ork done in
various colours, and had fringes of leather and little locks of hair
hanging from it in various places. Causing Tony to strip, he put this
coat on him, and fastened it round his waist with a worsted belt of
bright scarlet. Next he drew on his little legs a pair of blue cloth
leggings, which were ornamented with beads, and clothed his feet in new
moccasins, embroidered, like the coat, with quill-work. Tony regarded
all this with unconcealed pleasure, but it did not seem to please him so
much when the Indian combed his rich curly hair straight down all round,
so that his face was quite concealed by it. Taking a pair of large
scissors from his bundle, the Indian passed one blade under the hair
across the forehead, gave a sharp snip, and the whole mass fell like a
curtain to the ground. It was a sublimely simple mode of clearing the
way for the countenance--much in vogue among North American savages,
from whom it has recently been introduced among civilised nations. The
Indian then lifted the clustering curls at the back, and again opened
the scissors. For a few moments his fingers played with the locks as he
gazed thoughtfully at them; then, apparently changing his mind, he let
them drop, and put the scissors away.

But the toilet was not yet complete. The versatile operator drew from
his bundle some bright-red, yellow ochre, and blue paint, with a piece
of charcoal, and set to work on Tony's countenance with all the force of
a Van Dyck and the rich colouring of a Rubens. He began with a streak
of scarlet from the eyebrows to the end of the nose. Skipping the
mouth, he continued the streak from the lower lip down the chin, under
which it melted into a tender half-tint made by a smudge of yellow ochre
and charcoal. This vigorous touch seemed to rouse the painter's spirit
in Petawanaquat, for he pushed the boy out at arm's length, drew himself
back, frowned, glared, and breathed hard. Three bars of blue from the
bridge of the nose over each cheek, with two red circles below, and a
black triangle on the forehead, were touched in with consummate skill
and breadth. One of the touches was so broad that it covered the whole
jaw, and had to be modified. On each closed upper eyelid an intensely
black spot was painted, by which simple device Tony, with his azure
orbs, was made, as it were, to wink black and gaze blue. The general
effect having thus been blocked in, the artist devoted himself to the
finishi