ears, had never stolen,
never betrayed, never murdered, never killed, save in self-defence.
Gazing at the chief's fine features, now calm, yet showing traces of
past storms, Jim believed he spoke the truth.

When the young minister came, however, to study the hostile Indians
that flocked to the village, any conclusive delineation of
character, or any satisfactory analysis of their mental state in
regard to the paleface religion, eluded him. Their passive, silent,
sphinx-like secretiveness was baffling. Glickhican had taught him
how to propitiate the friendly braves, and with these he was
successful. Little he learned, however, from the unfriendly ones.
When making gifts to these redmen he could never be certain that his
offerings were appreciated. The jewels and gold he had brought west
with him went to the French traders, who in exchange gave him
trinkets, baubles, bracelets and weapons. Jim made hundreds of
presents. Boldly going up to befeathered and befringed chieftains,
he offered them knives, hatchets, or strings of silvery beads.
Sometimes his kindly offerings were repelled with a haughty stare;
at other times they would be accepted coldly, suspiciously, as if
the gifts brought some unknown obligation.

For a white man it was a never-to-be-forgotten experience to see
eight or ten of these grim, slowly stepping forest kings, arrayed in
all the rich splendor of their costume, stalking among the teepees
of the Village of Peace. Somehow, such a procession always made Jim
shiver. The singing, praying and preaching they heard unmoved. No
emotion was visible on their bronzed faces; nothing changed their
unalterable mien. Had they not moved, or gazed with burning eyes,
they would have been statues. When these chieftains looked at the
converted Indians, some of whom were braves of their nations, the
contempt in their glances betrayed that they now regarded these
Christian Indians as belonging to an alien race.

Among the chiefs Glickhican pointed out to Jim were Wingenund, the
Delaware; Tellane, the Half-King; Shingiss and Kotoxen--all of the
Wolf tribe of the Delawares.

Glickhican was careful to explain that the Delaware nation had been
divided into the Wolf and Turtle tribes, the former warlike people,
and the latter peaceable. Few of the Wolf tribe had gone over to the
new faith, and those who had were scorned. Wingenund, the great
power of the Delawares--indeed, the greatest of all the western
tribes--maintaine