The women who were paddling felt no fatigue. They knew that at night
they were to have a feast. Already the fires of the maddening drink had
made the blood in their dull veins course quickly. They anticipated the
excitement that would make them forget they had ever been cold or
hungry; and bring to them bright dreams of that world where sorrow
is unknown.
"We must be far on our journey to-night," said the Rattler; "the long
knives are ever on the watch for Dahcotahs with whiskey."
"The laws of the white people are very just," said an old man of the
party; "they let their people live near us and sell us whiskey, they
take our furs from us, and get much money. _They_ have the right to
bring their liquor near us, and sell it, but if _we_ buy it we are
punished. When I was young," he added, bitterly, "the Dahcotahs were
free; they went and came as they chose. There were no soldiers sent to
our villages to frighten our women and children, and to take our young
men prisoners. The Dahcotahs are all women now--there are no warriors
among them, or they would not submit to the power of the long knives.
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