It was time he had a woman of his own.
The chief, so impressed with the munificence of Sam's offer that he forgot to bargain further, looked up.
"It is with honor that we give the mighty hunter Red Beard the woman Kaneha to be his squaw." He rose to his feet as a sign that the council was over. "Prepare my daughter Kaneha for her husband," he said. He turned and walked toward his tent and Sam followed him.
In another tent, Kaneha sat waiting.
Somehow, she had known that Red Beard had come for her. In keeping with maidenly modesty, she had gone into the waiting tent so that she might not hear the bargaining.
She sat there calmly, for she was not afraid of Red Beard. She had looked into his face many times when he had come to visit her father.
Now there was the sound of babbling women coming toward the tent. She looked toward the flap.
The bargaining was over.
She only hoped that Red Beard had at least offered one buffalo for her.
The women burst into the tent. They were all talking at once.
No bride had ever brought greater gifts. The mule. Beads. Whisky. The hide of a sacred white buffalo. Two buffalo for meat.
Kaneha smiled proudly to herself.
In that moment, she knew that Red Beard loved her.
From outside the tent came the sound of the drums beginning to beat out the song of marriage.
The women gathered in a circle around her, their feet stamping in time to the drums.
She dropped her shift to the ground and the women came close.
One on each side of her began to unplait the long braid that hung past her shoulders. Two others began to cover her body with grease from the bear, which was to make her fertile.
At last, all was done and they stepped back.
She stood there naked in the center of the tent, facing the flap.
Her body shone with the grease and she was straight and tall, her breasts high and her stomach flat, her legs straight and long.
The flap opened and the medicine man entered.
In one hand he carried the devil wand, in the other the marriage stick.
He shook the devil wand in the four corners of the tent and sprang twice into the air to make sure there were no devils hovering over them, then he advanced toward her. He held the marriage stick over her head.
She looked up at it.
It was made of highly polished wood, carved into the shape of an erect phallus and testes.
Slowly he lowered it until it rested on her forehead.
She closed her eyes because it was not seemly for a maiden to look so deeply into the source of a warrior's strength.
The medicine man began to dance around her, springing high into the air and mumbling incantations over her.
He pressed the stick to her breasts, to her stomach, to her back and buttocks, to her cheeks and to her eyes, until now it was covered with the bear grease from her body.
Finally, he leaped into the air with a horrible shriek and when his feet touched the earth again, everything was silent, even the drums.
As in a trance, she took the marriage stick from the medicine man. Silently she held it to her face, then her breasts, then her stomach.
The drums began again, beating slowly.
In time with their rhythm, she lowered the stick between her legs.
Her feet began to move in time to the drums, slowly at first, then faster as the drums picked up tempo.
Her long black hair, which hung to her buttocks, began to flare out wildly as she began to move around the circle of women, holding out the marriage stick for their blessing and cries of envy.
The circle completed, she once more stood alone in its center, her feet moving in time with the drums.
Holding the marriage stick between her legs, she began to crouch slightly, lowering herself onto it.
"Ai-ee," the women sighed as they swayed to the tempo of the drums.
"Ai-ee," they sighed again in approbation as she lifted herself from the stick.
It was not seemly for a maiden to be too eager to swallow up her husband.
Now they held their breath as once more the stick began to enter her.
Each was reminded of her own marriage, when she, too, had looked up at the circle of women, her eyes pleading for help.
But none dared move forward.
This the bride must do for herself.
Through Kaneha's pain, the drums began to throb.
Her lips grew tight together.
This was her husband, Red Beard, the mighty hunter.
She must not disgrace him here in the tent of women.
When he himself came into her, instead of his spirit, the way for him must be easy and quick.
She closed her eyes and made a sudden convulsive movement.