Page:The life and adventures of James P. Beckwourth, mountaineer, scout, pioneer, and chief of the Crow nation of Indians (IA lifeadventuresof00beckrich).pdf/221

Rh I always had done in like cases, and should continue to do as long as I remained with the Crows.

This business settled, I received a third sound thrashing from my new wife's husband and relatives for again making free with his wife.

After the lapse of three days I left for the fort, again taking my friend's lady. Her husband, finding that I was incorrigible, grew furious, and declared he only wished to have me in his power once more. My Dog Soldiers said to him, "You have whipped him three times, and you shall whip him no more, neither shall you do him any farther harm. Red Cherry loves him, and she does not love you; she will always go with him. You might as well try to turn Big Horn back to its mountain sources as to attempt to separate them, unless you kill them. You would not be so cowardly as to spill the blood of the pretty Red Cherry because she loves our chief. If you should fight him, he will kill you; and if you should assassinate him, we would avenge his death. No, no! Big Rain must not hurt our chief. But we will buy your claim to the Red Cherry, and give her to Red Arm for his own. You, a great chief, should despise to want a woman who loves another warrior better than you!"

Big Rain drooped his head on finding the Dog Soldiers were against him, and gave way to deep reverie. He loved the Red Cherry as children love the delicious fruit bearing the same name. After weighing the matter well, he reluctantly acceded to the offer, and consented to resign all interest and title in Mrs. Big Rain for the consideration of one war-horse, ten guns, ten chiefs' coats, scarlet cloth, ten pairs of new leggings, and the same number of moccasins.

The stipulation was forthwith produced by my faithful Dog Soldiers, and I had the exclusive right to the Red Cherry, without the fear of a drubbing every time I returned.

Such acts are as common among the Rocky Mountain tribes as they have been among the whites in California since the discovery of gold there, though in the latter place, the penalty is frequently more severe than among the wild tribes of the mountains and prairies.

My new wife was the perfection of symmetry. Few of the