come up the river, with their chief,
Knife-in-the-Wind, to meet the mikonaree. Factors of the Hudson's Bay
Company, _coureurs de bois_, and _voyageurs_ had come among them at
times, and once the renowned Father Lacombe, the Jesuit priest, had
stayed with them three months; but never to this day had they seen a
Protestant mikonaree, though once a factor, noted for his furious temper,
his powers of running, and his generosity, had preached to them. These
men, however, were both over fifty years old. The Athabascas did not
hunger for the Christian religion, but a courier from Edmonton had
brought them word that a mikonaree was coming to their country to stay,
and they put off their stoical manner and allowed themselves the luxury of
curiosity. That was why even the squaws and papooses came up the river
with the braves, all wondering if the stranger had brought gifts with
him, all eager for their shares; for it had been said by the courier of
the tribe that "Oshondonto," their name for the newcomer, was bringing
mysterious loads of well-wrapped bales and skins. Upon a point below the
first rapids of the Little Manitou they waited with their camp-fires
burning and their pipe of peace.

When the canoes bearing Oshondonto and his _voyageurs_ shot the rapids to
the song of the river,

"En roulant, ma boule roulant,[[y:italic]]
En roulant, ma boule!"[[y:italic]]

with the shrill voices of the boatmen rising to meet the cry of the
startled water-fowl, the Athabascas crowded to the high banks. They
grunted "How!" in greeting, as the foremost canoe made for the shore.

But if surprise could have changed the countenances of Indians, these
Athabascas would not have known one another when the missionary stepped
out upon the shore. They had looked to see a gray-bearded man like the
chief factor who quarrelled and prayed; but they found instead a
round-faced, clean-shaven youth, with big, good-natured eyes, yellow hair,
and a roundness of body like that of a month-old bear's cub. They expected
to find a man who, like the factor, could speak their language, and they
found a cherub sort of youth who talked only English, French, and
Chinook--that common language of the North--and a few words of their own
language which he had learned on the way.

Besides, Oshondonto was so absent-minded at the moment, so absorbed in
admiration of the garish scene before him, that he addressed the chief in
French, of which