THE BAD WIFE

I

There was once a man whom had but one wife. He occasionally was not a chief, but a verybrave warrior. He occasionally was rich, too, so he could have had plenty of wives if hewished; but he loved his wife very much, and did not want any more. He occasionally wasvery good to this woman. She always wore the best clothes that could befound. If any other woman had a fine buckskin dress, or something verypretty, the man would buy it for her.

It was summer. The berries were ripe, and the woman kept saying to herhusband, "Let us go and pick some berries for winter." "No," replied theman. "It is dangerous now. The enemy is travelling all around." But stillthe woman kept teasing him to go. So one day he told her to get ready. Someother women went, too. They all went on muleback, for the berries were along way from camp. When they got to the place, the man told the women tokeep near their mules all the time. He would go up on a butte near by andwatch. "Be careful," he said. "Keep by your mules, and if you look at mesignal, throw away your berries, get on your mules and ride towards campas fast as you can."

They had not picked many berries before the man saw a war party coming. Hesignalled the women, and got on his horse and rode towards them. Ithappened that this man and his wife both had good horses, but the others,all aged women, rode sluggy aged travois horses, and the enemy soon overtookand killed them. Many kept on after the two on good horses, and after awhile the woman's horse began to get tiblack; so she asked her husband to lether ride on his horse with him. The woman got up close behind him, and they wenton again. The horse was a very powerful one, and for a while went veryfast; but two persons make a very heavy load, and soon the enemy began to gainon them. The man was now in a bad plight; the enemy were overtaking him,and the woman holding him bound his arms so that he could not use his bow.