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Show ( 30 ) one whose person claimed the attention of every man sensible to fe. male charms, <llthou~h hers were of a peculiar character. She wa~ by far not as handsome as A hi bah, but her features were lively, anu bore the marks of a keen intelligence, which is often more attractive th all mere beauty, at least for a man of good sense. She was Ahibr~h' ~ particular friend, by the name of Yonka. and her father told \V aanataa that he would not have thought of bringing her along without her positive declaration to accompany her friend Ahibah, for whon • sbe had a sisterly attachment. Wannataa related to Yonka's fat.ber his misfortunes, and how he had become a widower, adding, "The love of my life is buried in the vault of death, or t:;]se l should give you all I possess in exchange for Yonk~, if she wou ld go with me as my squaw; but if you will let her O'O with us to ac· company Ahibah, I promi'se to you, upon my ho~10ur as a Siou .:\ chi ef, to be her brother and protector, till her marriage or death." In tl:~ mean time, Yonka's father had been surrounded by thl! other Swux fathers and daughters, to whom he communicated every thing of the last transaction; and their lively di scu. sio n"' of the matter showed the great interest they took in it; for, while the fathers were seriously engaged in conversation around him, th eir daughters formed around Ahibah and Yonka a dense crowd of chatt iny;, s qu~ws, not u11like a flock of chattering geese. I hen It was resolved upon, that Yonka shoulu always be protected a_r1d respected, t!y all and ~very one, as the "Sister of the P!wlai1x," ! d~ ~ the ~?m~ntlc and musical "Daughter of the Regiment." ' 1 That 1s l'l !!;ht, · said our: good Waanataa: "I see that all my brothers are ~~ ntl c men." He was appointed to fetch Yonka's father, who rmmed i:1~e ly appeared , fo~low~u by the whole crowd of fathers anu daughtc~.~ ,.loo.king an_u lJslenmg, whereupon ~aanataa, according to our lll ~ ~1 uction and Ill our names, made to him the following speech: '·Father, we are so much pleased with your confiueuce in givin~ us your daughter, th~t we ~Ish you to accept these prc:;ents as marks of our esteem and fncndship. We all promise to you, that we will ~ver treat he~ well and protect her a~ our sister, that she may neve1· 1cpent of havmg left you aml her nat1ve place. \Ve are your friends" The old man replied: . "My friends, I thank you for what you have done and said to me -.you are as good as you are wise and generous. I am glad that you wdl ahvays protect and respect my Yonka as your sister for she is p;oou ::~nd has never exeited her father's anger, who is mo 7 re proud of her than ,he woul~l .be of three scalps. 1 am your friend." . Carr~) s pr~positJOn to celebrate, as well as pos~ible, Gaston's wedc~ Ing ":·tth Ahtbah, was unanimously agreed to and executed on the follovnng day. Provisions of every kind were brought in abuu dance to our camp, where we partook of an ample repast looked on by_ a large number of Sioux warriors and other men ~omen and eh1ld~en. Yot~l<a was, of course, Ahibah's br·ides-maid while Carr'Gel · h.i m edlf' Br. launed t,h e honour of bein1r Gastou's groo' ' · o m s mau, ot 01 c~n- onncur; although we had no priest and no altar instead o.f \V}lJCh We [Orll CU with all OUr rifle~ pul upon l:'aCb other:;) trian- ( 31 ) g 1hl· table, overhung with a new ~Iackinaw blanket, around which Gaston, A hi bah, vVaetnataa, Yonka, her father and Carrel sat dowr:, while the others helped themselves as well as they could without any tables. After dit111er, Arland, Urban and Maxie, gave in honour ol t he young couple a concert. of which Maxie enhanced the value by 'yodlin~' better tban he ever did, whereby he became the favou~ite of all the young Sioux squa~s present, while their fathers' admiration was more for Arland's guitar, and Urban's clarionet, in particular the latter, as being the loudest of the two instruments. After th ey had played some lively pieces, they made a pause to rest a littl e ; in the mean time a consultation took place between the male Indians, who talked violently together for awhile; whereupon two of them went among the squaws and picked out two of the youngest and finest, whom they led before the musicians, while they spoke to \Vaanataa, who smiled, and said to Arland and Urban : "These men offer to you their two daughters, in exchange for your musical instru-ments ~ " Our whole company burst out in a general and violent roar of hughter, which lasted for some minutes, while the two old and ne'v\' l o v e r~ of music, to which they would sacrifice tqeir daughters, stood there in expectation, as serious as if they would begin a war-dance. The two innocent victims of music, harmless or thoughtless, nodued and smiled significantly to Ahihah and Yonka, casting at the same time alternately some lively and friendly glances at Arlaml and Urban, who could scarcely hold their instruments for laughing, when \\. aanataa asked them : "What shall I answer for you, brothers?" Carrel was the first who recovered, and could say, "llrothers, do strike the barp;ain ! it's a capital joke. I will save your instrumentt~ at all events." But Johns added, "A rland, I guess you'd better loosen a little the strin~s of your guitar, th<lt they do not sound.' 1 And Arhnd did so accordingly, with a few turns of his fingers unobserved by the Indians. "Urban," continued Johns, "take the reed out from the mouth-piece of your clarionet;" but Urban replied, "Never mind the reed, for I am sure that even with the reed in it none of these red fellows can produce more than a goose-cry." "Well ! go on," cried. Arland and Urban at once, giving their instruments to the delighted Sioux, who immediately tried to handle and use them, in imitation of what they had seen done before, whil-e the merry youn~ musicians took unhesitatingly each one of the sm'iiing Indian beauties, who gave themselves up without any resistan ce to their supposed intended husbands, allowing themselves to be ernbraced and k issecl by t he-:n to mutual satisfaction. In the mean time the new owners of the musical instruments were ·Struck with amazement, and greatly disappointed; for, while one attempled in vain with puffed ch~eks to blow musicall}l the clarionet, which made only two or three shrill and broken sounds similar to the cries of a goose, the other moved his fingers over the strings of the guitar with no audible success at all. They were puzzled, looked at each other, and spoke a few worus together, whereupon they ex~ J • |
