nvitation; shall we, Ted?" he
smiled at the boy.

"Yes, indeed; thank you, sir," said Ted, and he and Kalitan grinned at
each other happily.

"We shall stay in camp until the blue jay comes," said the old chief,
smiling, "and then seek the village of my people."

"What does the blue jay mean?" asked Ted, timidly, for he was very much
in awe of this grave old man.

Kalitan said something in Thlinkit to his uncle, and the old chief,
looking kindly at the boy, replied with, a nod:

"I will tell you the story of the blue jay," he said.

"My story is of the far, far north. Beside a salmon stream there dwelt
people rich in slaves. These caught and dried the salmon for the winter,
and nothing is better to eat than dried salmon dipped in seal oil. All
the fish were caught and stored away, when lo! the whiteness fell from
heaven and the snows were upon them. It was the time of snow and they
should not have complained, but the chief was evil and he cursed the
whiteness. No one should dare to speak evil of the Snow Spirit, which
comes from the Unknown! Deeper and deeper grew the snow. It flew like
feathers about the _eglu_,[5] and the slaves had many troubles in
putting in limbs for the fire. Then the snow came in flakes so large they
seemed like the wings of birds, and the house was covered, and they could
no longer keep their _kyaks_ on top of the snow. All were shut tight in
the house, and their fire and food ran low. They knew not how many days
they were shut in, for there was no way to tell the day from night, only
they knew they were sore hungry and that the Snow Spirit was angry and
terrible in his anger.

[Footnote 5: Hut.]

"But each one spoke not; he only chose a place where he should lie down
and die when he could bear no more.

"Only the chief spoke, and he once. 'Snow Spirit,' he said aloud, 'I
alone am evil. These are not so. Slay me and spare!' But the Snow Spirit
answered not, only the wind screamed around the _eglu_, and his screams
were terrible and sad. Then hope left the heart of the chief and he
prepared to die with all his people and all his slaves.

"But on the day when their last bit of food was gone, lo! something
pecked at the top of the smoke-hole, and it sang 'Nuck-tee,' and it was a
blue jay. The chief heard and saw and wondered, and, looking 'neath the
smoke-hole, he saw a scarlet something upon the floor. Picking it up, he
found it was a bunch of Indian tomato berries, red and ripe, and q