Frontier and pioneer life -- West (U.S.); West (U.S.) -- Social life and customs
"In an hour Paul and Jules were sitting on a rock near their camp, and
Paul told of the very young Indian girl, the finest looking one he had
ever seen, who had been compelled to fly to the hills because of her
having saved Jules and his party, an act which also caused a defeat of
the Sioux, because of information which he (Jules) must have given to
the Crows.
"'Well,' said Jules, 'that girl, Oo-jan-ge, is the finest I ever saw,
but the fact is, I am in a devil of a fix. This girl here whom I wish to
marry is a jewel, the finest in the tribe, and I almost fixed the matter
up to marry her before I saw Oo-jan-ge. Father DeSmet is in the village
and Oo-je-an-a-he-ah has a notion that she would like to give him
something to do that is not common in the tribe, a Catholic wedding. My
mother was a Catholic, but I am little or nothing in those matters.'
"'Well,' said Paul, 'Oo-jan-ge is now right over here at my camp. As we
were traveling through the Sioux country she put herself under our
protection until she could see you. She feels that she is regarded as a
traitor by her tribe, and is a voluntary exile and I am going to see
that justice is done for her.'"
Tom Soon had proceeded thus far in his story, when he paused to relight
his pipe, but before scratching the match he looked directly toward the
Warne girls and said, with an air of great seriousness, "Now young
ladies, understanding that both of these Indian girls loved Jules La
Chance, and that he was as much attracted to one as to the other, what
should he do?" The discussion in reply would have given Tom time to have
lighted a dozen pipes. Jules was pledged to the Crow girl, and that was
a sacred contract said one. Well enough, said another, he gave Oo-jan-ge
his ring, and if she had not sacrificed herself probably Jules might not
have lived to marry either girl. "Well, tell us quickly how he did
finally solve the problem," asked another. "Easiest thing in the world,"
replied Tom,--"if you only know how. He married both of the girls, of
course. There was no other square way of doing the business. Of course,
Father DeSmet was not in it, but the thing was all fixed up in good
shape. Jules was a square man and wouldn't do a mean trick. You have
heard the old adage, 'When in Rome do as the Romans do,' so when among
the Indians, do as the Indians do.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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