“It is wrong,” she said, “for us to talk in [[203]]this way about the young man. He cannot help being poor, and I am sorry for him. I must say, though, that he might be cleaner and neater than he is. I wish I could talk to him; I would like to tell him some things that would be for his good.”
“Why, you must be in love with him,” one of the girls exclaimed, laughing.
“Well,” replied the other, “I pity the poor young man, and, if my father would allow me, I would marry him and make a man of him. All he needs to change his ways is kindness and teaching.”
In the evening New Robe met this girl, Mas-tah ki—Raven Woman—as she was coming from the river with a skin of water. Already he had combed out his hair and washed himself, and she stared at him in surprise.
“Ah,” he said, stopping her in the path. “To-day I heard your kind words, and have taken them to my heart. I am going away to try to earn a name, to try to become a chief. Pray for me; ask the Sun to help me.”
“I will pray for you every day,” said the girl.
“And if I return such a man that no one [[204]]need be ashamed of me,” he asked, “will you be my wife?”
“Yes, gladly,” she replied. “And now go; people are looking at us.”
The next morning New Robe left the camp. He did not know where to go, nor what he was going to do. Something seemed to tell him to push forward, and that somehow, in some way, he would be fortunate. He had but little food, only some tough, dried meat, and his weapons were poor and of little use; yet he did not fear that he would starve, or suffer any harm from the animals or from the enemy.
It was late in the fall, and the nights were very cold. One evening, after a long day’s tramp, he came to the edge of a broad beaver pond. Tall, thick grass grew on the dam, and he pulled armfuls of this and heaped it up, and then crawled under the pile to pass the night. It was a warm, soft nest, and he was already almost asleep when some one called his name. He lifted his head and looked out from under the grass, and saw standing near by a handsome young man, very beautifully dressed.