said, "She went out after some wood; it is too bad; I thought she would 

 be different from the others." 



I said to my sister, Brown Woman, "You can divide the meat and bullboats so 

 that she has half. I know William Bell's wife for I have talked to her before. 

 I do not think it will be very hard to get her to come over here with us." 



I went to her lodge after dark and lay down close to it so that I could look in 

 and see which side she was sleeping on. When it was quiet inside, I went up and 

 lifted the cover, for their tent was a frame covered with robes. At first she was 

 startled. I told her who I was and added, "Your husband is out in the brush 

 with my wife." That made her very angry. I said, "I do not think your husband 

 is coming back tonight so there is no reason to be afraid if I come in with you." 

 So I pulled off my clothes and crawled under her blanket and told her to do the 

 same. My brother-in-law, White-Finger-Nails, who was the brother of Bird 

 Woman, was sleeping in the lodge so we made enough noise to make sure he knew 

 what was going on. I thought this would shame him so my wife's brothers would 

 scold Bird Woman. 



