Читать книгу Buffalo Bill's Weird Warning; Or, Dauntless Dell's Rival онлайн

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The buck, on the other hand, was a rough-looking specimen of a Ponca.

“Speakin’ free an’ free, as between men an’ feller sports,” observed Nomad, “I kain’t blame ther gal none fer runnin’ erway.”

“Me know um Pa-c-has-ka,” said Big Thunder calmly. “Him friend of Poncas, and him got good heart. Him no let squaw get away from Ponca brave.”

“What is your name?” asked the scout of the girl.

“Wah-coo-tah,” was the answer.

“That’s a Sioux name.”

“Me Cheyenne, no Sioux. Name Wah-coo-tah.”

The girl had a rippling, musical voice, very different from the usually hard, strident voices of Indian women.

“Very well, Wah-coo-tah,” said the scout, “I’ll take your word for it. Why was the Ponca chasing you?”

“Me no like um.”

“Did your father sell you to the Ponca?”

“Ai. Me no like um, me run ’way. Him ketch Wah-coo-tah, then Wah-coo-tah kill herself.”

Here was a knotty point for the scout. Having bought the girl, by the girl’s own admission, the Ponca certainly had a right to take her for his squaw. But the scout could not justify himself in his own mind if he allowed the vicious-looking Ponca to take the fair Cheyenne.