"I do not care. He is a good hunter and can feed more wives than one."
"But, gal, you don't understand. Us white folks has a law which won't allow a feller to have more than one wife at a time."
"Then that law is no good," replied Snowdrop. "Suppose there are two women and only one man—must one woman go without?"
Jehiel was getting a little mixed in his love-making, but he replied:
"In course she must! But just suppose there is one woman and two men, must one man be without a wife?"
This was a question that Snowdrop was not prepared to answer. But she said:
"I am not white. I love the White Panther and I do not care how many wives he has got, so long as I am the last one, and he loves me best!"
"You will be disappointed, my gal," was all that Jehiel could say.
Riding a little way further they came to a clump of timber, and here Jehiel resolved to stop a while and eat the meat which they had brought with them from the Indian camp.
Accordingly they dismounted, the horses at once went to feeding, and they proceeded to build a fire and cook the meat. Jehiel had not been bashful in helping himself to a large piece, and the fact that it rapidly disappeared after being roasted, was sufficient evidence that it was good. Besides, they were hungry, as an Indian or a frontiersman always is.