Still the complexion of Tachechana, though less dazzling than that of her rival, was, for her race, clear and healthy.

Her hazel eye had the sweetness and playfulness of the antelope's; her voice was soft and joyous as the song of the wren, and her happy laugh was the very melody of the forest.

Of all the Sioux girls, Tachechana (or the Fawn) was the lightest-hearted and the most envied.

Her father had been a distinguished brave, and her brothers had already left their bones on a distant and dreary war-path.

Numberless were the warriors, who had sent presents to the lodge of her parents, but none of them were listened to until a messenger from the great Mahtoree had come.