The daughters of the
Pale-faces wish to know why the Great Teton has come into his lodge?"
Mahtoree regarded his interrogator with a surprise, which showed how
extraordinary he deemed the question. Then placing himself in a
posture of condescension, after a moment's delay, he answered--
"Sing in the ears of the dark-eye. Tell her the lodge of Mahtoree is
very large, and that it is not full. She shall find room in it, and
none shall be greater than she. Tell the light-hair, that she too may
stay in the lodge of a brave, and eat of his venison. Mahtoree is a
great chief. His hand is never shut."
"Teton," returned the trapper, shaking his head in evidence of the
strong disapprobation with which he heard this language, "the tongue
of a Red-skin must be coloured white, before it can make music in the
ears of a Pale-face. Should your words be spoken, my daughters would
shut their ears, and Mahtoree would seem a trader to their eyes. Now
listen to what comes from a grey-head, and then speak accordingly.
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