One carried a bow and quiver full of
arrows; the other, a war-club suspended from
his right arm.
"Ah, hay, hun, hay!" saluted one of them;
but the modest maidens said never a word! It
was not their way to speak; only the gay calico
ponies pranced about and sportively threw back
their ears to snap at the horses of the two young
men.
"'Tis a brave welcome your horses are giving
us!" he continued, while the two girls merely
looked at one another with perfect understand-
ing.
Presently Matoska urged his pony close to
the Blue Sky's side.
"It may be that I am overbold," he mur-
mured in her ear, "to repeat so soon my tale
of love! I know well that I risk a reprimand,
if not in words, then by a look or action!"
He paused to note the effect of his speech;
but alas! it is the hard rule of savage courtship
that the maiden may with propriety and dignity
keep silence as long as she wishes, and it is often
exasperatingly long.
"I have spoken to no maiden," he resumed,
because I wished to win the war-bonnet before
doing so.
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