Overpowered by her feelings, on this demand and repudiation, she ran from the house, and finding a periogue on the river shore, she paddled over to the opposite side and made her escape into the forest with her child. The night was cold, and attended with a fall of snow and hail. Reflecting upon her disconsolate condition, she resolved to return again in the morning, and with the feelings of a wife and mother to plead her cause before the arbiter of her fate, and endeavour to mitigate the cruel sentence.
Agreeably to this determination, she once more approached him, upon whom she believed she had claims paramount to those of any other individual. "Here is our child," said she: "I do not question your fondness for him, but he is still more dear to me. You say that you will keep him for yourself, and drive me far from you. But no, I will remain with him; I can find some hole or corner into which I may creep, in order to be near him and sometimes to see him. If you will not give me food, I will, nevertheless, remain until I starve before your eyes."
The trader then offered her a considerable present, desiring her at the same time to go, and leave the {228} child. But she said, "Is my child a dog, that I should sell him for merchandize? You cannot drive me away; you may beat me, it is true, and otherwise abuse me, but I will still remain. When you married me, you promised to use me kindly as long as I should be faithful to you; that I have been so, no one can deny. Ours was not a marriage contracted for a season, it was to terminate only with our lives. I was then a young girl, and might have been united to an Omawhaw chief; but I am now an old woman, having had two children, and what Omawhaw will regard me? Is not my right paramount to that of your other wife; she had heard of me before you possessed her. It is true her skin is whiter than mine, but her heart cannot be more pure towards you, nor her fidelity more rigid. Do not take the child from my breast, I cannot bear to hear it cry, and not be present to relieve it;[7] permit me to retain it until the spring, when it will be able to eat, and then, if it must be so, take it from my sight, that I may part with it but once."
Seeing her thus inflexible, the trader informed her that she might remain there if she pleased, but that the child should be immediately sent down to the settlements.
The affectionate mother had thus far sustained herself during the interview with the firmness of conscious virtue, and successfully resisted the impulse of her feelings; but nature now yielded, the tears coursed rapidly over her cheeks, and clasping her hands, and bowing her head, she burst into an agony of grief, exclaiming, "Why did the Wahconda hate me so much, as to induce me to put my child again into your power?"
The feelings of the unhappy mother were, however, soon relieved. Mr. Dougherty communicated {229} the circumstances of the case to Major O'Fallon, who immediately and peremptorily ordered the restoration of the child to its mother, and informed the trader that any future attempt to wrest it from her should be at his peril.
As in civilized communities, so amongst the Indians, quarrels sometimes occur. There being no legal tribunal to appeal to, amongst the Missouri Indians, individuals often terminate their animosity by resorting to arms, and relying upon their own valour or address. This extremity is, however, sometimes obviated, by the soothing interference of relatives and friends, or by the violent interposition of a warrior.
Pugilism they despise, regarding it entirely beneath the dignity, even of an ordinary man, saying that it is only fit for the decision of the quarrels of children and squaws, and that when a man is called upon to decide a question by force, he ought to resort to the aid of mortal weapons.
Hard heart, chief of the Ioways, quarrelled with a trader, near the mouth of the Platte, and challenged him immediately to single combat, with any weapons he might choose, either agreeably to the manner of the whites, or to the usual Indian mode, of either combatant availing himself of opportunity or stratagem. The trader refusing to fight, Hard heart departed, declaring he would come again in the morning, in order to put him to death as a coward; "and," said he, "the Wahconda himself will not be able to save you." The trader, for security, assembled around his hut several Oto warriors as a guard, so that when the chief returned agreeably to his promise, to execute his threat, he could not gain admittance. After waiting a long time in vain, he at length sent word to the trader that he forgave him and would not injure him. The trader on receiving this information, having sufficient confidence in his good faith, dismissed his guards; and some time {230} afterward, we observed them riding together, on their return from the Pawnee villages, to which they had accompanied the Oto nation.
About a twelvemonth before our arrival at Engineer Cantonment, Hashea (the Cut-nose) and the Brave, two highly distinguished warriors of the Oto nation, had a very serious quarrel, which their friends could not perfectly adjust, but only succeeded in preventing a personal combat. Since our departure for the Rocky Mountains, Major O'Fallon informs us, that this hostility, still further aggravated by another incident, has terminated fatally. The nephew of the Brave grossly insulted, by his pertinacious addresses, the wife of Hashea, whilst the latter warrior was absent on a war excursion. On his return, being informed of the indignity offered to his wife, he sought the offender, knocked him down with his war club, and beat him with great severity. The Brave was summoned by his friends, who seeing the bruised condition of his relative, vowed revenge. He provided a large sharp-pointed knife, and throwing his bison robe over his arm, by way of shield, he sallied out and passed twice through the village, uttering occasionally, with a loud voice, a challenge to Hashea to come forth, and decide their old quarrel by means of the knife. Hashea feared no man, and would have presented himself before his old enemy at the first call, but was prevented by some friends who were with him in his lodge; these, however, after the lapse of a short time, he contrived to elude, and swiftly sought the Brave. He threw down his blanket, and exclaimed, "You and I cannot live in the same nation; the time has arrived when one of us must die." They then closed in fight. The Brave had much the advantage; he was a large man, and his person was effectually protected by his robe, which received the thrusts of his adversary's knife, whilst at every blow the weapon of the Brave was sheathed in the naked body of the interesting Hashea. {231} The latter was soon despatched, but as he staggered backwards under the grasp of death, he aimed a final blow at his antagonist, and had the gratification to see his blade enter his neck and pass far downward; at which he uttered a shout of exultation and died. The Brave's wound was mortal, but he lived long enough to see the features of Ietan, the friend of Hashea, bent in sternness upon him, and to hear him lament that the conqueror of his friend, should die without the agency of his arm. The deceased warriors belonged to the two most powerful bands of the nation. Hashea was a near kinsman of the Crenier, leader of one band, and the Brave was a brother of Shongotonga, leader of the other, and principal chief of the Otos. The consequence of the quarrel involved the whole nation, and to avoid farther hostilities the bands separated from each other, into distinct villages, in which situation they now remain.