nable an' blind. I figgers, for all he don't
let on, that sech is the sityooation in the marital adventures of Bill.
His fam'ly picks the Saucy Willow out; but it's mighty likely he signs up
the lady to some discreet member of his outfit before ever they goes in
to make the play.

"Saucy Willow for a savage is pretty--pretty as a pinto hoss. Her
parent, old Strike Axe, is a morose but common form of Osage, strong
financial, with a big bunch of cattle an' more'n two hundred ponies.
Bill gets his first glimpse, after he comes back from school, of the
lovely Saucy Willow at a dance. This ain't no war-dance nor any other
ceremonious splurge; it's a informal merrymakin', innocent an' free, same
as is usual with us at the Wolfville dance hall. Shore, Osages, lacks
guitars an' fiddles, an' thar's no barkeep nor nosepaint--none, in
trooth, of the fav'rable adjuncts wherewith we makes a evenin' in
Hamilton's hurdygurdy a season of social elevation, an' yet they pulls
off their fandangoes with a heap of verve, an' I've no doubt they shore
enjoys themse'fs.

"For two hours before sundown the kettle-tenders is howlin' an' callin'
the dance throughout the Osage camp. Thar's to be a full moon, an' the
dance--the _Ingraska_ it is; a dance the Osages buys from the Poncas for
eight ponies--is to come off in a big, high-board corral called the
'Round House.'

"Followin' the first yell of the kettle-tenders, the young bucks begins
to paint up for the hilarity. You might see 'em all over camp, for it's
August weather an' the walls of the tents an' teepees is looped up to let
in the cool, daubin' the ocher on their faces an' braidin' the feathers
into their ha'r. This organisin' for a _baile_ ain't no bagatelle, an'
two hours is the least wherein any se'f-respectin' buck who's out to make
a centre shot on the admiration of the squaws an' wake the envy of rival
bucks, can lay on the pigments, so he paints away at his face, careful
an' acc'rate, sizin' up results meanwhile in a jimcrow lookin' glass. At
last he's as radiant as a rainbow, an' after garterin' each laig with a
belt of sleigh-bells jest below the knee, he regyards himse'f with a
fav'rable eye an' allows he's ondoubted the wildest wag in his set.

"Each buck arrives at the Round House with his blanket wropped over his
head so as not to blind the onwary with his splendours. It's mebby
second drink time after sundown an' the full moon is swingin' above
effulgent. The b