rber of his winter sleep.
The old man was surrounded by his equally aged counsellors, and the
whole deputation squatted ceremonially upon their haunches about him.
The store had been stripped of all supplies. The shelves were bare and
only a litter of packings remained to mark the end of the chemist's
great enterprise.

Steve addressed the chief through An-ina without relaxing his authority.
He told the old man that everything that was good in the store had been
handed over a present to his people for their valuable services to the
Great White Chief. The store was now empty of everything that was good.
He told him that this was the way the Great White Chief always acted
towards those who served him. The things that remained in the store were
only evil things that were full of evil magic. The Great White Chief had
hidden these things deeply, and he had set a spell upon them. This had
been done so that no harm should come to the Indian. In this he was
referring to the contents of the dead man's laboratory. He told him that
the Great White Chief had ordered him to place the store and fort in the
chief's safe keeping. No Indian man was to enter it to destroy it. If he
did the evil spirits would break loose, and death and disaster for the
whole tribe would undoubtedly follow. Therefore he had summoned the
council that Wanak-aha might give his pledge for the safety of the
property of the Great White Chief.

He told them he was going now because he wanted the Indians to live in
peace, with their slumbers undisturbed. He might never come again. He
could not say. But if the Great White Chief sent anybody, it would only
be for the purpose of giving great benefit to the Indians, whom he
undoubtedly regarded as a very wise and good people.

It was a masterly exhibition of Steve's understanding of the savage it
was his work to deal with, and the happy effect was promptly evidenced.
Ten minutes of monosyllabic discussion between the chief and his
counsellors produced the pledge Steve desired, and he knew from the
manner of it that the pledge would be kept to the letter. But it brought
forth something more. An-ina was called upon to interpret an expression
of the friendly spirit in which the Indians parted from the disturber of
their slumbers.

The old man in a long peroration explained all he and his people felt.
They were in no way behind the Great White Chief in their regard, he
assured Steve. They loved the white man, whose wa