The little, shriveled-up chief eyed us grimly from the back of the big horse he bestrode. He had much of the look of an adder, beady, bright eyes, and a trick of thrusting out his tongue when he talked to lick around his lips. He spoke with a hissing sing-song accent because of the loss of several front teeth. And he was sudden in his actions, and his warriors plainly feared him, although any one of them could have tucked him under one arm.
"Hao," he answered. "Why did not Chatanskah send one in advance to tell Nadoweiswe he was coming?"
"Chatanskah knew not where the Teton were camped," retorted the Wahpeton chief. "This is a strange country for my warriors. Are the Wahpeton welcome or must they go back and tell their brothers the Teton no longer honor the Seven Fires?"
Nadoweiswe made an impatient gesture with his hand.
"Chatanskah talks like a child. He comes suddenly, without warning, and is surprised because we do not expect him. The Wahpeton and the Teton are brothers. But the Teton are not brothers to the Mazzonka I see with you."
"What enmity has Nadoweiswe for the Mazzonka?" asked Chatanskah in surprise. "There are none in his country."
"There was one a few sleeps ago," replied the Teton with savage emphasis. "He turned the hearts of my young men to water, so that they allowed the Siksika* to run off twenty hands** of horses the next night."
* Blackfeet.
** One hundred.
He turned in his saddle, and scowled at his warriors, and the fear that showed in every eye was amusing.