"Open this first door for me,
since this will be the first time I shall speak to a
woman!"
"Ah," suggests Brave Elk, "I hope you have
selected a girl whose grandmother has no cross
dogs!"
"The prize that is won at great risk is usually
valued most," replies Matosapa.
"Ho, kola! I shall touch the door-flap as
softly as the swallow alights upon her nest. But
I warn you, do not let your heart beat too loudly,
for the old woman's ears are still good!"
So, joking and laughing, they proceed toward
a large buffalo tent with a horse's tail suspended
from the highest pole to indicate the rank of
the owner. They have ceased to blow the flute
some paces back, and walk noiselessly as a pan-
ther in quest of a doe.
Brave Elk opens the door. Matosapa enters
the tent. As was the wont of the Sioux, the
well-born maid has a little teepee within a tee-
pee--a private apartment of her own. He
passes the sleeping family to this inner shrine.
There he gently wakens Winona with proper
apologies.
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