and softness slew three of them
in one day.

"When we asked the man concerning his people he said, 'I have many
brothers,' and laughed in a way that was not good. And when he was in
his full strength he went away, and with him went Noda, daughter to the
chief. First, after that, was one of our bitches brought to pup. And
never was there such a breed of dogs,--big-headed, thick-jawed, and
short-haired, and helpless. Well do I remember my father, Otsbaok, a
strong man. His face was black with anger at such helplessness, and he
took a stone, so, and so, and there was no more helplessness. And two
summers after that came Noda back to us with a man-child in the hollow
of her arm.

"And that was the beginning. Came a second white man, with short-haired
dogs, which he left behind him when he went. And with him went six of
our strongest dogs, for which, in trade, he had given Koo-So-Tee, my
mother's brother, a wonderful pistol that fired with great swiftness six
times. And Koo-So-Tee was very big, what of the pistol, and laughed at
our bows and arrows. 'Woman's things,' he called them, and went forth
against the bald-face grizzly, with the pistol in his hand. Now it be
known that it is not good to hunt the bald-face with a pistol, but how
were we to know? and how was Koo-So-Tee to know? So he went against the
bald-face, very brave, and fired the pistol with great swiftness six
times; and the bald-face but grunted and broke in his breast like it
were an egg and like honey from a bee's nest dripped the brains of
Koo-So-Tee upon the ground. He was a good hunter, and there was no one
to bring meat to his squaw and children. And we were bitter, and we said
'That which for the white men is well, is for us not well.' And this be
true. There be many white men and fat, but their ways have made us few
and lean.

"Came the third white man, with great wealth of all manner of wonderful
foods and things. And twenty of our strongest dogs he took from us in
trade. Also, what of presents and great promises, ten of our young
hunters did he take with him on a journey which fared no man knew where.
It is said they died in the snow of the Ice Mountains where man has
never been, or in the Hills of Silence which are beyond the edge of the
earth. Be that as it may, dogs and young hunters were seen never again
by the Whitefish people.

"And more white men came with the years, and ever, with pay and
presents, they led the young men away with them.