he fact that whatever was provided for each man _must_ be eaten before
he quitted the scene of operations, advised Charley to eat no breakfast,
and to take a good walk as a preparative. Charley had strong faith,
however, in his digestive powers, and felt much inclined, when morning
came, to satisfy the cravings of his appetite as usual; but Jacques drew
such a vivid picture of the work that lay before him, that he forbore to
urge the matter, and went off to walk with a light step, and an
uncomfortable feeling of vacuity about the region of the stomach.

About noon the chiefs and braves assembled in an open enclosure situated
in an exposed place on the banks of the river, where the proceedings
were watched by the women, children, and dogs. The oldest chief sat
himself down on the turf at one end of the enclosure, with Jacques
Caradoc on his right hand, and next to him Charley Kennedy, who had
ornamented himself with a blue stripe painted down the middle of his
nose, and a red bar across his chin. Charley's propensity for fun had
led him thus to decorate his face, in spite of his companion's
remonstrances,--urging, by way of excuse, that worthy's former argument,
"that it was well to fall in with the ways o' the people a man happened
to be among, so long as these ways and customs were not contrary to what
was right." Now Charley was sure there was nothing wrong in his
painting his nose sky-blue, if he thought fit.

Jacques thought it was absurd, and entertained the opinion that it would
be more dignified to leave his face "its nat'ral colour."

Charley didn't agree with him at all. He thought it would be paying the
Indians a high compliment to follow their customs as far as possible,
and said that, after all, his blue nose would not be very conspicuous,
as he (Jacques) had told him that he would "look blue" at any rate when
he saw the quantity of deer's meat he should have to devour.

Jacques laughed at this, but suggested that the bar across his chin was
_red_. Whereupon Charley said that he could easily neutralise that by
putting a green star under each eye; and then uttered a fervent wish
that his friend Harry Somerville could only see him in that guise.
Finding him incorrigible, Jacques, who, notwithstanding his
remonstrances, was more than half imbued with Charley's spirit, gave in,
and accompanied him to the feast, himself decorated with the additional
ornament of a red night-cap, to whose crown was attached