sence. I therefore explained to him:--

"You know, perhaps, that gold is heavy, and five hundred pieces are
bulky and troublesome to carry; so I have had a piece of cloth made with
a hole in the middle of it for my head to go through; one end of it
hangs over my breast under my shirt, like a breastplate, and one end
hangs over my back, and on each of these plates there are rows of little
pockets, each pocket the size of a gold piece. Thus, you see, the gold
does not feel heavy, being equally distributed, and it does not show, as
it would if carried in a heap--besides, it forms a sort of armour--
though I fear it would not resist a rifle-bullet!"

"Waugh!" exclaimed Big Otter, with an intelligent look.

"As to the diamonds, they are not bulky. I have concealed them in an
under-belt round my waist."

As Big Otter had predicted, we came to a large village of Blackfoot
Indians two days afterwards, and were received with cordial friendship
by the inhabitants, who knew my Indian well. He had visited them during
his wanderings many a time, and once, at a very critical period in their
history, had rendered important service to the tribe, besides saving the
life of their chief.

A new tent was set aside for our use, and a small one pitched close to
it for Waboose, whose dignified yet modest bearing made a profound
impression on those children of the wilderness. They recognised, no
doubt that Indian blood flowed in her veins, but that rather increased
their respect for her, as it gave them, so to speak, a right to claim
kinship with a girl who was obviously one of Nature's aristocracy,
besides possessing much of that refinement which the red-men had come to
recognise as a characteristic of some of the best of the pale-faces.

Indeed, I myself found, now that I had frequent opportunities of
conversing with Eve Liston, that the man who had been affectionately
styled Weeum the Good by the Indians, had stored his child's mind with
much varied secular knowledge, such as Indians never possess, besides
instilling into her the elevating and refining precepts of Christianity.
Being of a poetical turn of mind, he had also repeated to Eve many long
and beautiful pieces from our best poets, so that on more than one
occasion the girl had aptly quoted several well-known passages--to my
inexpressible amazement.

"I wonder," said I, when we three were seated in our tent that night,
refreshing ourselves with a choice morsel of baked b