even her most intimate friends to hear her say that she
intended to marry him, yet her conduct very plainly indicated that he
stood higher than anyone else in her esteem. That she had positively
rejected him none of them could believe. Why then had he thus shown the
white feather, and so ignominiously and so suddenly left the field when
it seemed so evident that a little more perseverance would have surely
resulted in his success. In this way the young men and maidens of the
village talked, while the old men gravely smoked the calumets and
mourned that the times were so changed that a young brave should have so
much trouble in capturing a squaw.

When Astumastao was informed of the sudden disappearance of Oowikapun
she was troubled and perplexed. Not the slightest hint had he given her
of his intended movements when, like a flash, there had come to him the
great resolve to be the one who should go on the long journey to find
the missionary. She was a maiden, not beautiful, but she was a comely
Indian girl, attractive and clever in her way, and she well knew that
many a young hunter had sat down beside her wigwam door or had dropped
the shining, white pebble before her in the path, thus plainly
intimating his desire to win her notice and esteem. But to all of them
she had turned a deaf ear, and had treated them, without exception, with
perfect indifference. As shy and timid as a young fawn of the forest,
she had lived under the watchful and somewhat jealous care of her uncle
and aunt, until Oowikapun had appeared in the village.

His coming, however, and his reference to Memotas had strangely broken
the quiet monotony of years. Then what she had done for him in the
wigwam, their conversation in the trail, and above all, his gallant
rescue of her from the terrible catamount, had aroused new emotions
within her and opened up her mind to a wider vision, until now she saw
that she was no longer the young free Indian girl with no thoughts but
those of her childhood, but a woman who must now act and decide for
herself. But with the characteristic reserve of her people she kept all
the newborn emotions and aspirations hid in her heart.

The power to control the feelings and passions among the Indians is not
confined to the sterner sex. Schooled in a life of hardship, the women
as well as the men can put on the mask of apparent indifference, while
at the same time the heart is racked by intensest feeling, or the body