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." [7] A mode of expression common to the Indians, who are in the habit of communicating their ideas by allusions to the senses.—JAMES. 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.