Loretto's wife was carried away by her tribe. In vain she struggled to get free, and begged to be allowed to go back to her husband and child. The Indians would not let her go.
Loretto saw her struggles, and heard her cries. He took his child, and ran to the Indians with it. He handed the child to its mother. The Indian bullets and arrows were flying all about him.
The chief saw him carry the child across the open ground, and his heart was touched. It was a noble action.
He said to Loretto, "You are crazy to go into such danger, but go back in peace; you shall not be hurt."
Loretto begged to be allowed to take his wife with him, but her brother would not let her go, and the chief now began to look angry.
"The girl belongs to her tribe," he said. "She shall not go back."
Loretto wanted to stay with his wife, but she begged him to go back, lest he should be killed on the spot. At last he left her, and went back to the white men.
Night came on, and the Indians drew off. Not much harm had been done to anybody.
Loretto could not be happy without his wife. A few months later, he settled his accounts with the Fur Company and went away. He went boldly into one of the villages of the savage Blackfeet. Here he found his wife, and staid with her.