his right, saying, "What cheer, _mis-mis_?"--the Indian for
"How are you, grandfather?"

The old fellow was cross and surly, and evidently in a bad humour, and
most decidedly refused to shake hands, while he growled out words of
annoyance and even threatening at the coming of a missionary among his
people.

The missionary, however, was not to be easily rebuffed, and so reaching
down he took hold of his hand, and in a pump-handle sort of style gave
it quite a shaking. Then taking up the tobacco, which, with the tea, he
had dropped upon the ground, he quickly placed it in the hand of the
morose old man. At first he refused to take it, but the missionary
spoke kindly to him, and after a little, as he had been out of the stuff
for days, his fingers closed on it; and then the missionary knew that he
had conquered in the first skirmish. Tobacco among these Indians is
like salt among the Arabs. Knowing this, the missionary, who never used
it himself, adopted this plan to make friends with the old conjurer.

After he had taken the tobacco, the missionary took up the package of
tea, and, looking at the dirty strips of meat which hung drying over a
stick, said: "You have meat, and I have tea. If you will furnish the
meat, I will the tea, and we will have supper together."

The first thought of the old sinner, as he glanced at his medicine bag
in which he kept his poisons, was: "What a good chance I shall now have
to poison this man who has come to check my power!" However, the
missionary saw that wicked gleam, and, being well able to read these men
by this time, he quickly said: "Never mind your medicine bag and your
poisons. I am your friend, even if as yet you do not believe it. I
have come into your wigwam, and you have taken my tobacco, and I offer
to eat and drink with you, and poison me _you dare not_!"

Thoroughly cowed and frightened that the white man had so completely
read his thoughts, he turned around to his wife, and in imperative tones
ordered her to quickly prepare the meat and the tea. So expeditiously
was the work accomplished that it was not very long ere the conjurer and
missionary were eating and drinking together. The old fellow said the
meat was venison; the missionary thought it was dog meat.

Perhaps we cannot do better than to anticipate the work a little and say
that at some later visits this old conjurer was induced to give up all
of his wicked practices and become an earnest Christian.