orked
with porcupine quills, and did everything she could to get a little
food or worn out robes and hide, from which she made clothes for her
boys. They never had new, brightly painted calf robes, like other
children. They went barefoot in summer, and in winter their toes
often showed through the worn out skin of their moccasins. They had
no flesh. Their ribs could be counted beneath the skin; their cheeks
were hollow; they looked always hungry.

When they grew to be twelve or fifteen years old they began to do
better, for now they could do more and more for themselves. They
herded horses and performed small services for the wealthy men;
then, too, they hunted and killed a little meat. Now, for their
work, three or four dogs were given them, so with the two the old
woman owned, they were able to pack their small lodge and other
possessions when the camp moved, instead of carrying everything on
their backs.

Now they began to do their best to make life easier for the good old
woman who had worked so hard to keep them from starving and
freezing.

Time passed. The boys grew old enough to go out and fast. They had
their dreams. Each found his secret helper of mysterious power, and
each became a warrior. Still they were very poor, compared with
other young men of their age. They had bows, but only a few arrows.
They were not able to pay some great medicine man to make shields
for them. As yet they went to war only as servants.

About this time Red Robe fell in love.

In the camp was a beautiful girl named M[=a]-m[)i]n'--the
Wing--whom all the young men wished to marry, but perhaps Red Robe
loved her more than all the rest. Her father was a rich old medicine
man who never invited any except chiefs and great warriors to feast
with him, and Red Robe seldom entered his lodge. He used to dress as
well as he could, to braid his hair carefully, to paint his face
nicely, and to stand for a long time near the lodge looking
entreatingly at her as she came and went about her work, or fleshed
a robe under the shelter of some travois over which a hide was
spread. Then whenever they met, he thought the look she gave him in
passing was friendly--perhaps more than that.

Wherever Ma-min' went her mother or some woman of the family
went with her, so Red Robe could never speak to her, but he was
often near by. One day, when she was gathering wood for the lodge,
and her companion was out of sight behind some willow bushes some
dista