d a
torch in the bow of a canoe and paddled noiselessly over the stream.
In the clear water a bright light would so attract and fascinate the
fish that they would lie motionless near the bottom of the shallow
stream.

One cold night Isaac was in the bow of the canoe. Seeing a large
fish he whispered to the Indians with him to exercise caution. His
guides paddled noiselessly through the water. Isaac stood up and
raised the spear, ready to strike. In another second Isaac had cast
the iron, but in his eagerness he overbalanced himself and plunged
head first into the icy current, making a great splash and spoiling
any further fishing. Incidents like this were a source of infinite
amusement to the Indians.

Before the autumn evenings grew too cold the Indian held their
courting dances. All unmarried maidens and braves in the village
were expected to take part in these dances. In the bright light of
huge fires, and watched by the chiefs, the old men, the squaws, and
the children, the maidens and the braves, arrayed in their gaudiest
apparel, marched into the circle. They formed two lines a few paces
apart. Each held in the right hand a dry gourd which contained
pebbles. Advancing toward one another they sang the courting song,
keeping time to the tune with the rattling of the pebbles. When they
met in the center the braves bent forward and whispered a word to
the maidens. At a certain point in the song, which was indicated by
a louder note, the maidens would change their positions, and this
was continued until every brave had whispered to every maiden, when
the dance ended.

Isaac took part in all these pleasures; he entered into every phase
of the Indian's life; he hunted, worked, played, danced, and sang
with faithfulness. But when the long, dreary winter days came with
their ice-laden breezes, enforcing idleness on the Indians, he
became restless. Sometimes for days he would be morose and gloomy,
keeping beside his own tent and not mingling with the Indians. At
such times Myeerah did not question him.

Even in his happier hours his diversions were not many. He never
tired of watching and studying the Indian children. When he had an
opportunity without being observed, which was seldom, he amused
himself with the papooses. The Indian baby was strapped to a flat
piece of wood and covered with a broad flap of buckskin. The squaws
hung these primitive baby carriages up on the pole of a tepee, on a
branch of a tree, or th