BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 OUR FRESH AND SALT TUTORS; or, 
 That Good Old Time. With Illustrations 
 by Winslow Homer and De Haas. In one 
 volume, 16mo, extra cloth, $1.50. 
 
 " An uncommonly pood story for boys; fresh, spirited, and 
 manly." ffvrth American Re"iew. 
 
 " A charming book. The writer has succeeded in making a 
 genuine ' boy's book.' In leaving boyhood behind him, the door 
 has not been shut against his return to the mysteries of a boy's 
 life. This work is so fresh and hearty, so instinct with an appre- 
 ciation of boy-life, and so winning in its Christian lessons, that we 
 can heartily recommend it to our young friends as, in its kind, the 
 most delightful book of the season." Harper* t Weekly. 
 
 " Destined, if we mistake not, to take a front rank among the 
 holiday juveniles of the present season." Boston Daily Advertiser . 
 
 "'That Good Old Time' is a narrative of a .summer at Cape 
 Ann fifty years ago. Five Boston boys, three Graveses and two 
 Higginsons, stayed there for months with their tutors, both salt 
 and fresh, one must read the book to know what that mean-. 
 and two old black servants; and such a glorious time as they had ! 
 Such boating, and shooting, and studying, and frolicking; such 
 hair-breadth escapes, such wonderful discoveries, and such a light 
 with real pirates ! It is all told by one of the bovs, and now ' an 
 old moustache,' who sits in his study, and recalls the old time: 
 recalls it with boyish enthusiasm and heartiness, and yet with a 
 touch of sadness at the changes of fifty years. It is bv far the best 
 book for boys that has come this season." Worcester Spy. 
 
 " We have not seen a better book for boys for years." Amer- 
 ican Baptist. 
 
 " This is a grand book for the boys a sort of Tom Brown at 
 the sea-side. . . . No boy's book has been published for a long 
 time that we have enjoyed so much." Ke.nne.btc Journal. 
 
 " An admirably spirited boy's book, written by one who is as 
 much a master of tins class of literature as the author of ' Tom 
 Brown.' . . . The whole spirit and style of the book are at 
 once manly and Christian; its illustrations, which are numerous, 
 are full of spirit." Western Episcopalian. 
 
 "Breezy and lusty, and good for blood-making in sluggish 
 veins." Boston Post.
 
 ^-,
 
 Sliding down hill on barrel staves. See pa-re lln.
 
 WHITE AND KED; 
 
 A NARRATIVE OF 
 
 LIFE AMONG THE NORTHWEST INDIANS. 
 
 HELEN C. WEEKS, 
 
 AUTHOR OF " THE AI.NSLEE STORIES " AND " GKANDPA' S HOCSI." 
 
 WITH EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS BY A. P. CLOSE. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 PUBLISHED BY HUKD AND HOUGHTON. 
 
 1869.
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by 
 
 HURD AND HOUGHTOX, 
 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New 
 York. 
 
 RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE : 
 
 STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BT 
 
 H. HOUGI1TOX AND COMPACT.
 
 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 "BEARS!" said grandpa. 
 
 "Panthers and Lynxes!" said Aunt 
 Fanny. 
 
 " Wolves and Foxes ! " said Uncle 
 Charley. 
 
 "Three hundred miles through the 
 woods ! " said Aunt Lizzie. 
 
 " You will die before you get there ! " 
 said Aunt Margaret. " The most reck- 
 less undertaking I ever heard of ! " 
 
 " All the wild animals together, are not 
 as bad as one Indian. Think of willfully 
 risking your life, and that precious boy's. 
 It's wicked ! " and grandma lay back in 
 her chair, and shut her eyes. 
 
 "What is it all about?" asked Dr. 
 Brown, who had come in just in time to 
 hear the list of animals. "A menagerie 
 Harry wants to see ! Bears, and pan- 
 thers, and wolves; well, why should he 
 not?"
 
 2 WHITE AND BED. 
 
 " 'Tisn't a menagerie," said Harry, whv 
 had been standing by his mother's chair, 
 waiting for a chance to speak " It's only 
 the Indian country. Mamma 's got a let- 
 ter from papa, and he wants us to come 
 where he is, and everybody says we 
 shu'n't. It's real mean, / think." 
 
 " The best thing that could happen to 
 you," said Dr. Brown. 
 
 Grandma opened her eyes and sat up 
 straight, and there was such a chorus of 
 Ohs ! and Whys ! that Dr. Brown put his 
 hands to his ears. "Yes, the best thing 
 that could happen," he repeated, when 
 there was silence. u Harry will never get 
 well here ; in the first place, because the 
 air is not good for him ; and in the sec- 
 ond, because you are not willing he 
 should have half enough of such as it is. 
 You coddle him da}' and night, when he 
 is pining to be let alone. The boy is 
 growing up with a constitution not worth 
 one farthing ; and if you are anxious to 
 kill him keep him here, and give him 
 plum-cake, as I saw you doing the other 
 day." 
 
 " That piece ! " said Harry with scorn. 
 " It wasn't big enough for a fly. I wish 
 I could have a lot, but mamma only gives 
 me a speck, once -in a while."
 
 WHITE AND RED. 6 
 
 " So much the better," said the Doctor. 
 " Turn you loose in the pine woods for a 
 year or two, and you and your father will 
 come home strong together. Your chest 
 is three inches narrower than it should 
 be." 
 
 "It will kill him, I know, getting out 
 there," said grandma. 
 
 Not a bit of it," said the Doctor. He 
 will grow better with every mile of the 
 journey." 
 
 Grandma sighed, and shook her head, 
 and so did the aunts, but mamma's face 
 looked much brighter. 
 
 " Really it is a terrible journey," she 
 said, " but if you think it would not 
 hurt Harry, I shall be so glad to go." 
 
 " What does Henry say ? " Dr. Brown 
 asked. " He thinks it safe enough, I 
 suppose ? " 
 
 " Yes indeed," said mamma. " He is so 
 much stronger himself, that he thinks 
 another year there will be worth more 
 in point of health than any amount of 
 money to be made at home ; so he will 
 keep his appointment at Red Lake, where 
 he went in the spring, you know." 
 
 "Right in the midst of Indians," said 
 grandma, in a pitiful voice. " It was bad 
 enough having him there, but now, with
 
 4 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 Mary and Harry going, I cannot have one 
 moment's peace or rest." 
 
 " Papa says they're the best Indians 
 there are anywhere," Harry broke in. 
 " He says we shall like them ; and if we 
 can make up our minds to hardships, we 
 shall have a real good time. I'm not 
 afraid." 
 
 " How will you go ? " asked the Doctor. 
 
 "Through the Lakes, on account of 
 Harry's head," mamma answered, "and 
 Henry thinks he will be well enough 
 when we get to Milwaukie, to bear a 
 day's ride in the cars easily." 
 
 " I don't doubt he will," said the Doctor, 
 buttoning his coat. "Let me help you 
 any way I can. Good-night all." 
 
 Grandpa followed him to the door, and 
 there was a sound of talking from the hall 
 for a few minutes. 
 
 " I do wish you all felt differently about 
 it," said mamma, as grandpa came in 
 again. " I am sure it is the best thing for 
 both Harry and his father." 
 
 " So am I, on the whole," said grandpa ; 
 "and now the only thing to do is to get 
 you off as soon as possible, for the Lakes 
 will not be open much longer. First, 
 though, we'll put Harry to bed." 
 
 Harry declared he was not sleepy, but
 
 WHITE AND RED. O 
 
 went up-stairs at last ; and while grandma 
 and the rest are still talking over the dan- 
 gers of the journey, I will tell you who 
 they are, and why it is to be taken. 
 
 Harry's father, Dr. Henry Prescott, had 
 entered the army as surgeon for one of 
 the Massachusetts regiments, at the' open- 
 ing of the war, and remained in it to tho 
 very end, coming home on furlough once 
 or twice, but going back after the short 
 rest had past, without thought of giving 
 up till all need for him was over. Harry 
 and his mother were with him sometimes, 
 but Harry was so sickly a child, that his 
 father and mother both dreaded having 
 him anywhere but in their own quiet 
 home. There had been a time when he 
 was strong and well, but scarlet fever, 
 which kills so many children, had taken 
 away his baby sister, and left Harry al- 
 most blind, and with headaches which 
 came sometimes every week, and made 
 him weak and almost helpless while they 
 lasted. 
 
 Papa came home, when peace was de- 
 clared, to find his one little boy, what 
 nurse called " a rack o' bones," and 
 mamma almost worn out taking care of 
 him. Harry could but just bear the mo- 
 tion of a carriage, and the cars brought on
 
 6 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 his headaches at once. Papa took him 
 to Newport, thinking that sea bathing 
 might help him; and Harry did grow 
 stronger, though the headaches still re- 
 mained. They went back to Boston 
 when fall came; but it was papa's turn 
 now, and, as the months went on, he 
 coughed a little hacking cough, and grew 
 so thin that people shook their heads, and 
 said he had ruined his health in the army, 
 and would never get well. Boston east 
 winds and sea fogs, settling about one like 
 a wet blanket, made him worse, and worse, 
 and so at last he found, that, to live at all, 
 it was necessary to go away again. He 
 was a doctor, you know, and before this 
 had sent a good many people, sick in the 
 same way as himself, to the far North- 
 west; many of them had come home 
 well again, and he knew that to follow 
 the same plan, was the best thing to do. 
 So they gave up their own little house, 
 and mamma and Hary went to stay at 
 grandfather Barnard's till Dr. Prescott 
 should have tried the West, and decided 
 whether or not they had better join him 
 there. 
 
 So he went from one town to another 
 in Minnesota, getting better very slowly, 
 but never well, and sometimes sadly dis-
 
 WHITE AND RED. 7 
 
 couraged, till at last he made up his mind 
 to try the " Pineries," as the great woods 
 are called. In the mean time, an appoint- 
 ment as doctor for the Red Lake band of 
 Chippewas was offered, and Dr. Prescott, 
 who knew well how necessary it was that 
 every one should have some special work 
 to do, accepted, with the privilege of giv- 
 ing it up, should his health be no better. 
 The journey to Red Lake was made, and 
 from there, at intervals through the sum- 
 mer, came letters, filled not only with the 
 good news of returning health, but with 
 such stories of life there, as made Harry 
 quite wild to try it. They were all lone- 
 sonic letters though, and at last, late in 
 the fall, came the one in which he asked 
 mamma to join him. 
 
 You know how it was received, and so 
 it will not surprise you to hear that, 
 though when Harry came down next 
 morning, he found their going to be a set- 
 tled thing, still grandma and the aunties 
 thought it very dreadful to live among 
 Indians, and coaxed mamma in every way 
 to leave Harry with them while she was 
 gone. 
 
 Of course mamma only laughed, and 
 went on making preparations for the jour- 
 ney. Papa had written that only the
 
 8 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 warmest woollen clothes were to be taken. 
 Everything fine was to be left at home, 
 and the only thought to be, that of keep- 
 ing comfortable. It was already the first 
 of November, and Dr. Prescott's letter 
 said that he would be at Milwaukie by the 
 fifth, and wait there for them. So the 
 packing went on swiftly, and when Dr. 
 Brown came in, in the evening, mamma 
 sat by the table putting some warm 
 " ears " to Harry's cap, while Harry him- 
 self was looking over a pile of books, and 
 wondering which he had better take, as 
 he had been limited to three. 
 
 u Only think of it ! " he said, looking up. 
 "We're going to-morrow afternoon in a 
 sleeping car, so I can lie down, and the 
 next morning we shall be where the boat 
 is." 
 
 u Where is that ? " said the Doctor. 
 
 " Ogdensburg." mamma answered. " Fa- 
 ther bought our tickets to-day, and we 
 can easily be ready to-morrow " 
 
 " Going alone ? " 
 
 " I suppose so," mamma went on. " 'Tis 
 only a night's ride, with nothing to do 
 when we get to Ogdensburg, but go on 
 board the boat, and I have had to go 
 about alone so much, that I do not dread 
 it in the least, except for Harry."
 
 WHITE AND RED. 9 
 
 "I'll be at the cars to-morrow, and see 
 you off," said the Doctor. 
 
 " Goody ! " said Harry, who was very 
 intimate with him. " I wish you were go- 
 ing all the way. Uncle Charley wanted 
 to go with us, but he can't, and grandpa 
 can't either, only to the depot." 
 
 " You'll need a doctor before you get 
 to Milwaukie," said grandma, shaking her 
 head, " and those lake boats are always 
 blowing up or sinking." 
 
 " We'll write and tell you, the minute 
 this one does," said Harry; at which every 
 one laughed, he could not exactly see why. 
 
 Grandma felt better after the laugh, 
 and the evening passed away quietly, as 
 if it were not the last together for many 
 long months. The next day, too, went 
 swiftly by. There was so many last 
 things to do, with all of them. Harry 
 made two or three calls on some special 
 friends, and I am afraid to tell half the 
 things he promised to bring each one 
 from the Indian country. 
 
 Half-past four came at last, the carriage 
 was at the door; the great trunk strap- 
 ped behind, grandpa on the box with the 
 coachman ; and mamma and Harry, and 
 grandma and Aunt Fanny inside. Uncle 
 Charley put a travelling-bag in Harry's
 
 10 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 hand, and told him he had better not 
 open the bundles in it till next day, when 
 they were on the boat, and then the whip 
 snapped, and they rolled off through the 
 crooked streets to the depot. Grandpa 
 found them nice seats in the sleeping 
 car, after some trouble, and then came 
 the good-bys, when even Harry, who 
 wanted to be very manly, cried a little, 
 and began to think how he should miss 
 them all. The whistle sounded, the con- 
 ductor shouted, " All aboard ! " Grandpa 
 and the rest hurried out, and Harry, look- 
 ing from the window for a last glimpse, 
 saw Dr. Brown, with a satchel in his hand, 
 swing himself to the platform of one of 
 the cars as they moved out of the depOt. 
 
 u Why, mamma I " was all he had time 
 to say, for the car door opened, and 
 mamma, looking up, was quite as much 
 astonished as he 
 
 u You surely do not think of going all 
 the way to Ogdensburg," she said, as the 
 Doctor sat gravely down, and put his bag 
 by the other two. 
 
 "I don't know why not," he said. "I 
 wanted a little change, and this is the best 
 opportunity I have had for a long time. 
 What have you there ? You are not to 
 read in this light"
 
 WHITE AND RED. 11 
 
 Mamma knew it was altogether on Har- 
 ry's account that he had come ; but she 
 knew, too, that nothing must be said 
 about it, for this was Dr. Brown's way. 
 So she only sat comfortably back, feeling 
 that here was somebody to take all re- 
 sponsibility, and Harry talked for a while, 
 and looked from the window till his eyes' 
 were tired, and then leaned his head on 
 mamma's shoulder. This was joggly rest, 
 though, and soon Dr. Brown, who had been 
 watching him, went out, coming back 
 directly with a boy, who said, "The 
 other side of the car, if you please." 
 
 Harry watched with great interest, after 
 they had changed to the opposite side, 
 while the boy pulled their two seats 
 toward each other, till all at once they 
 met, and were a bed. Then, from some 
 place overhead, he pulled pillows and 
 blankets, and a thin mattress, and in a 
 very few minutes had quite a comfortable 
 bed ready, on which Harry was glad 
 enough to lie down. Mamma put some 
 bay water on his forehead, and brushed his 
 nair, and soon he was sound asleep. 
 
 " Better than I expected," said the Doc- 
 tor. "The roughest place is between 
 Rouse's Point and Ogdensburg, and he 
 may get through well with that, though 
 I'm doubtful."
 
 12 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 Harry slept on quietly, and in another 
 hour or so Dr. Brown took a berth op- 
 posite, charging mamma to speak at once, 
 should Harry wake up sick. Mamma was 
 tired herself, and glad to lie down, and 
 though Harry did wake once or twice, 
 and for a moment could not tell where 
 "he was, and held her hand tight, he went 
 sound asleep again, and could hardly be- 
 lieve the night had gone, when he opened 
 his eyes, and saw the sun shining, and 
 mamma sitting on the edge of the bed. 
 
 They went together into a little room 
 at the end of the car, where they found 
 water and a looking-glass. Mamma had 
 a towel in her bag, and after their faces 
 were washed, and hair brushed, they went 
 back to their place. Dr. Brown had just 
 crawled down, declaring the pillow had 
 got into his ear, and that he had had to 
 put his feet in his pocket to keep them 
 warm, and Harry showed him where the 
 little room was. When he came back the 
 boy was there, making the bed into seats 
 again, and Harry walked down the aisle 
 with him, watching the way it was done. 
 The whistle sounded, and he went back to 
 find out what place they were coming to. 
 
 " Georgia was the last," said the Doctor, 
 looking at his guide-book, "so this must
 
 WHITE AND RED. 13 
 
 be St. Albans, where they have the finest 
 depot east of Chicago. We stop there for 
 breakfast, so you will see a little of it. 
 
 " Twenty minutes for breakfast ! " the 
 conductor shouted, as the train rolled into 
 an immense building, arched overhead ; 
 half a dozen tracks running through the 
 centre, and doors opening on all sides. ' 
 The Doctor hurried them through the 
 large, cheerful ladies' room, into a still 
 larger, more cheerful one, with a long 
 counter of Vermont marble at one end, 
 and white covered tables at intervals. In 
 two minutes more, breakfast was before 
 them ; golden butter, such as it is hard to 
 find out of New England ; beefsteak and 
 coffee, and more good things than it is 
 worth while to write about here. 
 
 Harry had a great goblet of milk, almost 
 cream, and then another, and ate beefsteak 
 and brown bread till he wanted no more, 
 looking now and then around the beautiful 
 room, paneled in black ash and walnut, like 
 all the rooms they had come through, and 
 filled now with a hungry crowd, quite as 
 busy as they were. 
 
 Harry would have liked to buy some of 
 the nice looking cake on the counter, but 
 mamma said they were to have dinner on 
 board the boat, and anything sweet might
 
 14 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 make his head ache, so he bought a red 
 apple instead. The Doctor made a flying 
 call up-stairs after he had seated them in 
 the cars again, and said it was the most 
 perfect depot he had ever seen, and he 
 should have liked to take them all over it. 
 
 To Rouse's Point seemed only a short 
 time. They looked from the windows at 
 the long meadows, where the cattle feed in 
 spring and summer, but which lay now 
 bare and gray, between the miles of fen- 
 cing. All about St. Albans is dairy country, 
 and many hundred thousand pounds of 
 butter and cheese are sent out yearly from 
 there. Harry had a long talk about but- 
 ter-making there and in England, and in- 
 deed, everywhere, for the Doctor seemed 
 to know the different ways of doing it all 
 over the world. Harry was just thinking 
 what a taste butter must have after being 
 shaken in a goat-skin for an hour or two, 
 when the train stopped at Rouse's Point. 
 Here was a great steamboat, and Harry 
 thought at first it was the one they were 
 to take, but the Doctor said, " No, this was 
 to go down Lake Champlain, " and led 
 them across some tracks to a train, which 
 stood waiting, and moved off almost before 
 they had time to get seated. 
 
 It was a long train, and all the cars
 
 WHITE AND RED. 15 
 
 seemed filled with people going west by 
 the Grand Trunk Railroad, which takes 
 one through Canada. The conductor was 
 a very fat, very gruff man, in uniform, 
 with a gilt band around his cap. The 
 seats were uncomfortable, and though 
 they went very slowly, or at least it 
 seemed slow, after the swift travelling of 
 the train they had left, still they jounced 
 and rattled in such a way, that Harry's 
 head was very soon throbbing with pain, 
 and he lay in mamma's lap with such a pale 
 face, that an old lady in the next seat of- 
 fered peppermint drops and camphor, and 
 s^id, such a sick looking child as that 
 ought to stay at home. 
 
 They rode till nearly noon, when they 
 reached Ogdenshurg; poor Harry could 
 hardly lift his head, and mamma was glad 
 indeed that Dr. Brown's strong arms could 
 carry him to the propeller close by, and 
 lay him in the berth, in their fresh, clean 
 little state-room. After an hour or two, 
 he began to feel better, and then Dr. 
 Brown took him out to the deck, and left 
 him with mamma, while he went for the 
 Captain, who had just come on board, and 
 whom, they found, he knew very well. 
 Captain Davis was his name, and he knew 
 papa, who had, he said, been very kind to
 
 16 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 him, when he was sick in Beaufort, three 
 years before. He was a short man, with 
 bright, pleasant eyes, and a quick, ener- 
 getic way, and Harry and mamma both 
 thought they should like him very much. 
 He went away in a few moments, and then 
 Dr. Brown said it was almost time for him 
 to go. He meant to go back to Rouse's 
 Point in the one o'clock train ; sail down 
 Lake Champlain, from there to Burlington, 
 that he might have a look at Camel's 
 Hump, Mount Mansfield, and the Adiron- 
 dacks, and from there take cars to Boston. 
 
 Mamma tried to thank him for the care 
 he had taken of Harry, but he said, 
 " Not a word, not a word. I've had a very 
 good time, and the best breakfast I've 
 eaten for years." 
 
 Then he shook hands with mamma, and 
 patted Harry, who threw his arms around 
 his neck, and hugged him tight. Dr. 
 Brown, taken by surprise, hugged back 
 again, and then went away, leaving a small 
 package in mamma's lap. A train came 
 whistling along. Larry watched, till he 
 saw Dr. Brown get in, waving his hand to 
 them as he stepped on the platform ; then, 
 another whistle, a puff of steam from the 
 great engine, and t'ie Doctor, was on his 
 way home to Bosto i. Harry looked up to 
 see mamma's eyes lull of tears.
 
 WHITE AND RED. 17 
 
 Are you sorry now you are going ? " 
 he said. 
 
 " No indeed/' she answered, " for very 
 soon we shall be with papa. I was only 
 sorry to say good-by to so dear a friend. 
 He can tell grandma, though, how well 
 you bore last night's ride, and what a nice 
 boat we are in, and that will make her 
 glad. 
 
 " I guess it will," said Harry, taking up 
 the package. " Why, mamma, this is for me. 
 See, here's my name. It feels like a book.". 
 
 Harry untied the string, and pulled off 
 the paper. 
 
 " It is a book," he said, and the very one 
 r wanted. 'Swiss Family Robinson/ and 
 my name in it too ! Is n't he nice ? Now 
 I shall have something to read all the way." 
 
 " You a little, and I a good deal," mamma 
 said. " That is the dinner-bell you hear. 
 Are you hungry ? " 
 
 " Some," Harry said, putting the paper 
 around the book again, and they went into 
 the cabin. The Captain gave Mrs. Pres- 
 cott a seat by him, but was called away 
 before he had finished his soup. Harry 
 looked around the table. On the opposite 
 side were a long line of men, next to him 
 several ladies ; and looking down toward 
 
 the end, he saw two children, and won- 
 2
 
 18 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 dered if they were nice to play with. 
 After dinner he went into the state-room, 
 and, for the first time since his head had 
 begun to ache, thought of the bag Uncle 
 Charley had given him. 
 
 Mamma said he would enjoy looking 
 over the packages more after the boat had 
 started, she thought, though he could do 
 as he liked. 
 
 " Can we take a little walk ? " Harry 
 asked ; " because, if we can, I'll wait." 
 
 " Yes," mamma said. " The boat will not 
 start before five." 
 
 So Harry hung the bag up again, giving 
 a pinch or two, as if that would tell what 
 was in it, and then started out with mamma. 
 Over the railing two children were leaning, 
 looking down into the water; a boy just 
 about Harry's age, but tanned and sturdy, 
 and a little girl, sunburned too, and with 
 bright brown . eyes, who smiled as they 
 went by. 
 
 "Would you like to come too?" Mrs. 
 Prescott said. 
 
 The little girl ran in, coming out in a 
 moment with a tall, pleasant-looking wom- 
 an, who, as she saw Mrs. Prescott, said, 
 "I'm afraid they,, will trouble you." 
 
 " Not at all," Mrs. Prescott said, and the 
 children, who were looking shyly at Harry,
 
 WHITE AXD RED. 19 
 
 went down the narrow little stairs, right 
 under the wheel-house, and picked their 
 way through boxes and barrels, to the 
 plank. The sun shone warm and pleas- 
 ant, though it was November, and they 
 walked nearly a mile up the river, talking 
 faster and faster as the shyness wore off} 
 and they grew better acquainted. Mrs. 
 Prescott liked them both, and was glad 
 Harry should have two such healthy, hearty 
 companions even for a few days. 
 
 " My name's Tom," said the boy, as 
 they turned again toward the boat. 
 "What's yours?" 
 
 " Mine's Harry Prescott," said Harry, 
 locking at the little girl. " Yours is Clara, 
 isn't it ? 'I heard your brother call you 
 tliat." 
 
 "Yes, it's Clara." she said, laughing. 
 " Our other name's Twitchell. 'Tisn't a 
 bit pretty name, like yours." 
 
 " It's good enough," Harry said. " I 
 guess we shall have a real good time, all 
 of us." 
 
 "Yes, if you're not sick," said Tom; 
 " you'll be dreadful sick when you get out 
 on the Lakes." 
 
 "I went way down South once in a 
 steamboat," said Harry, "and wasn't sick 
 a bit ; " and hearing this, Tom asked so
 
 20 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 many questions, that they were at the 
 boat again before the talk was half through. 
 The two children sitting in the cabin, 
 seemed surprised when the other three 
 came laughing in. Harry looked at them 
 a moment, thinking they had not as good- 
 natured faces as Tom and Clara, and then 
 went into the state-room with mamma, this 
 time really to find out what was in the 
 bag. Mamma sat down on the edge of the 
 berth, while Harry pulled out one package 
 after another, each marked with the name 
 of the giver. 
 
 There was something from each one 
 at home ; grandma's gift was a box of 
 dominoes, which Harry thought he should 
 use that very evening. Then came two 
 or three puzzles ; queer-shaped bits of 
 paper, which, when put together, made a 
 picture, - one, of a monkey sitting on a 
 barrel ; another, a boy fishing. 
 
 " From Uncle Charley," was on a little 
 box, which, when opened, showed a Craig 
 microscope, a thing Harry had wanted a 
 long time, and which so delighted him he 
 could hardly wait to look at the other 
 bundles. One held "Holiday House,", a 
 nice story some of you have read, I dare 
 say ; and the very last was a box of can- 
 died fruit. The bag itself was not a com-
 
 WHITE AND RED. 21 
 
 mon bag, for one side was a complete 
 dressing-case, filled with brush and comb, 
 tooth and nail brushes, an oil-silk pocket 
 for soap and sponge, and a small glass, 
 which slipped 'into a place of its own. 
 Harry drew a long breath as he finished 
 the search, finding, at the very last, some 
 pencils and pieces of drawing-paper in 
 another pocket. 
 
 " I should think it was Christmas," he 
 said. " I wish I could thank them all." 
 
 " You can in a little letter," said mamma. 
 " These are Christmas gifts coming before 
 Christmas, because then you wiU be away 
 from home. You can write a letter to-mor- 
 ro>v, if you like, and mail it when we stop 
 at Oswego." 
 
 " Perhaps I will," said Harry. " They're 
 pulling ropes ! They're going to start. 
 Let's go out on deck, mamma." 
 
 Harry ran out, followed more slowly by 
 mamma, to find Clara and Tom there be- 
 fore him. There was no wide deck where 
 passengers could sit; only a small open 
 space at one end, where heavy coils of 
 rope lay, and where the Captain or mate 
 stood when giving orders. A narrow way, 
 hardly more than three feet wide, ran 
 around the boat, and here at any mo- 
 ment one was liable to be tripped by
 
 22 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 ropes, which seemed to come from every- 
 where, and end nowhere. Harry thought 
 it too bad that there was no more room 
 outside, but you will see by and by why 
 it had to be so. 
 
 The men were running through this 
 narrow passage-way, and Mrs. Prescott 
 drew the children into the door-way, 
 where they could still see, and stood there, 
 till the boat, after a few more whistles, 
 much shouting and running, and some 
 hard bumps against the wharf, steamed off 
 down the St. Lawrence. 
 
 It was almost six o'clock. The sun had 
 set, and night was fast coming on.. It was 
 chilly, too, and Harry and mamma both 
 were not sorry to hear the tea-bell ring. 
 The Captain was not at the table, which 
 was almost filled, more people having 
 come on board since dinner-time. The 
 four children were not there. They sat 
 at the end of the cabin, but seemed to 
 have very little to say to each other. 
 Hurry went to them when he had finished 
 supper. 
 
 " Why didn't you come ? " he said. 
 " There was plenty of room." 
 
 "That's why," said Tom, pointing to 
 some " Ruks for Passengers" framed, and 
 hanging close by; and then reading,
 
 WHITE AND RED. 23 
 
 "'Children not allowed at the first table' 
 Mother read that, and said we must wait." 
 
 "I suppose you think you're great 
 things," said the oldest of the other two 
 children, a boy about twelve. "I don't 
 see what business you have at the first 
 table any more'n the rest of us." 
 
 " Look here, mamma," said Harry, pay- 
 ing no attention to the boy. " See what it 
 says about children. I can't go to the 
 table any more with you." 
 
 " Perhaps you can," said mamma. " The 
 rule hardly seems necessary on so small a 
 boat. There is room enough at the first 
 table, and it is better for children to be 
 with their fathers and mothers than to eat 
 alone." 
 
 " 1 think so too," said Mrs. Twichell, who 
 had just come up to them. " For my 
 part, 1 had rather wait with them, than 
 have them go alone. I don't see the use 
 of .such a rule, unless perhaps in. summer, 
 when the boats are crowded." 
 
 " There's no sense in rules for passen- 
 gers, anyhow," said a loud-voiced woman 
 ' behind them. " Folks that pay, have the 
 right to do as they're a mind to. My 
 Clarence and 'Melia are going to the table 
 to-morrow, rule or no rule. If your boy 
 goes, I calculate mine has as good a 
 right."
 
 24 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 Mrs. Prescott had stepped into her state- 
 room and so lost this remark. Harry fol- 
 lowed to get his bag, which he wanted to 
 show to the Twitchell children ; and all 
 of them sat down, after a time on a sofa, 
 and looked at everything. "Clarence 
 and 'Melia " came too, but snatched and 
 pulled in such a way, that Harry, who was 
 very careful of his things, finally put them 
 back in the bag, leaving out only the box 
 of dominoes, with which they played two 
 or three games. 
 
 It was soon bed-time. Harry stood up 
 on the stool in their state-room after he 
 had said good-night, and tried to see some 
 of the thousand islands through which 
 they were passing. It was too dark, 
 though, and he could but just see the dim 
 outlines of trees as they passed by. Mam- 
 ma helped him climb to the top berth 
 after he had said his evening prayer, and 
 very soon he was sound asleep, while the 
 boat went steadily on, nearer and nearer 
 to the waters of the first great lake, On- 
 tario. 
 
 When morning came, a high wind was 
 blowing; the boat rolled and creaked, and 
 Harry, looking from the window, saw only 
 the faintest line of land in the distance. 
 He wondered, as he dressed, that his head
 
 WHITE AND RED. 25 
 
 should swim, and his legs feel as if they 
 did not belong to him. 
 
 " After I've been on the real sea, I 
 couldn't be sea-sick here ; could I, mam- 
 ma?" he said. 
 
 " I think you are sea-sick now, just a 
 little," she said. " Lie down while I dress, 
 and then we will go on deck." 
 
 Hardly any one was in the cabin as 
 they went through. Harry could but just 
 keep his feet, and outside it was still 
 worse. Captain Davis came to meet 
 them, and laughed as he saw Harry stag- 
 ger. 
 
 " This is only the beginning," he said. 
 "It's breezy now, we shall have wind 
 pretty soon." 
 
 " I thought we were having it now," 
 Harry said, looking at the sail, against 
 which the wind seemed really to pound, 
 for a hollow sound, like a .drum, came 
 from it. " I didn't know anybody could 
 be sea-sick on a lake ; but this boat jerks 
 so." 
 
 " That is because we are in what sailors 
 call a ' chopping sea,' " said Captain Davis, 
 " which is worse than a long /oiling wave. 
 Over that you can ride easily, but these 
 short waves play the mischief with even 
 good sailors. I've been sea-sick myself
 
 26 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 on Lake Michigan. Keep in the air all 
 you can." 
 
 " I would, if there wasn't so much," said 
 Harry. "But mamma I guess I 
 must " 
 
 Poor Harry ! He had to lean over the 
 railing just then, and looked so like 
 u green and yellow melancholy," when he 
 lilted his head again, that mamma had not 
 the heart to laugh at him. The breakfast- 
 bell rang, but even the thought of break- 
 fast was dreadful. Mamma led him in, 
 catching at chairs and tables to keep from 
 falling, and he lay down, finding it no use 
 to try and sit up. So the day went on. 
 Mamma read to him now and then, and at 
 noon brought him some soup, which he 
 could not taste. There was an hour's rest 
 at Oswego, which Harry improved by eat- 
 ing his apple and some bread and butter ; 
 for the strange part of sea-sickness is, that 
 if the boat stops, one is just as well as 
 ever. Trouble began again with starting, 
 and as the rolling, and creaking, and blow- 
 ing went on, even mamma felt uncomforta- 
 ble, and was glad to think that this would 
 not last all night.
 
 WHITE AND RED. 27 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 * HARRY tossed and tumbled through the 
 night till one or two o'clock, when the mo- 
 tion suddenly lessened, and in a few mo- 
 ments they were going on quietly, though 
 the wind blew furiously. He was too 
 sleepy even to wonder ; but when morn- 
 ing came, looked out at once on awaking, 
 to see what it could mean. 
 
 " We're in a river ; we're not in a lake 
 any longer," he called to mamma. " What 
 is it?" 
 
 " The Welland River," she said, " where 
 we have been stopping for the last two or 
 three hours. We are going now into the 
 Welland Canal, and we shall be a long time 
 in getting through, though it is very short." 
 
 " Why," Harry asked. 
 
 "Because there are so many locks; 
 twenty-seven in all, in a distance of thirty- 
 six miles, and some of them only a stone's 
 throw apart." 
 
 Harry dressed quickly and went on deck, 
 as the boat entered a lock, the great gates 
 of which were just shutting behind it,
 
 28 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 while in front was a high wall of stone. 
 Harry, who had never been in a lock be- 
 fore, looked in wonder, as the water pour- 
 ing in, gradually lifted them, till another 
 pair of gates in front swung open, and they 
 passed out, to enter another set in a few 
 moments. The boat seemed to fit tight 
 in the lock they had just left, and he won- 
 dered at their getting through at all. The 
 next was wider, but still it was very easy 
 to see why the boat must be narrow. 
 
 " It feels like being in a well ; and it's 
 like going up-stairs too, isn't it?" Harry 
 said to Captain Davis, who stood njsar. 
 
 " Yes," said the Captain, " and a long 
 flight too. When we get to Port Colburn 
 where we go into Lake Erie, we shall be 
 three hundred and forty-six feet higher 
 than we were at Port Dalhousie, when we 
 left Lake Ontario. You can get out to-day 
 and have a walk, if you like." 
 
 " Can we ? " said mamma, who had just 
 come out. How ? " 
 
 " This way," said the Captain, stepping 
 to the railing around the boat, which was 
 now on a level with the wall of the lock, 
 and off and on again in a moment. " You 
 see it is very easy, and we go so slowly, 
 you can keep ahead of us without trouble." 
 
 " See, what a big ship," said Harry, look-
 
 WHITE AND RED. 29 
 
 ing over the side of the boat, at a large 
 brig they were passing. " There's ever so 
 many ahead." 
 
 " Work then for us," said the Captain, 
 "for two or three are aground, waiting for 
 us to pull them off. " 
 
 " Torn and Clara came out as he walked 
 away, and were as interested as* Harry in 
 watching the ships. Breakfast interrupt- 
 ed them for a little while ; and then till 
 dinner-time they stayed on deck, going 
 only three or four miles. The two vessels 
 aground were heavily laden, and the pro- 
 peller pulled and backed, and whistled and 
 cracked, and strained the great ropes, till 
 Harry was sure they would crack. One 
 brig got off, and then they went through 
 another lock before reaching the next one, 
 which was harder to manage than the first. 
 Then, when this was done, they had to 
 wait for a vessel to come through a lock 
 and make room for them, watching as it 
 entered, at first far above them ; then set- 
 tling down, down, till the great gates 
 opened, and she slid through. 
 
 After dinner, mamma and he, with Tom 
 and Clara, got out at one of the locks, and 
 walked on for a mile or two, till Harry was 
 tired, and went into a little store to rest. 
 Here he bought some apples, and the clerk
 
 30 ' WHITE AND RED. 
 
 gave him two Canada pennies for change, 
 which he wrapped in a piece of paper, and 
 decided to keep, as they were the first 
 foreign money he had ever had. Here 
 they waited two or three hours, watching 
 some ships go through the lock, and won- 
 dering why their boat did not come. They 
 walked back a little way, but Mrs. Prescott 
 said it was better not to go farther ; be- 
 cause if they should meet the boat between 
 the locks, there would be no way of get- 
 ting on. She was in sight as they turned, 
 and the people came out of the store to 
 see them get on, as she rose in the lock. 
 
 Harry began "Holiday House" in the 
 afternoon, lending "Swiss Family Robin- 
 son " to Tom, who sat down in a corner with 
 Clara, and read aloud. Harry listened af- 
 ter his eyes were tired, and wished they 
 could go all the way as quietly. 
 
 " We shah 1 get out to-night, after all," 
 the Captain said, at the tea-table. "I did 
 not think so, when I saw the line of boats 
 this morning." 
 
 " How long .are you, generally, in going 
 through ? " mamma asked. 
 
 " I have done it in nine hours ; but that 
 is uncommon. Anything from nine hours 
 to a day and a half, and more." 
 
 Harry's eyes opened wide. " A day and 
 a half," he said, and only thirty-six miles!"
 
 WHITE AND RED. 31 
 
 " You will see slower travelling than that 
 before your journey's end," laughed the 
 Captain, rising from the table. " What do 
 you think of six miles a day ?" 
 
 " Nothing could go as slow as that ; not 
 even a mud-turtle," said Harry, getting 
 into a discussion with Tom at once, as to 
 how far a turtle really could travel in a 
 day, which, with some playing of dominoes, 
 went on till bed-time. 
 
 In a pouring rain next day, they went 
 through Lake Erie to Cleveland, reaching 
 there in the afternoon, and staying till late 
 night ; and here Harry wrote and mailed 
 a little letter home. Next day through St. 
 Clair, a mere speck of a lake, to Huron, 
 and here began a wind, which blew and 
 blew, till Harry, sea-sick again, hardly 
 cared what became of them. Great waves 
 dashed over the boat, which rolled from side 
 to side. People with pale faces crawled 
 out now and then, holding tight to the 
 railing. Things in the steerage seemed to 
 be having their own way altogether, and 
 loose pots and pans went bumpity-bump 
 against the sides, one going overboard, and 
 bobbing up and down in the waves some 
 time before it sunk. Through the Straits 
 of Mackinaw it was tolerably quiet. Harry 
 went on deck, and looked through the
 
 32 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 Captain's glass at the trading post at Mack- 
 inaw ; but as they entered Lake Michigan 
 ijt grew worse and worse, till at last, late in 
 the afternoon, the Captain said it would be 
 unsafe to go on through the night, and 
 put in to shore. 
 
 Look on your maps at the northwestern 
 shore of Michigan and you will see a point 
 called Sleeping Bear. Right under the 
 nose of this bear they went into harbor ; 
 and here they lay two days, while the wind 
 howled down the pipes, and tugged at the 
 ropes which held them to the pier, and al- 
 together went on in all sorts of improper 
 ways. Half a mile back from shore were 
 two or three log-houses ; and nearer by, a 
 store, owned by the company which ran 
 this line of propellers. They called it Glen 
 Harbor City, and of course every one on 
 board visited it, for time hung heavy in the 
 two days of waiting. 
 
 The pier was long, and almost danger- 
 ous for the children to cross, for the wind 
 swept over it with such force, as almost to 
 carry them away. Once on shore, they 
 plunged into deep, white sand, which 
 whirled into their eyes and filled their 
 shoes, and was in every way uncomfortable. 
 Harry did not mind it, and he and the other 
 children dug a great hole in the sand, and
 
 WHITE AND RED. 33 
 
 played they were in a fort. He found, too, 
 one beautiful cornelian ; and on seeing it, 
 almost every one on board went out in 
 search of more, and scattered along the 
 shore for a mile or two. All the neighbor- 
 hood came down to see the boats, for by 
 this time two or three more had corne in 
 to escape the wind. The second day, 
 while they were at dinner, a tall man in a 
 red shirt, appeared in the door way. 
 
 " There's goin 'ter be a ball ter-night, an' 
 any of you that's a mind ter, can come," he 
 said, looking around, and then went away 
 without waiting for an answer. 
 
 " Well, ladies," the Captain said, laugh- 
 ing, " I am at your service. How many 
 shall I have the pleasure of escorting ? " 
 
 " Mamma and me," said Harry, at which 
 they all began to laugh, and the engineer 
 asked whether he would go in pink silk or 
 white, and would he allow him the pleasure 
 of the first waltz. Mrs. Twitchell and one 
 or two others said they would go ; and so, 
 when seven o'clock struck, quite a party 
 went on shore. Clara said she had read 
 stones about balls, and wasn't it splendid 
 to think they were really going to one ? 
 Miss 'Melia had frizzed her hair, on a pipe- 
 handle, heated in a lamp, till Tom said she 
 looked like a walking hornet's nest, and
 
 34 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 Clarence had smoothed his down with 
 something which smelled very strong of 
 winter-green. 
 
 The house at which the ball was to be 
 was a log one, divided into two rooms. In 
 one, eight or nine girls sat solemnly; and 
 in another were the men, wood-choppers 
 and teamsters, waiting for the music. The 
 only fiddler in the country lived two miles 
 back, and had not got there yet. The chil- 
 dren sat down, feeling, in the dead silence, 
 a good deal as if they were at a funeral. 
 By and by a faint squeak was heard com- 
 ing down the road. It grew louder and 
 louder, and soon an immensely tall man 
 came in, dressed in a blue shirt, with red 
 braid zigzagging up the front. 
 
 " All you that ain't goin' to dance, set 
 tight to the wall," he shouted, beginning 
 " Money Musk." 
 
 The men poured in from the next room, 
 seized partners, and began at once a cotil- 
 lon. No walking through the figures, but 
 a double shuffle whenever the least chance 
 for one came in ; and coming down on 
 their heels at the end of each figure with 
 a rattle and clatter, quite delightful to 
 Harry. Captain Davis took a partner 
 when a second dance began ; a fat girl in 
 green calico, trimmed with alternate rows
 
 WHITE AND RED. 35 
 
 of yellow and black braid, and evidently 
 the belle, for two or three came up to 
 engage her; and one young man stood 
 and glowered at the Captain through the 
 dance, and led her away as soon as it end- 
 ed. The refreshments were root beer and 
 gingerbread ; one in tin cups, the other in 
 chunks. 
 
 " We did use to git up a supper,'' said 
 the woman to whom the house belonged. 
 "But you see we don't have nothin' but 
 what we raise, 'cept what the boats brings 
 along in summer time ; an' in the winter 
 we git down to hog an' hominy mostly, 
 unless a sled maybe goes back for a load 
 o' store things, an' that ain't often. It's 
 stylisher, they do say, to have cake, an' a 
 drink o' something tasty; an' it's handier, 
 any way." 
 
 "Do you have many balls in the win- 
 ter ? " asked Mrs. Prescott. 
 
 " Two a week, straight through," the 
 woman said. " Them, an' a meetin' now 
 and then, is the only things there is to pass 
 away the time when work's done. They 
 have 'em here, mostly. Ourn's the biggest 
 house round ; and that short young man 
 over there," pointing to the jealous young 
 man, " he's got a horse he wouldn't take 
 a thousand dollars for; an' he rigs up
 
 36 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 a sled and goes after 'em. That's my Cor- 
 nely he's standin' by. They'll be jined 
 afore long. She got the pattern for that 
 dress o' hern out o' a fashion-book. It's 
 tasty, ain't it?" 
 
 " Quite gay," Mrs. Prescott said, wanting 
 so to laugh that she was very uncomfort- 
 able, and wondered if the squaws had 
 fashion-books, and wore trains. The mate 
 came in just then, and whispered to the 
 Captain, who came to them at once. 
 
 " The wind has changed," he said, " and 
 is driving us on shore. We must start to- 
 night," and he hurried them away. It was 
 not easy getting on board, the boat rose 
 and fell so, grinding against the heavy 
 timbers of the pier, as if her sides would 
 be crushed in. But they were safely on 
 board at last, and Harry hurried to bed, 
 knowing that more sea-sickness was com- 
 ing. He was not mistaken ; and that 
 night, and next day, it was hard to say 
 which felt the worse, he or mamma. All 
 day long they labored through Lake Michi- 
 gan. One paddle came off the screw ; and 
 as another had been lost in one of the 
 locks, they went very slowly, not getting 
 into Milwaukie till ten that evening. 
 
 It was the twelfth of November, and Dr. 
 Prescott had been waiting there nearly a
 
 WHITE AND RED. 37 
 
 week, watching for the boat, which had left 
 Ogdensburg the third, and should have been 
 but five days in getting through. You 
 will know how anxious he must have been 
 at the delay, and how glad to hear, as he 
 started down to the docks for the last time 
 that night, that the Akron was in. Harry 
 sat up as soon as the dreadful motion 
 ceased, though he felt weak and dizzy ; and 
 mamma put on her things, just in time for 
 papa, who hugged them both so hard, and 
 so many times, that it was doubtful whether 
 they could get off that night. There was 
 a carriage waiting for them ; and after 
 they had said good-by to Captain Davis, 
 they went to a hotel, and slept deliciously 
 till morning. 
 
 After breakfast they went through some 
 of the principal streets of the city, taking 
 cars for Prairie Du Chien at eleven, and 
 reaching there in the evening. The steam- 
 boat which they expected to find waiting, 
 had been delayed, so there was another 
 night at a hotel, and a walk about town 
 next morning, while waiting for the boat. 
 Harry did not like it a bit. Pigs ran every- 
 where through the streets, as they do in 
 too many Western towns, and the prairie 
 stretched away on all sides, dull, brown, 
 and gray.
 
 38 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 The Mississippi was another disappoint- 
 ment A mud-colored stream, flowing 
 swiftly between high bluffs, sandy, and 
 crumbling away on either side. The boat 
 came about ten, looking to Harry like a 
 three-story house afloat. The lower deck 
 was entirely open, and the freight piled 
 here, the cabin being up-stairs. The 
 smoke-stacks were taller than any he had 
 ever seen before, and a constant shower of 
 cinders fell from them. The cabin ran the 
 whole length of the boat ; a bar was at one 
 end, where were always people drinking, 
 and the other intended for ladies, though 
 neither doors nor curtains separated it from 
 the main saloon, where the long table 
 stood. Their state-room was at the ladies' 
 end of the boat, opening by a second door, 
 as did all of them, on a gallery running 
 entirely around the boat, and roofed, to 
 protect it from the cinders, which lay in 
 little piles wherever they could find lodg- 
 ment. On one of the velvet sofas near 
 their door, sat an old woman with her hus- 
 band, both smoking short black pipes. At 
 dinner they sat opposite, and near them 
 was a man with such tightly curling hair 
 and dark skin, that Harry could hardly be- 
 lieve him white. 
 
 There was nothing really good to eat on
 
 WHITE AND RED. 39 
 
 the table, but everything was showy. Lit- 
 tle glass dishes, with dabs of jelly ; great 
 glass dishes, with pink and blue frosted 
 cakes, and pies and tarts between. 
 
 " If this ain't a lay-out ! " said the curly- 
 headed man. "It's sech a lay-out as I 
 hain't seen, no, not for eighteen year." 
 
 "Where have you been?" asked Dr. 
 Prescott, at whom he looked, with two or 
 three little nods, as if expecting an an- 
 swer. 
 
 "Where I hain't been would be easier 
 to tell," he answered. "I've been where 
 there ain't many that has : down in Ari- 
 zona, and pretty much anywhere you like 
 in South America. Then I got tired rovin' 
 round, and settled down to my trade a 
 spell, blacksmithin', in Nicaragua. I'm 
 goin' to a queerer place yet, now. Likely 
 you don't know nothin' about it ? Red 
 Lake." 
 
 " I left there a month or so ago, and am 
 on my way back now." 
 
 " You ! " said the curly-headed man. 
 " I'm beat ! Them your folks alongside 
 o' you ? You ain't goin' to take them 
 through ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Dr. Prescott. " Are you 
 going through directly ? " 
 
 " No, I ain't," said the man. " I'm goin'
 
 40 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 through some time the last o' December. 
 Goin' to trade up there a while. Reckon 
 you're working for Government Doctor, 
 maybe ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Dr. Prescott, half smiling ; 
 " so we shall see each other again." 
 
 " You was off on a hunt with the red 
 skins," said the man, " when I was up last 
 summer. I'm Bob Aikens, and you're Dr. 
 Prescott, I take it. You don't have a lay- 
 out like this up to Red Lake every day, I 
 tell you now.'* 
 
 Mr. Aikens stopped talking here, and 
 paid strict attention to every article of the 
 " lay-out ; " so strict, that he was not half 
 through the bill of fare when Harry had 
 finished his dinner. He joined them on 
 deck after a little while, and talked most 
 to Harry, looking at Mrs. Prescott now 
 and then, and saying, " Well, I'm beat ! 
 To think you're going through ! " 
 
 In the two days' journey they became 
 well acquainted. He was as thoroughly 
 uneducated as a man could well be ; and 
 yet, having watched closely everything he 
 had seen in his wanderings through strange 
 countries, was more entertaining than any 
 one else on board. A crowd gathered 
 about him, as he sat talking of adventures 
 here and there, and everywhere, and all
 
 WHITE AND RED. 41 
 
 were sorry to say good-by when he got off 
 at Red Wing, shaking hands with the 
 Prescotts as heartily as if he had known 
 them for years. You will hear more of 
 him as the story \goes on. 
 
 The morning of the third day brought 
 them to St. Paul, a city on a hill, or what 
 seemed a hill, after the prairie all about, 
 and the last point on the Mississippi to 
 which boats run. Sometimes one goes up 
 to the foot of St. Anthony's Falls, between 
 Minneapolis and St. Anthony, but St. Paul 
 is considered the head of navigation on 
 the river. Here Harry saw a crowd of 
 stern- wheelers, or " dew boats," as they are 
 called, which are of such light draught, 
 that 'tis said they will run in three inches 
 of water, and which have only one small 
 wheel at the stern. Just below the city 
 they passed the longest raft they had seen, 
 though several had been met on their way 
 down, some large and some small. 
 
 This one was entirely of boards, and 
 laden with thousands of shingles in neat 
 bundles. In the middle was a sort of 
 house, made of some of these boards ; a 
 woman sat in the door, knitting, and two 
 children were by her. Three men were 
 at each end, all working at long oars, 
 which seemed to be pieces of timber.
 
 42 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 They were trying to get the raft a little 
 nearer the shore, and Harry saw the rea- 
 son in a moment ; for, though their boat 
 was far enough away, the swell she made 
 quite covered one end of the raft, which 
 swayed as if it would come to pieces ; one 
 end went down so far, that the man on it 
 had to jump ; but the woman sat quite 
 still, watching her biscuit, which were 
 browning in a tin baker before the fire. 
 
 Harry had thought, on first seeing these 
 rafts, that the fire was built right on the 
 boards ; but he soon found out that there 
 was a large box on each, filled with sand, 
 on which the fire was made. There were 
 posts set up on each side, and a cross-piece, 
 with two or three hooks dangling from it, 
 on which they hung the kettles for cook- 
 ing. They had blankets and buffalo skins 
 in the house ; and on one side was a boat, 
 so that they could go ashore if they got 
 out of provisions, for sometimes they are 
 weeks in getting down the river. 
 
 Harry waved his handkerchief to the 
 children, who did nothing but stare at him ; 
 and then he went to the other side, to 
 have one more look at the curious flat- 
 boats which they had taken in tow at 
 Hastings, and which were exactly like 
 great Noah's Arks, and used for carrying
 
 WHITE AND RED. 43 
 
 grain. If I were not in such a hurry to 
 be at Red Lake, I should tell you more of 
 the strange sights on and along the river, 
 but there is no more time for that. 
 
 They left St. Paul at noon for Minneapo- 
 lis, stopping just beyond grim Fort Snell- 
 ing, at a station, which was what do 
 you think? The Falls of Minnehaha ! 
 Harry had read the " Song of Hiawatha." 
 Indeed, in many of the long days spent in 
 a darkened room, mamma had cheered him, 
 by telling, among many other stories, the 
 wonderful adventures, which she knew by 
 heart, of Hiawatha and his friends ; and 
 best among them, Harry liked his wooing 
 of Minnehaha. The Falls were as beauti- 
 ful as our dear poet's words which describe 
 them, and which you can all read for 
 yourselves. They spent the time till the 
 train came at four, going on all sides, to 
 get every possible view of them ; at the 
 very last, walking over the narrow, slip- 
 pery path in the rocks, right behind the 
 sheet of water, where there is a cave, a 
 little like the Cave of the Winds at Niag- 
 ara, and where the roar almost deafened 
 Harry. 
 
 At Minneapolis, where they waited two 
 or three days, expecting to see the Indian 
 Agent, were the Falls of St. Anthony,
 
 44 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 roaring and tumbling over the rocks. 
 Here are the largest saw-mills on the Mis- 
 sissippi, and indeed, this wonderful water- 
 power is used for every sort of mill, and 
 Harry was never tired of going from one 
 to another, watching the making of tubs 
 and pails, sashes, and blinds, and doors, 
 .woollen goods, and paper. The great 
 buildings seemed, many of them, right on 
 the smaller Falls. One in particular had 
 a little gallery running around it, and, 
 leaning over, he watched the water, green 
 here, brown there, churned into foam 
 among the rocks, plunging at last to more 
 rocks below, which tossed it back in clouds 
 of spray. Sometimes a stray log escaped 
 from some " boom," whirled along, stand- 
 ing almost upright as it neared the main 
 Fall, and then leaping down to the foam. 
 
 He liked, too, to cross the suspension- 
 bridge between Minneapolis and St. An- 
 thony, and feel it spring under his feet as 
 he walked ; but, though there was so much 
 to do, he was not sorry to hear one day 
 that the Indian Agent had come, and that, 
 in the afternoon, they could leave for St. 
 Cloud, the last point northwest of St. Paul 
 to which railroads are yet built. 
 
 They reached St. Cloud in the evening, 
 Harry too tired to care for anything but
 
 WHITE AND RED. 45 
 
 bed, or even to look out when the hotel 
 omnibus crossed the Mississippi on a ferry- 
 boat which slid over on a wire. The stage 
 for Crow Wing left at six the next morn- 
 ing, and Harry was just enough awake to 
 see that two boys were sitting on the back 
 seat, by a woman who held a baby. The 
 sun came up as they stopped at Sank Rap- 
 ids to take in a passenger, and Harry, 
 looking out, saw that they were on an 
 unbroken prairie stretching miles and miles 
 away. 
 
 It was a weary day's ride. The roads 
 were frozen just enough to be bumpy, the 
 baby cried, and when it did not cry the 
 mother talked to anybody who listened, 
 about the fine house she had left " down 
 the river," how well she could dress if she 
 chose, and the excellent table she always 
 set. Harry listened with wide-open eyes 
 as she went on. 
 
 "Why, there wasn't a day we didn't 
 have fresh and salt, and we could a-had 
 pound-cake every meal if we'd been a 
 mind to." 
 
 " Then, if you could a-had pound-cake 
 whenever you was a mind, it's a mean 
 shame you never did," said the eldest boy, 
 at which the mother, turning very red, 
 boxed his ears, and told him he didn't 
 know what he was talking about.
 
 46 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 They stopped for dinner at a little place 
 called Swan River, where the woman left 
 them, and went on again through the 
 afternoon, crossing the Mississippi as twi- 
 light came on, to Fort Ripley, which, four 
 years before, had been besieged by Indians 
 for over a week, crowded all the time with 
 women and children who had gone in 
 there for protection when the raid began. 
 Harry looked at the high stockade of logs 
 inclosing the buildings, and at some soldiers 
 pacing up and down, but was too tired to 
 think much of anything. Papa was hold- 
 ing him, and, lying in these strong arms, 
 he shut his eyes and was so sound asleep 
 that he knew nothing more till the stage 
 stopped, an hour later. 
 
 " What place is this ? " he said, sitting 
 up suddenly, and rubbing his eyes. 
 
 " Crow Wing," papa answered. " We 
 are going on in a few minutes. Only four 
 miles now to the Agency." 
 
 The stage started again while he spoke, 
 and Harry looked out at the lights in 
 the little village, dimly seen -through a 
 drizzly rain, and then down to a river, 
 which, hi a few moments, they crossed by 
 ferry-boat. Then came more bumping 
 over the frozen road ; another river, this 
 time crossed by a log bridge, another
 
 WHITE AND RED. 47 
 
 mile of prairie, then lights and voices. 
 The stage stopped; papa jumped out, 
 mamma and Harry found themselves on 
 the ground, and a kind, slow voice said, 
 "You are welcome to Chippewa Agency." 
 
 " Don't keep them out there one min- 
 ute Alvin," said a brisk voice, belonging 
 to a very tall, very energetic lady, who 
 led them at once into a large room, where 
 a bright fire burned, and a table covered 
 with books and work, and the bright lamp 
 lighting up some pictures on the walls, 
 made it look more home-like than any 
 place they had seen since the real home 
 had been left behind. 
 
 " Starved you are, and pretty nearly 
 frozen, too, I do believe. Sit and get 
 warm, and we'll have supper in a minute," 
 said the lady, bustling out. 
 
 " Who is she ? " Harry whispered, look- 
 ing at a boy who stood behind the stove 
 looking at him. 
 
 " Mrs. Brenton," said mamma. " This 
 is Dr. Brenton's house, where we shall 
 stay till we start for Leech Lake." 
 
 The two doctors came in just then, and 
 Mrs. Brenton called them all to supper. 
 Mamma's fingers were so cold she could 
 but just untie her bonnet-strings ; papa 
 helped her, and pulled off some of Harry's
 
 48 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 wraps, and they went out to a long room, 
 and a long table, with everything to be 
 thought of on it. Harry had said he was 
 too tired to be hungry ; but home-made 
 bread and sweet butter, the first they had 
 seen since coming West, developed an 
 appetite, which Mrs. Brenton seemed to 
 think was not half what it should be. 
 
 a You'll learn to eat before you've been 
 in Minnesota long," she said. "That's 
 about all you can do when you get up 
 yonder. I can't believe my ears that 
 you're really going through, Mrs. Prescott. 
 You don't know any more about it than a 
 baby." 
 
 " She soon will," said Dr. Brenton, in 
 his slow, pleasant way. u She is a brave 
 woman, of whom we shall all be proud." 
 
 " Day after to-morrow we are to go," 
 Dr. Prescott said. " The Major and clerk 
 are going up in an empty team, and so we 
 shall get through with only one night's 
 camping." 
 
 Harry's eyes sparkled, and the boy on 
 the other side of the table laughed. He 
 laughed again when they had gone back 
 to the sitting-room. 
 
 " I guess you'll get enough of it," he 
 said. " Why, you have to sleep on 
 sticks."
 
 WHITE AND RED. 49 
 
 "But we've got blankets, plenty of 'em," 
 said Harry, " and a buffalo skin." 
 
 " Well, you see if you don't have to 
 sleep on sticks. Can you talk Chip- 
 pewa?" 
 
 " I know two words," said Harry, " that 
 papa told me. He can talk it." 
 
 " Hoh ! " said the boy. " I don't believe 
 you can shoot with a bow and arrow, or 
 walk on snow-shoes, either. Do you 
 know how to trap ? I don't believe you 
 do." 
 
 " Come, Frank," said Dr. Brenton, " ask 
 your questions to-morrow, when I rather 
 think you will find Harry knows some 
 things that you, in this Indian country, 
 have never learned." 
 
 Harry walked away to bed, thinking 
 that when morning came he would soon 
 find -a way to surprise Frank, but went to 
 sleep before he had planned what it should 
 be. When he woke, the sun was shining 
 brightly in ; and, as he jumped out of bed, 
 mamma came in. 
 
 " You and Frank have both done well," 
 she said. "'Tis almost nine o'clock, and 
 you are just awake." Harry dressed in a 
 hurry, and, when his late breakfast was 
 over, went out with Frank, leaving 
 mamma writing letters. 
 
 4
 
 50 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 The Agency buildings formed a hollow 
 square, in the centre of which was a tall 
 flag-staff. At one side were two long, low 
 log-houses, and about them a stockade 
 like that at the Fort. 
 
 " There's where they keep the Indian 
 goods," said Frank, seeing Harry looking 
 at them. " They used to be barred, and 
 the gates shut and everything, when the 
 Sioux was here. There was a stockade 
 round all the buildings, but it's cut down 
 since the Sioux are driven away. They 
 were the fighting Indians. Chippewas 
 don't fight the whites : they fight Sioux, 
 though. Here cornes ' Hole in the 
 Day.' " 1 
 
 " Who ? " said Harry, turning, and al- 
 most wanting to run, as a tall Indian, 
 wrapped in a scarlet blanket, went by 
 towards the office. Mamma, who had 
 seen him pass, came out on the porch for 
 her first look at the chief of all the Mis- 
 sissippi Indians. Dr. Prescott took them 
 over to the office after a time, and intro- 
 duced them to his majesty, who shook 
 hands and said, " Bo jau," which means, 
 " How do you do ? " 
 
 He stayed but . a few minutes, having 
 
 1 Since this was written, Hole in the Day, whose picture 
 is given here, has been killed.
 
 " Hen- mines ' Hole in the Day." " Sec page 5*1
 
 WHITE AND RED. * 51 
 
 come up to see the Agent, who was not 
 there, but who came at evening. Harry 
 wrote a letter home, and went to bed to 
 dream all night that he was walking on 
 Boston Common, followed by a procession 
 of little Indians, every one with snow- 
 shoes and a bow and arrow.
 
 52 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 HARRY was roused before sunrise by the 
 bustle all about him. They were to start 
 by eight o'clock, and the Major had risen 
 very early to attend to some Indians who 
 wanted to see him. 
 
 Harry went into the kitchen when he 
 had dressed. Mrs. Brenton was there, 
 and before her a large wooden box, with 
 leathern hinges and lock, like a trunk, 
 into which she was putting bread and pie, 
 and a great pan of doughnuts. 
 
 "I'm filling the mess chest," she said; 
 " you'll be hungrier on the road than you 
 ever were before." 
 
 Harry did not doubt it, for he was so 
 hungry now that he could but just wait 
 for breakfast; nor did he have to wait 
 long. 
 
 " Good-by to hoops," papa had said, just 
 before breakfast. "You may as well 
 leave yours here, Mary, for it will be only 
 in your way after this." 
 
 So mamma came to breakfast in a very 
 loose, short dress, made for just such trav-
 
 Th> jnuriii-v thnuiirh thi-
 
 WHITE AND BED. 53 
 
 elling. Dr. Brenton said she knew ex- 
 actly what to wear, and was a sensible 
 woman. At the door stood a long wagon 
 painted blue, and with heavy wheels. In 
 the back were some boxes of goods, going 
 to the Upper Agency, for the Indians. 
 The big trunk was in front, with papa's 
 valise ; a buffalo skin was spread over the 
 boxes, and in the middle of the wagon 
 were five or six pairs of blankets, folded, 
 to sit on. Mrs. Prescott took a place 
 here, and Harry next to her. Dr. Pres- 
 cott, and Mr. Peal, the clerk, sat oppo- 
 site; and the Major, sitting high up on 
 the big trunk, drove the two fat horses. 
 The Indians had stayed to see the white 
 squaw who was going to Red Lake, and 
 all the Agency people came out to see 
 them off, even to the tall blacksmith, who 
 shook his head as he went back to work. 
 
 The morning was frosty, but very clear. 
 The horses trotted briskly over the prai- 
 rie, their bells jingling, for all horses in 
 the Indian country wear each a bell, win- 
 ter and summer. Soon they came to 
 pine woods, which grew thicker and den- 
 ser as they went on. No snow had fallen 
 yet ; and which most covered the ground, 
 pine leaves or winter-green, it was hard to 
 tell. Winter-green, loaded with bright red
 
 54 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 berries, Harry never had seen in such 
 quantities. He soon found that it was 
 easy to drop off behind when the horses 
 were going slowly, and so he did it now 
 and then, climbing back with handfuls 
 of the berries, which were spicy and cold, 
 and better than any he had ever tasted 
 before. He found, too, sometimes, huckle- 
 berries, frozen but still clinging to the 
 bush. They all ate them ; but a bushel 
 would hardly have taken away the appe- 
 tites given by the pure, clear air, and 
 hungry did not begin to express their 
 feelings when noon came. 
 
 The mess chest was whisked out to the 
 ground. Dr. Prescott cut some strips of 
 birch bark, while Harry picked up small 
 dry sticks, with which they kindled a fire 
 near a log, which must have been used 
 for the same purpose the night before, as 
 it was still warm and smoking, while a 
 pile of brands lay before it. 
 
 A little lake was close by, for there are 
 lakes and creeks every few miles, from 
 Crow Wing to Pembina. Harry brought 
 a tin pail full of the clear, sparkling wa- 
 ter, while his father cut down a little 
 pine-tree, and chopped it up for the fire. 
 The Major stuck a stick into the ground, 
 which bent down to just the right dis-
 
 WHITE AND RED. 55 
 
 tance from the fire, when the pail was 
 hung on it. Tongues of yellow flame 
 shot up, and as the heavier wood caught, 
 blazed steadily around the pail, into 
 which, as the water boiled, the Major 
 threw a great handful of tea. Mamma 
 wondered at the quantity, but found soon 
 that every one in camp drank tea, the 
 stronger the better, and that it was made 
 regularly three times a day, summer and 
 winter. The Major took some tin basins, 
 and a cup of brown sugar from the chest ; 
 every one helped himself to a tin plate 
 and iron spoon, and ate bread and cheese 
 and doughnuts, and drank tea in aston- 
 ishing quantities, while the two horses 
 buried their noses in a box of oats, 
 and looked around contentedly while 
 they ate. 
 
 Gull Lake, the Major told Harry it was, 
 where they were camping, eighteen miles 
 from the Agency, and he showed him 
 where a logging camp was to be in a 
 week or two. Lumbermen go up to the 
 " Pineries," as they are called, generally 
 in December ; go into camp, and, through 
 the winter, cut logs, which, during spring 
 freshets, float down the various rivers to 
 the Mississippi ; and through that to the 
 great mills, where they are sawed into
 
 56 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 lumber. There will be more to tell you 
 of these camps, by and by. 
 
 At one o'clock they started on, passing 
 in an hour or two an Indian village, on 
 the edge of a creek. There was one log- 
 house, with a piece of white cotton cloth 
 stretched in the window, to take the 
 place of glass. All the rest were wig- 
 wams, some large, some small, covered 
 nearly to the top with birch bark, and a 
 blanket hung before the opening which 
 served as door. The Indians all flocked 
 out to look ; very few men among them, 
 as nearly all were off hunting ; but plenty 
 of women, half-grown boys, and little chil- 
 dren, who ran after the wagon, calling, 
 " Pequaiggeekan, Ogema ! " which means, 
 " Some bread, chief ! " 
 
 The Major threw them some ship bis- 
 cuit, which they took with delight, for 
 anything made of flour they are anxious 
 to get. Two or three, among them a tall 
 boy sixteen or seventeen years old, fol- 
 lowed for a while, and Harry, looking 
 back at his blanketed figure, and black elf 
 locks, thought of tomahawks, and almost 
 imagined he might throw one. 
 
 They passed now at intervals the sites 
 of old villages, the poles still stuck in 
 the ground, marking where wigwams had
 
 WHITE AND RED. 57 
 
 been, and ready for future use. Toward 
 evening they went through what are 
 called " Abraham's Plains ; " flat, very 
 swampy ground; black, skeleton pines 
 standing here and there, and wild rice 
 and flags growing to the edge of the road, 
 which here is corduroy, else the horses 
 would sink to their breasts. 
 
 Corduroy road is made by cutting 
 down trees, trimming away the branches, 
 and laying the logs side by side in the 
 swamp. Some settle deeper than others ; 
 the result being, sometimes an upset, and 
 always such jolts and bumps, such a 
 tumbling off of everything loose, and 
 dancing up and down of everything else, 
 that mamma, in terror, as she saw the 
 big trunk and the Major sliding back to- 
 gether, declared she would walk. 
 
 Wonderful walking it proved to be. 
 Mud holes, over which she jumped ; stand- 
 ing water, a thin crust of ice on it, 
 through which rubbers took them safely ; 
 up and down the round logs sinking under 
 them in some places, making the most un- 
 comfortable footing you can well imagine, 
 till, quite tired out, Harry said he meant 
 to get back to the wagon, and climbed up 
 behind. Corduroy ended before he was 
 really in. They left the swampy ground,
 
 58 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 and entered again the thick woods, stop- 
 ping in a few minutes for the night, as it 
 was now almost dark. 
 
 The tops of the tall trees swaying over- 
 head showed that a gale must be blowing 
 on the open prairie, but low down in the 
 woods it was hardly felt. The air was cold 
 and clear, but not one shivered, as they 
 would have done at home, after being out- 
 of-doors all day. A fire was the first thing 
 to be thought of. Harry got the birch 
 bark this time, and some small sticks too. 
 The Major and Dr. Prescott dragged up 
 two or three logs lying near by, as a founda- 
 tion, and, having lit the fire, which crackled 
 and spread through the smaller branches, 
 and seizing on the pine logs, blazed up 
 at once, took their axes and went in- 
 to the wood, while Mr. Peal unharnessed 
 the horses, and after rubbing them down, 
 went to the creek for water. Harry stood 
 by mamma, warming himself, and listening 
 to the sound of the axes, and the crash of 
 one tree after another, till four had fallen. 
 
 " What do they want so many for ? " he 
 said. " There is fire enough for tea." 
 
 But not for all night," said Mr. Peal, 
 who had come back with water, which the 
 horses were drinking now. "Thee has 
 never camped, so thee does not know that 
 we keep a fire ah 1 night."
 
 WHITE AND RED. 59 
 
 " To keep off bears ? " said Harry, who 
 began to think of all the stories of camp- 
 life he had ever read. " Do you suppose 
 bears will come ? " 
 
 " The bears have gone West," said Mr. 
 Peal. " They are not fond of society, and 
 had too much of it after this road was 
 made ; so they left." 
 
 " I thought this was as west as it could 
 be," said Harry. 
 
 " No," said the Major, who came bear- 
 ing one end of a log, while Dr. Prescott had 
 the other. " The West is several hundred 
 miles off. Minnesota is East ; didn't you 
 know that ?" 
 
 Another log was on its way in before 
 Harry could answer, and soon six or seven 
 lay near the fire, ready for use when want- 
 ed. The water which had been put over 
 at once on lighting the fire, was boiling, 
 and ready for tea. The mess chest was 
 lifted out again, the wagon drawn up one 
 side, that the load might be under guard 
 all night ; the horses allowed rope enough, 
 to give them liberty in case they preferred 
 winter-green berries to oats ; and then, sit- 
 ting around the fire, they ate supper with 
 appetites quite equal to those they had 
 brought to dinner. Mamma washed the 
 dishes to-night, with a branch of white-pine
 
 60 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 for a dishcloth, and stood them up against 
 a log to dry. Harry, in the mean time, 
 amused himself with breaking off bits from 
 more of these branches, and throwing them 
 on the fire, where they crackled a moment, 
 sending up such lovely gold and violet 
 flames, that, delighted, he dragged up larg- 
 er branches, and threw them on, one after 
 another. 
 
 * Come down the road a little way, and 
 you will get the effect of a camp better 
 than by staying hi it," said papa to mamma. 
 
 Harry threw on three or four more 
 branches, and followed, turning in a few 
 moments, as they came to a little log bridge 
 over the creek, and looking back to the 
 camp, lit by the firelight, which leaped up 
 against the background of tall black pines, 
 each one standing out clear and distinct ; 
 here and there a white birch or popple, the 
 pale ghost of a tree, and everywhere 
 strange, distorted stumps and roots, which 
 one could imagine at pleasure, wild animals 
 or Indians. Standing still on the little 
 bridge, the dark water flowing softly be- 
 low, and looking off beyond the fire-lighted 
 circle, to depths of shadow, a note or two 
 of music came from the distance ; and turn- 
 ing suddenly, Harry almost cried out, as he 
 saw the tall figure of an Indian close be-
 
 WHITE AND RED. . 61 
 
 hind them on the bridge, the silent tread 
 of his moccasined foot not having been 
 heard by one of them. 
 
 Papa safd a few words which Harry did 
 not understand, and walked back to camp, 
 followed closely by the Indian, who sat 
 down on his heels, and without speaking, 
 looked steadily at them. A woman came 
 in in a few moments, carrying a birch bark 
 pan full of fresh fish, whose gills were still 
 quivering, and asking for " pequaiggeekan" 
 in exchange. The Major gave her some 
 crackers ; at which, the man rising, said, 
 " Hawhaw ! " and the woman, " Megwetch," 
 which means, " thank you." 
 
 Harry, with mamma and papa, followed 
 them back to the wigwam, the music grow- 
 ing plainer as they drew nearer. Here 
 they found a whole family, gn their way to 
 Leech Lake, but staying here for a day or 
 two, and comfortably at housekeeping, as 
 all Indians can be, on ten minutes' notice. 
 The rolls of birch bark and rush mats, the 
 two or three pails for cooking, and the 
 corn and other provisions, are carried on 
 the women's backs, everything rolled in 
 a rush mat, tied up with thongs of skin, or 
 a rope of braided grass, and held in place 
 by a wide band passing across the woman's 
 forehead. A few poles are cut when night
 
 62 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 and camping time come, and a wigwam set 
 up, or an old one taken possession of. The 
 birch bark is put around to keep off the 
 wind, the rush mats laid down, as seat, ta- 
 ble, and bed, and after a supper of parched 
 corn, and sometimes fish from the near- 
 est lake or creek, they roll themselves in 
 their blankets, which, winter and summer, 
 an Indian always has with him, and go to 
 sleep. 
 
 The musician was an Indian boy, who 
 had a flageolet made from a reed, on which 
 he played something which could hardly 
 be called a tune, for it had but four plain- 
 tive minor notes. 
 
 Hung to a pole was a baby : that is, 
 the baby was fastened to a board, and the 
 board to a pole of the wigwam, and the lit- 
 tle thing, bound down by two bead-work 
 bands, so that neither hand nor foot could 
 stir, looked around with its bright black 
 eyes, and even smiled at Harry, who, you 
 may be sure, was looking hard as he could 
 at everything in the first wigwam which 
 he had ever visited. The women seemed 
 pleased at their call, and Harry went back 
 to camp, wondering what some of his Bos- 
 ton friends would say, if they knew he was 
 sleeping on the ground in the woods, with 
 an Indian camp close by.
 
 WHITE AND RED. 63 
 
 The Major sat by the fire smoking, while 
 Mr. Peal was breaking off pine boughs, and 
 strewing them over the ground. 
 
 " Old campers can do without this," he 
 said to Mrs. Prescott, " but thy bones are 
 not used to bare ground, and thee will find 
 these boughs comfortable as a spring mat- 
 tress." 
 
 Dr. Prescott helped him in the work till 
 a thick bed had been made ; then spread 
 their blankets, while the Major stretched 
 one at the back, to keep off the wind. 
 
 " Take off your shoes, else your feet will 
 be very cold before morning," said papa, 
 " and all your wraps, too." 
 
 Harry saw with surprise that the Major 
 and Mr. Peal had both taken off their boots 
 and coats, and thought to himself that that 
 surely was the right way to shiver through 
 the night ; he was still more surprised as 
 they laid down, to see that they did not 
 keep their feet under the blankets, but put 
 them out toward the fire, on which two or 
 three more logs had been piled. Raising 
 his head, after all were settled for the night, 
 he saw that Dr. Prescott's feet, too, were 
 out toward the fire, and could keep still 
 no longer. 
 
 " Did you know your feet weren't 
 covered up, papa ? " he said.
 
 64 WHITE AND BED. 
 
 Why, yes," said Dr. Prescott. u Feet 
 are always warmer put out in this way, 
 than they are under cover ; and even in 
 coldest winter, the teamsters and lumber- 
 men who may be camping out, always take 
 off their boots or moccasins, and lie with 
 their feet to the fire." 
 
 " 0, what's that ? " said Harry, suddenly, 
 as a long howl came through the forest, 
 followed by a quick, sharp bark. 
 
 " Wolves, and a fox," said papa ; " and 
 that is a screech owl," as a most dreadful 
 scream was heard overhead, which made 
 both mamma and Harry jump. 
 
 " I never can go to sleep," said Harry, 
 sitting up, while mamma seemed inclined 
 to do the same. 
 
 " Thee need not fear," said Mr. Peal, 
 drowsily. " There is no danger." 
 
 " Not a particle," said papa ; " no wild 
 animal comes near such a fire as this. Try 
 and go to sleep." 
 
 Harry lay down again, getting close to 
 papa, looking up to the deep blue sky, and 
 then off to the woods, which the moon, now 
 risen, lit up only too distinctly. He started 
 as the howls came again, and half fan- 
 cied a stump near by must be a bear, but, 
 too tired to look about long, was soon 
 sound asleep. Mamma kept awake longer.
 
 WHITE AND BED. 65 
 
 Indians and wolves seemed strange com- 
 pany; but soon she, too, forgot to be 
 troubled, and was quietly asleep, half wak- 
 ing, when the Major got up to renew the 
 fire, but drowsing again at once. 
 
 It seemed to Harry that he had not 
 slept an hour, when he opened his eyes, 
 to see papa throwing another log on the 
 fire ; while in a frying-pan, the fish sizzled 
 and browned, with some slices of pork. 
 The moon was still shining, but gray twi- 
 light in the east showed that daylight was 
 coming. 
 
 " Breakfast in ten minutes," said the 
 Major. " Half-past four now, and we must 
 be off soon, or we sha'n't get in to Leech 
 Lake to-night. The road isn't so good 
 to-day." 
 
 " Good morning, my aged friend," said 
 Mr. Peal, as Harry stood up. " Thy locks 
 are white. Did thy fright turn them ? " 
 
 " Yours are, too," said Harry, " and mam- 
 ma's some. Why, what is it ? It comes 
 off on my hand." 
 
 " Frost ; hoar-frost," said papa, laughing. 
 " My beard was covered when I woke up." 
 
 Harry laced his shoes, and went down to 
 the creek with mamma, to freshen their 
 faces in the cold water. Cold it was, with 
 needle-like particles of ice floating in it,
 
 66 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 and the Indian girl filling her pail, looked 
 on in surprise at this way of using water, 
 her own face seldom, if ever, being 
 washed, except by the rivers through 
 which she might chance to wade or swim. 
 
 Papa followed them down, and they went 
 back to breakfast, hungry as could be. 
 The Indian who had come into camp the 
 night before, received the remnants of the 
 meal, carrying them to his wigwam, and by 
 half past five our party were off. 
 
 To-day was like yesterday ; no. swamp 
 to go through, being the only difference. 
 Till afternoon the sun shone, and they en- 
 joyed it ; but then a fine, cold rain began, 
 and the last four or five hours they sat 
 wrapped in rubber cloaks, almost too cold 
 and stiff to talk, even. Woods, woods, 
 woods, till Harry would have shouted at 
 the sight of open country. He was too 
 tired and achy for that, though; when 
 about eight o'clock they saw lights and 
 dim shapes of houses, and, stopping at 
 last, through the dark, drizzly night, were 
 led into a large room, lighted by a fire in 
 an open chimney, where they went to bed 
 at once, inclined to think that feathers, 
 were altogether better than pine boughs. 
 
 Harry woke next morning thinking he 
 heard the ringing of a school-bell, and for-
 
 WHITE AND RED. 67' 
 
 getting for a moment where he was. A 
 bell certainly was ringing, and in the next 
 room he heard the tramping of many feet, 
 and sounds as if the confusion of tongues 
 at Babel had begun all over again. News 
 of the Major's coming had spread, and 
 brought together Indians and half-breeds 
 from every quarter ; and going out to 
 breakfast, they found in the wide, low 
 room, a crowd, at which Harry stared in 
 such wonder, as to be almost unable to eat 
 his breakfast. A very good one it was, 
 set out on a long table two boards wide. 
 Harry sat by his mother, and the Major 
 and clerk, with his father, on the same 
 side. Directly opposite him sat George 
 Bunga, the interpreter, a tall, powerful 
 negro, talking English, French, or Chip- 
 pewa, just as it happened. He is so noted 
 a man in the Indian country, that by and 
 by I shall tell you more of him. 
 
 Next to him was Be-ghe-kee, or " Old 
 Buffalo," head chief at Leach Lake, and a 
 firm friend of the whites, wrapped in a 
 dirty blanket, and using his long scalping- 
 knife in eating fried pork. Next to him, 
 a civilized Indian, his hair cut, and wear- 
 ing the white man's dress, but with beaded 
 shirt bosom, and gay leggins. Then came 
 three or four half-breeds, with ear-rings
 
 68 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 an.d bright shawls twisted around their 
 waists, and all with the long knife which 
 every one wears there. At the head of 
 the table stood Oliver, the owner of the 
 house, pouring coffee ; a Kentuckian, who, 
 from long life in that country, was 
 more than half Indian, and with his long 
 black hair, and dark skin, seemed quite 
 one of them. 
 
 Chippewa, Cree, broken English, and a 
 barbarous French, mixed with the lan- 
 guage of any tribe among whom the half- 
 breeds had lived, sounded in Harry's ears, 
 who, trying to understand everything, 
 grew distracted, and understood nothing. 
 Papa left them after breakfast, coming in 
 after a time, with a troubled face, and sit- 
 ting down, as if he did not at all know 
 what to do. 9 
 
 " I have been out to the warehouse," 
 he said, " expecting to find our boxes of 
 goods there, but not one has come ; and 
 Daggett, who was to have brought them 
 up, says he went twice to Crow Wing for 
 them, finding nothing there. We must 
 get up to Red Lake as soon as possible, 
 and I see no way to do but to return with 
 Daggett, who starts to-morrow morning, 
 and see to things myself. I went at once 
 to the engineer's house, and his wife is
 
 WHITE AND RED. 69 
 
 quite willing you should board there till I 
 can get back." 
 
 " I am very glad of that," said mam- 
 ma, who had been looking anxious and 
 troubled. " It would have been very dis- 
 agreeable to stay here in such a houseful, 
 and of course we cannot go on without 
 provisions, and other things." 
 
 " Then," said papa, " we will go over to 
 the engineer's;" and wrapping up warmly, 
 they left the noisy house, and went out to 
 the cold air and bright sunshine. 
 
 As at the Lower Agency, the buildings 
 formed a hollow square ; but, unlike them, 
 these were near a beautiful lake ; low hills 
 rising from the opposite shore, an island 
 or two in sight, and points of land run- 
 ning far out into the lake, which papa 
 said was longer than Lake George. Com- 
 ing nearer, they saw the quaintest little 
 steamboat, built, he told them, the year 
 before, which the Indians, he said, disliked 
 very much, and had threatened to burn, 
 saying that the Great Spirit did not like 
 fire-boats on the waters he had made, be- 
 cause they frightened and killed the fish.. 
 
 Ci Here comes George Bunga," he went 
 on, hurriedly. " He thinks himself far 
 above any Indian, or even the few white 
 traders who come up here, so be very re- 
 spectful."
 
 70 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 Bunga came up as he finished, and bowed 
 low to Mrs. Prescott, taking off his skin 
 cap, and showing a round head covered 
 with grizzly wool, quite white in spots. 
 He was full six feet tall, and though 
 dressed in great part like a white man, 
 still wore moccasins, the long knife in a 
 deer-skin sheath worked with beads, and a 
 bright shawl around his waist 
 
 " Not much like your far-off home, 
 madam," he said, with another bow, and so 
 courtly a manner, that she was amazed. 
 " You see a wild country, but I remember 
 a time when it was wilder. I came here 
 to trade for the Hudson's Bay Company, 
 in 1840, and am the first white man that 
 ever saw Leech Lake. My house was the 
 first one built here, and " 
 
 Unfortunately the Major, who did not 
 know half a dozen words of Chippewa, 
 was hemmed in by a crowd of them, all 
 talking at once, and called to Bunga to 
 come and interpret ; and mamma, waiting 
 till he was out of hearing, laughed at 
 Harry's astonishment, and Bunga's idea of 
 his own color. 
 
 " I believe the man really thinks he is 
 white," said papa; "and "he is in every 
 way far beyond the ordinary white men 
 here ; has fewer vices, and tries to educate
 
 WHITE AND RED. 71 
 
 his children as well as he can ; while the 
 whites, or, at any rate, the traders among 
 them, who all have squaw wives, seem to 
 be more brutish than the worst Indians, 
 and do them nothing but harm." 
 
 Walking on as they talked, they met 
 Mr. Kitchen, the engineer, and went into 
 his little house, which seemed very quiet 
 and pleasant after the noisy one they had 
 left. *Mrs. Kitchen was one of the only 
 two white women at Leech Lake, and had 
 been there a year. Her two little children 
 were playing about the room ; so fat, that 
 when they tumbled down, it seemed as if 
 they never could get up ; and when they 
 did get up, as if it must hurt them to run 
 with such heavy legs to lift at each step. 
 
 Mrs. Kitchen showed them the mission- 
 ary's house, and said there was to be a 
 meeting there at ten o'clock. It was al- 
 most ten now, for they had had a very 
 late breakfast ; so they all went down to- 
 gether, and were introduced to the mis- 
 sionary, a gray-headed, kindly-looking, 
 weather-beaten man, who said he had 
 been among them twenty years. There 
 were long, narrow benches, for the use of 
 his scholars, who soon filled them, the 
 older Indians as they came in, sitting 
 down and balancing in some queer way
 
 72 WHITE AM) BED. 
 
 
 
 on their heels. All the service was in 
 Chippewa, except the last prayer, which 
 Mr. Wright made in English, translating 
 into Chippewa each sentence as he went 
 along, which made it sound very strangely. 
 They took dinner at the sort of board- 
 ing-house where they had had breakfast, 
 meeting the same queer crowd at table ; 
 and after dinner, went over to Mrs. Kitch- 
 en's to stay, where the rest of the day 
 went by like a dream, the last thing 
 Harry remembered at night, being the 
 dropping of the curtain over three or four 
 Indian faces pressed against the window 
 panes, and looking, with their bright black 
 eyes, at all they could see within. Papa left 
 them next morning ; and now, before go- 
 ing on with the story, I will tell you a 
 little of who these Indians are, and why 
 we call Leech Lake, and other places you 
 will hear spoken of, Agencies. 
 
 Far back as you may go in American 
 History, whether you begin with the 
 old Northmen, or with Columbus, whose 
 ships sailed into Hispaniola Bay, almost 
 four hundred years ago, or with the Pil- 
 grims who came to the stormy New Eng- 
 land coast, long years after, you will 
 find all of them meeting Indians, who 

 
 WHITE AND RED. 73 
 
 were the real Americans, but who gave 
 place to the white man, some willingly, 
 some fighting against it. 'Tis the old 
 story you will all learn as you grow older, 
 a strong race, conquering and driving 
 out a weaker one ; and, fight as they 
 would, these Indians gave place more and 
 more each year, to whites, who came from 
 every nation of Europe to the new coun- 
 try. 
 
 In 1667, hundreds of tribes, some peace- 
 ful, some warlike, and each one number- 
 ing many thousands, occupied the larger 
 part of the United States. In 1867 you 
 find two thirds of these tribes extinct, and 
 the remaining ones driven west of the 
 Mississippi, lessening in numbers each 
 year, but clinging to old customs, and in 
 no way changing from the Indian of two 
 hundred years ago. Government buys 
 their land, agreeing to pay them so much 
 money and goods yearly ; moves them far- 
 ther west, and appoints for each tribe an 
 agent, sometimes two, who sees that their 
 annuities are paid regularly and that the 
 provision, blankets, and other goods, are 
 divided among them justly. The Chippe- 
 was, or Ojibways, are a powerful tribe ; 
 once very numerous, but now only about 
 ten thousand, whom we hear of first at
 
 74 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 the time the French discovered Sault 
 Sainte Marie, on Lake Superior. They 
 owned then the whole country, from 
 Green Bay in Wisconsin, up to the head 
 waters of Lake Superior. All through 
 this country are wonderfully rich mines 
 of iron, copper, etc., and these having 
 been discovered, the Government, in 1855, 
 bought them of the Ojibways, who gave 
 them up as hunting-grounds, a few bands 
 remaining, but the greater part going 
 northwest into Minnesota, where they 
 now are. They are divided into different 
 bands, each one under a head chief: the 
 principal ones being the Mississippi Ojib- 
 ways, about Lakes Winnipeg and Itasca ; 
 the Mille Lac band ; the Pillagers of Leech 
 Lake, called so by their own people, from 
 their thieving habits ; and last, the Red 
 Lake band, the best of all Ojibways, and 
 numbering some three thousand, includ- 
 ing the Pembina band. 
 
 Till within a few years, the Agency for 
 the Ojibways was near Crow Wing, Min- 
 nesota. Here lived the Agent, whose 
 duty you know ; a doctor ; a farmer, to 
 help them in cultivating their fields, and 
 show them how to use the farming tools 
 given by the Government ; a blacksmith, 
 who mends their guns, and sharpens their
 
 WHITE AND RED. 75 
 
 axes ; an engineer to run the saw-mill, 
 which provides boards for their houses; 
 a carpenter to build them; and last, a 
 teacher, or missionary, whose work is the 
 most discouraging of all, because all In- 
 dians distrust all missionaries, and, with 
 very few exceptions, are unwilling to be 
 taught, or to give up their own faith. I 
 shall tell you why, farther on. 
 
 The Ojibways have always been friend- 
 ly to the whites, and are inclined to be 
 peaceable', fighting only against the Sioux 
 or Dacotahs, who are their deadly ene- 
 mies, and indeed, the enemies of every 
 tribe but their own, making peace only 
 to break it, and never faithful in their 
 treaties with the whites. 
 
 There are many other Indian tribes on 
 the great plains, both this side of and be- 
 yond the Rocky Mountains ; but Chip- 
 pewas first and Sioux now and then, are 
 all we shall have to do with ; and as we 
 go on, I shall try and show them to you 
 just as they are, so that when Harry's life 
 among them ends, you may know them 
 almost as well as he does.
 
 76 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE first snow fell the day after Dr. 
 Prescott left ; a heavy storm, lasting 
 nearly two days,; and when the sun shone 
 out again, cold weather came with him, 
 and the ice formed fast on the pretty lake, 
 through which Harry had hoped to sail in 
 the steamboat. Hard paths were -quickly 
 made by the Indians, a hundred or two of 
 whom lived back of the Agency build- 
 ings ; and mamma and Harry walked 
 every day, sometimes going to the wig- 
 wams, but oftener along the lake shore, 
 listening to the strange noises under the 
 ice ; moans and groans, and sometimes a 
 long howl, followed by a sharp crack, as 
 if some wild animal were coming over the 
 ice. Harry was alone the first time he 
 heard these sounds, and certain that either 
 a bear or wolf was after him, ran home 
 fast as he could go, meeting Mr. Kitchen 
 on the way, and finding out what it was. 
 
 He went, too, every day, to Mr. Wright's 
 school, and never tired of looking at the 
 little Indian boys, dressed exactly like
 
 WHITE AND RED. 77 
 
 their fathers, but as full of sly mischief as 
 any boys could be. He played with them 
 now and then, learning in this way a good 
 many Ojibway words ; but boys and girls 
 both smelled so strongly of fish-oil, and 
 were so wonderfully dirty, that he could 
 not like them. Two or three whom Mr. 
 Wright had taken into the family, were a 
 little cleaner, being obliged to wash their 
 faces every day, and they sometimes spoke 
 a few English words when alone with him, 
 though never when any other Indian was 
 near. J will tell you why. 
 
 An Indian dreads being laughed at 
 more than any other thing in this world, 
 and Mr. Wright, in talking of them to Mrs. 
 Prescott, told her this was the great reason 
 why the missionaries, though living among 
 them for many years, had been able to do 
 so little good. If an Indian became a 
 Christian, the whole tribe jeered at him 
 for leaving the faith of his fathers. If 
 they learned and spoke any English, they 
 laughed again, saying the Great Spirit 
 had given them a good language, and did 
 not want His children to speak any other. 
 If a white man's tools were used, or work 
 done as they did; or if one learned to 
 read and write, many were against him, 
 above all the Medicine men, who live on
 
 78 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 the superstitions of the Indians, and, hav- 
 ing wonderful influence over them, can 
 almost always succeed in undoing the 
 greater part of what the missionaries have 
 tried to do. 
 
 The Pillagers of Leech Lake are, as I 
 have told you, the worst among all the 
 different Ojibway bands, never telling the 
 truth under any circumstances, and steal- 
 ing even from one another, which is very 
 unusual among Indians. Men whose bad 
 deeds have driven them out from other 
 bands, come to the Pillagers, sure of a wel- 
 come. Many are too lazy even to hunt, 
 and sit all day before the fire, sometimes 
 all night too, gambling, and beating the 
 small drums, which one of the number 
 always does at such times, only stopping 
 to eat the fish or dried meat which the 
 hard-working women have prepared. 
 
 Mrs. Prescott, who had meant in this 
 waiting time to go about a good deal, and 
 learn all she could of their ways, found 
 that, between gambling, vermin, and dirt, 
 the wigwams were places they had better 
 keep away from, and charged Harry never 
 to enter one, unless he went with the 
 engineer or Mr. Wright. 
 
 Dr. Prescott was away more than a 
 week not getting back till the fifth of
 
 WHITE AND RED. 79 
 
 December ; and even then was forced to 
 walk all the way from Crow Wing, the 
 only team he could get being too heavily 
 loaded to allow of any one's riding. More 
 trouble seemed in prospect, too. Though 
 the ice on the lakes was now thick enough 
 to bear a team, and thirty miles of the 
 journey could be made on them, still, snow 
 had been falling so heavily, that the road 
 beyond, at the best of times only a track, 
 would now be almost impassable, and not 
 one of the regular teamsters would go 
 through at any price. 
 
 " Bunga may help you out," said Mr. 
 Wright, to whom Dr. Prescott had been 
 talking. " He trades up there, you know, 
 and means to send a load up very soon. 
 He may take you and some of your things, 
 and Oliver will see to the rest, for he goes 
 up in a fortnight I believe." 
 
 So Dr. Prescott went over to the trading- 
 post, where Bunga lived, coming back in 
 an hour or two in good spirits. Bunga's 
 team was to start the next morning ; a 
 small box-sled, drawn by two Indian 
 ponies, under the care of Paul Boulanger, 
 a half-breed. Bunga assured him that 
 they need camp out but one night, as the 
 first one they could spend in a house on 
 Cass Lake Island ; the second in the hard
 
 80 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 woods ; and the afternoon of the third day, 
 at latest, would find them at Red Lake. 
 The half-breed was to furnish his own pro- 
 visions, food for his horses, etc., and to 
 take them, and not over six hundred 
 pounds of their goods. 
 
 " We will take four, days' provisions, so 
 as to be quite safe," said Dr. Prescott ; 
 " and now, as the most of our things are 
 to go by Oliver, we must decide what we 
 had better take with us. Suppose we go 
 out to the warehouse, and look over the 
 boxes." 
 
 This took some time ; but finally the 
 smaller boxes were put in order for Bou- 
 langer to pack them in his sled, and the 
 cooking-stove, packs of flour, and other 
 heavy things, covered up in one corner, 
 ready for Oliver, when he should go up. 
 His wife baked bread and fried doughnuts 
 for them, and by evening every prepara- 
 tion was finished, and they were quite 
 ready for the morrow's journey. 
 
 Friday morning, Harry, dressed, as he 
 said, in " four pair of everything," found 
 the house too warm for him, and went out- 
 doors to watch for Boulanger, who came 
 about nine. An hour was spent in loading, 
 and it was not till nearly ten that they 
 were quite ready to start ; Mrs. Prescott
 
 WHITE AND RED. 81 
 
 and Harry sitting on a feather-bed, and 
 wrapped in heavy Mackinaw blankets ; 
 Dr. Prescott on the trunk in front, up to 
 his eyes in buffalo overcoat ; and Boulan- 
 ger, with axe over his shoulder, going in 
 advance to sound the ice, and thus prevent 
 their getting on any weak places. He 
 went on a curious little jog-trot, keeping 
 easily ahead of the horses, and Dr. Prescott 
 said that all the half-breeds travelled in 
 this way, sometimes sixty and seventy 
 miles a day, when carrying important 
 messages, and that they never seemed 
 tired, no matter how steadily they had kept 
 it up. 
 
 The ponies trotted fast over the smooth 
 ice, and though a loud crack sometimes 
 startled mamma and Harry, they were 
 soon used to it. The thermometer had 
 stood at fourteen below zero when they 
 started, but they were too well wrapped up 
 to feel the cold, and were surprised when 
 one o'clock came, and they stopped for 
 dinner. 
 
 Boulanger cut a hole in the ice, where 
 the horses drank, and from the same place 
 brought a p'ail of water for the tea ; then, 
 as the provisions were taken out, looked 
 through the sled a moment, and sat down 
 by the fire, sighing deeply.
 
 82 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 "What is the matter?" Dr. Prescott 
 asked. Boulanger began a long explana- 
 tion, the sum of which was, that he had 
 forgotten his bag of crackers, and had 
 nothing to eat unless Monsieur was kind, 
 and shared with him as a brother. 
 
 Dr. Prescott had been with half-breeds 
 enough to know that, in lying and cheat- 
 ing, they go beyond even a Pillager, and 
 was thus sure that the bag had been left 
 behind purposely, or never made ready at 
 all. There was no help for it though, and 
 crackers were given, Dr. Prescott telling 
 him they had but four days' provisions, 
 and that at Cass Lake he must buy for 
 himself, or go without. At two they went 
 on, reaching the first portage, thai is, the 
 land between Leech and Cass lakes, about 
 three. Here trouble began. The road 
 across had been marked out by the cut- 
 ting down of trees in the thick forest, so 
 , that a wagon could pass along ; but the 
 stumps remained, and no track, save that 
 of an occasional train, had ever been 
 made. Eed Lake is off from all known 
 lines of travel ; and the country near, 
 given up to Indians, required no road, 
 save at payment time, when goods ' were 
 taken up. 
 
 Over these stumps a wagon with its high
 
 WHITE AND RED. 83 
 
 body could easily go ; but with a sled, only 
 a few inches from the ground, 'twas quite 
 different ; and almost as they touched land 
 again, they found themselves stuck on one, 
 from which no pulling or backing could 
 free them. 
 
 " Sac rrrreCrrr apaud ! " Boulan- 
 ger roared, with each blow of his whip, 
 but it was no use. Dr. Prescott jumped 
 off, and together they tried to lift the sled, 
 and push it. either forward or back, 
 finding at last, that the only way would 
 be to cut poles, and pry it off 
 
 Half an hour was spent in this way, and 
 then they started again, Boulanger still 
 going ahead and chopping off the sharp 
 ends of the tallest stumps, thus enabling 
 them to go perhaps a mile farther, when 
 they were pinned once more. This time, 
 getting on his knees, he contrived to chop 
 away the sharp point which held them ; 
 but as the horses went on again, pointed 
 to an opening under three or four great 
 trees, and said in French, 
 
 " A good place for camp ; here we rest 
 at present." 
 
 " No," said Dr. Prescott " You are to 
 go on to Cass Lake to-night" 
 
 u Impossible, quite ; Monsieur does not 
 feel how the horses have worked. It is
 
 84 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 still nine miles to the house on the Lake ; 
 night will come, and Monsieur and his 
 amiable lady, fall, perhaps, in a hole, and, 
 alas ! drown," and Boulanger looked so 
 miserable, that Dr. Prescott, who had never 
 been over this road before, having made 
 his journey to and from Red Lake by 
 canoe, hesitated. He knew this portage 
 was seven miles long ; that there must be 
 at least three more to go before reaching 
 the lake, which it would hardly be safe to 
 cross at night, when the air-holes could 
 not be seen. It was now after sunset, and 
 so, very unwillingly, he set about clearing 
 away the snow from their camping-ground, 
 while Boulanger unharnessed the horses, 
 and gave them the hay which had been 
 tied on the back of the sled. Harry and 
 his mother sat still till the fire began to 
 burn, and then climbing down, pulled off 
 sprays from the branches of a fallen pine- 
 tree, and strewed them thickly over the 
 cleared space. No water being near to- 
 night, they melted snow for the tea ; and 
 finding the bread to be frozen hard, thawed 
 it by putting it on a pine-branch before 
 the fire. After supper they cut poles and 
 set up the tent, which they found must be 
 so far from the fire, to keep sparks from 
 falling on it, that they would perhaps suf-
 
 WHITE AND BED. 85 
 
 fer with cold before morning. The night 
 was clear, the stars shining brightly, and 
 mamma said she thought they would be 
 quite as comfortable without the tent ; so 
 Dr. Prescott stretched a blanket to keep 
 off the wind ; brought the bed from the 
 sled, and laid it on the pine-boughs ; put a 
 shawl on the cracker-sack for a pillow, and 
 soon they were settled for the night. 
 
 Boulanger had, they found, forgotten 
 his blanket as well as his provisions, and 
 had only a miserable little one made of 
 rabbit-skins. So they were obliged to give 
 one of their nice ones, in which he rolled 
 himself up with great satisfaction, and was 
 sound asleep at once. Harry followed 
 next, and knew nothing more till next 
 morning, when, half-asleep and half-awake, 
 he felt something settle on his face. "A 
 fly," he thought, without opening his eyes, 
 and brushed it away, to feel another 
 directly. He sat up now, and looked 
 around. What a sight ! The fire burned 
 dimly ; near it lay Boulanger, so covered 
 with freshly-fallen snow, that Harry could 
 not tell which was head and which feet ; 
 and all over their own bed it lay an inch 
 or two deep. Harry stood up and began 
 to brush it away, waking papa, who sprang 
 up at once; and pulling the brands to-
 
 86 WHITE AND BED. 
 
 gether, and throwing on a fresh log, soon 
 had a blazing fire, on which the snow- 
 flakes made no impression. 
 
 It was hard to rouse Boulanger, who 
 grumbled at everything when he did roll 
 out from his blankets, and kept them wait- 
 ing long after the rather forlorn breakfast 
 was over, while he fussed about the horses. 
 At last they were off, and then began 
 again the trouble of yesterday. A dozen 
 times the sled caught on stumps, and when 
 they reached the lake it was almost noon ; 
 the snow still falling fast, and everything 
 and everybody in the sled covered with it. 
 A keen wind blew over the lake. Mamma 
 pulled the blankets over her own and 
 Harry's head, but papa, who must drive, 
 had no such protection ; and when, at two 
 o'clock, they reached the other side of 
 Cass Lake, and saw the island near shore, 
 and the log houses on it, he was numb 
 with cold. 
 
 Pillagers, who had been watching the 
 sled coming over the ice, were on the 
 shore as they stopped ; and Dr. Prescott, 
 telling Boulanger that if any part of the 
 load were missing when they came back, 
 it should be taken out of his pay, hurried 
 them up to the house, too thankful at 
 finding shelter and warmth, to care for
 
 WHITE AND RED. 87 
 
 the crowd of smoking Indians all about. 
 There were two chairs and a bed here, for 
 the owner of the house was a half-bree,d, 
 and lived a little a very little, as you 
 will see like a white man. 
 
 The clay chimney was in one corner of 
 the room, and over the roaring fire the 
 two squaws began at once to boil fish and 
 potatoes in one pail, and water for the tea 
 in the other. From a hole behind the 
 chimney they took some tin plates and 
 spoons, and a few pint basins ; spread a 
 rush mat on the floor, and arranged them 
 on it in order, putting in the middle a 
 large tin pan, into which, when they were 
 cooked, they ladled the fish and pota- 
 toes; saying, " Weesinna, neechee " (Eat, 
 friends). 
 
 There were no knives or forks ; and 
 Mrs. Prescott, after one little look at her 
 husband, sat down on the mat and began 
 to peel a potato with her fingers, while he 
 put some of the fish on her plate. One of 
 the women brought a cake of bread, 
 baked in the ashes but tasting sweet and 
 good ; and taking a tin cup, went out, 
 coming back soon with some milk, warm 
 from the cow. which made their tea much 
 better. There was maple sugar for it, too, 
 and salt for the fish ; and altogether, the
 
 88 WHITE AND BED. 
 
 dinner tasted very good, though every bit 
 of it was eaten with the fingers, which 
 had to be washed in snow, and wiped on 
 a handkerchief. 
 
 Boulanger told them, when he had 
 eaten enough for any three men, that he 
 had lost off the rest of the hay, and a 
 keg of powder, which must have dropped 
 somewhere on the portage, and that he 
 must go back, to Leech Lake, if necessary, 
 in order to find it, as he would have to 
 pay George Bunga its value, if he did not. 
 This was too much. Dr. Prescott told 
 him it was his business to see that the 
 load was properly fastened on, and that 
 he would not return ; at which Boulanger, 
 who had, until now, had no trouble in 
 understanding all that was said to him, 
 declared that Dr. Prescott's French and 
 Ojibway he knew nothing about, and that 
 he should go back at once. Finally, on 
 being told that if he would go on without 
 more trouble, a part of the loss should be 
 made up, and a letter written to Bunga, 
 explaining it, he went down to his horses. 
 
 Then came another battle with the 
 half-breed, who wanted ten dollars for the 
 dinner and two bundles of hay. Like 
 Boulanger, he suddenly found it impos- 
 sible to understand; and declared, finally,
 
 WHITE AND RED. 89 
 
 putting his hand on his long knife, 
 that he would use it if the money were 
 not paid at once. The Indians, who had 
 before sat silent, staring at the white 
 medicine man, gathered about, siding with 
 the half-breed ; but drew back as Dr. Pres- 
 cott threatened them with the Ogema's, 
 or Major's, anger, if they said anything. 
 The half-breed at last agreed to take 
 seven dollars, throwing in two cakes of 
 bread, and followed them down to the 
 sled, wishing them a good journey. The 
 house had proved to be no place to stay 
 at for the night, as they had planned, and 
 they were glad to get once more on the 
 sled. Three or four squaws stood about 
 it ; and a tin pail, which had been in the 
 bottom, between some boxes, stood now 
 on the bed. 
 
 " What does this mean ? " Dr. Prescott 
 said in Ojibway; and Boulanger, who 
 could understand perfectly now, answered, 
 pointing to some Indian dogs on the 
 hill, 
 
 " The dogs, Monsieur. They have smelled 
 the cheese within ; and as I bring down 
 my hay, I regard them leaping at the pail. 
 I fly upon them ; it is too late ; the cheese 
 is fallen ; and behold, Monsieur, how it is 
 eaten ! "
 
 90 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 Truly, the heart of the cheese was 
 gone ; but it was strange how much more 
 like fingers than teeth the marks upon it 
 seemed. There was nothing to be said, 
 however; and thankful to get away so 
 easily, they started on. One mile more 
 of the lake, and then they reached the 
 road, fifty miles of which must be gone 
 over before Red Lake could be seen. 
 Thirty-five lay behind them ; and. glad 
 that even so much of the journey was 
 over, they camped at night, this time 
 sleeping under the tent. 
 
 When morning came the sun was shin- 
 ing, and the air not so cold as the day be- 
 fore, but going on was weary work. A 
 constant catching on stumps ; huge trees 
 blown across the road in many places, so 
 that they were forced to go round through 
 the woods the best way they could ; and 
 were almost discouraged when night 
 came, by finding they were only ten 
 miles from Cass Lake. Boulanger, too, 
 began to talk of a river they would come 
 to the next morning, which might or 
 might not be frozen hard enough to bear 
 them, and things began to look a little 
 dark. 
 
 " Why do you not cook some of your 
 pork, Boulanger?" Dr. Prescott asked,
 
 WHITE AND RED. 91 
 
 next morning, knowing that the fifteen 
 pounds, intended as part pay, were in the 
 bottom of the sled. 
 
 " But, Monsieur, I have nothing to cook 
 it in." 
 
 " A stick will do very well, and the fat 
 can drop on your cracker." 
 
 Boulanger looked up sadly. 
 
 "But, Monsieur, there is no more any 
 pork." 
 
 " What have you done with it ? " Dr. 
 Prescott said, sternly. 
 
 " I, Monsieur ? nothing ; but the horses ; 
 ah ! the greedy reptiles ; they have eaten 
 it in the night." 
 
 " Very well," said Dr. Prescott. " The 
 pork was yours ; you or your horses could 
 eat it, as you pleased." 
 
 This was a new view of the case to 
 Boulanger, who had thought he should 
 get another fifteen pounds at once, and 
 who now shrugged his shoulders, but 
 could think of no lie which would help 
 him at all. So breakfast was eaten with- 
 out pork, the usual loading and tying on 
 gone through with, and the fourth day's 
 journey began. Harry tried once or twice 
 to walk, but the deep snow made it very 
 hard, and he was glad to get back to the 
 sled and roll himself in a blanket. Hardly
 
 92 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 an hour had passed, when Boulanger, who 
 had been some distance ahead, came run- 
 ning back, the picture of despair. 
 
 "Hi, hi, hi!" he called; that being 
 the half-breed exclamation, when just 
 ready to give up everything. " Hi, hi, hi ! 
 the river, Monsieur, is open ; it is deep, 
 and the load heavy. We shall never 
 cross j we must return ! " and he took 
 hold of the horses' heads, as if to turn 
 them. 
 
 "Take care there," Dr. Prescott said 
 sharply, urging on the horses, and coming 
 soon to the top of a little hill, at the foot 
 of which rolled the river, narrow, but 
 deep ; no bridge, and snow drifted along 
 the reedy, marshy shore, so that it would 
 be hard to tell where sure footing was to 
 be found. You will wonder at hearing 
 that it was not firmly frozen over, but the 
 current is so swift and strong, that in the 
 coldest weather, this river, and many 
 others about Red Lake, are almost open ; 
 and as none of them have bridges, cross- 
 ing is not only difficult, but dangerous. 
 Mamma had not lost courage for a mo- 
 ment, "Can't you cut down a tree for 
 a bridge ? " she said. " There is one 
 close to the bank, and Harry and I can 
 go over on that"
 
 WHITE AND RED. 93 
 
 " The best thing to be done, I believe," 
 said Dr. Prescott; while Boulanger, slap- 
 ping his breast, stared at the river, con- 
 tinually crying, " Hi, hi, hi ! Sunny- 
 gert ! Tiyah ! " which means that things 
 are just as bad as they can be, and no- 
 body had better do anything. " But the 
 load. Monsieur," he went on, as Dr. Pres- 
 cott took out his axe. " The amiable 
 lady ; the little, little boxes ; the cher- 
 ished son." 
 
 " The amiable lady will walk over on a 
 log; and the little, little boxes, on our 
 backs," said Dr. Prescott. Mamma, who 
 had been translating to Harry, for all this 
 talk was in French, laughed till some 
 tears had frozen on her cheeks, while 
 papa walked down the bank, followed 
 sulkily by Boulanger, both sinking, in 
 some places, up to their waists. Footing 
 around the great pine was quite firm ; 
 and Boulanger, finding that the river must 
 be crossed, grew cheerful, and chopped 
 with a will. Mamma and Harry, at the 
 top of the hill, watched the chips fly, and 
 the great tree bend over, till, with one 
 crashing sweep through the air, it fell, 
 Boulanger running out on it, cut' ing off 
 branches as he went, and dancing up and 
 down at the other end, to see that it was
 
 94 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 firm in the snow. Then he ran back, 
 and with Dr. Fresco tt, stamped down the 
 snow all the way up to the sled, so that 
 mamma and Harry had a good path to 
 the log, which they crossed without 
 trouble, papa leading them over, one at a 
 time. Boulanger, holding a balance-pole 
 in one hand, trotted after with the bed 
 and blankets ; a fire was built, and they 
 sat down comfortably, to wait till all was 
 ready for another start. The u little, lit- 
 tle boxes" were easily managed, being 
 slung over their shoulders by some rope ; 
 but the heavier ones needed two to carry 
 them, and Dr. Prescott and Boulanger 
 both very nearly rolled from the log into 
 the river several times. At last the 
 greater part of the load was over, only 
 some things remaining in the sled, which 
 water would not hurt. The ponies looked 
 very doubtful as Boulanger led them down 
 the hill; and more so, when, getting into 
 the sled, he urged them on. They snort- 
 ed and kicked, but yielding at last, floun- 
 dered into the river and swam over, Bou- 
 langer snapping his whip, and yelling, 
 " Sac r r r r e ! " till they were on the 
 other side. Here was a deep drift of 
 snow and ice ; and as they plunged 
 through it and went to the road, a loud
 
 WHITE AND RED. 95 
 
 crack was heard, and the body of the sled 
 slipped one side. 
 
 " Ah, ta ! " Boulanger cried, dancing 
 about, while tears ran down his face. " My 
 sleigh it is broken. Ah, hi, hi, hi ! Now 
 we go on no more. ! this terrible Doc- 
 tor, who would cross ! Ah, hi, hi ! " 
 
 The " terrible Doctor" examined the sled, 
 finding that the wooden pegs which held 
 the body on, had broken off on one side. 
 Luckily an auger was in one of the boxes ; 
 and telling Boulanger to stop crying and 
 attend to his horses, Dr. Prescott went to 
 work boring new holes, cutting new pegs,' 
 and in an hour had all in good order 
 again. It was past noon now, so they 
 made tea, and took dinner here, finding, 
 when they drove on again, fewer stumps 
 than the day before. Just before dark 
 they came to the top of a hill, where 
 stood, side by side, two immense Norway 
 pines ; and here papa stopped the horses 
 while Mrs. Prescott read the lettering on 
 each. 
 
 " Twenty miles to Red Lake? on one ; on 
 the other, "Top of the tvorld" 
 
 " What does that mean ? "Why is it the 
 top of the world ? " Harry asked. 
 
 " Because from this point," Dr. Prescott 
 said, " rivers flow two ways : those behind
 
 96 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 us, south, to the Valley of the Mississippi, 
 and thence to the Atlantic ; all beyond 
 here, northward, into Hudson's Bay, and 
 the Arctic Ocean. The surveyors . who 
 laid out this line of road, two years ago, 
 marked these trees, and their names are 
 all written on the other side. So it is 
 true, that at this moment, we are on the 
 tiptop of the world." 
 
 " Hurrah ! " Harry shouted ; and back 
 on the wind came a deep sound, which 
 mad6 him start. " Is it wolves ? " he 
 said. 
 
 " Dogs, I think," Dr. Prescott answered, 
 going on. " Yes it is," as the sound came 
 again, this time very plainly, a tremen- 
 dously deep bow-wow-wow. " There must 
 be a dog train on the way down." 
 
 Almost as he spoke, they saw the light 
 of a camp-fire, a tall Indian by it, and near 
 him three dogs, looking to Harry like 
 lions, with their great heads, and long, 
 shaggy hair. 
 
 " It is Little Thunder," said papa, quite 
 pleased ; " one of the best men at Red 
 Lake. He is a chief, and his Indian name 
 is Que wee ah." 
 
 " He's handsome," said Harry ; and 
 mamma looked in surprise at the tall, 
 stately man, who came forward, quite as
 
 WHITE AND RED. 97 
 
 pleased as Dr. Prescott, and shook hands 
 heartily with all of them. His wife, almost 
 as tall as he, was cutting down some trees 
 for the night, but soon came back to get 
 supper, and they found themselves in the 
 most comfortable quarters they had had 
 since camping with the Major. Que wee 
 ah treated them as guests ; seated them on 
 his largest rush mat ; and, though glad of 
 some of their bread, would take nothing 
 else, but gave them boiled white-fish and 
 maple sugar for their tea. Dr. Prescott 
 knew just enough Ojibway to understand 
 that Boulanger was telling a pitiful story of 
 the wicked treatment he had received on 
 the way up ; but Que wee ah only smiled, 
 and shrugged his shoulders, as the tale 
 ended. 
 
 " Big mouth ; talk much ! " he said in 
 English. " No talk good ; no good man." 
 
 Harry looked up quickly on hearing 
 English ; but Que wee ah, laughing a little, 
 would say no more except in Ojibway, 
 and went on smoking. 
 
 "He understands English very well,'* 
 said Dr. Prescott, "but this is the first 
 time I ever heard him speak it," and then 
 he went on talking to him in that lan- 
 guage, but getting only Ojibway answers. 
 The great dogs, who had each had a fish,
 
 98 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 lay by the fire, winking lazily ; and the 
 little o ta ban, or flat-train, which held the 
 provisions and other things, and which 
 they had dragged all day, leaned now 
 against a tree. Little Thunder said they 
 were on their way to Lake Superior, to 
 see some relations, but that the snow was 
 getting so deep, he thought they might 
 have to turn back. As he talked, Mrs. 
 Little Thunder strewed pine boughs for 
 the bed, and soon they all lay down for 
 the night 
 
 Harry watched the harnessing of the 
 dogs next morning. They growled and 
 snapped, and had to be dragged to their 
 places in which they were held by ropes 
 of twisted skin, fastened to collars about 
 their necks, and then to the train. They 
 went off with heads down, followed closely 
 by Mrs. Little Thunder, holding a long 
 stick in her hand, with which to guide 
 them. 
 
 Through the morning, the road seemed 
 so good that they almost hoped to get 
 through to the Lake that day ; but after- 
 noon ended any such thought, for about 
 two they came to another river, a very 
 small one, over which lay two trees, mak- 
 ing a good foot-bridge, but through which 
 the horses must swim. Then came the
 
 WHITE AND RED. 99 
 
 weary work of unloading, and carrying 
 everything to the other side. This went 
 well, however ; the horses got through 
 bravely ; they loaded once more, and went 
 on for a mile or two, when a stump, 
 harder and sharper than all the rest, not 
 only caught them, but would not let go. 
 Prying and pulling were useless: more un- 
 loading came ; and when the sled was lifted 
 off, they found it so broken about the 
 tongue, that it would be impossible to take 
 on any load in it. Still nine miles from 
 the Lake ; to walk there was out of the 
 question, even could Boulanger have been 
 trusted with the boxes ; and papa, feeling 
 that this last trouble was almost too much 
 for mamma and poor little Harry, was try- 
 ing, as well as Boulanger's lamentations 
 would let him, to think what had better 
 be done, wfren the welcome sound of 
 " Gee-haw ! " was heard, and four oxen, 
 drawing a long sled, came in sight, guided 
 by a half-breed, whom Dr. Prescott knew 
 at once as Neddo Cotinasse, the farmer's 
 man. Neddo, after listening to the story 
 of their troubles, said he could not go back 
 with them himself as he was on his way 
 to Leech Lake, to bring up the farmer's 
 winter provisions ; but that he would take 
 one of the ponies, ride back as fast as pos-
 
 100 WHITE AND BED. 
 
 sible, and engage an Indian who had two 
 oxen, to come down at once. So he 
 mounted and rode away, and our party 
 went into camp, making themselves as 
 comfortable as they could. 
 
 Neddo did not return till evening, but 
 said then that young Quay wa sauce 
 would be down early next morning. 
 
 The night was a miserable one, each 
 hour growing colder and colder ; and next 
 morning Boulanger did his best to per- 
 suade Neddo to start back at once with 
 him to Leech Lake, leaving Dr. Prescott in 
 camp till Quay wa sauce should come. 
 This Neddo would not do ; and they waited 
 till nearly ten, when the new team came. 
 Then there was more loading, and another 
 attempt at starting ; only an attempt, for. 
 with the first pull on the forlorn old sled, 
 snap went the tongue, and the oxen 
 walked quietly off, dragging it after them. 
 
 Evidently the load was never to get 
 through on this sled. Neddo had gone 
 on with Boulanger, and Dr. Prescott ran 
 after them, explaining the trouble, and 
 telling Boulanger that as he had agreed to 
 go through to Red Lake, he must take part 
 of the load, and Neddo the rest. This 
 Neddo, urged by Boulanger, refused to do ; 
 and Dr. Prescott went on, offering him one 

 
 WHITE AND RED. ' 101 
 
 sum after another till the amount reached 
 ten dollars, Boulanger assuring him all the 
 way, that the Doctor was a wicked man, 
 who would never pay him one penny. 
 
 The new team was going on to Red 
 Lake. Mamma and Harry, numb with 
 cold, sat in the sled ; and Boulanger, com- 
 fortably settled in the bottom of Neddo's, 
 his horses tied at one side, and his .<k-d 
 fastened behind, struck the oxen and urged 
 them on. 
 
 " Once more, Neddo," said Dr. Prescott, 
 slowly, " I offer you ten dollars and a 
 blanket, if you go back. What is your 
 answer ? " 
 
 Boulanger whispered something. Ned- 
 do hesitated a moment ; then, with face 
 turned away, said, " It is quite impossi- 
 ble, Monsieur. Boulanger wishes to re- 
 turn with me.* You can walk, leaving your 
 goods with Quay wa sauce, and some one 
 will return for them. It is not so far, even 
 for Madame." 
 
 Neddo looked up very suddenly, for Dr. 
 Prescott's pistol was in his hand, and his 
 eyes flashed dangerously, as he said, 
 " Turn your oxen ! " 
 
 Boulanger's hand went to his knife. 
 
 " Have a care there," said the Doctor ; 
 " not one word from you ! Neddo, I did
 
 102 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 not think you the man to leave a woman 
 and child to perish in the cold. Turn 
 your oxen, sir, or you know what will 
 make you." 
 
 " He shall not, then," Boulanger cried, 
 springing up. " Ah ! you would force him, 
 would you ? " and he sprang toward the 
 Doctor with drawn knife, to find himself 
 very suddenly on his back in the deep 
 snow, his knife caught from his hand, and 
 stars before his eyes. 
 
 " Another word from you, and you shall 
 be tied hand and foot," the Doctor said ; 
 while Neddo, a little ashamed, and a great 
 deal afraid, turned his team, and began to 
 load up at once. Boulanger crawled into 
 his own sled and lay there without speak- 
 ing, and, soon as possible, they were off, 
 Neddo, whose sled was on high runners, so 
 that it could clear the stumps, urging his 
 oxen to the top of their speed. Mamma 
 and Harry were too cold to speak; for two 
 days they had been on short rations, and 
 when, late in the afternoon, reaching the 
 last hill, they saw from it four or five log- 
 houses, a crowd of Indians standing about, 
 and off on one side a great expanse of 
 snow-covered ice, strength was almost gone, 
 and they had no thought for anything but 
 fire and food. The farmer's wife, an Indian
 
 WHITE AND RED. 103 
 
 woman, had made supper ready for them ; 
 she took Harry in her arms and carried 
 him in, for he was too cold and weak to 
 walk, and, putting him on her bed, he fell 
 at once into a heavy sleep, while mamma, 
 lying down by him, with the delicious 
 warmth all about her, cried, because she 
 was too weak and too comfortable to do 
 anything else. 
 
 Mrs. Campbell let them lie still an hour, 
 till the load had been taken into their own 
 house, and then brought a cup of hot cof- 
 fee to Mrs. Prescott, who, after drinking it, 
 felt quite well enough to get right up. 
 Harry had waked, and they all sat down 
 to supper. The room was filled with In- 
 dians, all wanting to talk, but papa said, 
 u To-morrow, to-morrow ! " and as soon as 
 the meal ended, they went to their own 
 house, which was just opposite the Camp- 
 bells'. Here Harry was put to bed in a 
 packing-box, on some goods, with a bag of 
 coffee for a pillow, and close to the fire, 
 going sound asleep in two seconds, and 
 followed at once by mamma and papa, none 
 of them waking till late next morning, when 
 Harry, sitting up suddenly, saw a sight, 
 about which I shall tell you in another 
 chapter.
 
 104 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 How did it happen that the door had 
 been left unlocked ? for unlocked it surely 
 was ; and not only that, but wide open too, 
 and in it stood an Indian, so tall that he 
 had to bend low as he stepped in. After 
 him came another, and another, and an- 
 other, all smiling as they saw Harry sitting 
 up there, too astonished to speak, while 
 mamma and papa lay sound asleep. Dr. 
 Prescott opened his eyes slowly as Harry 
 leaned over and shook him, but sprang up 
 as the tall Indian came forward, saying, 
 "How, how, how! Bo jou neeche" (Wel- 
 come, friend). 
 
 The room was full now, and women and 
 children crowded around the door, all 
 anxious to get in, and many of them hold- 
 ing up little bottles, given them by the 
 Doctor in the summer, and saying, as they 
 met his eye, "Po me ta sharbaseeken, 
 muskeekee wayninnee" (Castor-oil, medi- 
 cine man). They were all prepared to 
 stay ; for, though there was no fire, the 
 men, wrapped hi their blankets, settled
 
 WHITE AND RED. 105 
 
 down comfortably, and took out their to- 
 bacco-pouches, ready for a smoke. 
 
 There are no proprieties among the In- 
 dians. If you want to call on them at two 
 o'clock in the morning, somebody will 
 wake up to entertain, you ; and why a 
 white man should not be just as ready to 
 receive them at any hour, they cannot see. 
 So old Ma dwa ga non hid, head chief of 
 all the Red Lake Ojibways, hearing that 
 the Doctor had come, had dressed in his 
 finest blanket and leggins, and walked six 
 miles to make a call. It would never do 
 to turn him away, for this was a very 
 great honor; and there were three of his 
 wives, too, smiling at the door, one with a 
 pappoose on her back. 
 
 Dr. Prescott built a fire at once, and 
 then explained, as well as he could, that 
 they were very tired, and had as yet had 
 no breakfast ; that he was very glad to see 
 them all, and that if they would go to 
 some of the wigwams near by, they could 
 soon come back and visit. Georgy Camp- 
 bell, who knew just enough English to 
 interpret tolerably, came down to say that 
 breakfast was ready, and explained mat- 
 ters. 
 
 " Kaget, kaget," the old chief said, which 
 means, " You are right ; " and drawing his
 
 106 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 blanket closer, he walked away to the 
 blacksmith's, followed by the whole crowd. 
 Papa locked the door in a hurry ; and then 
 mamma, who had been laughing under the 
 blankets, crept out, and tried to melt some 
 water, which had frozen solid in the pail. 
 It took too long, however ; so they washed 
 their faces in fresh snow, and hurried up 
 to the farmer's, where, I think I have told 
 you, they were to take their meals, till 
 Oliver came with the provisions. Another 
 crowd was waiting there, and though Mrs. 
 Campbell said "Maja" (Go away) several 
 times, they only laughed a little, and 
 stared attentively. The farmer and black- 
 smith were both away, having gone for 
 supplies; so there was no rallying point 
 but the Doctor's house ; and there, after 
 breakfast ended, they followed them. Mrs. 
 Prescott looked about a moment, before 
 going on, and I will tell you what she saw. 
 Standing in the farmer's door, and look- 
 ing east, right opposite, was their own 
 house, built of sawn logs, with a great 
 black pipe sticking out from the clay 
 chimney, which she afterward found had 
 been part of the boiler for the saw-mill. 
 To the right of it, the blacksmith's house 
 and forge, all in one ; back of that the 
 Government warehouse, where payment 

 
 WHITE AND RED. 107 
 
 goods were stored in the fall ; and beyond 
 that still, some low log-houses and wig- 
 wams. There were two or three log-barns, 
 and all these buildings were on the brow 
 of a low hill, at the foot of which lay a 
 little lake, close to the edge of which were 
 seen the remains of a saw-mill which had 
 blown up in the fall. All about were the 
 melancholy looking black pines, save at 
 the northwest, where, a quarter of a mile 
 distant, lay Red Lake, stretching far out 
 of sight. Everywhere, save at this one 
 point, the thick black forest surrounded 
 them, the smoke from scattered wigwams, 
 or log-huts, curling up in the clear, frosty 
 air. The bright spots were the Indians in 
 red, green, blue, and white blankets; no 
 half-starved, dirty looking ones, as at Leech 
 Lake, but with a general air of comfort, 
 even among the women and children. 
 Neddo was there, shining in bead-worked 
 leggins of dark blue cloth ; and near him, 
 miserable little Boulanger, smaller, dirtier, 
 meaner than ever, in comparison, but with 
 a smirk on his face as Dr. Prescott passed, 
 which showed that he did not intend to 
 let any trouble of yesterday stand in the 
 way of his receiving a parting gift to-day. 
 " I am going to the blacksmith's a 
 few minutes," said Dr. Prescott, throwing
 
 108 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 open the door. " Lock the door, and don't 
 let any one in till I come back." 
 
 Boulanger, who had fully intended to 
 step in, stepped back instead, while mam- 
 ma and Harry went to work at once, try- 
 ing to bring about some sort of system 
 in the chaos of boxes, bags, and bundles, 
 which filled one end of the room. Do 
 you want to know how it looked? A 
 room -exactly ten feet by twelve ; half-win- 
 dows on each side : at one end, a great 
 clay chimney, where now a fire of Ihe 
 black, pitchy pine, burned fiercely. The 
 walls just logs, nothing more, through 
 the chinks in which the daylight shone. 
 Overhead, a ceiling of rough boards, leav- 
 ing a space of four or five feet between 
 them and the ridge-pole ; a sort of attic, 
 which they found very useful in the stow- 
 ing away of odds and ends. A heavy 
 beam running the length of the house, 
 and just in the middle, supported these 
 boards. 
 
 " Is this all the house we've got ? " 
 Harry asked, as Dr. Prescott came in again, 
 followed by the old chief. 
 
 " I'm afraid it is," he answered, looking 
 troubled. " When I left, it was with the 
 understanding we should have the engi- 
 neer's house, which is quite comfortable j
 
 WHITE AND RED. 109 
 
 but it seems it was turned over to the 
 blacksmith, who has rented it to a trader. 
 The Major would make all right if he 
 knew how things were going ; but it will 
 take five or six weeks at least, to write 
 and get an answer from him, and in the 
 mean time this is our only place. What 
 will you do, Mary ? " 
 
 Mamma looked just a little dismayed. 
 
 " Can't you have a place for an office ? " 
 she said. " We can't well live in the same 
 room with all this crowd of Indians." 
 
 "Neddo tells me Beauchamp can build 
 on a room at once," said Dr. Prescott. 
 " The great trouble will be that there are 
 no boards for doors or floors. We can use 
 poles, perhaps. The first thing now, is to 
 pay Neddo, who will soon start again for 
 Leech Lake." 
 
 Neddo wanted calico and some ribbon, 
 and an hour went by in opening the box 
 of goods and showing them to him, and to 
 the old chief. Money is almost useless in 
 the Indian country : a few among them 
 have some idea of its value ; but furs, corn, 
 and potatoes, are their usual currency, and 
 goods, the trader's, so many yards of calico 
 being counted as a dollar. Three are gen- 
 erally given, so Neddo was more than sat- 
 isfied at receiving at the rate of five for a
 
 110 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 dollar. He chose also some bright rib- 
 bons, tying them at once to the tail on his 
 fur cap, and walking away with Boulanger, 
 who had also received some calico, and an 
 end of red ribbon, which, pulled through 
 the band of his greasy hat, made him look 
 dingier than ever. Harry looked on for a 
 time, while his father filled some of the 
 countless bottles waiting for castor-oil, 
 which the Indians love as you love butter, 
 and would drink all day if only they could 
 get it 
 
 Georgy came down after a while, and 
 asked Harry to come and slide down hill ; 
 and Harry, bundling up, went out, expect- 
 ing to find a sled. At the top of the hill 
 were a dozen or more Indian children of 
 all ages, each of the boys having a barrel 
 stave, with a string at one end. 
 
 Where's the sled ? " Harry asked, look- 
 ing about. 
 
 " Here," Georgy said, picking up his 
 stave. " See ; I show you ; do as me." 
 
 Laying the stave on the ground, and 
 putting one foot on it, Georgy pushed it 
 along, holding the string till some momen- 
 tum had been gained ; then, ' suddenly 
 bringing the other foot to it, shot down 
 like an arrow far out on the little lake, fol- 
 lowed by two of the Indian boys, slender 

 
 WHITE AND RED. Ill 
 
 and straight as the pine-trees all about, 
 who, as they dashed after, shouted " Hiyah, 
 yah, hiyah ! " 
 
 Close by stood a little girl nine or ten 
 years old, her black hair standing out all 
 ways, but with beautiful, bright, dark eyes, 
 and white teeth gleaming between the 
 reddest lips Harry had ever seen. She 
 had been looking at him with the greatest 
 interest ; and now, as Georgy came up, 
 said something, and then laughed. 
 
 " What is it she says ? " said Harry. 
 " She looked right at me." 
 
 " She say white boy not know anything," 
 Georgy replied ; " she say you no can go 
 down as^me." 
 
 " We'll see," said Harry, indignantly ; 
 u give me your stick, Georgy." 
 
 Harry watched a moment one of the 
 Indian boys who flew by him, and then, 
 very sure he knew all about it, started 
 down. All went well till he brought the 
 other foot to the stave, when, exactly how 
 he could not tell, he found himself flat on 
 his back, and the stave which he had jerked 
 up by the string as he fell, lying by him. 
 A shout went up from all the company, 
 Georgy and the little girl laughing louder 
 than any. Harry laughed too, though 
 with a very red face.
 
 112 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 " I'll do it, anyhow," he said, getting up. 
 " I guess I can do what they can," and he 
 started again, this time rolling over at 
 once, and going almost to the bottom of 
 the hill with the boy who had run into 
 him. 
 
 u You'd better look out how you do that 
 again," Harry said, choking, and scramb- 
 ling out from a drift, with his mouth full 
 of snow ; and then laughing, as he remem- 
 bered English was no use here. The boy 
 pointed to his feet, and said something, the 
 only word Harry understood being " moc- 
 casin." 
 
 " He say," Georgy interpreted, " white 
 boy boots no good : moccasin good, and 
 then you slide." 
 
 "But I haven't got any," said Harry. 
 The little girl who had been watching 
 him, sat down in the snow and pulled off 
 hers ; and Harry, after a moment's hesita- 
 tion, took off his shoes. 
 
 " What's her name ? " he said. 
 
 "Sozette Josance," Georgy answered. 
 "Her father's French, but she not know 
 French talk ; only Ojibway talk." 
 
 Sozette, in the mean time, had slipped 
 her feet into Harry's shoes, and stood now 
 looking at them, while Harry, who felt as 
 if he had on nothing but stockings, once
 
 WHITE AND RED. 113 
 
 more took the stave, finding that now his 
 feet could cling to it, as the thick shoes 
 would never have let them do. Two or 
 three more trials and tumbles, and he 
 went down safely to the bottom, though 
 quite unable to stand straight as the other 
 boys did. His feet were cold now, and he 
 ran up the hill to where Sozette stood, in- 
 tending to take his shoes and go into the 
 house. 
 
 " Tell her I want them," he said to 
 Georgy ; but Sozette, with a little nod at 
 Harry, said, " Ka win ; neen sarga tow ; 
 neen margeetone." (No j I like the shoes ; 
 I will take them away.) 
 
 " She not give 'em back," said Georgy ; 
 she like 'em." 
 
 "But I want them," said Harry, mak- 
 ing a motion towards them ; when Sozette, 
 with a push that sent him backward into 
 another snow-bank, dashed off, her black 
 hair and little red blanket flying loose be- 
 hind her as she ran. After her Harry 
 plunged, angry enough now to think of 
 nothing but the shoes: and after him 
 rushed the crowd of children. Sozette 
 disappeared in an open door-way, and 
 Harry followed, tumbling over an Indian 
 dog, which yelped and snapped as it ran.
 
 114 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 A tall man rose up from the floor where 
 he was sitting. 
 
 " Maja, waywif," he said ; " wagonind, 
 Sozette ? " (Off with you, quick ; what is 
 the matter, Sozette V) 
 
 Sozette laughing and panting, stood 
 behind her father, while Harry, burning 
 with wrath, pointed at his feet and then 
 to hers. Luckily, Dr. Prescott, who had 
 seen the rush by the window, came in 
 just in time to hear Josance accusing 
 Harry of having taken Sozette's mocca- 
 sins ; an exchange was made, at which she 
 pouted, and Harry walked home, warm 
 enough now, and ready for more play, if 
 papa had not said he had done quite 
 enough for that morning. 
 
 Beauchamp had come, sent by Neddo. 
 He knew a little English, in which he 
 took great pride, and was listening to a 
 plan for the new room, which was to be 
 begun at once. 
 
 " You no talk more," he said presently ; 
 "me know nuff; me go now, cut much 
 stick," and shouldering his axe., he went 
 off with his brother Baptiste. 
 
 Josance came after dinner; heated wa- 
 ter in a great pail, and thickened it with 
 clay which had been left from the chim- 
 ney, and which was found only in one
 
 WHITE AND RED. 115 
 
 spot near the lake. With this he filled 
 up some of the great chinks between the 
 logs, though there was only enough to 
 finish one side ; while Sozette, delighted 
 at the chance of being there, stirred the 
 clay with her chapped little hands, and 
 looked at everything. Georgy and Fanny 
 Campbell were also there, and a steady 
 flow of Indian visitors came and went, till 
 at night Mrs. Prescott was almost as tired 
 as on the last day of the journey. 
 
 The next day building began, and went 
 on briskly ; and Harry, in blanket socks 
 and moccasins, trudged after Beauchamp 
 and Baptiste, who had brought a load of 
 small trees, five or six inches in diameter, 
 notched them at each end, after they 
 were cut to the right length, so that they 
 would fit into each other; and in a day 
 had finished a room at the back of the 
 house, eight feet by ten, with a roof of 
 poles, filled in with hay. 
 
 Another clay was spent in digging a 
 hole in the frozen ground, on which a fire 
 had been built to partly thaw it; then, 
 taking out the earth, mixing it with hot 
 water to a thick mud, and filling in be- 
 tween the logs. This would freeze, and 
 do till spring, when clay could be had. 
 Then came the question, where boards for
 
 116 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 a floor could be found; and Beauchamp, 
 ever ready with his " You no talk ; me 
 know where me find some," trotted away, 
 appearing again after a time, with half a 
 dozen weather-stained ones, which, they 
 afterward found, he had pulled from the 
 Government barn. Two were saved for 
 a door, which Dr. Prescott put together 
 while Beauchamp laid the floor. By the 
 evening of the fourth day, the door was 
 up, a window cut, and a sash put in, 
 which, as there was no glass, had to have 
 panes of white cotton cloth. A partition 
 made of small trees, one side chopped off 
 to make them look as much as possible 
 like boards, was put up in the new room, 
 making a place just wide enough for the 
 cooking-stove, which was to come by and 
 by. From some shingles and a box Dr. 
 Prescott made a little closet in their 
 kitchen for his medicines, which were to 
 be handed to the Indians through a square 
 hole cut in the partition. An opening 
 was made into the main room, ready for a 
 door, in case boards enough to make one 
 should be found ; the little sheet-iron stove 
 was set up, the pipe going out through a 
 hole in the roof, and in a little more than 
 a week everything was in order, and the 
 Indians, unless very special friends, re- 
 ceived in the new office.
 
 WHITE AND RED. 117 
 
 Then began the work of improvement 
 in the main part. They had brought 
 coarse sheeting, and rolls of bright wall-pa- 
 per. This sheeting was torn into strips 
 and pasted over every crack, not only in 
 the logs, but in the boards of their ceiling, 
 through which the cold air poured down 
 at night. Over this the wall-paper was 
 put, the black eyes looking in at the win- 
 dows at all hours, staring in astonishment 
 at what they thought to be this dreadful 
 waste of calico. Mamma pasted paper 
 over two of the boxes, making little 
 shelves in them with shingles, and papa 
 nailed them up; one under the looking- 
 glass, as a sort of bureau ; and the other 
 larger one at the opposite end of the 
 room, where they filled the two shelves 
 with their few books. 
 
 " for a barrel ! " mamma said often, 
 " and then we might have another chair," 
 for now they had but one, a rocking-chair, 
 which had lost a rocker on the way up by 
 crashing against a tree. Papa had mended 
 it as well as he could, but 'twas still 
 joggly, and, at the best of times, had never 
 been meant to hold three people, so Harry 
 sat on a block of wood or at the foot of 
 the bed. 
 
 By Christmas Day the little house could
 
 118 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 hardly have known itself. Nothing could 
 beautify that obstinate clay chimney, but 
 the open fire more than made up for it ; 
 and Harry, sitting on his block, saw won- 
 derful pictures in the red embers, and de* 
 clared it just the place for Santa Glaus to 
 get down without the least trouble. 
 
 Santa Glaus evidently had heard of Eed 
 Lake, for the stockings which were hung 
 up Christmas Eve, were found full Christ- 
 mas morning ; in Harry's, some new moc- 
 casins, an Ojibway Testament, and a piece 
 of red ribbon he was to use in trading, if 
 he liked. Mamma had all the dry goods 
 made over to her, and found beside, in 
 her stocking, "Longfellow" and "Whit- 
 tier," in the little Diamond Edition, which 
 is such a blessed thing for people who are 
 where they can take but few books, and 
 want much in little space. 
 
 Papa rejoiced in a pair of red flannel ] 
 shirts, and delighted the Indians by ap- 
 pearing at once in one. Out of the trunk 
 had corne two passepartouts ; one of Lin- 
 coln, which, with a wreath of ground pine 
 about it, hung over the table; and the 
 other, Harry's head of Raphael, which 
 Uncle Charley had given him. There was 
 no church to go to, but after breakfast 
 they sat about the fire and sang Christ-
 
 WHITE AND RED. 119 
 
 mas carols ; and at last all went out for a 
 walk. Their thermometer said thirty-one 
 below zero, and papa's beard and mous- 
 tache were white with frost three minutes 
 after they started, yet none of them felt 
 really cold. Harry rancor walked, as the 
 mood took him, and they went down the 
 hill past Josance's house, and on toward 
 two wigwams standing alone. As they 
 passed a little log-barn, where Josance 
 kept his cow, mamma spied something 
 she had wished for every day since she 
 came. 
 
 "A barrel! there certainly is a barrel, 
 Henry," she said. u Do get it out." 
 
 "It's Josance's barrel," said Harry. 
 "I'll run back and tell him to come. 
 There he is now ; I guess he saw us." 
 
 Josance came up quickly, looking, 
 mamma declared, like a disguised prince. 
 Certainly he was very handsome ; and 
 small Sozette, dancing behind him, had 
 his eyes and brilliant teeth, and, dirty or 
 clean, was surely beautiful. 
 
 " C'est le fete de Noel," said Josance, 
 with a bow, as Mrs. Prescott told him her 
 wishes. " Je fais du baril un cadeau pour 
 Madame, s'elle me fera 1'honneur de 1'ac- 
 cepter." ('Tis Christmas Day. I make the 
 barrel a gift for Madame, if she will do 
 me the honor of accepting it.)
 
 120 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 " Many thanks," Mrs. Prescott said ; and 
 Josance, with another bow, stood watch- 
 ing, while Dr. Prescott brought the barrel 
 and rolled it up the hill to the house. 
 
 "You are fortunate," he said, "for I 
 doubt if there be another one here. The 
 boys break up the very few which come 
 through, to use for sliding, so this is prob- 
 ably your last chance till next payment 
 time." 
 
 Two or three Indians were sitting on 
 the floor in the office, enjoying the heat 
 from the red hot stove, and smoking a 
 mixture of tobacco and kinnikinick, which 
 is the inner bark of willow, dried on little 
 frames before the fire, and then rolled 
 fine. 
 
 Mrs. Prescott marked out the back and 
 arms of her chair, and then papa sawed it 
 to the right shape, first knocking out the 
 top, which was to be nailed together, fast- 
 ened on a piece of tree between three and 
 four feet high, and made into a little work- 
 stand, covered with calico. Three days 
 later the two stood completed by the west 
 window, and the Indian women said, 
 " Ah, ta ! ah, ta ! " as they saw the pretty 
 stand covered with Turkey-red, to match 
 the chair and curtains. 
 
 Everything was now ready for house-
 
 WHITE AND RED. 121 
 
 keeping, and they watched each day for 
 Oliver. Little Thunder had returned, 
 finding the snow too deep to go on, and 
 called almost every day ; and the old 
 chief, who could never be denied, doubled 
 up by the fire and spent hours watching 
 them at work. Harry was learning 
 Ogibway very fast, picking it up, word by 
 word, from the children with whom he 
 played, especially Georgy and Sozette, 
 who were now firm friends. 
 
 New Year's morning the sun shone so 
 brightly, that Harry, full of spirits, went 
 out for a run before breakfast. A little 
 scuffle was heard, and then a loud laugh- 
 ing outside, as he rushed in again, locking 
 the door behind him. 
 
 " What is the matter ?" said mamma. 
 
 u Why, they all tried to kiss me," Harry 
 answered. " Sozette, and Nah gon a sake, 
 did ; and then I ran, when that dreadful 
 fishy one caught me." 
 
 " What is it for ? " Mrs. Prescott asked, 
 as Dr. Prescott, who had opened the door, 
 hastily shut it again, while a very fat 
 squaw looked in at the window and 
 laughed. 
 
 " This is their day," he said ; while Harry 
 danced around, delighted with the idea 
 that his father, too, was to be attacked.
 
 122 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 " I don't see but that I must stay in the 
 house. The squaw who can take the first 
 kiss from any man she meets on New 
 Year's morning, can claim a present from 
 him ; and there are twenty, I should 
 think, lying in wait by the door. All the 
 men who are not off on their hunts, will 
 be here by and by. Tis Manitou Gee- 
 shickuck, the Great Spirit's day, when 
 they all shake hands and give good wishes, 
 and they will expect some present from us." 
 
 " We haven't anything, unless it is this 
 card of brass buttons," said Mrs. Prescott ; 
 " there are four or five dozen of those." 
 
 " The very thing," said the Doctor ; and 
 just then Georgy came down to say 
 breakfast was ready, and put up his lips 
 so confidently, that Mrs. Prescott kissed 
 him at once. 
 
 A dozen women surrounded the Doctor 
 as he went out ; but he broke away from 
 them, laughing, saying that the white 
 man kept Manitou Geeshickuck in a differ- 
 ent way, and did not want to kiss. Harry, 
 pursued by a crowd of little girls, had to 
 run under Mrs. Campbell's bed to escape 
 them ; and, coming out with feathers in 
 his hair, was attacked, by Fanny and So- 
 zette together, and came to breakfast 
 very much disgusted at this new way of
 
 WHITE AND RED. 123 
 
 keeping New Year's. The old chief stood 
 by their door as they went home, and 
 shook hands heartily. His face was 
 blackened, and as this is a sign of mourn- 
 ing, the Doctor asked if any friend was 
 dead. 
 
 No," said Ma dwa ga non ind, with a 
 chuckle. " But when it is black, the 
 squaws keep away, and I save my flour. 
 Kissing is for the young men, and there 
 are many ready and waiting for the white 
 medicine-man. Does the white woman 
 care ? " and he chuckled again as he 
 looked at Mrs. Prescott, and then settled 
 down by the fire. 
 
 All day long the Indians came and went, 
 shaking hands, and then sitting down to 
 smoke. The buttons gave out after a 
 time ; and having plenty of matches, Dr. 
 Prescott decided to give some to each of 
 the remaining callers, who were delighted 
 to have something so much more conve- 
 nient than the flint, steel, and tinder, 
 which all carry in their tobacco-pouches. 
 Toward evening, Kah wiss kinniky 
 (Crooked Arm), a handsome young chief, 
 called, and with him the dandy of the Red 
 Lake Ojibways, who was so impressed by 
 his own appearance, that he had little to 
 say to the inferior white people. You will
 
 124 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 want to know just how an Ojibway dandy 
 looks, and as, though there are several at 
 Red Lake, " Shoo goosh kan dah way " 
 (Flying Squirrel) is the most important 
 one, you shall hear what he is like 
 
 First then, around his right eye a care- 
 fully drawn circle of vermilion; and around 
 the left, one of white. On each cheek 
 three stripes, red, blue, and yellow; and 
 on his forehead, spots of the same colors. 
 His thick hair carefully braided in two 
 long tails behind, and in front one small 
 one, on which are sewed nine brass but- 
 tons, while the parting is half vermilion 
 and half yellow. A bead-worked band 
 passes around his head, in which are stuck 
 some feathers. Then conies a Mackinaw 
 blanket, gaily painted in stripes, and a 
 blanket cap which he draws over his head, 
 and is cut in scallops on the top, and or- 
 namented with ribbons. Then a short- 
 skirted frock coat, bought of some trader, 
 below which hangs his calico shirt, which, 
 even when they wear pantaloons, always 
 hangs outside. Around his waist is a bead 
 belt, with the sheath for the long knife, 
 and over the right shoulder passes another 
 wider belt, to which the tobacco-pouch is 
 sewed, both covered with beads. Leggins 
 of scarlet cloth, also worked in beads, reach
 
 WHITE AND RED. 125 
 
 a little above the knee, and are fastened 
 by bead-work bands, with long ends of gay 
 colored yarn ; and his moccasins are the 
 finest skin, and covered with more beads. 
 From each ankle trails a skunk skin, with 
 a brass thimble on the tail ; and around his 
 neck is another skin, that of a small fox, 
 from the tail of which hang large blue 
 beads, and twenty or thirty thimbles. 
 
 He was tall and stout, but too fine, as 
 well as too disagreeable, to be talked with ; 
 and Mrs. Prescott, after taking notes of his 
 dress, gave her attention to Crooked Arm, 
 who, though one of the best hunters and 
 warriors among them, had a very quiet, 
 pleasant manner, and seemed a thorough 
 gentleman. 
 
 . You will laugh at this ; but Mrs. Pres- 
 cott soon found there were a great many 
 gentlemen at Red Lake, and preferred 
 Indian society to that of the white men 
 stationed there. 
 
 Night came at last, and Harry was get- 
 ting ready for bed, when a trampling and 
 pulling was heard. Gee ! haw ! sounded 
 through the air ; and throwing open the 
 door, the expected teams were seen mak- 
 ing their way up the last hill.
 
 126 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 "WHERE is the kerosene, Oliver?" Dr. 
 Prescott asked, as Oliver brought in the 
 last bag of flour, and stood as if he had 
 nothing more to do. 
 
 " The karosene," repeated Oliver. " Wall, 
 you see, 'twouldn't do ter bring flour an' 
 karosene along together, nohow, for one 
 might a-sprung aleak, and spiled the other. 
 Government teams is comin' up afore long, 
 they say, and we'll send it along on them. 
 I ain't none so sure about 'em, either, for 
 we did find the snow worse an' worse, the 
 further we come. 'Tain't been such a win- 
 ter for snow, no not in ten year." 
 
 " Why, we've been waiting for it ever 
 since we came," said Harry, " for it's dark 
 by four o'clock, and then we have to burn 
 pine knots." 
 
 " Ef I was you," Oliver went on, " an' 
 wanted that karosene bad enough, I'd send 
 dogs down for it, for I believe you won't 
 get it no other way. Little Thunder's got 
 some, ain't he ? He might go below with 
 us. Kind of comfortable lookin' in here, 
 you be now, ain't you ? " 
 

 
 WHITE AND RED. 127 
 
 " We have just three candles left," said 
 mamma, after Oliver had said good-night. 
 "We'll cut each one into three pieces 
 and allow ourselves one piece an evening. 
 Nine days will surely be time enough for 
 Little Thunder to go and come." 
 
 " Oliver says he shall only stay here one 
 day," Dr. Prescott said, " and it takes an 
 Indian so long to make up his mind about 
 anything, that I'll go over now ^to Quee 
 wee all's house, and talk about the matter," 
 and bundling up at once, papa started off, 
 returning in an hour, to say that Little 
 Thunder seemed quite pleased with the 
 idea, and would come over next afternoon 
 for bread and pork, as it is customary to 
 supply with provisions all Indians or half- 
 breeds, who undertake any journey for 
 one. 
 
 The new cooking-stove was set up in its 
 place next morning, and mamma experi- 
 mented with Little Thunder's bread, which 
 came out of the oven in good order, and 
 was much admired by Mrs. Little Thun- 
 der, who came over with a muskemote, 
 or bag of woven rushes, full of potatoes, 
 which she had raised herself, and wanted 
 now to exchange for calico and buttons. 
 With her came her daughter, carrying a 
 pappoose, and, by the way, the Indians
 
 128 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 do not like to have their babies called by 
 this name, which has, they say, been made 
 up by the whites, and means nothing at 
 all. Wahboose is the word they use, which 
 means, little thing, and is also the name 
 for rabbits. This wahboose, like all In- 
 dian babies, was fastened down on a board 
 with bead-work bands, and carried on 
 the mother's back, held by a band passing 
 over her forehead. As she came in, with 
 the blanket drawn close about her, Harry 
 thought her deformed, for this great hurnp 
 never stirred ; but when Mrs. Little Thun- 
 der had chosen her calico, the blanket 
 was thrown off, the baby set up against 
 the wall, and Dr. Prescott asked to look at 
 it. Its eyes were shut, and it moaned a 
 little now and then. 
 
 " 'Tis a very sick child," said Dr. Pres- 
 cott, presently, " and if it were anything 
 but an Indian baby, I should say was go- 
 ing to die. Take it home," he went on, in 
 Indian, to the mother, "and soon I will 
 bring you some medicine. I would tell 
 her to keep it quiet, were there any use in 
 such a direction ; but the sicker it is, the 
 more noise there will be." 
 
 " Let me go with you when you get 
 the medicine made," said Harry. " I know 
 her. She's the Red River Indian's wife :
 
 WHITE AND RED. 129 
 
 she lives right across the road, in that 
 mud house. I saw her give the haby a lot 
 of hulled corn yesterday. It can walk, 
 but she tied it on to the board again, be- 
 cause it was sick ; and I saw it eat a po- 
 tatoe-skin. She lets it have fishes' tails to 
 suck." 
 
 " Why, that is dreadful," said mamma. 
 " It ought to have milk. Suppose I fix a 
 cupful of condensed milk and warm water." 
 
 " Well," said papa, " and we'll all go 
 over together." 
 
 So presently they went, mamma carry- 
 ing, in their one little pitcher, the milk, 
 which froze hard on the way, though the 
 houses were hardly a stone's throw apart, 
 and which had to be put by the fire at 
 once, to thaw. 
 
 The room was very small ; the logs so 
 carefully stopped with clay, and such a 
 great fire burning in the chimney, that 
 the heat was almost stifling. The baby 
 had been set up in one corner, near the 
 fire ; all around the room were the friends 
 and the relations, for whenever any mem- 
 ber of a family is sick, it is etiquette for as 
 many as can, to spend all their spare time 
 with them. In front of the child was 
 squatted one of the medicine-men, shak- 
 ing a sacred rattle, made generally of a
 
 130 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 dried gourd, with beans in it ; but in this 
 case, an old oyster-can, with a stick in the 
 top, used as a handle. A small drum, 
 which he beat occasionally, stood by him, 
 and he sang the monotonous chant, by 
 which these sittings are always accom- 
 panied. 
 
 " The child has had no sleep for two 
 days, they say," said Dr. Prescott, " and 
 how can it get any in this noise and heat ? " 
 and then he went on in Ojibway telling 
 the mother that if the baby did not go to 
 sleep, it would die; and she must send 
 away the medicine-man, or, at any rate, 
 tell him to keep still. The old man shook 
 his head as he listened. 
 
 "The white medicine-man's words are 
 bad," he said, " though his heart may be 
 good. The sound of the Great Spirit's rat- 
 tle and drum, can alone drive out the evil 
 manitou, who has entered the lodge. 
 Would my brother see the soul of the lit- 
 tle one torn away?" and he rattled and 
 drummed together, as if determined to 
 make up the time lost in speaking. 
 
 " If the baby could only be washed," 
 said Mrs. Prescott. " It is a mass of dirt." 
 ' " Water and sleep would cure it," said 
 Dr. Prescott, " but it is not likely to have 
 either. A doctor's hands are tied here,
 
 WHITE AND RED. 131 
 
 for if an Indian is really sick, these medi- 
 cine-men step in, and prevent the possibil- 
 ity of any good being done. Government 
 might better appoint two farmers, and do 
 without the doctor, who is of no earthly 
 use ; he must give them medicines when 
 they are not needed, and be tormented by 
 seeing all those who might be cured, if let 
 alone, drummed to death before his eyes, 
 and his own scalp in danger, if he inter- 
 feres." 
 
 The baby opened its eyes a moment, and 
 the mother put a piece of fish into its 
 mouth at once. 
 
 " don't ! " said Mrs. Prescott, starting 
 forward, and forgetting that English was 
 useless. " Do give it some of this milk," 
 and she poured a little into a cup she had 
 brought 
 
 " No, no ! " the old medicine-man said, 
 as the mother took the cup. " Milk from 
 the white man's cup is manitou." 
 
 At the word " manitou," the mother 
 pushed it away, and looked frightened ; 
 but the father said, " The white medi- 
 cine-man's drink is good. Let the child 
 have it." 
 
 " Manitou, manitou ! " the old man said, 
 throwing down his rattle, and rising, as if 
 to go.
 
 132 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 A general cry of dismay was uttered by 
 all the Indians. 
 
 " They say," said Georgy, who had 
 come in, " that your milk kill a baby when 
 it sick ; for why, your dish manitou." 
 
 " They may do as they please about the 
 milk, but the child must take this medi- 
 cine, or it will surely die ; " and papa took 
 the bottle and poured some drops from it 
 into the child's mouth, before any one 
 could interfere ; walking away with the 
 bottle afterward, and saying he would 
 come again soon, and give another dose. 
 
 " It is almost hopeless work," he sighed, 
 after they were home again. " I did my 
 best all last summer, to give them some 
 notions of cleanliness, which might help 
 them when sick ; but, except in a very 
 few cases, there is always the trouble you 
 have seen to-day." 
 
 " What is manitou ? " Harry asked. 
 
 " Anything which an Indian fancies 
 may, or which he is told by the medicine- 
 men will, do him any harm. Manitou 
 means spirit, you know, and everything 
 they cannot understand is called so, as well 
 as everything they admire, or fear strongly. 
 Those two great trees you saw at the top 
 of the world, are manitou ; so is my watch, 
 because it ticks ; and your little umbrella,
 
 WHITE AND RED. 133 
 
 because it is something they never saw be- 
 fore. Leading-Feather's manitou is a wolf. 
 He would not kill one if he could help it ; 
 or if he did, would beg its pardon before 
 cutting it up. The young man whose 
 tooth I pulled yesterday thought it ached 
 because he had offended his manitou, the 
 woodpecker, who had entered it and was 
 tapping there ; and the old man who 
 wanted medicine for the rheumatism, 
 thought his manitou, the bear, was angry, 
 and had got into his bones, which he 
 gripped, and tried to crush. The longer 
 you live here, the more manitous you will 
 find. The missionaries, when here, were 
 able to influence a few ; and, on the whole, 
 the Red Lake band are far less supersti- 
 tious than many others, but still the medi- 
 cine-men do much as they will with them." 
 
 u Here is Little Thunder, come for his 
 bread," said Harry. " I wonder what his 
 manitou is," 
 
 " I don't know," papa answered. " He 
 prayed to a red stone, when we were on 
 the hunt last summer, and offered some 
 duck-feathers to it. That was to insure 
 success, I believe ; and the stone had no 
 special sacredness of its own, for he left it 
 behind as we went on." 
 
 " He's got his Grossest wife with him," 
 said Harry.
 
 134 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 " The Grossest one ? " mamma repeated. 
 Has he two ? " 
 
 * Three, I think, unless one has died 
 since fall," said papa. " The one we met 
 when coming up is his first and most hon- 
 ored wife, and 'tis her son who has the 
 right to succeed him as chief. This one 
 has a terrible temper, and dislikes the 
 whites. She has come, probably, to see 
 that her husband makes a good bargain." 
 
 Campbell, the farmer, who had lived 
 among the Ojibways for many years, hav- 
 ing married a wife from the Mille Lac 
 band, came down to interpret, so that 
 everything might be understood before- 
 hand, and no chance given for saying that 
 more pay had been promised than was re- 
 ceived. Making a bargain with an Indian 
 is tedious work, and Little Thunder, like 
 all the rest, began by asking for five times 
 as much as he expected to get ; and on 
 hearing the utmost that Dr. Prescott would 
 give, first smoked a pipe, and then de- 
 clared he could not and would not go for 
 that. 
 
 Very well," said Dr. Prescott. " Then 
 I will get Baptiste, who is willing ; " and 
 Little Thunder, saying, " His train is weak 
 and old ; he could not go through," smoked 
 another pipe, and looked at his wife.
 
 WHITE AND RED. 135 
 
 Finally, an agreement was made, by which 
 he was to receive his own provisions, fish 
 for his dogs, and four dollars for every 
 hundred pounds he should bring ; and Mrs. 
 Little Thunder number two walked away, 
 carrying the bread and pork, which papa 
 was very much afraid would be eaten be- 
 fore they started. 
 
 "What do you think Georgy told me 
 about the moon ? " said Harry, as they sat 
 that evening around the fire. "You know 
 it's new now, and Sozette and all of us 
 were looking at it ; and Sozette began to 
 talk, and make Georgy interpret what she 
 was saying. She said her grandmother 
 said the moon was made of something 
 very good to eat, and that when it was full, 
 ever so many thousand mice began, and 
 ate and ate, till it was every speck gone ; 
 then it grew again, and they ate it up 
 again, and that's the way they keep doing 
 all the time. I told Georgy to tell her it 
 was a world, and those spots on it were 
 mountains and everything. Georgy said 
 he wouldn't tell her such stuff ; and when 
 he did, they all laughed. So then I told 
 him what old Nokomis told Hiawatha, you 
 know, about the warrior getting very angry 
 with his grandmother, and thro.ving her 
 up into the moon so hard, that she stuck
 
 136 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 there. Sozette said that was true, and 
 Beshquay said he could see her nose and 
 her blanket. Beshquay says his uncle is 
 windigo." 
 
 a What is that ? " mamma asked. 
 
 " Why, Georgy said, and he truly thinks 
 so, too, that when anybody's windigo, a 
 manitou gets into him, and he grows, and 
 grows, till he's tall as a pine-tree. Then 
 he is manitou, and nothing can kill him ; 
 and he eats up the children, if he wants to. 
 Sozette said, to be windigo was worse than 
 Jah bah e : what is that ? You called me 
 in before Georgy could tell." 
 
 " The spirit of a bad Indian, who could 
 not get into the happy hunting grounds, 
 and so wanders about, doing harm to 
 everybody. They can keep fish out of the 
 net, and loose all the animals that have 
 been trapped ; and the children are told, 
 that, if they are naughty in any way, Jah 
 bah e will chase them after dark, and pull 
 their hair, or sometimes wrestle with them, 
 and take away all their strength." 
 
 "If I could only understand Sozette," 
 Harry went on, " she'd tell me something 
 about everything ; but Georgy gets tired 
 interpreting, and half the time he can't 
 tell what the English of it is, because 
 he doesn't know enough himself. I wish 
 I knew Ojibway."
 
 WHITE AND RED. 137 
 
 " Sunday I shall begin to teach Sozette, 
 and some others, how to read," said papa, 
 " and that will help you in learning it ; 
 but 'tis such a hard language, you know, 
 that even Mr. Wright, who was here six- 
 teen years, says he does not feel that he is 
 master of it yet." 
 
 " What makes all the women talk just 
 as if they were angry ? " Harry said. " I 
 thought Mrs. Campbell was scolding aw- 
 fully this afternoon ; and Leading-Feather's 
 wife was there, talking back, just like her. 
 I asked Georgy what made 'em so mad at 
 each other, and he said they weren't mad 
 a bit ; they were talking about the sugar 
 bush, and the moccasin Fanny made." 
 
 " They all do it," said mamma, " while 
 almost all the men speak so quietly. Poor 
 women! they are little better than animals : 
 my heart aches for them every day." 
 
 " They don't have to do a thing till 
 they're ten or twelve," said Harry, " and 
 then they begin, and work till they drop 
 down dead. One of them said, why didn't 
 you chop the wood, mamma, instead of 
 having papa do it ? I said white women 
 didn't chop wood, and Beshquay said they 
 ought to ; and if he ever got a white wife, 
 he'd make her." 
 
 " That reminds me that our potatoes are
 
 138 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 still in the muskemote, and must be put 
 down cellar, or they will freeze," said papa. 
 " Hold up the board, Harry, and I'll pour 
 them in." 
 
 The cellar was a hole in the middle of 
 the room, which would hold three or four 
 bushels, and a board in the floor over it, 
 had been sawed out, and a support put 
 underneath, so that it need not fall through 
 when walked over. Indian cellars are 
 made in this way, whenever they have 
 houses. For the wigwams, they are dug 
 outside, lined with grass or moss ; and the 
 potatoes being put in, are closed up, and 
 kept there till needed. The corn, after 
 being shelled, is sewed up in muskemotes, 
 and kept in the same way, to secure it 
 from mice. 
 
 Next morning, Harry, who had been 
 sent for a pail of water, came up from the 
 little lake without it. 
 
 "I don't want to get water at that place 
 any more," he said ; " Nokomis is putting 
 a dog down the hole." 
 
 " Nokomis ! " said mamma ; " what is 
 she doing that. for?" 
 
 " Some charm," papa said, shouldering 
 his axe, and going down to cut another 
 hole. Georgy was close by, watching ; 
 and Nokomis, who was the sick baby's
 
 WHITE AND RED. 139 
 
 grandmother, looked a little disturbed as 
 she saw the Doctor coming, and began 
 talking very fast to Georgy, who inter- 
 preted. 
 
 " She say your medicine good make 
 baby sleep; pretty soon, while it asleep, 
 medicine-man take out manitou, put it 
 into the dog, and tell her, drown the dog, 
 and then baby get well quick." 
 
 " Tell her, if she must drown dogs, to 
 do it in the great lake, and not here," said 
 papa, " for she spoils our water. The 
 child is better, so it must be the dog that 
 has helped it. Why is it that Sozette 
 seems to be out-doors all the time ? " 
 
 " Josance gone away," said Georgy. 
 " Gone to the long hunt, and Sozette not 
 got much place to stay. She eat all round ; 
 we give her breakfast." 
 
 " Yes," said the farmer, who had come 
 down for water. " It's a wonder that child 
 don't starve to death ; she would, if 'twarn't 
 Injin fashion to share all round. Now, last 
 summer, Josance was down below, gettin' 
 goods to go off tradin' with, an' she went 
 on to Pembina, 'long with an old Injin ; 
 she walked nigh four hundred miles afore 
 she come back, and Josance never worried 
 his head. She's cute, Sozette is, though. 
 She's like to get all she wants."
 
 140 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 Sozette was looking in at the window 
 as they went back, and began to pick up 
 chips industriously, saying as they passed, 
 " White people have much to eat. Per- 
 haps, if I take them chips, they will give 
 me some bread." 
 
 "Fill the little chip-box full," said Dr. 
 Prescott, " and you shall have some." 
 
 Sozette, delighted, whirled round on 
 one heel, till blanket and hair stood out 
 straight together, and then went to work. 
 
 u Somebody must see to that child," said 
 mamma, as they went in ; " she's a bundle 
 of rags. Do you know, Henry, she has 
 nothing on but that torn calico dress, and 
 some pieces of rag on her feet ? She 
 needs everything ; and yet, if I make her 
 a comfortable suit, it will be stolen, I'm 
 afraid." 
 
 " That is not likely to happen here," 
 said papa ; " and I think she could be 
 taught to take care of her clothes. You 
 might have her bring water, and pick up 
 chips, and let her feel that she is earning 
 them. She depends on the squaws, now, 
 for all she has, and is the loneliest little 
 body up here, I believe, for she has only 
 that old grandmother, six miles away, to 
 think anything about her." 
 
 Sozette, hearing her name, listened at-
 
 WHITE AND RED. 141 
 
 tentively ; and when asked, through Geor- 
 gy, if she would try to be a good girl, and 
 do everything to please Mrs. Prescott, if 
 she were allowed to stay, her brown eyes 
 danced, and she promised so many things, 
 that Georgy gave up trying to interpret, 
 and summed it all up, " She say she love 
 pork ; she say coffee is good ; she say 
 white folks have lots to eat ; she love 
 white folks ; she work all the time ; she 
 eat good deal ; she love to eat." 
 
 "There is no doubt about that," said 
 Mrs. Prescott, after a little time of watch- 
 ing Sozette, whom, finally, she had to send 
 away from the table. " The child has 
 eaten nearly as much as we three. She'll 
 be sick." 
 
 " No fear of that," said Dr. Prescott; 
 " she's too active to have dyspepsia, though 
 you must put her on allowance, for it is 
 Indian nature, you know, to eat just as 
 long as any food remains before them. 
 When we came where elk were plenty, on 
 the hunt last summer, they ate six or 
 eight times a day. But what is the mat- 
 ter ? " 
 
 The blacksmith ran round the house; 
 and looking from the window, they saw 
 that Sozette, who had been sent out to 
 empty some water, had run up his roof,
 
 142 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 which sloped almost to the ground, and 
 was dropping snow-balls down the chim- 
 ney, into the forge-fire. 
 
 " If you're goin' to see after that little 
 varmint," said Hugh, as Sozette, before he 
 could catch her, had run into the house, 
 " why, you'll have yer hands full. There 
 ain't no kind o' mischief she don't do, 
 every minute o' the day." 
 
 "Not a nice white man," said Sozette, 
 shaking her head. " He slapped me once. 
 I shall do something to him." 
 
 Mrs. Prescott turned down the hem of 
 an apron for her, and, after the dishes 
 were set away, gave her a little thimble, 
 and began to teach her to sew. The 
 teams started about ten; Wade, with 
 his horses, which had brought up Aiken's 
 goods, and Oliver, with his oxen. Little 
 Thunder's dog-train went at the same 
 time, followed by some half-dozen Indians, 
 who were going a few miles for com- 
 pany ; and Sozette, who was half-sister to 
 Oliver's wife, said she wanted to ride a 
 little way, and would come back pretty 
 soon, and sew some more. Harry went 
 out with Georgy Campbell ; and mamma, 
 who was making gingerbread, listened 
 at the same time to papa, who was re- 
 peating one of the thousand tenses of an
 
 WHITE AND RED. 143 
 
 Ojibway verb. Suddenly he stopped. 
 u There's a curious sound coming from the 
 blacksmith's ; what is it ? " 
 
 "He's shouting and pounding," said 
 mamma. " Go and see what the matter 
 is, won't you, Henry ? " 
 
 Harry and Georgy, who had also heard 
 the noise, came running, as papa went 
 out. 
 
 " Maybe he's sick," said Harry, looking 
 in at the window. 
 
 " Open the door," roared old Hugh. 
 " Open the door, I say ! " 
 
 But it's locked," said Harry. " Here's 
 the key, though, dropped out." 
 
 " Has she gone off with the key ? " 
 shouted Hugh. " I'll roast her, if I catch 
 her." 
 
 Dr. Prescott unlocked the door at once, 
 and Hugh stepped out, blushing at being 
 caught in such a fix, but angry enough 
 to knock down somebody. 
 
 " Darn that Sozette ! " he said. " I'll 
 give it to her ! She's spiled the best axe 
 I've made yit." 
 
 What does it all mean ? " Dr. Prescott 
 asked. 
 
 " Why, the little varmint came runnin' 
 round the house, pretty soon after the 
 teams started. I'd put my steel to red in
 
 144 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 the forge fire, an' jist stepped out, to put 
 a stick on the one in my part, for you 
 see I was bakin' bread. I left the key 
 outside the door; an' the very minute I 
 stoops down to the baker, she bangs the 
 door to, and turns the key, an' then stans 
 there by the window, makin' faces. * Open 
 the door ! ' I says ; an' off she puts, hol- 
 lerin' out her Injin lingo, an' sayin' I 
 could go up the chimbly, ef I wanted to 
 git out. There warn't a soul round here, 
 for they'd all gone off with the teams, an' 
 I've been stampin' an' yellin', nigh half an 
 hour. I'll give it to her, you'll see ! " 
 
 Sozette came back just in time for din- 
 ner, but showed no penitence for her 
 morning's work, only shaking her head 
 a little as Dr. Prescott told her she must 
 not do mischief. Old Hugh was seen 
 chasing her in the course of the evening, 
 and declared through the window, that 
 he'd " rather have the sea-sarpint himself 
 to deal with, than that child." 
 
 Two days went by; and on the after- 
 noon of the third, Hugh, who had walked 
 in, said, " Here's news for you : Little 
 Thunder's home." 
 
 " What ! " said Dr. Prescott, astonished. 
 " He cannot have been to Leech Lake and 
 back."
 
 WHITE AND RED. 145 
 
 " He could a done, ef he'd been a mind 
 ter," said Hugh. "Them dog-trains goes 
 fifty miles a day with a load, easy, but he 
 didn't get no farther'n Turtle River, that 
 fust one you come to, yer know, where 
 yer sled broke. His son's been over to 
 sharpen his knife, an' he told me all about 
 it. Yer see, Turtle Lake, that the river 
 runs out of, has froze over since yer come, 
 and they crossed it well enough gettin' up 
 here. So they thought it would bear 
 easy, an' started across. Wade got over 
 all right with his bosses, an' then comes 
 Oliver lumberin' 'long with them oxen. 
 There was one pretty ticklish place, 
 where the ice was thin on account o' the 
 current, settin' out strong to the river, an' 
 Wade he hollered back to him to look out. 
 Oliver thought he'd steered clear of it, an' 
 just went ahead. A hoss would a known 
 better ; but them oxen, big fools, walks 
 right into a air-hole ; one went in all over, 
 an' dragged along 'tother half-way. He 
 fit and bellered, but, yer see, kep gettin' 
 pulled in more'n more, when the other 
 one kind of settled under the ice. Wade 
 run back, an' him an' Quee wee ah, an' the 
 rest, pulls an' hauls with ropes, till they 
 gits this last one out; but yer see the 
 
 cold was down to nowhar, an' the critter 
 
 10
 
 146 WHITE AND BED. 
 
 friz stiff in five minutes. I tell yer, I'm 
 level beat ef that Oliver ain't the on- 
 luckiest feller the Lord ever made. He 
 don't have no kind of a chance no- 
 how. He jest give them oxen to Little 
 Thunder, an' piled into Wade's sled, with- 
 out say in' one word, good nor "bad; an' 
 that's what's happened. You ain't like ter 
 git yer karosene yit awhile, fur there's 
 high times among them Injins. A lot's 
 started down to fish out the other ox, an' 
 they'll bile an' roast, till there ain't a 
 square inch o' either on 'em left. You'd 
 better be huntin' up more pine knots," 
 and old Hugh walked away. 
 
 Little Thunder was not seen for several 
 days, but appeared at last with some beef 
 as a peace-offering, and said, if they would 
 provide more bread, he would start the 
 next day without fail. So more bread 
 was made, of course, for the kerosene 
 must be had, and also a box with beans, 
 and other provisions in it, which Oliver 
 had forgotten ; and Little Thunder really 
 did start the next morning, though a 
 heavy snow was falling. The precious 
 pieces of candle were burned, one each 
 evening ; and while they lasted, mamma 
 sewed, and papa read aloud, till each one 
 burned down to the bit of wood which
 
 WHITE AND RED. 147 
 
 served as candlestick, when they threw 
 on pine cones, and by their light talked, 
 or sang songs, which Georgy and the 
 other children, who often spent the even- 
 ing with them, learned rapidly. " Tramp, 
 tramp, tramp, the boys are marching," 
 was a special favorite, and Sozette rubbed 
 knives, and picked up chips, and sewed 
 to this one tune, till Harry said he was 
 tired to death of hearing that, and be- 
 gan to teach her, " Old John Brown had 
 a little Indian," trying to make her say 
 the English words, which she utterly re- 
 fused to do. Finally, with Georgy's help, 
 he translated it into Ojibway, and the 
 song was learned and sung with great ap- 
 plause by Georgy, Fanny, Sozette, Nah 
 gou a sake, and Harry. You will like to 
 see how it looked in its Indian dress, so 
 I will write it for you. The words are 
 pronounced exactly as I spell them for 
 you; and if you learn this thoroughly, 
 you can some day, perhaps, if far enough 
 West to see Indians, astonish an Ojibway 
 by repeating it to him : 
 
 " Keka John Brown bungee Snarby 
 Keka John Brown bungee Snarby 
 Keka John Brown bungee Snarby 
 Pashick bungee Snarby qua wa zance 
 Pashick bungee neesh bungee niswe bungee Snarby
 
 148 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 Neez washwe bungee nis washwe bungee 
 
 Shouguswe bungee Snarby 
 
 Quage bungee Snarby qua wa zance. 
 
 " Quage bungee shouguswe bungee nis washwe bungee 
 
 Snarby 
 Neez washwe bungee gutwoss bungee narnoon bungee 
 
 Snarby 
 
 Newin bungee niswe bungee neesh bungee Snarb 
 Pashick bungee Snarby qua wa zance."
 
 WHITE AND RED. 149 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 A WEEK or more went by before Little 
 Thunder returned. The candles were 
 burned, every one of them, and no more 
 to be had. Mamma tried to get a little 
 tallow from some of the Indians who had 
 brought up the last ox from Turtle River, 
 thinking that a tallow candle would be far 
 better than no light at all ; but tallow had 
 been eaten by them with just as much rel- 
 ish as any other part, and not an ounce 
 remained for candle or anything else. So 
 all necessary work was done by daylight ; 
 and the evening, which began at four in 
 the afternoon, was given up in great part 
 to the children, six or eight of whom they 
 had begun to teach, hoping that by and 
 by these might learn to read. 
 
 Dr. Prescott had brought up some prim- 
 ers, but his Ojibway botiks were the Tes- 
 tament and a small hymn-book only, as 
 these are the only books of their language 
 in print. The feeling against learning 
 English seemed to be just as strong with 
 the children as with the parents; and
 
 150 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 though Nah gou a sake would sometimes 
 repeat an English word, she colored 
 after doing it, and all the other chil- 
 dren laughed. Even the little Campbells 
 seemed ashamed of what they knew, and 
 spoke Ojibway altogether, when not with 
 their father. Mrs. Campbell, too, though 
 she understood all that was said to her in 
 English, spoke nothing but her own lan- 
 guage. She wore the dress of a white 
 woman, and was neat in her ways, but in 
 all other points she was thoroughly Indian ; 
 and the children, growing up more under 
 her influence than that* of the father, 
 would, if they remained here, have less 
 and less in common with the whites. 
 The farmer himself was anxious they 
 should learn to read, and talked now and 
 then of " going below," where his children 
 might attend school ; but long years 
 among this wild people had unfitted him 
 for any other life. He had had a tolera- 
 ble education, and seemed capable of fill- 
 ing a far better position than the one he 
 occupied, and Mrs. Prescott often won- 
 dered how he could have separated him- 
 self so completely from his own people. 
 Aiken, who came over often from the 
 trading-post to see them, explained the 
 reason one evening.
 
 WHITE AND RED. 151 
 
 " I tell you, ma'am," he said, " we're all 
 savages the wust kind down at the bot- 
 tom. There ain't a man with any grit to 
 him, I don't care if he's got D. D. and 
 all the other D's tacked to his name, an* 
 stan's in books up to his neck, but 
 what, if you'd take him an' set him down 
 plump 'long with a tribe o' Injins, so't he 
 couldn't get away, would take to huntin' 
 an' fishin' for a livin', as nat'ral as a fish 
 takes to water ; an" what's more, wouldn't 
 give it up, either, if he had a chance. 
 You look at Daniel Boone, an' all the 
 rest o' them sorfy straight through. They 
 couldn't be white folks, to save their lives. 
 Natur was too strong. I tell you, men is 
 nat'rally savages. This boy'll be one, ef 
 you don't look out." 
 
 "No I won't," Harry cried. "I'll go 
 home fast as I can, when we've stayed 
 long enough." 
 
 "That's it," Aiken went on. "Maybe 
 you'll find there ain't no such thing as 
 stayin' long enough. Now, there's old 
 Hugh ; been up in this country hard on 
 fifteen year, movin' on, movin' on, to get 
 out o' the way o' white folks. He says 
 there's too many here now, an' he'll have 
 to go off to Devil's Lake, or White Earth, 
 maybe. Madder'n hops, he is, at the Pa-
 
 152 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 cific Railroad. Says there won't be a 
 spot, pretty soon, where a man can be 
 alone ef he's a mind to. He's like all the 
 rest that comes here ; got an old mother 
 to home, an' relations round in one place 
 an' another, an' he don't write a word to 
 one on 'em. Might as well be dead, for 
 all they know about him. There's just 
 Injin blood enough in me to keep me go- 
 in' ; an' go I shall, till I die." 
 
 " You're sort of black,* said Harry, " but 
 you've got blue eyes and curly hair ; that 
 doesn't look much like an Indian." 
 
 "That's so," Aiken replied. "This is 
 the way it is : my father was a Scotchman, 
 a trader for the Northwest Company, over 
 to Lake Superior; he was blue-eyed an' 
 red-headed. My mother was a ( bois 
 brule,' an' I was raised mostly by a Yan- 
 kee." 
 
 What is a ' bois brule ? ' " Mrs. Pres- 
 cott asked. 
 
 "French and Injin mixed; half-breed, 
 you know. ' Burnt-wood,' the words is. 
 They called 'em so, for their skins was 
 darker'n an Injin's, without that kind o' 
 reddish look to 'em. I talked Chippewa to 
 my mother, an' Scotch English to my 
 father, an' French to my grandfather. 
 We lived at La Pointe, an island in the
 
 WHITE AND RED. 153 
 
 lake, you know. My mother died when I 
 warn't over three, an' my father right af- 
 ter ; an' then a Yankee, from Maine, took 
 a fancy to me, an' said he'd see after me. 
 So you see I learned Yankee o' him, for 
 talk Chippewa he wouldn't ; and between 
 Spanish I learned down on the Isthmus, 
 an' forty 'leven lingos from the natives, 
 my tongue gets so tied up I don't know 
 what I am ; Yankee, mostly, I guess. It 
 paid to* hold on to that, for it got me 
 good berths when I wanted 'em ; an' 
 many a one has said they'd take me to be 
 straight from Maine. I'm obleeged to 
 that man, for though he got plenty o' pay 
 out o' me, yet ef it hadn't been for him, I 
 might 'a been a ' coureur du bois ' this 
 minute." 
 
 " What's that ? " Harry asked. 
 
 " A fellow that's always paddlin' a ca- 
 noe ; an' when he ain't doin' that, carries 
 ' pieces.' " 
 
 " ' Pieces ? ' " repeated Harry, puzzled. 
 " Pieces of what ? " 
 
 " I may as well tell you from the begin- 
 ning," Aiken said, laughing, " or else 
 you'll have to ask questions all night. La 
 Pointe is in the lake, I told you ; an' 
 there's a trading post, an' mission there. 
 It's easy enough gettin' at through Mack-
 
 154 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 inaw. Now there's steamboats running 
 all the time ; but thirty years ago we 
 went by canoe or bateaux, and there 
 wasn't any other way. I was about nine 
 then, but could go all day, jest like an 
 Injin ; an' the man I was with got tired o' 
 La Pointe. I was going to Mr. Ayre's 
 school, for he'd just come there then for 
 missionary; but we started right off for 
 Lac du Flambeau, jest as I'd begun to 
 read pretty easy, an' that's the last school- 
 in' I've had to this day, though I did pick 
 up writin', an' some figgers, as I went 
 along, an' made use of 'em. 
 
 " Well, this man was goin' to trade at 
 Lac du Flambeau, an' took goods along. 
 We had one bateau an' two canoes, an' 
 about fifteen, all told, went along ; eight 
 to row the bateau, an' the rest for canoe 
 an' loose work. Two was Injins ; then me 
 an' the man, Preston his name was, 
 an' eleven ' coureurs du bois.' The ba- 
 teau I see you want to know about. 
 That was a light-built boat, forty feet 
 long, an' ten or twelve wide, maybe, in 
 the middle. Our'n held five tons, easy. 
 We had grub for a year, an' all the goods, 
 powder, an' the like, that would be wanted. 
 When we got to Forty-five Mile Portage, 
 that's between Montreal River and Por-
 
 
 A bntfmt on the lake. See pnpo 154.
 
 WHITE AND RED. 155 
 
 tage Lake, I took my first ' piece/ though 
 really 'twarn't much more'n quarter of a 
 ' piece.' 
 
 " You see that's all wild country, or 
 'twas then ; no kind of road, only a trail 
 made by the Injins an' coureurs du bois, 
 goin' back an' forth. 'Long the lake 
 shore, it's mostly sand an' rocks ; but you 
 get back a ways, an' there's hard-wood 
 enough to build boats for all creation. 
 This fust portage was all timber ; forty- 
 five mile o' the thickest kind o' woods, an' 
 every pound o' flour, an' salt, an' pork, 
 all the 'bacca, an' powder'n shot, every- 
 thing you want to eat or to sell, just had 
 to be taken over on men's backs. The 
 furs, too, all went jest so. The fur com- 
 pany at Mackinaw'd send out their run- 
 ners to buy up the furs ; an' they'd go all 
 through the country, where there weren't 
 no reg'lar trading-posts, sometimes on 
 water, sometimes on land, hundreds o' 
 miles. We got all our goods at Mack- 
 inaw, took 'em through the lake to Mon- 
 treal River, an' then you go up that to 
 the first portage. 
 
 " When you get there, everything's put 
 up into packs an' bales, handy for carryin', 
 eighty pound weight about, to each, an' 
 each one o' them packs is a 'piece.' They
 
 156 WHITE AND BED. 
 
 put a barrel o' flour into two bags, an' one 
 o' them's a ' piece.' So's a keg o' pork or 
 gunpowder ; an' every man's expected to 
 carry two o' them ' pieces ' to once. He 
 takes them Injin fashion: has a leather 
 band to go over his head, portage-collar 
 they call it, three inches wide, maybe, 
 at the back, an' from this there's straps 
 long enough to tie round the packs. 
 Then he ties on his two pieces : hists up 
 one, an' bends forrard a little, so't rests on 
 his back an' hips .mostly. It's easy 
 enough then to pull up t'other, an' lay it 
 on top, an' off he goes on a jog trot; 
 pretty fast, too. Each man has his share 
 o' the load given him at the start, an' he's 
 got to keep it all together. I mean, if a 
 man's got ten pieces to take over the 
 portage, that's five loads, you know, 
 he'll carry the first load, half, or a third of 
 a mile, maybe, an' then trot back for the 
 next one, an' so on, till he's got 'em all 
 together agin. There's what they call a 
 hundred an' twenty - two { poses ' that 
 means stopping - places on that portage, 
 an' it takes nigh on four weeks to get 
 across with much of a load. We was 
 twenty-four days ; an' after that there was 
 two more portages; one a hundred rods 
 long, maybe, an' the last one three miles.
 
 WHITE AND RED. 157 
 
 " When I was at the lake there warn't 
 much of a post there, but more'n two 
 hundred o' these 'pieces' had to be 
 brought over every year. I stayed there 
 till I was pretty near eighteen, an' was as 
 good a coureur as any of 'em. Then 
 Preston died, an' left me his trade an' a 
 good bit o' money. I had coureurs then 
 o' my own ; but I've carried my ' pieces ' 
 year after year, sir, an' hard work though 
 it is, I never had a sick day in my life, till 
 I got the darned Isthmus fever. I've 
 trotted over pretty much all this country, 
 for goods had to come here just the same 
 way, till three or four years ago, when 
 this road was made. I've seen all kinds 
 o' sights : fights between Sioux an' Ojib- 
 ways ; white folks scalped, an' the devil's 
 own work goin' on in all ways. I was 
 right in the inidst, when the Sioux raid 
 began in 1863, an' came nearer then 
 losin' my scalp'n I ever did ; but I got 
 away. Me an' Hugh was together then. 
 He learned me blacksmithin'." 
 
 " 0, tell all about the raid," said Harry. 
 
 " Not to night," Aiken said. " I've 
 talked enough for once ; but I will, some 
 day. There's yarns enough I might tell. 
 I never thought much about 'em at the 
 time, but there's lots that's asked me ques- 
 tions since then."
 
 158 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 "How is it that you went to South 
 America ? " said Dr. Prescott. " I thought 
 that those who have been brought up to 
 this life seldom, if ever, left it." 
 
 " Well, I'll tell you. I told you I was 
 ' coureur du bois ' till I was eighteen or so ; 
 and the white people that carne in as set- 
 tlers always took me for one of the ' man- 
 geurs de lard,' pork-eaters, you know. I 
 mean a Canadian, tied up like all of 'em. 
 You see the traders an' their clerks was 
 the aristocracy of the country. French 
 they mostly were, 'n some English or 
 Scotch now an' then. The fur company 
 had its head-quarters at Mackinaw, an' 
 other trading-posts round in different 
 places. Their men, the coureurs du bois 
 I've been talkin' about, came mostly from 
 Canada. They'd hire 'em for five years, 
 an' agree to give 'em five hundred livres 
 a year, that's about eighty-four dollars. 
 They gave 'em an outfit every year, 
 two cotton shirts, a three-point blanket, a 
 portage collar, an' pair o' shoes. Get 'em 
 off in the Indian country, an' they had to 
 buy their own moccasins, tobacco (for they 
 can't do without that), an' everything else 
 they needed of the traders ; an' they 
 charged 'em any price they liked. So, 
 you see, they'd run in debt, an' at the end
 
 WHITE AND RED. 159 
 
 o' the five year, be head over ears, 
 over a hundred dollars, maybe. Then 
 he'd have to stay on till he'd paid; and as 
 he never could catch up (for, you see, 
 'twas the trader's interest not to have 
 him), he'd stay on all his life. The traders 
 lived high often, but these fellers didn't 
 have nothin' but hulled corn, an' some tal- 
 ler or pemmican in it for flavor. Once in 
 a while they'd get a little salt or pork for 
 it, but it cost awful. They called 'em 
 pork-eaters because they never had no 
 time to hunt for better meat ; an' as I was 
 all the while with 'em, they called me that 
 too, till I got to be trader myself. They 
 did it then too, for they don't care for a 
 trader that's come up from the ranks ; and 
 that's the reason I left, and sha'n't go back 
 there no more, though things be different 
 now. This is a good place, an' good In- 
 jins, too. Ojibways is the best there are." 
 
 " Then you have not forgotten the lan- 
 guage?" 
 
 " Cried in it afore I could speak," Aiken 
 answered, "so I ain't likely to. I've al- 
 ways sort of held to it. You've picked it 
 up pretty well, too, but I shouldn't wonder 
 if I could help you." 
 
 "You could, indeed," said Dr. Prescott. 
 " We have no way of learning it, except
 
 160 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 word by word from the Indians ; and you 
 know English so well, you could translate 
 it into Ojibway for us, and it would be the 
 greatest help to talk with you, and have 
 you correct us." 
 
 " Well," said Aiken, looking very much 
 pleased, u traders ginerally are agin whites 
 learning the language, for they think, you 
 see, ef you know too much, you'll spile 
 their trade ; but I ain't one o' that sort, 
 an' you're welcome to any help I've got to 
 give." 
 
 So it happened that, three or four even- 
 ings in the week, Aiken came over ; and 
 though he knew nothing about grammar, 
 still helped them in many ways ; so that 
 before the winter ended, though far 
 enough from knowing Ojibway, they could 
 easily make themselves understood, and 
 were each day gaining more. Georgy 
 and Fanny improved in their English, too, 
 and the other children could read a very 
 little in the Testament, and were delighted 
 with all they learned. They could spell 
 now, in three or four letters ; and Mrs. 
 Prescott began an experiment, which did 
 not succeed so well as she had hoped. 
 
 Georgy had a slate which had been 
 brought from Crow Wing. On this slate 
 she made rough drawings of animals, and
 
 WHITE AND RED. ' 161 
 
 printing the English name in large letters 
 underneath, had the children spell them. 
 Sozette, the quickest of the scholars, gen- 
 erally led off. For instance, Mrs. Prescott, 
 drawing a cat, would point to the name 
 underneath, and say, " Wagonind ?" (what 
 is it ?) 
 
 " C-a-t, meenoose" Sozette would answer. 
 
 u C-a-t, cat, " Mrs. Prescott would say. 
 " Spell it together, children." 
 
 " C-a-t, cat? came from Georgy and 
 Fanny ; but " C-a-t, meenoose" from all the 
 rest, till told they must speak the English 
 word ; when " C-a-t, cat" would be heard, 
 almost whispered. 
 
 " Now, what is this ? " Mrs. Prescott 
 would go on, rubbing out the cat, and 
 drawing an ox. 
 
 " 0-x, bezheekee" would sound ; and then, 
 began the same trouble all over again. 
 
 " English has short, easy words," Mrs. 
 Prescott would say, taking up a pin. 
 " This is p-i-n, pin ; but you say, ' ish te gou 
 sharboneeken' " (needle with a head). 
 
 u Ojibway nisheshin ; Shogenos ka win 
 nisheshin" (Ojibway good; English not 
 good), was always the answer, till mamma 
 was almost discouraged, though she per- 
 severed in making them learn two or 
 three English words every day. She could
 
 162 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 teach them to sew neatly, and to wash 
 their faces ; and as they were much inter- 
 ested in the pictures in " Harper's Weekly," 
 and some other papers, she finally made 
 seeing them the reward of all who had 
 spelled and pronounced three English 
 words, and who came looking tolerably 
 neat. A tin pan was hung in the Indian 
 room, and a coarse towel ; and as most of 
 them had no convenience for washing in 
 the wigwams, they were, on the whole, 
 rather pleased at doing it there, above 
 all as a piece of brown soap was given 
 them, for this costs the Indians, as the 
 traders sell it, seventy-five cents a small 
 bar. 
 
 Josance had returned from his hunt, but 
 was too well pleased at finding Sozette in 
 such good quarters, to think of taking her 
 away ; and so she stayed on, tormenting 
 and amusing them by turns. Little 
 Thunder had come long before this, for 
 'twas now the middle of February ; and 
 though his train had proved to be not 
 wide enough for the box of provisions, the 
 kerosene had been safely brought, and 
 they enjoyed the bright evenings all the 
 better for having, at one time, been forced 
 to depend on pine-knots. The keenest 
 cold was past, for twenty below zero is
 
 WHITE AND RED. 163 
 
 
 
 warm for Red Lake ; and four times, in 
 the month of January, their spirit ther- 
 mometer had fallen to from forty-five to 
 fifty-four degrees below. The coldest win- 
 ter for years, all said ; and in the one mail 
 which had come to them by one of the 
 traders, since reaching there, the papers 
 spoke of it as very severe everywhere. 
 Iron skinned the fingers, if touched with 
 an ungloved hand ; and now and then an 
 Indian came in with shockingly frozen 
 feet. One in particular, Harry will not 
 forget, who walked across the lake, fifteen 
 miles, to get some ointment. Three of 
 his toes were entirely gone, and the raw 
 flesh seemed to quiver as Dr. Prescott 
 dressed it; yet the young man sat still, 
 smoking, and humming the sort of minor 
 chant they all know, and smiling as Mrs. 
 Prescott gave him some bread. 
 
 "Kaget, sunnygut " (That is dreadful), 
 Harry said, looking at his foot. 
 
 " It is nothing," the young Indian an- 
 swered ; and though he winced as he bore 
 his weight again on the foot, he walked 
 off as freely as if nothing were the matter. 
 
 Snow fell constantly. So much had not 
 fallen for years, old Hugh said, and it lay 
 now between three and four feet on a 
 level, and drifts every now and then of
 
 164 WHITE AND RED 
 
 twice that depth. No teams could come 
 through from Leech Lake; a road had 
 been made by the dog-trains which went 
 back and forth for the traders, but it was 
 only a narrow ridge, hardly a foot wide ; 
 no horse could stand on it, and a sled, 
 whether drawn by them or oxen, \vould 
 tip off, first one side and then the other, 
 while they struggled through the drifts. 
 The paths to the wigwams are like this : 
 the Indians walk always in single file, and 
 there was but one path where Harry and 
 his mother could walk side by side, with- 
 out tumbling off! With such deep snow, 
 snow-shoes are very little use, and many 
 of the Indians were unable to go to the 
 winter hunt, and remained at home, so 
 that the traders' supply of furs was less 
 than usual. 
 
 There are three hunts : the long one in 
 the fall, beginning in October generally, 
 and ending early in December ; a short 
 one in January and another long one, 
 beginning the last of February, and end- 
 ing at sugaring time. The trader whom 
 the Indian may choose, supplies him with 
 traps, powder and shot, tobacco, and what 
 other things he may need, the Indian bind- 
 ing himself to give a certain number of 
 skins in payment. Generally he keeps
 
 WHITE AND RED. 165 
 
 his promises faithfully ; though sometimes, 
 if he gets angry for any cause, he goes to 
 another trader and disposes of his furs. 
 On this account they are always on the 
 watch ; and each trader sends out men, 
 who fill the office of the coureurs du bois 
 I have spoken of, travelling long distances 
 through the snow, and often getting the 
 skins in the hunter's camp. When, too, 
 it is heard that an Indian is on his way 
 in, men from the different stores go out, 
 each one trying to persuade him to sell to 
 them. Aiken complained bitterly of this, 
 saying that Fairbanks, the other trader, 
 watched all night for the Indians, who 
 travel most at that time in the winter, as 
 going over the snow by daylight often 
 brings on what is called snow-blindness. 
 They hunt sometimes in twos or threes, 
 but more often alone. The traps for mink, 
 otter, and musk-rats, are set near their 
 haunts ; and how many are caught in a 
 good season, you can judge, when I tell 
 you that nearly fifteen hundred of mink 
 alone were brought in to the two posts at 
 Red and Leech lakes, last winter. 
 
 The hunter eats the bodies of the ani- 
 mals taken, and through the day busies 
 himself in skinning them, scraping and oil- 
 ing the inside of the skin, and drying it
 
 166 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 near the fire. Wolves and foxes, which 
 prowl about any camp, find pieces of meat 
 lying around, and eating them, are soon 
 attacked by a sickness, which stretches 
 them out stiff and stark. The hunter con- 
 siders his traps too precious for them, and 
 uses poison instead, a little of which he 
 sprinkles on the meat. A bear is some- 
 times, though rarely, met ; the Indians sel- 
 dom go out to attack them alone, but in 
 parties of two or three, follow their track, 
 and drive them out of the caves, where 
 they spend much of the time in winter. 
 To every Indian he is more or less " mani- 
 tou," for the medicine-men wear necklaces 
 of bears' claws ; and whoever kills one is 
 accounted a brave. 
 
 Sometimes a moose or elk is started, and 
 then a furious chase on snow-shoes follows. 
 The dogs, one or two of which always ac- 
 company the hunter, and have the pointed 
 nose and general appearance of the fox, 
 chase the poor animal till it is exhausted, 
 and then penning it in some corner, the 
 Indian, on coming up, either shoots, or 
 cuts the throat with his long knife. 
 
 All the meat which cannot be eaten is 
 cut in strips, and smoked a little over the 
 fire, ready to be taken home for family 
 use. Soup made of this smoked meat, and
 
 WHITE AND RED. 167 
 
 thickened with flour, is almost as great a 
 luxury as dog soup. Harry and papa 
 grew to like moose meat very much, but 
 mamma could never quite get over the 
 strong, smoky taste. Rabbits were very 
 plenty; and on the scaffolds put up for 
 that purpose before every lodge, hung 
 many hundreds of white-fish, which, being 
 caught late in the fall, are frozen and 
 strung on poles, by a hole made in the 
 head. The meat is pure white, firm, and 
 delicate ; so much prized, indeed, that 
 large quantities caught in Lake Superior 
 are packed in ice, and sent inland, and 
 numbers more salted like cod. It is said 
 to be found only in Lake Superior, and 
 those connected with it ; and there are 
 none at Leech Lake, tullibees, a smaller 
 and somewhat coarser fish, taking their 
 place. The country lying northwest of 
 Superior, between that lake and Red Lake, 
 is almost unexplored ; and Dr. Prescott 
 often said that if alone, he should be 
 tempted to start off with some of the In- 
 dians, when spring came, and try to dis- 
 cover the stream which must somewhere 
 connect the two lakes, if what they told 
 him was true ; to which mamma always 
 answered that he had been on one wild 
 expedition, and that was enough.
 
 168 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 Sozette had been warmly clothed. 
 Mamma wanted to cut her hair, but this 
 was contrary to all Indian custom, and 
 could not be thought of. So the wild 
 locks were braided and tied ; but Sozette's 
 fashion of rolling down hill when she went 
 for water, generally untied them, and she 
 came back with them flying around her 
 face. Still, she was clean now, and very 
 proud of her two dresses ; and still more 
 so of a new apron, on the bottom of which 
 were sewed several rows of red braid, pre- 
 sented by Harry. 
 
 One Sunday morning she did not appear, 
 and a boy of fourteen or fifteen, who lived 
 in one of the wigwams close by, was seen 
 parading back and forth, with this apron 
 tied about his head. Noon came, and still 
 no Sozette. Harry went down to her 
 father's wigwam, to which he had moved 
 after renting his house to Aiken, and 
 which was shut up. That is, Josance, hav- 
 ing gone away for the day, had put a pine 
 bough in front of the door, to show that 
 he was not at home ; and on seeing that, 
 no one would enter, though his things 
 were lying on the floor, and a fox-skin, 
 worth several dollars, hung from the pole 
 of the wigwam. 
 
 Night came; and at dusk Sozette was
 
 WHITE AND RED. 169 
 
 seen stealing up to the Campbells', from 
 whence Georgy presently walked down, 
 looking very much disturbed, and holding 
 a ribbon in his hand. 
 
 " Sozette up with us," he said ; " she 
 'fraid to come here." 
 
 " Why ? " asked Mrs. Prescott. 
 
 " For coz she throw stick all night" 
 
 " Do what ? " said Dr. Prescott. 
 
 " Throw stick, as you saw good while 
 
 */ 
 
 ago ; all shape stick, you know, throw 
 'em down : sometime lie good one way, 
 then sometime lie very bad ; then you 
 lose." 
 
 " I know," said Harry ; " it's what they 
 gamble with, mamma. Sticks, cut in all 
 sorts of shapes, like arrows and things ; if 
 they lie straight when you throw them 
 down, you win ; but if they cross, you 
 lose." 
 
 " She lose all the time," said Georgy. "I 
 play some, an' she bet this ribbon. 1 win ; 
 then bum by, pretty soon, my father know, 
 an' he say, ' Bring it here ; ' so I do. 
 Then she bet her stockings, an' lose them ; 
 an' she bet her apron, an' Waskiss get 
 that. That was Sattleday. Then I go 
 home, an' she play all night with some 
 more, till the sun come, an' lose her 
 clothes most all. Waskiss get 'em, an' she
 
 
 170 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 go to sleep. She 'fraid to come back. She 
 say she tell her father you whip her, an' 
 took 'em away, an' tell her not come here 
 any more." 
 
 " What will you do ? " said Harry, after 
 Georgy had gone. 
 
 " Go first and see Waskiss's mother," 
 papa answered, " and tell her that as the 
 clothes were not Sozette's, but ours, he 
 must give them back. They were given 
 to her to wear so long as she was good, 
 and Nah gon a sake was to have them if 
 trouble came up." 
 
 So papa went down to the wigwam, 
 coming back presently with dress, petti- 
 coat, stockings, apron, and moccasins, which 
 he said Waskiss had at first refused to give 
 up, telling him they had been won in fair 
 play, but pulling them out from behind 
 the chimney when he heard that they 
 were not hers to lose. Sozette hovered 
 about the windows, having heard from 
 Georgy that it would be no use to go to 
 her father; and on being brought in, began 
 to cry, and promised never to do so again. 
 Josance was called up and told the true 
 state of the case, that she need not think 
 it was to be passed over lightly, and then 
 she was sent home for the night, very 
 much in disgrace.
 
 WHITE AND RED. 171 
 
 m 
 
 Mamma sat in a brown study for some 
 time after she left, till roused by papa, who 
 said, " What are you thinking of, Mary ? " 
 
 "That the child is hardly to blame. 
 They have so few amusements, that I can't 
 wonder at their playing anything which 
 will pass away the time. I wish we had a 
 checker-board." 
 
 " That last piece of board up-stairs, shall 
 make one," said papa, " and black and 
 white buttons will do for the men. I am 
 glad you thought of it." 
 
 " ' Tit tat to ! ' " said Harry, suddenly 
 jumping up. "I'll show her how to play 
 Hit tat to,' to-morrow. I can make the 
 marks for that on the slate, and maybe 
 they could learn dominoes too." 
 
 So, when to-morrow came, and Sozette's 
 morning sewing was over, Harry, who had 
 his slate, and some red and white corn 
 ready, went out into the Indian room, and 
 explained the game to her. She caught 
 the idea at once, and both Georgy and she 
 could soon make a row. Two Indians, 
 who came in for medicine, stopped to look, 
 and Sozette immediately began giving les- 
 sons. The two squatted down on the floor, 
 with the slate between, joined soon by two 
 or three more, who were equally interest- 
 ed. Harry drew another set of lines on
 
 172 WHITE AND BED. 
 
 the board in the corner, and played there 
 for a little while with Sozette, giving up 
 his place, finally, to Ma dwa ga non ind, 
 who had come for' a visit; and, surprised 
 to find several of his subjects on the floor, 
 over a slate, stopped to see what it meant. 
 He learned the game, and was pleased 
 with the paper for it which Harry gave 
 him, putting it carefully into his tobacco- 
 pouch. 
 
 "One good deed done," papa said, laugh- 
 ing, when Harry came in. "'Tit tat to' is 
 surely better than cards ; and you have all 
 the credit, Harry, of having introduced it 
 into the Ojibway nation. How do you 
 like my work ? " 
 
 Papa held up the board, which he had 
 planed thin and smooth ; then marked on 
 it the right number of little squares, and 
 painted them red and black. A line of 
 red and black made a border for the whole ; 
 and when it was set up to dry, where one 
 could not see the rough edges, Harry de- 
 clared it was just as pretty as a store one. 
 At any rate, it answered the purpose ; and 
 Sozette, learning to play the game, gave 
 up " throwing stick " altogether. The 
 white buttons she called Ojibways, and the 
 black ones Sioux ; and many a fierce bat- 
 tle was fought that winter by the children.
 
 WHITE AND RED. 173 
 
 Waskiss grew to like the game very much ; 
 but if he found that the Sioux were beat- 
 ing, dumped black and white together on 
 the table, and began again. Leading 
 Feather begged for a board, and Dr. Pres- 
 cott made him one in the same way ; the 
 older Indians, too, enjoying the game, and 
 spending at it many hours which would 
 otherwise have been given to cards. So 
 days went on, and by and by came to 
 Harry an adventure, of which you shall 
 hear soon.
 
 174 WHITE AND BED. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 ON the other side of the lake lived E 
 sen e wub (Little Rock), chief over a band 
 of some hundred Indians, and the tallest 
 man, not a giant, that Harry had ever 
 seen, for he was six feet four and a half 
 inches. This winter, when not off on a 
 hunt, he had spent with his youngest 
 wife, who lived near Little Thunder's, call- 
 ing now and then on the two who were 
 on the other side of the lake. 
 
 A new lodge is made by the Ojibways 
 for every new wife taken ; and though the 
 common Indians generally have but one, 
 the chiefs take as many as they can 
 clothe. " Hole-in-the-Day " has six, Ma 
 dwa ga non ind four, and the other chiefs 
 in proportion to their rank. The oldest 
 son always succeeds the father, and so the 
 right is handed down, unless the chief die 
 without children ; in which case, the 
 brother next in age takes his place. Ma 
 dwa ga non ind is head chief, you know, 
 and to him are referred all disputes which 
 may arise among the different bands.
 
 WHITE AND RED. 175 
 
 His four brothers are also men of great 
 influence, two of them being medicine- 
 men, and his sister is Little Rock's wife. 
 
 Mo se mo ranks next; a surly, discon- 
 tented Indian, always growling because 
 he was not made head chief. Then come 
 E sen e wub, Nab gou a ga nabe, and 
 last, Little Thunder, whose band numbers 
 about twenty. So far as Dr. Prescott 
 could find out, no tribute is ever paid these 
 chiefs; on the contrary, as they receive 
 more money and provisions from Govern- 
 ment, they are expected to aid any who, 
 through sickness, or any other reason, are 
 unable to hunt. They take the seat of 
 honor in lodges, and speak first in council ; 
 but further than this, no more respect is 
 paid to them than to any other Indian. 
 
 Little Rock's eldest wife was sick, on the 
 other side of the lake ; too sick to come 
 herself for medicine, and her husband, hav- 
 ing heard of it, was very anxious that Dr. 
 Prescott should go over with him, carry 
 some medicine, and tell him if she was in 
 any danger. The night, he said, could be 
 spent in the well wife's lodge, where his 
 oldest son lived, and where there was much 
 meat. 
 
 " 0, let me go too," Harry said, when 
 he heard the plan.
 
 176 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 " You cannot walk fifteen miles," papa 
 answered, " and you must stay to take care 
 of mamma." 
 
 " The white squaw shall come with the 
 child," said Little Rock. " She cannot 
 walk like our women, and the dogs shall 
 take her across the lake." 
 
 " Would you like to go, Mary ? " papa 
 said. " It will not be like our coming up, 
 you know, for the weather is milder now, 
 and the dogs go fast." 
 
 Mrs. Prescott hesitated at first, but Little 
 Rock urged all to come, and Harry begged 
 hard, telling her she could not stay alone, 
 and would keep him at home too, if she 
 did not go. So at last it was decided to 
 lock up the house, and leave it in the 
 farmer's care ; and early next morning, E 
 sen e wub came over with Little Thun- 
 der's dog-train, which you know all about. 
 Mamma put all the bread in the house in 
 a basket,, knowing that they would find 
 none where they were going ; and with it 
 a little pail of apple-sauce for the sick 
 woman. 
 
 The train was exactly a foot wide, and 
 nearly eight feet long ; and on each side 
 Little Rock had put a stick for mamma to 
 hold by, knowing that she was not used to 
 balancing. A low box was in the middle,
 
 WHITE AND RED. 177 
 
 and on it she sat down on three blankets, 
 laid out flat, which, when she had made 
 herself as narrow as she could, were rolled 
 about her, and tied down to keep them in 
 place. Just in front of her sat Harry, 
 wrapped in the same way. Little Thun- 
 der had come, partly to guide the dogs, 
 and partly because the sick woman was 
 his cousin, and the train started, encour- 
 aged by a cheer, which Georgy began, and 
 in which everybody who had come out to 
 look joined. E sen e wub's tall figure led 
 the way, wrapped in scarlet blanket, with 
 cap of the same ; then the dogs, and Little 
 Thunder close behind with his whip, and 
 all in white from head to foot ; and last 
 papa, in an army overcoat, and blanket 
 cap, with green goggles on, to prevent 
 snow - blindness. Indeed, they all wore 
 green goggles, except mamma, who had 
 a green veil instead ; and you may fancy 
 Harry, grown fat and brown since his 
 coming to Red Lake, rolled up to his ears 
 in blankets, and these green goggles 
 astride of his small nose. 
 
 Mamma held fast to the two sticks as 
 they started, for, so close were they to the 
 ground, there seemed no reason why she 
 should not find herself at any moment on 
 
 that instead of the train : and Harry sat 
 12
 
 178 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 up straight, and pushed his feet against 
 the curving front, to steady himself. 
 
 " Suppose the dogs should see a deer 
 and just run," he said ; " we're all tied up, 
 and couldn't get off! Wouldn't it be fun ? 
 Or suppose we should meet a bear the 
 other side ; that's where they are, you 
 know, mamma, and they could bite our 
 heads right off, just as easy, before we 
 could get away. There's ever so many 
 things that might happen." 
 
 As he talked the train went by the trad- 
 ing-post, and Aiken brought out a cake of 
 maple-sugar for him, and laughed at the 
 goggles. The path lay now through the 
 hard- woods, as all timber, which is not pine, 
 is called. Here it was principally maple 
 and white birch, and they soon left the 
 narrow belt behind, coming out on rather 
 high ground, passing the old Jesuit mis- 
 sion, forsaken years before ; and, though 
 the cross still surmounted one building, 
 given up to the Indians, many of whom 
 came out to watch them down the bluff. 
 There were graves here of those who had 
 died in the Roman Catholic faith, the cross 
 on each rising above the snow which cov- 
 ered them. 
 
 The path led down between two very 
 steep bluffs, and the train bumped from
 
 WHITE AND RED. 179 
 
 drift to drift, till safely on the lake, when 
 the way for some miles was marked by 
 poles stuck down in the snow, so that if 
 Indians became snow-blind in crossing, 
 they could have some guide on the way. 
 Here the dogs would have run, had not 
 Little Thunder held them back, knowing 
 that Dr. Prescott could not keep up at 
 that pace, though he had learned the little 
 trot of the Indians, which is far easier than 
 walking. Now and then he slipped from 
 the narrow ridge, but the crust of the deep 
 snow on either side was hard enough to 
 prevent his sinking into the water, though, 
 had he been fifty pounds heavier, he would 
 have been soaked up to his knees. You 
 will wonder how water could be there, and 
 stay water, with the thermometer at eigh- 
 teen degrees below zero, as it was that 
 morning, and I will tell you. 
 
 When so great a quantity of snow falls 
 as did last winter, the weight gradually 
 presses down the ice ; and on the same 
 principle that a full pail of water will run 
 over, if you drop any heavy body into it, 
 so the water rises over the ice and under 
 the warm covering of the crusted snow. 
 As more and more falls, more water of 
 course rises, kept from freezing by the 
 white blanket Dame Nature has spread
 
 180 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 over it ; and at the time Harry crossed the 
 lake, the last of February, five or six inches 
 of water, or rather slush, lay between the 
 ice and snow, and would, when warmer 
 days came, make it almost impassable. 
 
 As they left the bluffj they saw a dark 
 speck on the ice, coming toward them, and 
 a little more than half-way over, met it. 
 It was Ma ja ke osh, brother to Nah gou a 
 gan abe, who had been off on a hunt ; and 
 by the way E sen e wub said. " Ah, ta ! 
 ishtay ! " Harry knew that something more 
 than common was being brought home. 
 
 " What is it ? " he said to papa, who had 
 gone forward to look. 
 
 "Something which they say has not 
 been taken here for years, and will make 
 Ma ja ke osh rich. He has trapped a black 
 fox ! It will bring three or four hundred 
 dollars at St. Paul, and Aiken will give 
 him one hundred at least for it." 
 
 Mamma looked at the wonderfully fine, 
 beautiful fur ; and then Ma ja ke osh, who 
 had also a bear - skin, and with whom were 
 two dogs, which snapped and sprung at 
 the others, passed on, looking well content 
 with his work. 
 
 A little after noon they reached the 
 other side, going up even higher bluffs 
 than those they had left behind. Look on
 
 WHITE AND RED. 181 
 
 your maps, far up in Northern Minnesota, 
 and you will see that Red Lake narrows 
 in the middle, and broadens out again. 
 This strait, narrower really than it looks 
 on the map, is formed by a point of land 
 running out some four miles. The coun- 
 try between this lake and Lake Wini- 
 peg is made up of small lakes, countless 
 streams, and much swamp, and only the 
 Indians know it well. Going northeast 
 through a little stream, called Sturgeon 
 River, and across one portage to Rainy 
 River, they pass down to Superior in the 
 summer ; and it is, they say, by a stream 
 on this portage, filled with rocks and rap- 
 ids, that the white-fish from Superior enter 
 Red Lake. 
 
 Little Rock's lodge stood with nine or 
 ten others, under the shelter of the pine 
 woods, which had at some time extended 
 to the edge of the bluff, but gradually had 
 been cut down for fuel. The Indians came 
 out to meet them, saying, " Bo jou," cor- 
 dially ; and Harry and mamma, who were 
 stiff from keeping so long in one position, 
 went into the wigwam of Little Rock's 
 well wife, and sat down on a rush mat 
 before the fire, while papa went into the 
 next one to see the sick woman, who 
 proved to be much better, and really
 
 182 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 needed no medicine at all, though she 
 insisted on taking some. In the wigwam 
 where Harry sat, everything seemed neat. 
 Muskemotis of corn and potatoes were in 
 one corner; bundles of rushes, used in 
 making rush-mats, lay about; strips of 
 meat hung from a pole across the wigwam, 
 and a young girl was pounding corn in a 
 trough made from a block of wood hol- 
 lowed out. In the corner lay an old 
 woman rolled in a blanket ; and near her 
 sat the wife, making bead-work bands, and 
 looking shyly now and then at the visitors. 
 Three fat puppies slept near the fire, and 
 a yellow cat lay with her head resting on 
 the neck of one. 
 
 a Pussy, pussy ! " Harry called, but pussy 
 paid no attention. 
 
 " Pussy, pussy ! " he said again ; and 
 then, remembering where he was, called, 
 " Meenoose, meenoose ! " 
 
 Pussy opened her eyes, and came at 
 once to be stroked, and mamma said 
 gravely, " Meenoose kawin kendun Shoge- 
 nos ; kee kendun Ojibway" (Pussy does 
 not understand English ; she only knows 
 Ojibway). 
 
 What a laugh this little joke made! 
 Bashfulness ended at once, and mamma 
 found it more than she could do to answer
 
 WHITE AND RED*. 183 
 
 all the questions asked. Two children, 
 who had been rolling about almost naked 
 on the rush mats, finding that Harry could 
 understand them pretty well, slipped on 
 their little blanket coats, and took him out 
 to see a moose which had been brought in 
 whole that morning ; and mamma, who was 
 now warm, went into the next wigwam 
 to see the other wife, who was much 
 pleased with the apple-sauce. A medi- 
 cine-man was there, beating a drum ; and, 
 distracted by the noise, Mrs. Prescott soon 
 went back to the first tent, where Win a pe, 
 the other wife, was busy getting dinner. 
 She had lived with Mrs. Campbell the year 
 before, and learned a very little house- 
 keeping, and mamma was glad to see that 
 her pails and frying-pan were tolerably 
 clean, for generally she had a very reason- 
 able dislike to food from Indian dishes. 
 
 Slices of moose-meat had been cut and 
 were frying now in a pan with some Govern- 
 ment pork ; potatoes bubbled in a tin pail 
 over the fire, and soon a dinner was ready, 
 which with the addition of bread and salt 
 from the basket they had brought, seemed 
 delicious. Little Rock, if he found a spe- 
 cially tender bit of meat, presented it, on 
 the point of his long knife, to mamma, and 
 Mrs. Little Rock peeled potatoes for her
 
 184 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 with her fingers, both of which kindnesses 
 she could have very well done without; 
 for the fingers, dripping with pork-fat, were 
 first sucked, and then wiped on the 
 blanket; and the scalping-knife had cut 
 tobacco not long before, to say nothing of 
 skinning the moose. There were no plates, 
 and only two tin basins for the tea, from 
 one of which, papa, mamma, and Harry, 
 took turns in drinking, while the other 
 one did duty for all the rest. A small 
 mocock, a birch-bark box, was brought out, 
 filled with maple-sugar ; and after the 
 meal ended, Little Rock insisted on their 
 taking it home with them, only ceasing to 
 urge when he heard that they had a 
 large mocockful, which would last till su- 
 garing-time came. 
 
 That afternoon they went about among 
 the wigwams, visiting all, close by. Mam- 
 ma, who finally grew tired, went back and 
 stayed with Win a pe, who toward evening, 
 probably in honor of her visitors, took the 
 youngest child and washed him in the pail 
 in which the potatoes had been boiled. 
 They had more for supper, cooked in this 
 same pail, when the bath was over ; but 
 mamma, who had lost her appetite, ate 
 only some bread, and drank a little tea. 
 
 At evening, as many Indians as could
 
 WHITE AND BED. 185 
 
 get into the lodge, gathered there ; some 
 had been off on the hunt with Dr. Prescott, 
 and knew him, though he had forgotten 
 them, and all were ready to be entertained 
 by the pictures in a " Harper " he had put 
 in his pocket on starting, and which he 
 explained to them as well as his stock 
 of Ojibway would allow. At last he took 
 out the little Testament, and read from it 
 by the flickering light, some of the most 
 interesting chapters in Matthew ; telling 
 them it was Gitchee Manitou's book, in 
 which He told His will to all His children. 
 
 Reading Ojibway so that one can be 
 understood, is easy, after the sounds of the 
 letters have been thoroughly learned, and 
 they understood him perfectly. He read 
 last the eighteenth chapter, which closes, 
 you know, with the story of the servant, 
 who, being in debt to his master, was for- 
 given, but who afterward put his fellow- 
 servant in prison for the same reason. 
 
 " Ka win nisheshin zhee mo koman," the 
 Indians said. (Not a good man.) 
 
 " White men are seldom good," Lit- 
 tle Thunder said. " Indians would be 
 ashamed to do what they do. The white 
 man does not scalp the head, but he poi- 
 sons the heart, and that is worse. Gitchee 
 Ogema Lincoln (the great white chief. Lin-
 
 186 WHITE AND BED. 
 
 coin) was good, and there are some like 
 him ; but a white man killed him, and 
 the man the book talks to you of was also 
 killed, because he was good. The white 
 man does not love goodness. His heart is 
 bad." 
 
 There was little to say to this, and soon 
 they separated. The blankets were spread, 
 and they lay down by the lodge-fire, white 
 and red, side by side, and slept the long 
 night through. 
 
 By eight next morning they were offj 
 E sen e wub returning with them, and at 
 two o'clock were in their own little house 
 again. Que we zan schus, Ma dwa ga non 
 ind's oldest brother, came in before the 
 fire was lighted, and asked papa to go 
 home with him at once, as his little girl 
 was bleeding from the lungs again. An di 
 so ge zhe coke, was her name, and she had 
 been over often to see them this winter, 
 looking thinner and paler each time. She 
 had had one hemorrhage before, which had 
 been checked, but papa was afraid she 
 could not live till spring, as she was at the 
 age when very many of the young Indian 
 girls die of consumption. He went with- 
 out waiting for dinner, coming back in an 
 hour or two, looking grave and tired. 
 
 " Poor child ! " he said ; " they are beat-
 
 WHITE AND RED. , 187 
 
 ing their drums about her, and one of the 
 men has put at the door a piece of white 
 cloth, painted red, to drive away the mani- 
 tou which has made her bleed." 
 
 Will she die ? " Harry asked. 
 
 " Not this time, I think, though she is 
 likely to at any time. You know what a 
 stern, silent Indian her father is, and yet 
 he is as tender as a woman with that little 
 girl. He has hardly slept for three or four 
 nights, and she will take nothing except 
 from him." 
 
 " I will go over to-morrow and carry her 
 something," said mamma. "Now corne to 
 dinner, for you must be famished." 
 
 The next day was the twenty-ninth of 
 February, and the first leap-year Harry 
 could remember. He celebrated it by 
 staying in-doors, for heavy snow fell all 
 day long, and spring opened in a whirl- 
 wind ; at night hail and rain fell together, 
 and a faint rumble of thunder was heard. 
 Then the mercury went down, down, and 
 by morning keen, bitter cold was upon 
 them once more. Papa went over to Que 
 we zan schus' every day, and gradually An 
 di so ge zhe coke grew strong enough to 
 walk about again. The cold lessened, and 
 in another week the sun shone down warm 
 through the middle of the day. Dried ap-
 
 188 WHITE AND BED. 
 
 pies they had plenty of, so three or four 
 times a week Harry and mamma carried 
 over apple-sauce for her, and became inti- 
 mate with both the child and her father. 
 
 One morning, going over early with 
 papa, they found women clearing away the 
 snow from the open ground back of Que 
 we zan schus', with their snow-paddles, 
 which are like immense wooden spoons ; 
 while others were cutting and trimming 
 long poles, and bringing pine boughs. In 
 the house the women were pounding corn, 
 and washing potatoes ; and large tin pails 
 filled with both were in the fire-place, 
 waiting for boiling. 
 
 " A medicine dance, surely," papa said ; 
 " when will it be, An di so ge zhe coke ? " 
 
 " To-day," she answered ; " very soon. 
 They are killing the dogs now." 
 
 "What will they dance for?" Harry 
 said. 
 
 " For me," said An di so ge zhe coke. 
 a The blood still comes into my mouth, and 
 they will take away the manitou to-day. 
 See, I have new moccasins. Come when 
 the sun is high, and you shall see." 
 
 So at noon the family came over, find- 
 ing the Indians gathered together, and 
 every preparation made for a " Grand 
 Medicine." Poles had been put up, cover-
 
 WHITE AND RED. 189 
 
 ing a space a hundred feet long, from 
 which the snow had been carefully cleared. 
 Against these poles on the outside, pine 
 boughs were thickly piled, to keep off the 
 wind. Within, rush mats were spread, on 
 which were seated over a hundred Indians, 
 men, women, and children ; and in the 
 centre were two posts, on the cord be- 
 tween which hung the gifts that day made 
 to the medicine-men by the father of the 
 sick child : blankets, long pieces of calico, 
 and two or three gay shawls. 
 
 Among the Ojibways this dance is a sa- 
 cred ceremony, including as many myste- 
 rious rites as Freemasonry, or the old Dru- 
 idical worship which you learn about in 
 early English history, and all are initiated 
 when very young. There are many de- 
 grees, the highest of which can only be 
 reached by the oldest men ; and no Indian 
 who has not at some time of his life been 
 received into the circle, can pass at death 
 to the happy hunting grounds. 
 
 Between this world and the world of 
 spirits, they believe there lies a pitch-black 
 lake of boiling water, crossed by a very 
 slender pole, held by an old woman, who 
 sits on the other side. The Indian, who 
 in this life has listened to the counsels of 
 the medicine-men, been brave on the war-
 
 190 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 path, a good hunter, and just in his actions, 
 crosses the pole easily ; but if he has 
 wronged any one, and failed to repair the 
 wrong, has been a coward, or slighted the 
 medicine-men, he falls when in the middle 
 of the pole ; and being swept down by the 
 boiling current into the land of shadows, 
 wanders forever, vainly seeking the happy 
 hunting grounds. 
 
 When he has sinned lightly, though not 
 enough to forfeit his place, the old woman 
 turns the pole over and over, so that every 
 nerve is strained to keep his balance, and 
 he crosses in mortal terror of falling. 
 
 Harry knew this story, and was curious 
 to see what the ceremonies were. Crooked 
 Arm, after consulting a moment with one 
 of the medicine-men, gave them places in 
 the middle of the lodge. Opposite stood 
 Que we zan schus, wrapped in his blanket, 
 his head bowed upon his breast, and mov- 
 ing up and down as the Shakers dance, 
 though his hands were quiet. Three fires 
 burned at regular distances from each 
 other, taking the place, so Dr. Prescott 
 said, of three posts, each painted with 
 three stripes of different colors, which are 
 used in summer. At one end of the lodge, 
 wrapped in blankets, and leaning against 
 a stump, was the sick child ; at the other,
 
 WHITE AND RED. 191 
 
 five medicine-men of different grades, the 
 oldest with a handkerchief tied about his 
 head. He had been scalped by the Sioux, 
 when a young man, on the war-path, and 
 left for dead ; but reviving, had crawled 
 into some bushes, where the Ojibways, who 
 had been put to flight, found him. From 
 that time, professing to have entered the 
 spirit world, he devoted himself to the 
 medicine dances, and was now the leader 
 in them. 
 
 Four held the sacred rattles, while the 
 fifth, seated in the middle, beat two drums 
 which stood before him, with such energy, 
 that the sweat rolled in great drops down 
 his face. All held medicine-bags : those of 
 the people, who sat in the circle, of weasel- 
 skins, with red beads where the eyes had 
 been, and some charms inside ; those of 
 the medicine-men, of mink. 
 
 As the Prescotts entered the circle, corn 
 and potatoes had just been passed around, 
 which all were eating. As they finished, 
 the. head medicine-man, holding his sacred 
 bag in both hands, and bending very much 
 forward, trotted around the lodge, in a 
 space which had been left for that pur- 
 pose, saying, " How, how, how ! " and fol- 
 lowed by the four others, each shaking his 
 bag over the child, as they passed. This
 
 192 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 was to clear the lodge of all evil manitous, 
 which might be waiting to take the place 
 of the one they intended to drive out 
 from the child. Then returning to their 
 former places, the head man began a sort 
 of chant, growing louder and louder, 
 spoken very rapidly, and in a language 
 which, the Indians say, only the head men 
 among them know, ending it with the rat- 
 tle of drums, and the sound of " How, how, 
 how ! " from all the people ; after which 
 they bowed their heads, and lifted the sa- 
 cred bags before the medicine-men. 
 
 An di so ge zhe coke, who till now had 
 sat still, was lifted to her feet ; and a medi- 
 cine-woman coming forward, the child, 
 taking hold of her blanket, stepped behind 
 her. A row was formed, reaching half the 
 length of the lodge, and made up, first of 
 the medicine-men, and then of all those 
 who meant to become such, each one hold- 
 ing the blanket of the one before him, 
 and all beginning to march very slowly 
 and carefully to the sound of the drums. 
 Harry saw that the woman who led, 
 pushed away even a splinter, if it lay in 
 the path ; and before each step looked to 
 see if the ground was clear before her. 
 Three times they went around in this way, 
 faster and faster, shaking the medicine-bags
 
 WHITE AND KED. 193 
 
 at the end of each round, and waiting for 
 the bow and answering " How, how, how ! " 
 of the people. Then the drums beat, and 
 the rattles were shaken furiously, and a 
 chant in Ojibway began, in which they 
 said that the road through life, and to the 
 spirit land, had been made clear ; that the 
 tender feet could walk over it in the dark- 
 ness, finding nothing to hurt them, or 
 against which they could stumble ; and 
 that if the Master of Life, Gitchee Manitou, 
 so willed it, His child could easily come to 
 Him by the narrow path. 
 
 As they sang, Que we zan schus still 
 moved up and down, never raising his 
 head ; and when they ended, more corn 
 and potatoes were passed around, even to 
 the Prescotts, who ate with them, in 
 token of good-will. Crooked Arm, as he 
 sat by them, showed a little shell which 
 he held in his hand ; and Harry saw that 
 those who had marched around, all held 
 one. Soon Que we zan schus, turning, 
 took from the line all the gifts, and laid 
 them in order on the ground, the whole 
 company marching around them. Then 
 they were lifted, and put about the child 
 in a circle, and again all marched around, 
 dropping into her lap the shell which they 
 had put in their mouths, and picking it 
 
 13
 
 194 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 up at the second round. This was done 
 three times ; and then the head medicine- 
 man, kneeling down by An di so ge zhe 
 coke, began with her right foot, while the 
 march went on, rubbing it furiously, then 
 patting it gently, and passing to the left 
 one, going in this way over the whole 
 body, ending with her head. As he 
 touched her over the crown, the spot at 
 which the manitou was now passing out, a 
 howl went up from the whole crowd, the 
 sacred bags were pointed towards her, 
 and men and women rising, danced up 
 and down, while the rattles and drums 
 sounded loud, then as suddenly all sank 
 down, and for a moment there was dead 
 silence. Those who had joined in the 
 sacred march, now stood up, and each re- 
 ceived a gift from Que we zan schus, the 
 most valuable ones being given to the head 
 medicine-man. Then came the grand fea- 
 ture of all medicine dances : the dogs, 
 which, as a peculiar luxury, are kept ibr 
 such occasions, and two of which had been 
 made into soup for to-day. Neither 
 Harry nor mamma cared to try it ; and 
 as the principal ceremony was over, they 
 went home, astonished to find that they 
 had been there over three hours. 
 
 " You saw that Crooked Arm led to-day
 
 WHITE AND RED. 195 
 
 once or twice, said papa. u He was ini- 
 tiated last summer, and I saw the whole 
 ceremony. " 
 
 "I wish you'd tell about that, and 
 your hunt, and everything," said Harry. 
 "You've never told us half you did." 
 
 " After all my letters home ! " 
 
 "But that isn't like telling," persisted 
 Harry. " Tell some to-night, and let's all 
 sit around the fire, as we did before the 
 kerosene came, and you begin at the 
 very beginning, and tell all the nicest 
 parts." 
 
 " Well," said papa ; and Harry that eve- 
 ning had all his own way. Sozette was 
 sent home early ; and drawing around the 
 hearth as night came on, papa began the 
 story you will find in the next chapter.
 
 196 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 u THE mosquitoes had never been so 
 savage," Dr. Prescott began, " as this par- 
 ticular day in August They are worse 
 here in summer, Harry, than anything 
 you have ever seen, even in the salt mead- 
 owS ; but, that day, they came in by the 
 thousand. Mrs. Kennedy kept a mosquito 
 bar over her head while she worked, and 
 Mr. Kennedy came up from the mill, say- 
 ing he couldn't and wouldn't run the saw 
 that day, for he felt as if every drop of 
 blood in his body was going. Tired out 
 with pilling, I went and sat on my bed 
 under the bar, trying to write a letter, and 
 feeling so homesick that, if anybody had 
 asked me, I should have been glad to 
 leave the lake that moment. 
 
 " The Kennedys, you know, lived in half 
 of what is now the blacksmith's house, and 
 I had the little room at the back, so dark 
 one can but just see in the brightest day. 
 So I sat there on the bed, watching one 
 big mosquito, which had managed to get 
 under the bar, and was bent upon a bite,
 
 WHITE AND RED. 197 
 
 when down the hill came a party of In- 
 dians, two of whom had, I knew, been off 
 on a hunt for some days. I caught their 
 word for buffalo, as they went round to 
 the blacksmith's, and jumped up at once. 
 1 Buffalo,' I thought. 'They have not 
 been within two hundred miles of Red 
 Lake for seventeen years, so they all 
 say, but I'll go and ask what they are 
 talking about.' In the mean time more 
 Indians had come down, and as I went out, 
 a group of some twelve or fifteen were gath- 
 ered about the forge door. 
 
 " * Yes, it's buffalo for sure, this time/ 
 said old Hugh. ' One o' these fellers has 
 brought in a buffalo tongue, and says 
 they're not three days from here. Now's 
 your chance, Doctor. The old chiefs 
 band's a-going, and they'll see the Sioux 
 don't get you.' 
 
 " Now here was the greatest trouble of 
 that summer : the constant fear of the 
 Sioux coming down upon their deadly 
 enemies, the Ojibways. In winter there is 
 nothing to fear, for the deep snow drifts 
 over the trails, and there are no berries or 
 roots on which war parties could feed. 
 Then, too, the Indians go out singly, or in 
 twos and threes; but in summer, each 
 chief goes off with his band, leaving only
 
 X98 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 the women, and children, and aged, at 
 home. Mo se mo's band left for the Plains 
 just after I came up, the last of May ; but 
 the heavy rains, in June, swelled all the 
 streams, and the old paths were com- 
 pletely flooded. So Ma dwa ga non ind's 
 band stayed at home for two reasons : at 
 first, on account of these floods ; and then, 
 at last, to guard the few white people at 
 the lake, for whose lives they were re- 
 sponsible. 
 
 "The last of June a stray party of 
 Sioux came down, and though not daring 
 to come near the cluster of wigwams near 
 the lake, killed and scalped a family, who 
 lived alone in the maple woods. The 
 same morning that their bodies were 
 found, an Indian brought in word that a 
 large war party were out, and the old 
 chief told us not to leave our houses after 
 nightfall, and to sleep with doors and win- 
 dows barricaded. The Sioux, you know, 
 hate the whites as much as the Ojibways, 
 and would have liked our scalps quite as 
 well as those of their old enemies. 
 
 " Old Hugh made iron bars for all the 
 doors and windows, and for three or four 
 weeks we were careful to keep in-doors 
 after sunset. This was growing unbeara- 
 ble, though ; we all wanted a change, and
 
 WHITE AND RED. 199 
 
 I made up my mind at once to go out on 
 this hunt for a few days, if Mr. Kennedy 
 would take his wife down to Leech Lake, 
 as he had talked of doing. This we talked 
 over in the afternoon, and decided upon ; 
 and then I went to work to pack up odds 
 and ends, to leave in Hugh's care, and to 
 make ready a hunting-suit. On the breast 
 of my heavy flannel shirt, Mrs. Kennedy 
 sewed a stout canvas pocket, or rather, a 
 piece of canvas with twenty little divis- 
 ions, each one holding a cartridge. I had 
 my belt and long knife, the rifle slung 
 across my shoulder, and my old rubber 
 army blanket made into a sort of knap- 
 sack, and holding a change of clothing, 
 some strong medicines, and the bread and 
 pork Mrs. Kennedy made ready for me ; 
 enough to last four days, or till we reached 
 the buffalo, when, of course, there would 
 be plenty to eat. I had no wired mos- 
 quito-net to cover head and neck, so Mrs. 
 Kennedy made me a sort of havelock of 
 canvas, covering my forehead and chin, 
 and leaving out only eyes, nose, and 
 mouth. My watch and money I left with 
 old Hugh, for money would be no use on 
 the Plains, and I had no good place to put 
 the watch; and when Kay bay no ten 
 came down next morning, I was all ready 
 for the start.
 
 200 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 " ' For a man that ain't naterally bad- 
 lookin' you're about the humbliest one I 
 ever did see,' said Mrs. Kennedy, as she 
 bade me good-by, and I think she must 
 have been quite right. 
 
 "The morning was delightful, fewer 
 mosquitoes than usual, and a cool breeze 
 blowing from the lake ; but when, in an 
 hour or two, we got deeper into the woods, 
 we lost this, and by noon the heat was 
 almost stifling. My rifle and knapsack 
 seemed to weigh a hundred pounds ; and 
 when the only Indian on horseback offered 
 to carry the latter for me, I was very glad 
 to let it go, and saw him ride on ahead, 
 not thinking that that was to be my last 
 sight of him for six weeks." 
 
 " Then he stole it ? " said Harry. 
 
 " No, he didn't steal ; he only went away 
 with it, for the last of September we met, 
 and he gave back the knapsack in as good 
 order as could be expected, when meat 
 had been shut up in it so long. At noon, 
 as he was too far in advance of us to get 
 at, I shared the old chiefs meal of dried 
 fish ; and then we pushed on, leaving 
 woods behind us, and striking into the 
 brush. This was hard walking, for no trail 
 was to be seen, and I followed on after 
 the Indians, all walking in file, as they
 
 WHITE AND RED. 201 
 
 always do, and seldom speaking. The sun 
 set at last, as we found ourselves near an- 
 other long line of woods, by which we 
 were to camp, and I looked around for 
 my horseman. No signs of him any- 
 where ; and at last I asked the old chief 
 where he was, and if he had taken a dif- 
 ferent road. I knew very little Ojibway 
 then, and could but just understand, that 
 the horse could not follow the road we 
 had come over, but had taken another ; 
 and that if I went on about two miles, I 
 might find him in a wigwam just made on 
 the edge of this line of woods, by Wan e 
 ding, a young brave, who had taken a wife 
 the week before, and was living now with 
 her, and his old father, in this solitary 
 place. 
 
 " ' A few pipe-smokes from here, four 
 perhaps,' the old chief said, for this is their 
 way of measuring short distances, one pipe- 
 smoke being about ten minutes' walk. 
 The trail was well marked, and I went on 
 fast, reaching the wigwam in about an 
 hour, and stopping a moment to look at 
 the picture, before I spoke. It stood 
 under a white birch, the bark of which 
 had been partly taken to cover the wig- 
 wam. The sparks from the fire, kept 
 burning to drive off mosquitoes, flew up
 
 202 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 from the opening at the top, and glanced 
 among the delicate green leaves of the 
 birch. By the fire, his head drooping on 
 his breast, sat the old man, his eyes bent on 
 the coals. His face was quiet and happy, 
 as if pleasant thoughts were going through 
 his mind ; and, as I stood there, he raised 
 his head, and through the opening in the 
 wigwam, looked steadily off to the west, as 
 if the happy hunting grounds lay before 
 him. Wan e ding and the young wife 
 were on the other side of the fire, she 
 combing his long hair, and making ready 
 to sew on one of the braids the nine little 
 brass buttons I had always seen him wear. 
 "As I moved forward a step, the old 
 man sprang up, and came out, gun in hand, 
 recognizing me in a moment, and welcom- 
 ing me heartily. He had seen nothing of 
 the Indian or pony, however, and I was 
 turning back a little discouraged, when he 
 insisted on my going into the wigwam 
 and eating with them, saying that I could 
 sleep there, and join the other party in 
 the morning. I was too tired to say no, 
 and hungry, too, and the potatoes and 
 dried fish they gave me seemed one of the 
 best meals I had ever eaten. Hot as the 
 day had been, the night was cold, as all 
 nights are in that region; and notwith-
 
 WHITE AND RED. 203 
 
 standing the fire. I felt too chilly to sleep, 
 and long after the others were breathing 
 quietly about me, lay, turning first one side 
 and then another, to the fire, and sighing 
 for my blanket. 
 
 It must have been nearly midnight, 
 when I was roused from a half sleep by 
 a crackling sound outside the wigwam ; 
 and sitting up, listened a moment, lying 
 down again, as I heard nothing more, 
 and shutting my eyes, to open them the 
 next moment on a more horrible sight 
 than even the battle-field had ever given 
 me. Right through the side of the wig- 
 wam sprang a tall Indian, battle-axe in 
 hand ; and as I sprang to my feet, struck 
 it deep into the brain of the old man ly- 
 ing near me. Another moment: and as 
 I cried out, ' Murder ! ' changing the half- 
 spoken word to <Ne po! ' the Ojibway for 
 murder, Wan e ding sprang up, and with 
 his knife struck away the tomahawk just 
 descending on his wife's head ; not soon 
 enough, though, to prevent its giving her 
 a deep wound in the shoulder as it glanced 
 off. With a yell, the Sioux leaped away 
 into the woods, followed by Wan e ding, 
 who fired twice without hitting him, and 
 then returned, fearful that a party of them 
 were concealed in the woods.
 
 204 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 " My little case of surgical instruments 
 was in my pocket, with plaster, and one or 
 two bandages, and with these I bound up 
 the cut shoulder. The old man was past 
 help : he had died almost instantly ; and 
 throwing his blanket over the corpse, Wan 
 e ding sat by his side, and mourned till 
 the faint gray light came up in the east, 
 and I started on to tell the others of the 
 dreadful night's work." 
 
 " How could you ? 0, how could you? " 
 said Harry. " They might have killed 
 you too, papa." 
 
 "No, my boy! Sioux are not much to 
 be dreaded in the day-time ; night is their 
 time for working; but, for' all that, it was 
 nervous work, going over that three miles. 
 The old chief was the only one awake 
 when I got into camp ; but as soon as he 
 understood what had happened, he sent 
 off three or four to bring in the body, and 
 then held council as to what should be 
 done. The younger Indians were bent 
 upon forming a war party, and giving up 
 the hunt altogether ; and though the old 
 chief objected, it was easy to see that he 
 did it because a white man was in his 
 charge, and feared being made accountable 
 for his death. Little more was said ; but 
 when, after the morning meal, Nah gou a
 
 WHITE AND RED. 205 
 
 gah nabe's brother, and three others, 
 started off together, I knew that it meant 
 a Sioux scalp was to be taken if possible. 
 
 " In another hour the first party re- 
 turned, bringing with them on poles the 
 body of the murdered man, but so covered 
 with green leaves and branches, that there 
 was no thought of death in the burden. 
 Then Ma dwa ga non ind selected five, 
 who were to return to Red Lake, and see 
 that the body was buried with honor. As 
 he talked with them, he laid his own blan- 
 ket over the leafy bier, and the Indians 
 stood about with bowed heads, as a last 
 mark of respect. Then the five turned 
 into our yesterday's trail, and we pushed 
 on to the northwest. 
 
 " By the end of the second day's tramp 
 through swamp and brush, the dried fish 
 had given out, and that night we went to 
 bed supperless, the Indians feeling sure, 
 however, that some game would be killed 
 for breakfast. They were mistaken. Not 
 even a duck showed itself; and we pushed 
 on the third day in the pouring rain, hun- 
 gry enough to have eaten anything in the 
 shape of food. To-day we crossed several 
 rivers, and it seemed odd enough to see 
 the Indians, as we came to them, walk 
 right on, as if dry land lay before them,
 
 206 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 swimming when the water rose above 
 their necks, and walking out and on with 
 streaming clothes, which they did not seem 
 to mind one bit. They laughed at me for 
 stopping to undress, and before the end of 
 the tramp I learned to go through just as 
 they did. 
 
 " No signs of buffalo yet, though this 
 was the day we had expected to see them, 
 and we lay down at night hungrier than 
 ever, and I thinking it would be impossible 
 to walk another day without a meal. In 
 the morning we shot two ducks and a 
 small bird, and these were divided among 
 the nine who made up our party: not 
 much for each one, you can see, but it 
 gave a little strength to go on, and that 
 was surely needed for this day's work. 
 
 tt You remember, Harry, coming up to 
 Leech Lake, the openings in the woods 
 made by tornadoes, and how wild the 
 great roots of the fallen trees looked to 
 you. Now, imagine that your road for 
 half a day, or more, lay through just such 
 places, and that you were either climbing 
 through and over these immense roots, or 
 wading in water always up to your knees, 
 and often to your waist. It was the hard- 
 est day's work I have ever done. Even 
 the Indians panted, and said, " Ti yah ! "
 
 WHITE AND RED. 207 
 
 and when, late in the afternoon, we left 
 this behind us, and came out near a river, 
 I had barely strength to get through it, 
 and refused to go on further that night. 
 Something to eat must be had, and we 
 scoured the banks of the river for an hour. 
 There were no fish in it, and no ducks on 
 it ; and when, about eight o'clock, Kay bay 
 no ten came in with two little skunks, I 
 was ready to eat every bit of both." 
 
 " Papa, you never did ! " Harry said. 
 "You couldn't. I never knew that any- 
 body would." 
 
 " I did* and could, sir ; and, as I said, 
 wanted them both. The meat is tender, 
 and tastes very much like rabbit ; and 
 though, at most times, one could hardly 
 be tempted to try it, I even chewed the 
 bone, to get every possible bit of food, in 
 the mean time drying my dripping clothes 
 by the fire. My feet were swollen and 
 blistered by my heavy boots, and the old 
 chief, seeing how they looked, gave me a 
 pair of his own moccasins, saying that 
 white men's moccasins were good for noth- 
 ing, and I had better throw them away. I 
 didn't follow his advice, however, but kept 
 them for a change, when the thin skin of 
 my new ones should be worn out. 
 
 " Only one day now lay between us and
 
 208 
 
 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 the Plains, where game of some sort was 
 always to be found ; and so, though we 
 must go on without breakfast next morn- 
 ing, we started on early in better spir- 
 its than before. Toward noon we came 
 once more to another forest upside-down, 
 through which we must crawl ; and here, 
 for the first time, I lagged behind. Faint 
 and dizzy from want of food, I stumbled 
 often, and at last it seemed as if a separate 
 effort were required for each step, and the 
 blood must be pumped down into my feet, 
 before life enough could be gained to carry 
 them forward. So far I have said nothing 
 of the mosquitoes, swarming all the time ; 
 but in this half wood, half swamp, so thick, 
 that you, who have never seen Minnesota 
 mosquitoes, would hardly believe what I 
 could tell you of them : they were a cloud 
 about us. My face was swollen and bleed- 
 ing from the continual stings, and my 
 whole body seemed so on fire, that it was 
 a relief sometimes to put my head under 
 water, and escape them for a moment. 
 Half wild with the pain, I covered face 
 and hands, at last, with clay, as the Indians 
 had done, this serving the double purpose 
 of soothing the smart, and keeping off 
 fresh blood-suckers. 
 
 " At last this dreadful labor ended. We
 
 WHITE AND RED. 209 
 
 climbed the last root, and came out on the 
 open plains of Pembina, separated from us 
 only by a river. By the shore of this I sat 
 down, too exhausted to go another step. 
 The trail now was well marked, and as I 
 knew the Indians would camp near a wood 
 I saw some miles distant, I told them to 
 go on, and let me follow by and by. 
 They objected a little, but soon went on ; 
 and I sat under a tree, eating a root of the 
 wild potato the old chief had given me, 
 thinking that to-night, at last, we should 
 have plenty to eat, for there were traces 
 of deer all about ; and while I sat there, 
 I heard the crack of a rifle, and knew we 
 were certain of something for supper. 
 
 " As I sat still, holding my aching feet 
 in the water, a rabbit ran down towards 
 the shore. I fired and hit it, and was just 
 getting up to kill at once the poor little 
 thing, which lay there struggling, when I 
 heard a soft step behind me. Supposing 
 it one of our own Indians, I hardly turned 
 as I pointed to the rabbit, but a moment's 
 glance showed me he was an entire stran- 
 ger. He was shorter than most of these 
 Red Lake Indians, but I had not seen 
 Sioux enough then to know the difference 
 between them and Ojibways. As I turned, 
 he made a spring and lunge at me with 
 u
 
 210 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 his knife, which I threw up with my gun, 
 and fired at once at him, shouting at the 
 same time, loud as I could yell, to our In- 
 dians, who were now out of sight. I had 
 not hit him ; but as he leaped away into 
 the wood, from which it seemed to me I 
 heard voices, I fired again, and wounded 
 him in the arm, which dropped by his 
 side. Evidently thinking that a party 
 were with me, he ran on ; and now I saw, 
 from the fringed skin leggins he wore, 
 that he was a Sioux. 
 
 " For a minute my courage was almost 
 gone. Then I walked into the river, and 
 down its bed, fast as I could, to the roots 
 of a great tree growing there, and almost 
 gone to decay. The trunk was hollow 
 for a little way up, though this you could 
 not know till right under the roots, which 
 were partly covered with water. In the 
 shelter of these I crouched, my back 
 against the back of the hollow trunjj:, and 
 only my nose and eyes above water. My 
 gun I loaded first, it carried seven balls, 
 you know, and I had determined, if at- 
 tacked, to sell my life dearly. Then I 
 pushed it up into the hollow of the tree, 
 that it might be kept dry ; plastered my 
 face anew with the river clay, and crouch- 
 ing, as I have said, under the roots, waited 
 and watched.
 
 WHITE AND RED. 211 
 
 " I had barely settled myself here, when, 
 from the wood we had left a little while 
 before, crept out cautiously five Indians, 
 one tall one seeming to me the murderer 
 of the old man. From the way they 
 pointed to the northwest, I knew they saw 
 one of our Indians, and a moment after, as 
 I heard again the crack of a rifle, they re- 
 treated into the wood. 
 
 " It seemed an hour before they once 
 more came out, this time walking boldly 
 down to the river, and across to the trail, 
 plainly marked as I have told you. I saw 
 them examine it, and then cross again to 
 the place where I had been sitting, and 
 where I had dropped my handkerchief. 
 This they picked up, and there, was a 
 noisy talk over it; then they separated, 
 two going down one side of the river, and 
 two the other, while the wounded man 
 sat under the same tree where I had 
 rested. Twice they climbed over the 
 .very tree under which I lay hidden. I 
 felt no fear ; only an intense watchfulness, 
 as I kept one hand on my rifle, and waited, 
 expecting each moment to be discovered. 
 Flashes of light seemed to pass before my 
 eyes, and I felt that I should never die 
 in their hands. 1 stooped there, hardly 
 breathing, hours it seemed, till the Indians
 
 212 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 had gone over every inch of the shore. 
 The only sign of trail, I knew, was that by 
 which we had come ; and that they dared 
 not follow on, lest they should meet our 
 party. For a few moments they talked 
 together as they joined the wounded man, 
 and looked again up and down the river. 
 Then, shouldering their guns, they went 
 swiftly down the shore, following its course 
 far as I could see. I knew they were not 
 likely to return, and though I still kept my 
 place, thanked God that they had gone 
 on, and that, thus far, He had given me 
 my life. Don't cry Harry, boy, we are 
 all safe here together." 
 
 " I know it, papa," said Harry, whose 
 head lay in mamma's lap ; " but how can I 
 help crying a little, just thinking what a 
 dreadful time you had. What if they had 
 found you ? " 
 
 Mamma shivered. 
 
 There, there," said Dr. Prescott. T 
 must stop, if you feel so. This is the last, 
 of the bad troubles. There was no more 
 dreadful danger, only little, small dangers, 
 out of which we came well enough." 
 
 " You didn't come out from under the 
 tree right away, did you ? " Harry asked. 
 
 " No, my boy. I didn't know but that 
 more Sioux might be in the wood, and so
 
 WHITE AND RED. 213 
 
 I kept my place, till, from weariness, and 
 hunger, and excitement, I felt myself 
 growing faint. It was late twilight then. 
 I could see or hear nothing of the Sioux, 
 and after raising my head very carefully 
 higher and higher, ready, at a sound, to 
 draw back, I rose up gradually, so numb 
 and stiff I could hardly stir, and waded 
 down stream to the trail I had a little 
 flask of brandy in one pocket, which I had 
 been saving for great need, and now, if 
 ever, seemed the time to use it. I drank 
 half, and then pushed on, just dragging 
 one foot after another. There was more 
 water, and swamp, and roots, but I went 
 through it with good courage, for friends 
 and plenty to eat were getting nearer and 
 nearer, and about midnight I got into 
 camp, and fell by the fire, so used up, I 
 did not even want to eat. There were 
 plenty of rabbits now, and they had some 
 already roasted, and waiting for me. Old 
 Que we zan schus had spread branches for 
 my bed, and Kay bay no ten stretched my 
 soaked moccasins, and dried them before 
 the fire. He had seen the five Indians, 
 and known they were Sioux ; but being 
 alone, kept at a safe distance, thinking all 
 the time I was with the others. He dried 
 my clothes while I bathed in the little
 
 214 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 lake close by, having first made a f smudge,' 
 to keep off mosquitoes, and then I lay 
 down on my branch-bed, and slept as you 
 did, Harry, your first night at Red Lake, 
 sounder if anything. 
 
 " Next day we saw one solitary buffalo 
 far off on the plain, but nobody caught up 
 with, him ; and that afternoon the Indians, 
 who had gone back to bury the old man, 
 came up to us, and said a large party of 
 Sioux were between us and Red Lake, and 
 that we were not strong enough in num- 
 bers to give them battle. There was then 
 nothing to do but to go on, and return to 
 Red Lake in some other way. So on we 
 went toward Wild Rice River, and the 
 seventh day out I shot my first elk ; the 
 first one, too, killed by our party. You 
 saw the great horns at the Agency, Harry, 
 and can think how the elk looked to me, 
 as I lay behind a bush, and took aim. I 
 had crept up through the long grass, 
 stalking, it is called, very slowly and 
 carefully, keeping my eye all the time 
 on this elk, one of half a dozen feeding 
 together ; and when, as the smoke from 
 my rifle cleared away, 1 saw him stagger 
 and fall, it seemed almost a wicked thing 
 to have killed the beautiful creature. 
 After that, though, I had the true ' hun-
 
 WHITE AND RED. 215 
 
 ter's fever,' and brought down my deer 
 whenever I could. Those horns were my 
 greatest difficulty, for I carried them all 
 the way, determined to get them home 
 some day ; and they went up to George- 
 town on the Red River, and then down 
 toward Fort Abercrombie. I did not see 
 the face of a white man for six weeks after 
 we left Georgetown." 
 
 <_/ 
 
 " Did you hunt all the time, papa ? " 
 Harry asked. 
 
 " Yes, hunted and ate. I never knew 
 before, what could be done in that way. 
 An elk would be brought in and skinned. 
 Kay bay no ten's wife, the only squaw in 
 the party, generally did this, and cut up 
 the animal. Each one took what he liked, 
 roasted it on a stick, and when the outside 
 had cooked a little, eat that off, and then 
 roasted the rest, smoking between times. 
 We took from ten to fifteen .meals a day 
 in this way, drying what was not eaten, 
 and packing it to take home. They cut 
 the meat in strips, and hung it on poles, 
 where it soon dried. Meat never decays 
 in this clear northern air, but dries up." 
 
 " Didn't you get sick, papa ? " 
 
 " Not a bit of it. In fact, I was never 
 better in my life, and grew as brown as I 
 did fat. so that when we came in sight of
 
 216 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 Fort Abercrombie in September, nobody 
 could have told me from a real Indian, 
 except by my beard. There were wander- 
 ing parties of Sioux all about, and when 
 we came up to the fort, the sentinel at 
 first ordered us off; and then, when he 
 heard me speak English, said, 'No half- 
 bloods could come in, for they were just 
 as bad as Indians.' 
 
 " I wrote my name on a leaf of my note- 
 book, and got him to take it in, and very 
 soon found myself face to face with the 
 old General. I had been through a region 
 where no white man had gone before, or, 
 at any rate, no white man had ever come 
 back to give report of that wild country, 
 and they all wondered to see me alive. I 
 had no clothes, you know ; but one lent 
 me a hat, and another a coat, and so on ; 
 and after a day or two of resting. I started 
 on to St. Cloud, and then up to the Agen- 
 cy. At the fort I bought crackers and 
 pork for the Indians who had been so kind 
 to me, and who returned home by way of 
 White Earth Lake, killing just one buffalo." 
 
 " There's more," said Harry, as his 
 father stopped. " About the quaking-bog, 
 and Kay bay no ten's pony running right 
 into the wigwam, and knocking Mrs. Kay 
 bay no ten into the ashes ; and about that
 
 WHITE AND RED. 217 
 
 pretty Indian girl at Georgetown that 
 offered to marry you, and make all your 
 skins into moccasins ; and 0, papa, about 
 that Indian that put a deer's skin and 
 horns on to himself, and went right into a 
 whole herd." 
 
 " You know all I have to tell, it seems," 
 said papa ; " so, Harry, I think this will do 
 for to-night."
 
 218 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 "TELL me a story this evening, papa," 
 said Harry ; and Dr. Prescott, who had laid 
 down the book he had been reading, some 
 moments before, said, " What about ? " 
 
 " 0, an Indian story ; one of those Aiken 
 told you the other day, and that I don't 
 know." 
 
 " Well," said Dr. Prescott, after thinking 
 a minute, " here is a little one." 
 
 "Then if it's little I shall want two," 
 interrupted Harry. " Will you tell two ? " 
 
 " Perhaps," said papa, and began. 
 
 " Long, long ago when the animals ruled 
 the earth, they had eaten up almost every- 
 body but a little boy and girl, who lived 
 in the depths of a thick wood, so tangled 
 and twisted, that the big animals were 
 caught if they tried to get in, and the lit- 
 tle ones stayed away, because they were 
 afraid they might be. 
 
 " The boy truly was little ; so little, that 
 his sister hardly ever dared leave him 
 alone, lest some big bird should swoop 
 down and carry him off. So they stayed
 
 WHITE AND RED. 219 
 
 in the wigwam together, till, by and by, 
 the animals growing tired of that part of 
 the world, went away altogether, to see if 
 there were not a better place, and more 
 people to eat. Then the sister determined 
 to go out, and look for wood, day after day, 
 till she had brought home great piles of it 
 for the winter fire. She made for the lit- 
 tle boy a bow and some arrows ; showed 
 him how to use them, and then said, 
 
 " ' Sit in the door of the wigwam, and 
 when the snow-birds come to pick worms 
 from the logs, shoot one.' 
 
 " All day the little boy sat there, shoot- 
 ing away every arrow, but never hitting 
 one bird ; and at night, when the sister 
 came home, she found him very angry at 
 his bad luck. She picked up the arrows 
 and said, 
 
 " ' Never mind. To-morrow you can 
 go outside the lodge, since I see nothing 
 which can hurt you.' 
 
 " So the next day, when the sister had 
 gone for wood, the little boy hid behind a 
 brier-bush, and soon shot a snow-bird, 
 which he showed to his sister at night. 
 
 " ' Skin it,' he said, ' and stretch the 
 skin.' 
 
 " So the sister skinned it, and bending a 
 twig into a circle, fastened the little skin
 
 220 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 upon it, and hung it up to dry. Then they 
 boiled the body and ate it, and this was 
 the first meat ever cooked and eaten in 
 the world. The next day the little boy 
 shot another, and so on for ten days, when 
 there were ten little skins hanging in the 
 wigwam. 
 
 " ' Now sew them together, and make me 
 a little coat,' said he. 
 
 " The sister sewed them, and soon the lit- 
 tle boy had a beautiful coat, which he wore 
 everywhere. One skin was left though, for 
 nine made a very large coat. 
 
 " As he grew bolder, he went farther and 
 farther from home, and one day found a 
 pretty knoll where the snow had melted, 
 and being tired, lay down and slept. 
 While he slept the Sun. who is always very 
 inquisitive, came so close to look at him, 
 that the bird-skin coat was singed and 
 shriveled up, till good for nothing. The 
 little boy stamped and raged, when he 
 woke up and found the coat pinching him 
 tight. 
 
 " ( you Sun ! you are Ke-ko-pat-tis ; 
 you are a fool!'' he cried. 'I will teach 
 you to let me alone.' 
 
 (i Then he ran home very angry, and told 
 his sister, who came bending under a great 
 load of wood.
 
 WHITE AND RED. 221 
 
 "'Give me a noose/ he said, 'I must 
 catch that impudent Sun/ and he showed 
 her the coat, and stamped again as he told 
 the story. The sister looked through the 
 wigwam, and brought him at last a piece 
 of thread-like root, such as canoes are 
 sewed with. 
 
 " * Kah, kah ; no, no/ he said ; ' I will 
 not have that.' 
 
 " Then the sister went back, and cut the 
 tenth bird skin into strips, and twisted a 
 snare. 
 
 " ' Kah, kah/ he said again ; ( I will not 
 have that.' 
 
 " Angry herself a little, at having so 
 much trouble for nothing, the sister went 
 outside the wigwam, and soon had a 
 thought. She pulled out some of her own 
 long hair, and braided it into a long cord, 
 which she took in to the brother, who 
 pulled it fast through his hands, to try the 
 strength, and then coiled it around his neck. 
 
 " ' Now I must fast/ he said, ' for this is 
 what I wanted/ and he laid down on his 
 right side, and never stirred for ten days. 
 
 u The tenth day he turned over to his left 
 side, and there he laid ten days longer. 
 On the twentieth day, long before the first 
 signs of daylight were seen in the sky, 
 he stood up and said,
 
 222 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 " ' Now I am going to snare the Sun/ and 
 went out. 
 
 " Soon he came to the knoll, where the 
 Sun had first singed him, and, setting his 
 snare here, sure enough, at sunrise, the 
 Sun, which always touched this spot first 
 on his way up, was caught and held tight. 
 Now there were times, for the animals had 
 started back to their old home, and won- 
 dered why there was no light. At last 
 the Weasel, the sharpest of all, discovered 
 the noose, and going back, told what he 
 had seen. In the meantime, the Sun pulled 
 at the noose, but could not escape. The 
 animals talked together, and by and by 
 the Dormouse, who at that time was much 
 bigger than a mountain, said that this 
 noose must be gnawed apart, and who 
 would do it ? Not one was brave enough, 
 and the little boy laughed to himself 
 where he lay hidden. But soon he laughed 
 no longer, for the Dormouse, being angry 
 at the others, who were afraid, went nearer 
 and nearer himself, and at last began to 
 gnaw. As he gnawed, the Sun pulled, and 
 so helped him, but the heat, strong as 
 many fires in one, burned his back, and 
 burned and burned it, till it shrunk away 
 and fell in ashes, and when the Sun at last 
 was free, and rose with a bound to his
 
 WHITE AND RED. 223 
 
 place, the Dormouse was no longer than 
 your finger, and to this day is the tiniest 
 animal in the world. 
 
 " The little boy said, 
 
 " ' If my sister's shining black hair cannot 
 hold the Sun, nothing can ; ' and he went 
 home to shoot snow-birds, for this business 
 he knew all about. Soon he had ten more 
 skins, and the sister made him a new 
 coat ; this time he kept away from the Sun, 
 so that to this day 'tis unharmed, and he 
 still wears it." 
 
 " That is a nice story," said Harry, who 
 had listened, hardly stirring. " Now can't 
 you tell just one more?" 
 
 " I will tell one for you and mamma 
 both," Dr. Prescott answered. " Do you 
 remember, Mary, the lonely grave we saw 
 near Gibe way shis, yesterday. There is a 
 story connected with that, which I heard 
 from Mrs. Ayre, last fall, and have always 
 meant to tell you. You have not seen the 
 site of the old mission yet, but the snow is 
 going so fast that you soon can. 'Tis on 
 the other side of the little river we cross 
 going down to Little Rock, and very near 
 the lake. There is where they built their 
 log houses twenty years ago." 
 
 Where are they now ? " Harry asked. 
 
 Burned down, after they left, by some
 
 224 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 bad young Indians," said Dr. Prescott, 
 "but till then there was quite a settle- 
 ment; three families of missionaries, who 
 came here by way of Lake Superior ; a 
 long, weary journey indeed, and a lonely 
 ending at Red Lake. 
 
 " They built houses at once, however, and 
 before a year had passed, were comfortably 
 settled and working in all ways hard as 
 they could. The Indians, at first a little 
 doubtful as to what was to be done, con- 
 sented finally that their children should be 
 taught to read and write and even to work 
 a little, laying out their gardens, hoeing 
 and digging, and the missionaries hoped 
 strongly that in time the whole land might 
 be civilized. Habit and tradition were too 
 strong for them however. Work of any 
 sort, save that involved in hunting, de- 
 grades a warrior, and the few who took 
 tools provided, and imitated the white 
 man's ways, were considered as not worthy 
 the name of Indian. Still the children 
 were allowed to learn, as a favor to the 
 missionaries, whose hearts often grew 
 heavy, thinking how little could be done. 
 
 " Years went on, and the children whom 
 they had taught grew up into young men 
 and women. Among them was one who 
 had dropped her Indian name and been
 
 WHITE AND RED. 225 
 
 baptized as Hannah, and who had never 
 returned to her wigwam life, but lived on 
 with one of the missionaries, whom she 
 loved and trusted entirely. Her mother 
 had died years before, and her brothers 
 were warriors, who were always on the 
 war path, or hunting. Her father, too, was 
 a famous warrior, and it went to his heart 
 that a daughter of his should leave the 
 faith of her own people. He was one of 
 the very few who hated the missionaries, 
 and believed they were doing harm contin- 
 ually, but Hannah, though she loved him, 
 could never be influenced against them. 
 She talked often of how beautiful the life 
 must be where all were Christians, and 
 begged the missionaries to take her with 
 them if they went away ; but until she was 
 nearly twenty, there was no change, and 
 the little band worked on, expecting to 
 live and die there. 
 
 " At last one of their number, who had 
 been in failing health a long time, deter- 
 mined to go for a little while to his old 
 home in Oberlin, Ohio ; and now Hannah 
 urged that she should be taken too, so 
 strongly, that at last they promised to let 
 her go, if her father would say she might. 
 The old man refused at once, but after 
 long and persistent urging, relented so far 
 
 15
 
 226 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 as to say she might go, but that if any- 
 thing happened to her while absent, the 
 missionaries should be held responsible. 
 'Tis a law among the Indians, that if a 
 member of a family be killed, whether by 
 accident or design, that the nearest rela- 
 tive must avenge the death ; and the mis- 
 sionaries knew, that should Hannah die, 
 among strangers, the tribe would justify 
 her father in killing those whom they 
 would say had persuaded her to leave them. 
 She was urged not to go, but nothing 
 could induce her to remain at Red Lake, 
 and though Mr. Brent started without her, 
 at Cass Lake she appeared, and went on, 
 so happy in the prospect of seeing " all 
 Christians," that no one urged her return. 
 " Months went by, and letters came now 
 and then from Hannah as well as Mr. 
 Brent, telling of her delight in being where 
 people thought of the " Great Spirit " all 
 the time, and of her perfect happiness in 
 going to church and Sunday-school. Then 
 there was a long silence, and the father, 
 who came to question them about his 
 daughter whenever letters were brought 
 in, scowled darkly as he met them, and 
 they grew more and more anxious to hear. 
 At last came a letter from Mr. Brent. 
 You can think how eagerly it was opened,
 
 WHITE AND RED. 227 
 
 and how the faces paled as they read that 
 Hannah had suddenly been taken ill, and 
 died within a few days. 
 
 "'When she knew she must die/ he 
 wrote, ' I said to her : " It is well with 
 you, Hannah, but ! what shall be done 
 about the teachers there ? Your father will 
 surely kill them. Why did you ever leave 
 him ? " She lay quiet a few minutes and 
 then said: "I do not think I was wrong; 
 nothing speaks to my heart to tell me that I 
 was. I shall say much to the Spirit about; 
 it," and indeed she did say much, for till 
 within an hour of her death, she hardly 
 ceased to pray that her father's heart 
 might be turned away from any thought 
 of revenge. At the last she took my hand, 
 smiling, and said, " Do not be afraid for the 
 teachers ; they will not die ; Jesus has told 
 me so. Write to them not to be afraid.' " 
 
 " The missionaries talked long together 
 before they could decide what to do. At 
 last they determined to speak of her death 
 to those who had known her, and when 
 her father returned from the hunt, to send 
 for him and read the letters, in which were 
 messages for him and her brothers. A 
 month went by before he returned, but 
 some one, met on the trail, had told him, 
 and he came in raging, vowing that one at
 
 228 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 least should die. He painted himself for 
 the war-path ; put on all his scalp-feathers, 
 and with tomahawk and scalping-knife, 
 went to the mission. The missionaries 
 had gone that day to cut logs for the mill, 
 and only the women and children were at 
 home. 
 
 " ( When we saw him,' said Mrs. Ay re, 
 who told me the story, ' we looked for 
 nothing but death, and yet, strange as it 
 may seem, I never felt calmer. I went on 
 with my sewing for a moment, and then, 
 looking quietly at him, said, " What do you 
 want, Kay bay gwa ? " 
 
 " ' " My daughter. Where is she ? " 
 
 " ( " The Great Spirit has taken her. She 
 has gone home. Do you want me to read 
 you all that we know about her ? " 
 
 u ' I took the letter from the table and 
 read it to him, without waiting for an an- 
 swer. The veins in his forehead swelled, 
 and his eyes glared, they told me, but he 
 did not speak till I had finished. Then 
 he said, " You are murderers ; if you had 
 never come, the child would have stayed 
 with her own people and lived. You are 
 murderers, but I shall not kill you yet. I 
 shall listen to the voice of the Great Spirit, 
 and do as it wills." He went away then, 
 and that night, Leading Feather told us he
 
 WHITE AND KED. 229 
 
 had gon off several miles to keep a fast 
 alone, and find out what he ought to do. 
 They believe, you know, that if they keep a 
 fast faithfully, the Great Spirit speaks to 
 their souls, and tells them all they desire 
 to know. 
 
 " ' So we waited three days, not know- 
 ing what would happen, but believing the 
 prayer of that dying child was stronger 
 than the savage instinct of her father, and 
 the third evening he came silently as we 
 sat together, and stood among us. 
 
 "'"I shall not kill you," he said; and 
 there were great drops of sweat on his fore- 
 head as he spoke. " I shall not kill you, 
 for last night, as I sat alone in the lodge, 
 the Great Spirit spoke to my mind and told 
 me to leave you unharmed. I do it, for 
 the child loved you, but you are murder- 
 ers. Kay bay gwa has spoken." ' 
 
 " ' And was there no more trouble ? ' I 
 asked. 
 
 " ' None,' said Mrs. Ayre. ' He never 
 spoke to us again or indeed came near us, 
 but when we left Red Lake finally, came 
 silently and shook hands. He died shortly 
 after, and I think often that his dreadful 
 conflict against his own savage nature was 
 a victory that may have given him a bet- 
 ter entrance into those " many mansions "
 
 230 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 than we know of. He was an Indian and 
 a heathen, but who shall say that the All- 
 merciful had not a place for him after 
 all?'"
 
 WHITE AND RED. 231 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 " JUST a little story this evening, papa," 
 Harry said, a week or two after he had 
 heard about ' The Boy who set a Snare 
 for the Sun.' " Tell some more about the 
 missionaries. I've been over the brook to- 
 day, looking at the place they used to live 
 at What a shame the Indians burned all 
 the houses down." 
 
 "It was the boys who did that," said Dr. 
 Prescott. " The men were sorry, all of 
 them, I think. Have I never told you 
 about Mr. Ayre's sermon ? " 
 
 " No," said Harry, " I hope it ain't any- 
 thing real sorry, like that about Kay bay 
 gwa. I don't want to hear it to-night if 
 it is." 
 
 " No, " said papa, " I don't think you'll 
 call it a sorry story, and if you do, I can 
 tell you a very gay one to make up for it. 
 I have one all ready." 
 
 " Save it for the last, papa, and I hope 
 it's long." 
 
 " Well," said papa. " then I will tell first
 
 232 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 about the missionaries, who had been here 
 about three years when this happened. 
 There were then several converts among 
 the women, but these and all the rest stole 
 continually, and the children too, so that 
 whenever they came to the teachers' 
 houses, somebody had to watch all the 
 time, very much as we do now. It was 
 doubly an evil for them, because then, you 
 know, every article had to be brought on 
 the backs of men, and supplies could only 
 come once or twice a year, and the thiev- 
 ing was done so skillfully, that they were 
 hardly ever certain just who to charge 
 with it At last it could be borne no 
 longer, and when the only remaining 
 auger disappeared from the mill where 
 they had been working, and the keg of 
 nails was found to have been skillfully 
 tapped, Mr. Ayre determined to make a 
 personal application in the sermon he was 
 preparing for the next Sunday, and accord- 
 ingly urged, even harder than usual, that 
 as many should come as the room would 
 hold. 
 
 "Sunday came; a fair spring day. and 
 not only were the women and children in 
 their usual places, but all around the room 
 squatted the older men, chiefs, braves, 
 and old hunters; fresh paint on their
 
 WHITE AND RED. 233 
 
 faces ; hair shining with fish oil ; the gayest 
 blankets and finest bead-work, and all with 
 the pipe they would have smoked steadily 
 had not Mr. Ayre made special request 
 that they would not. Many of the women 
 had by this time learned to sing the -hymns 
 which had been translated into Ojibway, 
 and as they joined with the missionaries 
 in the sweet old tunes, the Indians listened 
 with great satisfaction. A little, a very 
 little, stir was perceptible, as Mr. Ayre 
 slowly and solemnly gave out his text, 
 'Thou shalt not steal.' Every eye was 
 fixed steadily on him as he went on, tell- 
 ing them in the simplest . and most forci- 
 ble words he could use, of the guilt and 
 meanness of taking what is not one's own, 
 and how fully the Bible showed them the 
 wrong of such a course. 
 
 " ' You are honest with one another,' he 
 said. ' Whether you are Christians or not, 
 I go by your lodges and see them left with 
 only a pine bough across the door, and 
 yet all respect that sign, and would be 
 ashamed to steal from the one who had 
 left it unguarded. You teach your children 
 not to steal from one another. Why then 
 do you steal from us ? We come among 
 you only to do you good. We have left 
 our homes and our own kindred behind us.
 
 234 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 We are alone here with you, trying to 
 show you the right way to heaven ; try- 
 ing to make you do as the Great Spirit 
 wishes. Some of you are really His chil- 
 dren, and wish to obey Him, but do you 
 do this when you take from us the little 
 we have ? Is there not some one here this 
 very day, who has stolen, perhaps often ? ' 
 
 u Looking about as he spoke, Mr. Ayre 
 paused a moment, never dreaming an an- 
 swer would be given, but simply stopping 
 to give his words more effect, when, right 
 before him, uprose the old chief. 
 
 " Ma dwa ga non ind, tall and stately and 
 wrapping his blanket closer about him, 
 said, slowly, 
 
 " ' Who is there here who has not stolen ? 
 Let my children speak to the teacher if 
 there is one who has not, or let them tell 
 what they have taken.' 
 
 " There was a murmur through the whole 
 assembly. Then an old woman near the 
 door stood up, and in her cracked and 
 shaking voice, said, 
 
 " ' I have stolen many times, but every- 
 thing is now gone. Here, though, is one 
 needle I took yesterday, when my hand 
 had no thought in it ; ' and coming for- 
 ward, she laid the needle on Mr. Ayre's 
 desk, while he with difficulty kept from 
 smiling. Then came a buzz of confessions.
 
 WHITE AND RED. 235 
 
 " ' I have taken a gimlet ; ' ' I have many 
 times stolen thread and pins ; ' ' I have 
 taken away at night the young peas and 
 beans ; ' 'I have taken the auger, but shall 
 bring it back to-morrow.' 
 
 " ' Now you are nearer right, my friends,' 
 said Mr. Ayre at last, when there was 
 silence. ' Bring back what }'ou have 
 taken, and resolve never to steal again. 
 The Great Spirit forgives all who repent 
 of wrong-doing and try to do better, and 
 He will forgive you.' 
 
 "'Ho! Ho!' said all together, their 
 strongest sign of approval, and so the ser- 
 mon ended. 
 
 " The next morning a crowd of men, 
 women, and children, were at the mission- 
 aries' doors, each one bearing some stolen 
 thing, or the substitute for it ; from a pin 
 up to a sack of potatoes, and from that 
 time, save in a very few instances, their 
 property remained untouched. 
 
 " Would a white congregation have been 
 as ready to make restitution, even if they 
 had been equally impressed ? " 
 
 " Are any of them alive now ? " asked 
 Harry, as his father finished. " I'd like to 
 see the old woman that gave back the 
 needle." 
 
 " She is dead long ago, I suppose, but
 
 236 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 many who were children then will remem- 
 ber it. Gib e way she's wife was one, and 
 Nah gon a gah nabe, and a good many 
 others." 
 
 " I wish I could talk Ojibway well enough 
 to ask just how they felt," Harry went 
 on. " Now, papa, tell the other story. Did 
 Aikin tell it to you ? " 
 
 Yes," said Dr. Prescott. He told it, 
 just as he heard an Indian repeat it at the 
 trading post. Tisn't a very long one." 
 
 " It's nice any way, if he told it, papa. 
 I never heard him tell any but first-rate 
 stories. Now go on and tell it just as long 
 as you can." 
 
 " Far oft' in the woods," papa began, 
 smiling, " lived all alone an Indian mother, 
 with only her baby and one little dog for 
 company. Lonely, you would think, but 
 that she never was. All the time when in 
 the wigwam she talked to the baby and 
 dog, and all the time when out of it, she 
 talked to herself, and so the days went by, 
 and the baby was almost old enough to 
 take off from the board to which he had 
 been tied ever since he was born. 
 
 " One morning, the mother, who was 
 going into the forest for wood, felt some- 
 thing which told her that trouble was in 
 the air, and the Mudgee Manitous, or bad
 
 WHITE AND RED. 237 
 
 spirits at work. At first she determined to 
 stav at home, but the day was cold and the 
 fire almost out. So she swung the cradle 
 back and forth, till the baby slept, and then 
 called the little dog, who was stronger than 
 the spirits of the air, and whose name was 
 Manitou Pe wau bik, Spirit Iron. 
 
 "'Take care of -your brother/ she said. 
 1 Bark if I am wanted, and soon 1 shall 
 return,' and she walked swiftly into the 
 forest. 
 
 " Now it was not the Mudgee Manitous 
 who were brewing mischief this morning, 
 but an evil old woman, known as Mu kah 
 ke Min de mo ya, or the Toad- woman. 
 For a long time she had watched the soli- 
 tary wigwam, waiting for the day to come, 
 when she might steal the baby and bring 
 him up as her own. Why she wanted to 
 do this, you will soon know. 
 
 " Hardly had the mother lost sight of the 
 wigwam, when she heard the dog barking 
 fiercely. She ran back, but dog and child 
 were gone ; only some fragments of the 
 wampum with which the cradle had been 
 covered, lay on the floor, proving there 
 had been a struggle. A tuft of bear's hair 
 told who had done this, for the Toad- 
 woman was sister to all bears, and wore 
 their skins about her. The mother hur-
 
 238 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 iied off over the western trail, leading, she 
 knew, to the Toad-woman's lodge. As she 
 ran, she passed many wigwams where very 
 old women lived alone. Each one gave 
 her magic moccasins to wear, telling her 
 when she reached the next lodge, to get 
 a fresh pair, and set the others on the 
 trail, the toes pointing homewards, when 
 they would return of themselves. This 
 she did, but for all her speed many win- 
 ters came and went before she reached the 
 Far West and saw the Toad-woman's lodge. 
 Here, the last grandmother had directed 
 her to build a wigwam of cedar boughs, 
 and to then make a little bark dish and 
 fill it with grape-juice, when by this means 
 her son would find her out. 
 
 "All this the mother did, and then 
 watched the Toad-woman's lodge. Soon 
 she saw her son, now a tall young man, go- 
 ing out to hunt, followed by Spirit Iron. 
 And now you will know why the Toad- 
 woman had stolen him. It was to make him 
 .a great hunter, so that bear's meat might 
 .always be plenty in her lodge, for she loved 
 nothing in the world so much as bear's 
 meat, and yet, as she was sister to them, 
 could never kill one without losing her 
 own life. 
 
 " The young hunter walked on, but the
 
 WHITE AND RED. 239 
 
 dog who, like all dogs, continually ran into 
 every queer corner he could find, soon saw 
 the mother's wigwam, and the little bark 
 dish from which he drank. At once his 
 eyes were opened; he remembered the 
 past, and could plan for the future, and 
 now, without stopping to speak to the 
 mother, he rose up on his hind legs, and 
 walking like a man, went after his young 
 master, who stopped in surprise as he came 
 up. Soon he had heard the story, but 
 could not believe it." 
 
 " * 'Tis a stranger, and no mother of mine/ 
 he said. 'She deceives you, Spirit Iron.' 
 
 " Still the dog persisted, and the young 
 man, to satisfy him, promised to visit the 
 new lodge. Eeturning home at night with 
 much meat, he said, while eating, 
 
 " ' Let some of this meat be sent to the 
 stranger.' 
 
 " At once the Toad-woman sent one of 
 her children with a large piece, which she 
 had first bewitched, thus making it so bitter 
 and disagreeable, that the mother threw it 
 away into the bushes, and sat waiting for 
 her son, who would come, she knew. Soon 
 he was before her, but listened coldly and 
 with many doubts to the story. 
 
 " ' Ah, my son,' the mother said at last 
 with tears, 'you believe neither me nor
 
 240 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 Spirit Iron. Here are pieces from the 
 wampum of your cradle, broken off by 
 your brother in his struggle with the Toad- 
 woman. Now go home and ask to see it, 
 and you will then know my tongue has 
 not lied.' 
 
 " The young man put the pieces of blue, 
 shining wampum in his bosom, and went 
 home with Spirit Iron, who encouraged 
 him all the way. As they entered, the 
 Toad-woman knew at once where they 
 had been, but said nothing, for she thought 
 'This woman can never take him from 
 me ; ' and the young man sat down and 
 thought how he should manage to see the 
 cradle. By and by an idea came, and lean- 
 ing heavily on Spirit Iron, he pretended 
 to be very sick. At first the Toad-woman 
 paid no attention, but as he rolled and 
 groaned, asked at last what she could do 
 for him. 
 
 " * Show me my cradle/ he said, ' and 
 that will cure me.' 
 
 " The Toad-woman went out, and soon 
 returned with a cedar cradle. 
 
 " ' No, that is not mine,' he said ; ' I am 
 worse than before ; ' and he groaned so ter- 
 ribly that the Toad-woman brought, one 
 after the other, four cradles which had be- 
 longed to her four children.
 
 WHITE AND RED. 241 
 
 " ' None of these are mine/ he said, ' I 
 shall soon die ; ' and he groaned again and 
 seemed to faint, till the old woman, very 
 much frightened, brought in a cradle of 
 wampum, and handed him. 
 
 u t This is mine,' he said, for the shining 
 wampum was the same ; and there, on 
 the edge, were the marks of Spirit Iron's 
 teeth. 
 
 " ' I am better now,' he said, and then 
 lay still, thinking what next to do. To 
 get away from the Toad-woman was the 
 next thing, and to do this a very fat bear 
 must be killed. Spirit Iron knew where 
 such a one was to be found, and the next 
 day showed his young master, who killed it 
 after a dreadful battle, and then stripping 
 off the bark and branches from the tallest 
 pine-tree he could find, set the bear on 
 the very top, with his nose to the east, 
 and his tail to the west. Then he went 
 home and said, 
 
 " ' Mother, I have a fine fat bear for you, 
 but 'tis at the end of the world.' 
 
 "'Not so far off but that I can find it,' 
 said the old woman, and she set off in great 
 glee. As soon as she was out of sight, the 
 young man and Spirit Iron blew a strong 
 breath in the faces of the four children, 
 who were every one bad spirits, and at 
 
 u
 
 242 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 once life left them. Spirit Iron then put 
 a long strip of bear's fat in the mouth of 
 each, and setting them up against the side 
 of the lodge, started with the mother and 
 son for their old home. 
 
 " In the meantime, the Toad-woman had 
 with the greatest difficulty, and after many 
 times sliding down the smooth tree before 
 she could reach the top, succeeded in get- 
 ting the bear, and now came joyfully home, 
 to find the lodge empty and her children 
 dead. Full of fury, she set out at once to 
 overtake the fugitives, and was fast gain- 
 ing on them, when Spirit Iron, breathing 
 on the ground, whispered, ' Snake-berry.' 
 
 " At once the snake-berry spread before 
 her ; and the old woman, who loved them 
 as well as she did fat bear, stooped to pick 
 and eat, and though she wished to go on, 
 could never resist the bright red berries. 
 There she is to this day, tangled in snake- 
 berry vines, and always eating, while the 
 young man and his mother and Spirit Iron 
 live peacefully in the wood where we first 
 saw them."
 
 WHITE AND RED. 243 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 " BAPTISTE is at the warehouse door, with 
 his pony train, mamma," Harry said, com- 
 ing in one day in March. " There's such 
 a queer-looking long bundle on the train, 
 and Ma dwa ga non ind, and a lot of other 
 Indians are out there, too. Do come and 
 see what it is. Where's papa ? " 
 
 " He went to Gib e nay she's wigwam 
 to look at his frozen foot," mamma said, 
 laying down her work. " Here is Georgy ; 
 he can tell us perhaps." 
 
 Georgy ran in, holding the warehouse 
 key in his hand. 
 
 " My father gone away," he said, " and I 
 open door for dead man." 
 
 " For what ? " said Harry, drawing back 
 a little. 
 
 " Very old dead man," Georgy went on. 
 " He two grandfathers for Besh quay : 
 three, maybe. Come see me open door." 
 
 " What does he mean ? " said Harry. 
 " How can anybody be most three grand- 
 fathers ? " 
 
 " He means that the old man was Besh
 
 244 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 quay's great-grandfather, I suppose," inam- 
 ma said, putting on a shawl and going out 
 with the two children. " When did he die, 
 Georgy?" 
 
 " Not know much," Georgy answered. 
 " Two three day, maybe. Not die good 
 way. Die coz he son not come home. He 
 not have plenty eat for coz the woman 
 take it away." 
 
 " Do you mean he starved to death ? " 
 said mamma. 
 
 " That's it," answered Aiken, who had 
 come up to them. " I'll tell you all about 
 it ma'am, in a minute. I'll stop in when I 
 come back from Josance's," and he went 
 on down the hill. 
 
 The warehouse stood some distance 
 back from the other government buildings, 
 on a little rise of ground, almost a hill, and 
 was used at payment time, as a place for 
 the annuity goods, flour, and the like. In 
 winter it was empty, save the canoes which 
 the Indians brought and piled up there, to 
 protect them from the weather. These, 
 and some nets, Harry saw on one side, as 
 the door opened, but all his attention now 
 was fixed on the train, where lay the dead 
 Indian, bound in birch bark, a cap drawn 
 over the face, and tied on his breast, a 
 blanket, and a roll of bark. As he looked,
 
 WHITE AND RED. 245 
 
 the old chief stepped forward, and taking 
 his own blanket from his shoulders, threw 
 it over the corpse, the women at the same 
 time beginning a death wail, melancholy 
 and piercing, which ceased as Ma dwa ga 
 non ind lifted the blanket again. Two In- 
 dians untied the cords which bound the 
 body to the train, and carrying it into the 
 warehouse, laid it on a blanket in one cor- 
 ner. Baptiste drove swiftly away : the 
 door was locked, and the Indians sat down 
 in a half-circle on the snow, and lighting 
 their pipes, smoked silently. Their faces 
 were blackened, and the women sat with 
 their blankets drawn over their heads, and 
 now and then broke into the wail for a 
 moment. 
 
 " Why didn't they put him in the 
 ground where the others are buried?" 
 Harry asked, as they went slowly back to 
 the house. 
 
 " I don't know," mamma said, " unless 
 because the ground was frozen so hard. 
 Mr. Aiken can tell you." 
 
 " Look over toward the trading-post," 
 said Aiken, who had come up. "See 
 that smoke ? Well, that's where they've 
 got fires burning to soften the ground : by 
 to-morrow morning they'll have a grave 
 ready. They won't keep him out of the
 
 246 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 ground longer'n they can help, fur yer see 
 his sperrit carn't start for the other side 
 till he's buried." 
 
 " What made them put him in the ware- 
 house ? " said Harry. " Why didn't they 
 leave him in his own wigwam ? " 
 
 " Indian dogs might a got at him," said 
 Aiken. " They're fierce sometimes. Don't 
 s'pose the daughter-in-law would a cared 
 much, but the son would, an' so Baptiste 
 took him up here." 
 
 " Who is it?" said Dr. Prescott ; who had 
 just come in. 
 
 " Nobody you ever see, I reckon," Aiken 
 went on. "He was a big warrior once. 
 Pe dosh ah nish ka, was his name. That 
 means, He-comes-in-a-canoe. He'd a good 
 row o' scalps too. He was older'n old 
 Kah wis kiniky, and he's nigh a hundred. 
 Most all his relations was dead too, only 
 this one son that was most too old himself 
 to go off hunting. There was this woman, 
 an' she was pretty old too. There was a 
 lot of 'em, but you see they got killed on 
 the war path, a good while ago. They 
 lived down to Big Rock, nine mile away I 
 guess, an' the son went off on his hunt, an' 
 lef the old man for this woman to see to. 
 Most ginerally they're pretty good to their 
 old people, but this woman always seemed
 
 WHITE AND RED. 247 
 
 to have a grudge agin him, sence her t.wo 
 sons was scalped by the Sioux an' he come 
 home alive, an' kep' livin' along. So after 
 the son's been gone a day or two, maybe, 
 she just chops a little wood, so's to say 
 she'd left him some, an' she gives him some 
 parched corn and starts off He thought 
 she was goin' after fish or somethin', an' 
 staid contented enough by the fire, but 
 when night come, an' he all alone, he be- 
 gan to think. He couldn't help himself, 
 you see, for when he come back from that 
 last war-path, one o' his sides was cut an' 
 slashed all to pieces most, and sort of drew 
 up, so 'twarn't no use to him. 
 
 ' Well, he managed to pull in a little more 
 wood from outside, an' rolled up in his 
 blanket. He'd eaten the last o' the corn, 
 coz he thought she'd be along with more, 
 an' there he went without five days. Then 
 Nee chee just happened to go by, goin' 
 off on a hunt, an' thought it queer there 
 warn't no smoke, so he looked in, an' 
 there was the old man. jest most gone. 
 Nee chee give him corn, an' built a fire, 
 an' the old man brightened up some, an' 
 told him what I've been tellin' you, an' 
 then he jest died, without another word. 
 The woman's down to Cass Lake, an' the 
 son don't know a word about it. He'd a
 
 248 WHITE AND BED. 
 
 died pretty soon anyway, an' 'twarn't no 
 use to hurry him so. They've hunted up 
 the relations, all there is ; an' the old chief, 
 he'll see that they keep the fire burnin'." 
 
 What for ?" said Harry. 
 
 " 0, so's to light him to the spirit-land," 
 said Aiken. "Keep him warm too. It'll 
 be seven days, you see, after he's buried, 
 afore his soul you know gets to the river 
 where it goes over the pole, an' so they 
 keep a fire burnin', an' put plenty to eat 
 in the grave. If they didn't, he'd come 
 back, rovin' among the lodges, an' do all 
 the harm he could. It's all the same, 
 whether they bury 'em, or stick 'em up in 
 the air. There's got to be some sort o' 
 doins to keep 'em quiet, an' I guess that's 
 the way mostly, everywhar. I remember 
 the time when they used to put most of 
 'em up on a sort of scaffold, nine or ten 
 feet high, maybe, an' let 'em go to bones 
 in the air. The Sioux an' some o' the rest 
 does it now, but Ojibways bury their dead 
 mostly." 
 
 " But this is a case of actual murder," 
 said Dr. Prescott. " Can nothing be done 
 to punish this woman ? " 
 
 " Well, no," Aiken answered slowly. 
 "The old chiefs mad. He's gettin' into 
 years, himself, you see, an' ain't likely to be
 
 WHITE AND BED. 249 
 
 pleased, thinkin' there's any chance they'll 
 serve him so. 'Taint likely though, for 
 his daughters is good kind o' women as 
 squaws go, an' his son thinks a heap of 
 him. He says her tongue ought ter be 
 slit ; but she'll stay to Cass Lake till it's all 
 blown over, an' there won't be a word, 
 you'll see. They're all goin' into birch 
 camp pretty soon, anyway, an' then you'll 
 have an easy, lonesome time, six weeks an' 
 more. Come, I'll tell you what birch camp 
 is, to save ye the bother o' askin'," Aiken 
 went on, laughing at Harry, who was just 
 ready to say, "What's that?" "They 
 go to the birch woods first, so's to be 
 where bark's handy, so't they can make all 
 the pans they want to catch sap in." 
 
 " 0, sugar time ! " said Harry, delighted. 
 u Sure enough, it's most sugar time. 0, 
 can't we go to the camp ? " 
 
 " 'Tain't time yet," said Aiken, " not for 
 most a fortnight yet. My woman'll be 
 goin' along after a while, an' maybe then 
 you'd all like to go down a day or two. 
 It's a pretty sight for them that ain't used 
 to Injins, an' it's goin' to be a first-rate 
 sugar year, I guess." 
 
 u You will go, won't you ? " Harry asked, 
 after Aiken had gone. 
 
 " We'll see," was all papa said ; but Harry,
 
 250 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 satisfied, went to work at the lesson, which 
 was to have been learned an hour before. 
 Georgy came down presently to say his 
 multiplication table, in which, though he 
 had been studying it a month, he had got 
 no further than three times eight, and 
 seemed likely to stay there. Reaching 
 this point, and saying, as usual, "Three 
 times eight are forty-two," he was sent to 
 the end of the room to study, and soon be- 
 gan a talk with Sozette, to which Harry 
 listened. 
 
 " What was that last she told you ? " he 
 asked presently, as Sozette drew down her 
 chin, and imitated an old woman eating. 
 
 " She say," Georgy answered, " she glad 
 old man dead. Old mens, old womans 
 not any good. They eat mum-num 
 chew so. She kill her father when he get 
 old ; not hurt him any ; sit on his mouth, 
 maybe." 
 
 " 0, what an awful girl ! " said Harry, 
 really growing pale. " Mamma, hear what 
 Sozette says, and I saw her kiss her father 
 this morning. What shall we do with 
 her ? " 
 
 " I don't know indeed," mamma an- 
 swered, looking for a moment at Sozette, 
 who, having shocked people as she intend- 
 ed, sat now with her great eyes dancing,
 
 WHITE AND RED. 251 
 
 and all ready for a scolding. Not a word 
 was said then. Harry looked at mamma 
 and wondered, but kept still, and Georgy 
 went on with his table. When evening 
 came, Sozette seemed unwilling to go 
 home, and hung about the room, till Mrs. 
 Prescott had once or twice told her to go, 
 and then began talking to Harry about Ja 
 bah e and the Gitchee waw ki a gen. 
 
 u What is it ? " mamma asked, presently. 
 
 " She's afraid to go home," Harry said. 
 " She says the Ja bah e, in the warehouse, 
 will come out and chase her, because it 
 hasn't been put in the ground, and hasn't 
 any fire." 
 
 " Maja, Sozette," Dr. Prescott said, with- 
 out looking up. 
 
 " Ka, ah ka," Sozette said, beginning to 
 cry. u Keen tugishin." (No, no ! You 
 come with me.) 
 
 Dr. Prescott put on his cap, and walked 
 down to the wigwam with the frightened 
 child, who came close to him as they 
 passed the warehouse. As well as he could, 
 he told her that she had nothing to fear 
 from this or any other spirit, for the Great 
 Spirit only had power over people, and no 
 lesser one could do harm to any one. He 
 told her too, that Christian men and women 
 were kind to the aged, and what a dread-
 
 252 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 ful thing it was to have starved this poor 
 old man, who had had little children like 
 her once, and done all he could for them. 
 Sozette made no answer then, but told 
 Harry next morning, that her tongue was 
 long when she said she should kill her 
 father; and this meant, that she had not 
 been in earnest. 
 
 Standing at the window about nine 
 o'clock, Harry saw Georgy opening the 
 warehouse door, and some Indians bring- 
 ing out the old man's body. Mamma got 
 ready at once, and they started for the 
 spot where they had seen the fire the day 
 before. There were three graves here al- 
 ready, and near them a fresh one, hardly 
 two feet deep, in which they placed the 
 body, with some rolls of birch-bark, a 
 piece of calico, and some parched corn. 
 Then the earth was thrown in, and stamped 
 down hard, and over the grave was set at 
 once one of the wooden covers, not a cof- 
 fin, but a sort of box. Je bah e mocock is 
 the Indian name, which means " spirit box." 
 (Here is a picture which will show you 
 how they look better than I can tell you.) 
 There are openings in the end, where they 
 put in food and birch-bark, for seven days 
 after the body is buried. Now that the 
 Indians have boards, they prefer burying
 
 WHITE AND RED. . 253 
 
 in this way to any other, but long ago, be- 
 fore there were mills among them, the dead 
 were put on scaffolds made of poles, as I 
 have told you, or in great mounds, some 
 of which have been opened and found to 
 contain not only their skeletons, but those 
 of horses and dogs, which even now are 
 sometimes killed, that their owners may 
 find them in waiting when they reach the 
 spirit-land. At Leech Lake, a few years 
 ago, a small mound was opened, and in it 
 was found, besides these various skeletons, 
 some beautiful wampum made of small 
 delicate shells, and some clay dishes and 
 cups, with strange figures wrought in them. 
 The Indians, for more than a hundred 
 years, have had no pottery or crockery of 
 any sort among them, and they say the 
 art of making it, though known to their 
 fathers, has been forgotten. Aiken had 
 half a bowl, which had been found near 
 the creek after the great freshet of the 
 spring before went down, and which was 
 a brownish red clay, with a bird moulded 
 on it, looking much like the curious speci- 
 mens in the museum at St. Paul. Harry 
 begged it of him, and saved it carefully to 
 take home to Boston. Perhaps you will 
 see it there some day. 
 
 Passing the grave a day or two later,
 
 254 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 on his way to the trading-post, Harry 
 saw that a scalp hung from a pole over 
 the old man's grave. Round it too were 
 sitting several Indians, smoking, and with 
 blackened faces, who had come here to do 
 honor to his memory. The scalp was an 
 old one, for only one long lock of hair 
 hung from it, but it was decked with rib- 
 bons, and a fox's tail. Papa joined him as 
 he stood looking, and they walked on, 
 passing soon the grave of a great chief, 
 who had died years before, and over which 
 waved the last of many scalps once put 
 there. Close by was a smaller grave, that 
 of his daughter, papa said, and through the 
 white snow covering it, rose the gray cross 
 which marks all those who died in the 
 Christian faith. Harry could hardly have 
 told you what thought went through his 
 mind as he said, 
 
 " It's better to lie under the cross than 
 under the scalp, isn't it, papa ? " 
 
 " Better than you can begin to know, 
 almost," papa said, slowly. "I wish it 
 were possible for these poor people to see 
 how much better." 
 
 " We can't teach them, because we can't 
 talk well enough," said Harry. " but why 
 don't they stop sending so many mission- 
 aries to China and way off there, and let
 
 WHITE AND RED. 255 
 
 some come up here. The old chief says 
 he wants his people to learn how to read 
 and write, so't the bad white people needn't 
 cheat them so. He thinks most all the 
 white people are bad." 
 
 " He's about right," said Aiken's voice 
 from behind, " whoever it is you're talkin' 
 about. The whites that come round here 
 an' live, ought to be burned alive every 
 one on 'em. Serve 'em right. There ain't 
 an Injin alive wouldn't be ashamed ter 
 do some o' their tricks. I tell yer, I 
 don't blame 'em so much for risin' most 
 any time. Them Sioux now are a set o' 
 devils, I know that very well, but don't 
 you suppose, if they'd ever been treated 
 decent, they'd a had some decency them- 
 selves? I tell yer, white men'll have to 
 stand round some when that day o' settlin' 
 accounts comes, an' I bet that old feller 
 under the scalp thar'll have an easier time 
 footin' up his bill, than nine tenths o' the 
 white folks, that maybe he'd a good will 
 to scalp. Now I remember once to La 
 Pointe a new preacher had just come. He 
 knew Ojibway first-rate, an' he was blazin' 
 away, sendin' 'em all to fire'n brimstone, 
 an' saying 'twas good enough for 'em if 
 they didn't repent. What'd they know 
 about repentin ' ? He just come an' they
 
 256 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 never heard o' the Lord or any other part 
 o' the Bible afore. They listened to him, 
 easy like, their way you know, an' I larfed 
 to think how he'd gone to work. Pretty 
 soon I takes up his Testament an' reads 
 this ; it was in Ojibway, but I got it in 
 English after that. Couldn't tell ye where 
 'tis, but't shows how the Lord looks at the 
 matter. 
 
 " ' For when the Gentiles which have not 
 the law, do by nature the things contained 
 in the law, they having not the law, are a 
 law unto themselves.' Now I says to him, 
 ' These Injins is a good set ; don't lie nor 
 steal much, .an' mean to do right They 
 follow out that verse, an' I don't see why 
 they won't get to heaven in their way.' 
 ' They might,' he says, ' if they had never 
 heard the gospel, but I've preached that 
 to 'em, an' now they have not the excuse of 
 ignorance.' ' You haven't preached gospel,' 
 says I ; ' you've preached brimstone.' You 
 see I knew what gospel was, for the Yan- 
 kee that brought me up was a good Chris- 
 tian man, ef he was an Indian trader. Well, 
 that missionary was mad ; said I was 
 wus'n any of 'em. He couldn't do much 
 though ; but I tell ye, there was some there 
 knew what to say an' what to live too. an' 
 the Indians just believed every word they 
 said."
 
 WHITE AND RED. 257 
 
 As Aiken talked they were walking on, 
 and had reached the trading post, a low, 
 wide log building. Three stood near each 
 other, each owned by different men, but 
 Aiken's was both the largest and the neat- 
 est. At one end was the clay chimney, 
 and a pile of wood, arid about it were sitting 
 and lying some twenty Indians. At the 
 upper end was a rude counter, and behind 
 this were shelves, with an array of goods 
 such as Indians like ; gay calicoes and de- 
 laines ; scarlet and blue cloth for leggins ; 
 shawls and blankets ; plenty of beads ; and 
 pewter ear-rings and bracelets, and close 
 by, all sizes of tin pans and pails. 
 
 " Kind of mean to give 'em that pewter 
 stuff," said Aiken, seeing Dr. Prescott look- 
 ing at the pile of ornaments, " but ef I 
 don't, somebody else will, yer see, an' 
 maybe, not so many for a dollar as me, fur 
 I do calculate to be average honest with 
 'em. I was goin' to tell yer though, what 
 the reason is the missionaries can't seem to 
 hold on, when they git one o' the Indians 
 converted. He'll be a good enough Chris- 
 tian so long's he's well, but let him get 
 sick, an' he'll have the medicine-dance ef 
 he was forty Christians in one. You know 
 Little Thunder's son, that died last sum- 
 mer ; Mis ko ke nay she (Red Bird) was 
 
 17
 
 258 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 his name. He could read English an' 
 Ojibway too ; Mr. Wright taught him, an' 
 he was a firskrate Christian, honester'n 
 the common run, but he had the grand 
 pow-wow when he was dying, and there's 
 not one but what would. It's a revelation, 
 you see, and I don't know but what there's 
 reason in it too. I wouldn't 'a thought so, 
 only old Nah gon a ga nabe lived five or 
 six year after he had it. Sit down any- 
 where, an' I'll tell you the whole story. 
 
 " You see the old man that was this Nah 
 gon a ga nabe's father, got to be a pretty 
 good Christian when he lived to Lake Su- 
 perior. He come to Red Lake somewhere 
 about 1848, when this chief was a little 
 fellow, an' hadn't been here two year afore 
 he was taken sick. The medicine-men 
 came an' wanted to perform, but he 
 wouldn't have ? em. Said he was a Chris- 
 tian, and meant to die like one. They let 
 him alone, an' he did die after awhile, so 
 they thought ; but the wife he'd kept, for 
 he wouldn't have but one after he was 
 converted, she said he wasn't dead, and 
 shouldn't be buried. They kept him then, 
 four or five days, and though there warn't 
 sense nor motion to him, he didn't seem 
 like a dead man. Well, Nah gon a ga 
 nabe says he staid so twenty days, but
 
 WHITE AND RED. 259 
 
 I don't know about that. Anyway, he 
 opened his eyes one day, an' saw 'em sit- 
 ting round with their faces blacked, an' 
 first he called for something to eat, an' 
 then tells 'em to wash off that black an' 
 call the medicine-men, for he wanted a 
 grand dance. He was weak as a cat, an' 
 couldn't do nothin' that day after all, but 
 next day they had one. You've seen 'em, 
 and you know how the medicine-men hold 
 up the bag, an' all bows at it. Well, old 
 Nah gon a ga nabe bows, though he'd been 
 set agin doing it, afore he died, or what- 
 ever it was, an' then he stands up with his 
 blanket around him, an' tells 'em he was 
 a Christian still, but he was Indian too, 
 though he wasn't going to scalp. That 
 the Great Spirit had given them a good 
 faith, an' he should stick to it the rest o' 
 his life, an' this was why : 
 
 u When he died, or went into that kind 
 o' sleep, he said he knew he was dead, and 
 started on to the spirit-land. He went 
 over the pole all right, though he thought 
 that was queer too, for he didn't know 
 Christians got into their heaven that way, 
 an' when he was over, he looked up and 
 see a big gate. So he went there and 
 knocked, an' pretty soon down comes a 
 white man an' says '0, you're an In-
 
 260 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 dian ! this isn't your gate : your gate's over 
 there.' So old Nah gon a ga nabe goes 
 across a big open space, and sees another 
 gate, and an Indian at it. He walks up, 
 sure he's all right, and goes to open it, but 
 the Indian inside says, ' This ain't your 
 place. You're a praying Indian. You go 
 over to the white man's gate.' 'But I've 
 been once,' says Nah gon a ga nabe, * an' 
 they won't let me in.' ' Well, you go 
 again,' says the Indian, ( for you can't come 
 in here.' l But I'm one o' you,' says Nah 
 gon a ga nabe ; ' don't you see my blanket ? ' 
 ' Yes, I see that,' says the Indian, ' but 
 you're not a good Indian. You've come 
 here without having the medicine-dance 
 over you, an' that's the only thing that'll 
 open this gate. You might be a Christian 
 all you like, but you've got to have the 
 medicine-dance, to show you haven't turned 
 white man.' So Nah gon a ga nabe walks 
 back and knocks at the other gate, an' 
 when the white man comes down, says he, 
 1 What you here for ? why didn't you stay 
 where you was sent ? ' 'I couldn't,' says 
 old Nah gon a ga nabe ; i they don't have 
 prayin' Indians there ; ' an' he began to feel 
 pretty miserable. The white man thought 
 a minute, an' then he says, ' Well, if you'd 
 been a bad Indian, that pretended to be
 
 WHITE AND RED. 261 
 
 converted, so's to get presents out o' the 
 missionaries, you'd had to keep walkin' 
 back an' forth here forever, but you're a 
 good man, so we'll let you go back to earth 
 again. Live like a Christian, but go to 
 the medicine-dance, an' follow the ways o' 
 your people, an' when you die again, you'll 
 go into the happy hunting grounds with 
 the others, an' from there you can git into 
 our heaven by another road.' Well, now, 
 you may laugh, but there ain't an Ojibway 
 here don't believe that I'll ask these men 
 here what they think." 
 
 Turning to the Indians before the fire, 
 Aiken spoke rapidly to them. " How ! 
 how ! how i " several said, half rising, and 
 one tall man looking up, said, " Tabway ; ah 
 pitchee tab way." (Truth ; the very truth.) 
 
 " Kaget, tabway " (Truly the truth), an- 
 swered the others seriously, and went on 
 smoking. 
 
 " 0, I could tell you a heap o' stories," 
 said Aiken, " an' every one queerer'n the 
 last. I've been hearin' 'em off and on forty 
 year an' more, an' then I'm eighth Indian 
 myself, and sort of believes some of 'em." 
 
 " You've told a lot of queer ones already," 
 said Harry ; " I wrote some of them home 
 to Aunt Fannie, an' she said she'd make a 
 book out of 'em if she could be here."
 
 262 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 " Did you now ? " said Aiken, quite 
 pleased. "You're a small chap to be 
 writin', but then it comes nat'ral, I sup- 
 pose. When I was in the war that 
 year 1863 I guess 'twas ; any way 'twas 
 down on the Peninsula, along with a Gen- 
 eral that knew how not to go forward, 
 better'n most any man you ever hearn 
 on, an' one o' the men had some poe- 
 try sent him by his sweetheart. So I 
 takes it up one day, an' I'm level beat if 
 I didn't open right on all the Indians in 
 creation. I read it then. Pretty good, 
 some of it, but I'd like to say a word to 
 Mr. Longfellow, about the way he's mixed 
 up Sioux and Ojibways. I tell you, I 
 should a thought them types would a fell 
 foul o' each other, an' jest knocked 'ein- 
 selves all ways. Do for a story you see, 
 but I could a told him 'twasn't the thing, 
 when he was writin' about the ' Land o' 
 the Dacotahs,' to make 'em talk Sioux one 
 day and Ojibway the next. He's nothin' 
 but a writer, though." 
 
 "He knows more'n any man that ever 
 was up here," said Harry, indignant. " He's 
 a great poet. I saw Minnehaha, just ex- 
 actly the way he wrote about it." 
 
 Ho ! ho ! ho ! " laughed Aiken. You 
 know more this minute about Indians 'n 
 he does."
 
 WHITE AND RED. 263 
 
 "I don't," said Harry, offended. I 
 wouldn't," and he walked toward the door. 
 The tall Indian said, " Wagonind ? " and 
 Harry, still more disturbed, as they all 
 laughed a little, went home fast as he could, 
 where his mother was surprised to hear 
 that the trouble had arisen because Mr. 
 Aiken did not appreciate Longfellow. 
 
 Harry found plenty to do for a week or 
 two, watching the packing up and moving 
 away of all who had been living near 
 them. Their next door neighbor went 
 last ; a very nice squaw with several chil- 
 dren, whose husband had gone to Pembina. 
 
 A day or two after, Harry ran in, in 
 great excitement. 
 
 " Nah gon a ga nabe's going to sugar- 
 camp to-morrow, mamma, and they want 
 me to go. Can I ? " 
 
 " How long do you want to stay ? " 
 mamma asked, doubtfully. 
 
 " 0, only two or three days, so's to eat 
 a heap o' new sugar. The sap's begun to 
 run. Just see here ! " and Harry drew out 
 perhaps a teaspoonful of new sugar. 
 
 " It sounds absurd to let him go twelve 
 miles away with Indians," said mamma. 
 " What do you think, Henry ? " 
 
 " Only one objection," said papa, laugh- 
 ing. " You know you said, Harry, after
 
 264 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 that night at Little Kock's, that you never 
 meant to sleep with Indians again, because 
 of the dreadful little crawlers. You may 
 go, if you can make up your mind to 
 them." 
 
 " Pennyroyal ! " shouted Harry. " That 
 keeps off skeeters. Give me some penny- 
 royal, papa, and I'll rub it all over me." 
 
 So when Harry got up next morning, he 
 rubbed on pennyroyal, till he was brown as 
 any Indian. Indeed, he looked like one, 
 in many ways. He had worn moccasins all 
 winter, and around his waist was a belt 
 from which hung a little bowie-knife, used 
 in his case to scrape the snow from his 
 moccasins; a thing which all who wear 
 them do, so soon as they come near a fire, 
 else the melting snow would soak the soft 
 skin in a few moments. He wore, too, a 
 coon-skin cap, with the tail hanging be- 
 hind, and rabbit-skin mittens, and having 
 grown very fat, and a good deal taller than 
 when we first saw him, looked very much 
 like Besh quay, who was going with him, 
 and whose picture you shall see. 
 
 Papa and mamma went over to Nah 
 gon a ga nabe's to see them off, and said he 
 should come down with mamma in a day 
 or two. Mrs. Nah gon a ga nabe carried 
 the house and baby on her back. Nah gon
 
 WHITE AND RED. 265 
 
 a sake had a muskemote of potatoes ; the 
 two little ones some corn, and on the very 
 smallest of small dog-trains, were the two 
 great sheet-iron pails, of which twenty, just 
 like them, had been brought up by the 
 traders for sugarihg time. There were two 
 little ones for boiling the fish and corn, 
 and Harry laughed to himself, thinking 
 how pleased they would be, when he took 
 out of his satchel the package of nice tea 
 mamma had given him, and which cost so 
 much at Red Lake, that they seldom get it. 
 The two foxy looking dogs snarled and 
 snapped, but Besh quay kept them in the 
 track, and the long file wound on through 
 the woods till they were out of sight, fol- 
 lowed shortly by Georgy Campbell, who 
 at the last minute had been allowed to 
 go. 
 
 "I can't believe it is Harry," mamma 
 said as they turned towards home. " Here 
 not quite four months, and yet he is start- 
 ing off to-day on a twelve mile walk, and 
 we let him. What would his grandmother 
 say?" 
 
 Papa laughed. " When we go down to 
 camp," he said ; " I'll make a sketch of the 
 lodge and the people in it, and ask her to 
 pick out Harry. She'll never dream that 
 the fat little savage in a skin cap is the
 
 266 WHITE AND RED. 
 
 one to decide upon. Minnesota is a won- 
 derful State." 
 
 I know you are all anxious to find out 
 just how much sugar Harry ate, and you 
 would be still more anxious if I should 
 give you even a hint of something he saw 
 on the way down. But this chapter is too 
 long already, and so for that, and a good 
 many other things, you must wait. It 
 may be a long time, it may be a very short 
 time before I shall tell you more, but more 
 there surely is, and there are long chapters 
 still to be written before you hear the very 
 last of 
 
 WHITE AND RED.

 
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