Part 11 (1/2)

The nextthe wonderful story of Kinesasis, which had produced such a deep i its recital sohts froht fireplace had full play upon him This seemed to add to the effect of the scene, as frequently Kinesasis, in his intense earnestness and few but strong ht or turned into a shadowy place As the story was light and shadowy itself, so also seemed in appearance this dramatic old Indian so eloquent with his theme He had deeply stirred and excited the boys as he had ed their ideas concerning hi had coht was so cold and destitute of sentiment, had stooped down and kissed his wife, as he had also done before during the recital of the story It was done in a way that was so real and genuine that it co that they would not quickly judge anyone again

They had thought himatic and unlovable, and now here had coed exterior, a story and an exhibition of love and devotion enuine and beautiful than any that had ever been revealed to the or story

”And for very many years,” said Mrs Ross, ”he has been kind and true to that quiet, industrious little wife, who as a young maiden was so true to him and would undoubtedly have died rather than marry that chief”

”What about his pack of furs?” said Frank ”And did they find out the thief and put the conjurers after hilad you have mentioned it,” said Mr Ross ”I have heard Kinesasis tell the story of their recovery, and will give you his version of it As regards the actual transgressors, theyIndian whom Shakoona had refused When the old chief was killed the young fellow disappeared and was never heard of afterward When the leather am that had been cut into was carefully examined it was found that the knife had been used on the inside, and that the great pack of furs had been handed out, so there ed in the robbery Weeks later so rabbits in a dense swareat spruce tree It was so completely hidden in the close branches that it was a wonder that they ever discovered it The only clue they had was that a great wolverine ca out of the tree and hurried away into the dense forest

The women, like the men, knehat clever aniame has been hid away until needed

So, as their curiosity was excited, they carefully searched the tree, which was a very large one, and there in a the dense branches they found the pack of Kinesasis They were not able to reach it, but reported their discovery when they returned to the village Kinesasis and others were soon after it It ell that they found it when they did, as the wolverine had cut through the outer coverings of deerskin, and had already ruined several valuable furs In an houraway, so terribly destructive are these aniae to say, old Wahbunoo would not accept anything from Kinesasis

The death of the old chief had very ave him such an idea of Kinesasis's prowess that he had to respect hiold also disappeared, and to this day none knohat became of it Kinesasis carried his furs to the Hudson Bay Coh for them to make him and Shakoona comfortable for many a day”

”I have always heard that Indians were so honest with each other about their furs and traps,” said Alec; ”but this stealing of Kinesasis's whole pack seems to knock that idea over What are we to believe about it?”

”What you have heard about the honesty of the Indians is the truth,”

said Mr Ross ”This stealing of the furs of Kinesasis was not an ordinary theft for gain The object of it was to prevent hiifts to satisfy the father of the maiden of his choice The fact that the furs were hid away as they were showed this

They could not bury theranite; they dare not burn them for fear of detection; and the ice was too thick on the rivers or lakes to be quickly cut through It was very evident that they did not try to sell them”

”But did not the thieves hide theet them, and sell them when the excitement of their loss had passed over?”

said Alec, as a boy who had a habit of seeing things from different sides and liked to have all the difficulties cleared up

Mr Ross admired this trait in Alec's character, and always endeavoured to meet it in a way that was helpful to the lad So to this last question his ansas:

”No Indian ished to preserve anything of value for future use would think of putting it up in such a place They all know the thievish, destructive habits of the wolverines, and other ani destructible if placed in a tree, in the manner in which this was done The wonder was that this was not found out much sooner and completely destroyed”

”Tell us, please,” said Saard to their hunting grounds and furs Have they any titles to the different places where they hunt year after year?”

”They have no written titles,” said Mr Ross, ”but for generations the same families have hunted in the saeneration, are noted as fa Tom is noted as a successful moose hunter, and so were his immediate ancestors Others made a speciality of the beavers, others of the otter, and thus it went These Indian families naturally had localities where these different anih there were seasons when other varieties of fur-bearing aniions, and for a tienerally hunted As ht have been expected, the hunters of the e aniht of following them in any direction The hunters and trappers of the rich fur-bearing aniions year after year

Sorounds, had to pass through, e ht call the preserves of three or four different farounds, andno less than seventy traps of other Indians on the trail as we passed along mile after mile In one of them was a beautifulhis pack off his back, opened it and cut off some of his bait Then he took theit with his own bait The , which he bent down for the purpose When he let go of the young tree it sprang up so that the round Here it was safe fro wolverines and other animals Then the Indian made some peculiar ain shouldered, and we proceeded on our way I was very s, and so when he had coed to his brother or some relative

”'No,' he replied, 'I do not yet knohose hunting ground this is, but my duty is to do as you have seento-morrow or next day he will find another mink in that trap Then with two instead of one he will be the more pleased'”

”Well done, honest Indian!” shouted the boys, when they heard this

”There is a lesson for many a white , Mr Ross said: ”This was the understood custoht seeo, and quite a tax on his supply of bait But then he had the advantage when he reached his hunting grounds, in that there were fewer huame”

”Were there no exceptions--none ould take a hbour's trap, if they thought they could escape detection?” asked Alec

”I only re in many years,” said Mr Ross, ”and there was soon a dead reat flood in Red River A number of Indians who lived near its reat flood Some of them came into this North country The most of the, shooting, and hunting where no persons specially claiot on as did the others There were a few aed about and lived on the industrious ones No notice was taken of these There was one an to be talked about He was not known to have any traps, nor was he ever seen toaniht out from under his coat a fine mink or marten, and soan to speak about strange tracks about their traps One hunter told of how he had visited one of his otter traps and had found a quantity of hairs of an otter on the teeth, and yet the trap was set He had also observed where so on the snow near this sareat smokers, they never chew tobacco, but this suspected man, who had in the Red River country beenThen there was the suspicious circu at the Company's store a fine otter skin for sale The Indians then were nearly all pagans, and there was no law in the land but their own tribal one A secret council was held, and it was decided to put a watch on this man Two or three of the cleverest Indians were appointed to watch his steps Cunning though he was, they were too clever for him, and they so well followed him up that they saw hi the trap, he hid the mink under his coat, and rapidly disappeared in the forest The detectives did not rush out and capture him They did not even let him know of their presence As quietly as they had followed hiain sue was sent to a noted conjurer of the tribe, fa Indian lay dead in the birch am of one of the Red River Indian families The burial was very quick and quiet Not much was said Indians do not, on so years after that no hunter ever co robbed”

”I cannot see,” said Frank, ”why any honest person could complain of any such laws as those They were certain that he was guilty, and then they quickly punished him”