“Go? Why with me.”
“The chiefs of the pale-face will laugh at their brother for being kind to a woman of the Dacotahs.”
“That hain’t the safest kind of business, I can tell you, but I don’t care for their laughin’. My shoulders are broad, and can carry a pretty big load.”
“But they will look black on Waupee—will laugh at her wrongs, and trample her heart in the ashes.”
“Let them do it ef they dare! Let any one, even if he war my brother, that is, ef I had one, try to crush or hurt the feelin’s of a poor creature who has been so trampled upon, and Kirk Waltermyer will teach them a lesson they will remember longer than any thing they ever larned at school.”
“The pale-face has been very kind, and the daughter of the Dacotahs will not see him insulted for her sake.”
“Now, you just a-hear. I honor you for your feelin’s, and like you for your speerit, but I don’t go one step without you. So thar! Ef you have made up your mind to camp here until doomsday, why, I’ll pitch my tent too, and Star with me.”
“Has the pale-face thought of what his tribe will say?”
“Tribe be—blessed. Don’t frown, little Est, for that’s no swearin’. I hain’t any more of a tribe than you have, so just make up your mind to come along quietly like a good girl, and I’ll soon show you that Kirk Waltermyer has a heart that beats like a trip-hammer, and always in the right place. He hain’t any more given to braggin’ than one of your warriors; but if anybody even dares to question about you, they’ll find you have got one friend that hain’t to be easily handled.”
“Waupee will go with the pale-face for a time.”