"Tell me if you love Fiery Wind?" said the young man, while his eyes
flashed fire, and the veins in his temple swelled almost to bursting.

"I do not love you," said the girl, "and that is enough. And you need
never think I will become your wife; your spells cannot make me love
you. [Footnote: The Sioux have great faith in spells. A lover will take
gum, and after putting some medicine in it, will induce the girl of his
choice to chew it, or put it in her way so that she will take it up of
her own accord. It is a long time before an Indian lover will take a
refusal from the woman he has chosen for a wife.] Where are Fiery Wind
and his relations? driven from the wigwam of the Chief by you and your
Chippeway mother. But they do not fear you--neither do I!"

And Red Earth looked calmly at the angry face of her lover. For Shining
Iron did love her, and he had loved her long. He had loaded her with
presents, which she always refused; he had related his honors, his brave
acts to her, but she turned a deaf ear to his words. He promised her he
would always have venison in her teepee, and that he never would take
another wife; she was the only woman he could ever love. But he might as
well have talked to the winds. And he thought so himself, for, finding
he could not gain the heart of the proud girl, he determined she should
never be the wife of any other man, and he told her so.

"You may marry Fiery Wind," said the angry lover, "but if you do, I will
kill him."

Red Earth heard, but did not reply to his threats; she feared not for
herself, but she trembled at the prospect of danger to the man she
loved. And while she turned the bracelets on her small wrists, the
warrior left her to her own thoughts. They were far from being pleasant;