Bowrs] HID ATS A SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL ORGANIZATION 153 



younger wives. I can remember that Bears Heart was always chasing after 

 women even though his own wife never divorced him for it. He was my 'ptdwada- 

 todE' and was always bossing me around, teUing me just what I ought to do. He 

 would tell me that I should stay away from the girls, for chasing girls would hinder 

 my war record. He would tell me that girls had vaginal teeth that would bite me. 

 He would always bring up the matter of fasting whenever he came to our lodge, 

 and tell me to stay away from the girls and forget about them. My mothers used 

 to tease him for he was always doing what he told me not to do. 



Bears Heart was not well-to-do at the time he ran away with Different Sage and 

 Juneberries, Bear-Looks-Out's two youngest and prettiest wives. They had to 

 walk out west to the Crows for he had no horses and his relatives would not help. 

 As soon as Bear-Looks-Out missed his wives, the people of his clan helped him 

 look for them, for at first they thought something had happened to them. Bear- 

 Looks-Out knew that sometimes they met other men, for it was hard to watch 

 four wives, but he thought nothing of it as long as they attended to their work and 

 did not cause too much gossip. That is why he had his clansmen watching for 

 him. When Bears Heart, my clansman, was missing they knew that he had gone 

 off with them. 



My relatives of the Prairie Chicken clan met and put up goods to take to Bear- 

 Looks-Out so that he would not destroy their things or shoot their horses. Several 

 brought horses. Then they went to Bear-Looks-Out's lodge and offered to give 

 him the things but Bear-Looks-Out refused the things saying, "What is this for?" 



My mothers' brothers said, "We thought you would be angry. Don't you 

 know that Bears Heart has taken your two younger wives?" 



Bear-Looks-Out laughed and said, "Why should I get angry? I am getting 

 old so those younger women don't want me. Take your stuff back and keep it. 

 I am not going to do anything about it. I know those women asked Bears Heart 

 to go away with them." 



At the time they eloped, a Hidatsa hunting party was on the Missouri above 

 Knife River. They decided to cross the Missouri well below their camp so as 

 not to be seen by the hunters for fear that the Waterbusters in that camp would 

 seize the women and beat Bears Heart. They made a raft of logs and put their 

 clothing, food, and weapons on it, swimming back of the raft and pushing it across 

 the river. In midstream the raft came apart and their things were all lost. While 

 they were sitting on the bank naked wondering what to do, a hunter from the 

 Hidatsa camp came along. He was one of Bears Heart's joking relatives. When 

 Bears Heart told him what had happened, the hunter teased him about it. Bears 

 Heart asked him to ride to the camp and ask help of the Prairie Chicken clan for 

 himself and of the Knife clan for the women. The people of the Prairie Chicken 

 clan sent word back that they could not help him, even while they were getting the 

 things together for it was their duty to help their own clan members. Bears 

 Heart was sad when he heard that his clan members, even though they were of the 

 Hidatsa and not the Mandan Prairie Chicken clan, would not help him. He was 

 contemplating returning to Fishhook Village with the women when things were 

 brought down to them from the hunting camp. The people of the Prairie Chicken 

 clan sent Bears Heart three horses, a gun with ammunition, and clothing, while 

 the women of the Knife clan sent clothing and bedding for the women. They 

 told Bears Heart not to come to their camp for Bear-Looks-Out's clan relatives 

 were angry. The three went west to the Crows where shortly afterward Different 

 Sage was captured by the Blackfeet and became the wife of a chief who appreciated 

 her fine quillwork. Bears Heart was wounded in the battle but Bear-Looks-Out's 



