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Show 240 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF winters, and say that the great brave, 'The Bloody Arm,' died for a pretty woman." " Your father," she said, " will lose all his horses, and all his other property, and will become poor in his old age. I respect your father, and all your relatives, and my heart would cry to see them poor." "If my father loses his horses, I can steal more from our enemies. He would be proud to lose his horses if his son could get a wife as handsome as you are. You can go to war with me, and cany my shield. With you by my side, I could kill a great many enemies, and bring home many scalps. Then we could often dance, and our hearts would be made merry and glad." "Go now," she pleaded ; "for if my husband should return, and find you here, he would be very angry, and I fear he would kill you. Go ! go ! for your own sake, and for mine, and for the love you have for the Crows, go ! " " No," said I, " I will not go until you give me a pledge that you will be mine when an opportunity offers for me to take you away." She hesitated for a moment, and then slipped a ,ring off her finger and placed it on n1ine. All I now had to do was to watch for a favorable chance to take her away with me on some of my excursions. Just as I was about to ~eave, my friend called me as though I had been three m1les away. I went out and joined him. " What luck ?" inquired he. " Good," said I. "Prove it to me, I will believe," said my friend. I held out my finger to him, displaying the rinO'. " E noug· h , " sa1· a h e ; " b ut I could not otherwb ise have believed it." • JAMES P. BECKWOURTH. 241 The following day, with six warriors in full cos-tume, I visited Big Rain at his lodge. . " Ah ! " said he, " you are going on a war-excursiOn, my friend ?" "No," I answered. "We came to see which way you are going to move, how many days you will travel and how far each day ; so that we may find gooc1 piaces to encamp, and know where to find the village in case we should encounter the enemy." " You are very kind," said he ; " then you intend to be my spy. I have many brothers and other relatives among the braves, but not one has ever made me that offer." "N 0," thought I, "they don't care as much about your wife as I do." . . . " Go," said he, " and the Great Spu1t Will protect ou." y I then left, accompan1.e dby my s1. x warrw. rs. The second day out, in the afternoon, as we were traveling slowly along, I discovered, at about a _mile _distance, a party of twenty-seven Black Foot wamors, JUSt emerging from the Bad Pass. We immedi~tely retr~ced our steps toward home, and traveled ~ll n1ght, until w~ a:·rived within three miles of the village. When w1th1n sight, we telegraphed with the aid of a small lookingglass, which the Crow scouts usually carry, and every motion of which is understood in the village. I made a signal that I had discovered the enemy, and a second that they were approaching. In a moment I could discover a great stir in the village. When we arrived, I reported to his honor, Big Rain, how many we had seen, what tribe they were, where they had passed the previous night, and where they could then be found. The chief then ordered his madam to bring us some L |