The Story of Louis Riel: The Rebel Chief | Page 6

all the number who had kissed
good-bye to his Scottish sweetheart returned to redeem his pledge. For
the rest they soon forgot the rosy cheeks and bright blue eyes that they
had left behind them, in the pleasures of the chase upon the plain, and
the interest in their wide acres. But these perhaps were not the only
reasons why they had forgotten their vows to the Scottish girls. Among
the Crees were many beautiful maidens, with large, velvety eyes, black
as the night when no moon is over the prairie, and shy as a fawn's.
When first the white man came amongst them the girls were bashful;
and when he went into the Crees' tent they would shrink away hiding
their faces. But it soon became apparent that the shyness was not
indifference; indeed many a time when the Scotch hunter passed a red
man's tent he saw a pair of eyes looking languishingly after him. Little

by little the timidity began to disappear, and sometimes the
brown-skinned girls came in numbers to the white man's dwelling, and
submitted themselves to be taught how to dance the cotillion and the
eight-hand reel. Then followed the wooing among the flowery prairies;
and the white men began to pledge their troths to the dusky girls. Many
a brave hunter who had a score of scalps to dangle from his belt, sought,
but sought in vain, a kind glance from some beautiful maiden of his
tribe, who before the pale faces came would have deemed great indeed
the honour of becoming the spouse of a warrior so distinguished.
Jealousy began to fill the hearts of the Crees, but the mothers and wives,
and the daughters too, were constant mediators, and never ceased to
exert themselves for peace.
"When," said they, "the white-faces first came among us, our chiefs and
our young men all cried out, 'O they deem themselves to be a better
race than we; they think their white blood is better than our red blood.
They will not mingle with us although they will join with us in hunting
our wild meat, or eating it after it has fallen to our arrow or spear. They
will not consider one of our daughters fit for marriage with one of them;
because it would blend their blood with our blood.' Now, O you chiefs
and young men, that which you at the first considered a hardship if it
did not come to pass, has come to pass, and yet you complain. 'The
whites are above marrying our daughters,' you first cry; now you plan
revenge because they want to marry, and do marry them." The
arguments used by the women were too strong, and the brawny,
eagle-eyed hunters were compelled to mate themselves with the ugly
girls of the tents. It is asserted by some writers on the North-West that
the beauty observed in the Metis women in after years was in great part
to be attributed to the fact that the English settlers took to wife only the
most beautiful of the Indian girls. Now and again too, the canny Scotch
lad, with his gun on his shoulder and his retriever at his heel, would
walk through a Saulteux settlement. The girls here were still shyer than
their Cree cousins, but they were not a whit less lovely. They were not
dumpy like so many Indian girls, but were slight of build, and willowy
of motion. Their hair was long and black, but it was as fine as silk, and
shone like the plumage of a blackbird. There was not that oily
swarthiness in the complexion, which makes so many Indian women

hideous in the eyes of a connoisseur of beauty; but the cheeks of these
girls were a pale olive, and sometimes, when they were excited, a faint
tinge of rose came out like the delicate pink flush that appears in the
olive-grey of the morning. And these maidens, too, began to cast
languishing eyes upon the pale-faced stranger; and sighed all the day
while they sewed fringe upon their skirts and beads upon their
moccasins. Their affections now were not for him who showed the
largest number of wolves' tongues or enemies' scalps, but for the
gracious stranger with his gentle manners and winning ways. They
soon began to put themselves in his way when he came to shoot
chicken or quail among the grasses; would point out to him passes
leading around the swamps, and inform him where he might find elk or
wild turkey. Then with half shy, yet half coquettish airs, and a lurking
tenderness in their great dusk hazel eyes, they would twist a sprig off a
crown of golden rod, and with their dainty little brown fingers pin it
upon the hunter's coat. With shy curiosity