uffalo-hump, with
which the hospitable Blackfeet had supplied us, "how it comes to pass
that Indians, who are usually rather fond of gifts, absolutely refuse to
accept anything for the fine horse they have given to Waboose?"

"Perhaps," said Eve, with a little smile, in which the extreme corners
of her pretty mouth had the peculiar tendency to turn down instead of
up--"perhaps it is because they are grateful. Indians are not
altogether destitute of that feeling."

"True, Eve, true; it must be that. Will you tell us, Big Otter, how you
managed to make these fellows so grateful?"

"I saved the chief's life," returned the Indian, curtly.

"Yes; but how, and when?"

"Four summers have passed since then. I was returning from a trip to
the Rocky Mountains when it happened. Many bad pale-faces were in the
mountains at that time. They were idle bad men from many lands, who
hated work and loved to fight. One of them had been killed by a Sioux
Indian. They all banded together and swore that they would shoot every
Indian they came across. They killed many--some even who were friendly
to the white men. They did not ask to what tribe they belonged. They
were `redskin varmints,' that was enough!

"The Strong Elk, whose hospitality we enjoy to-night, was chief of the
Blackfeet. I was on my way to visit him, when, one evening, I came upon
the camp of the pale-faces. I knew that sometimes they were not
friendly to the red-man, so I waited till dark, and then crept forward
and listened. Their chief was loud-voiced and boastful. He boasted of
how many Indians he had killed. I could have shot him where I lay and
then escaped easily, but I spared him, for I wished to listen. They
talked much of the Strong Elk. I understood very little. The language
of the pale-face is difficult to understand, but I came to know that in
two hours, when the moon should sink, they would attack him.

"I waited to hear no more. I ran like the hunted buffalo. I came to
Strong Elk and told him. It was too late to move the camp, but we put
it in a state of defence. When the pale-faces came, we were ready.
Arrows, thick as the snowflakes in winter, met them when they came on,
and many of them bit the dust. Some ran away. Some, who were brave,
still came on and leaped our barricades. They fought like fiends.
Their boastful chief saw Strong Elk and rushed at him. They grappled
and fell. The pale-face had a keen knife. It was raised t