wantin' t' hear un, Shad. He gets all ruffled up when I
tells o' some happenin' I been havin' that's bigger'n any he ever has.
I won't tell un now; 'twould make he feel bad, an' I don't want t'
make he feel bad, nohow," said Ed, with mock magnanimity. "But there
were another time--I'll tell you o' this, Shad, an' Dick don't mind?"

"Oh, go ahead an' yarn, if you wants to! But th' Lard'll strike you
dead some day, Ed, for lyin';" and Dick turned toward the canoes in
disgust.

"Now Dick's mad," Ed laughed, "but don't mind he, Shad; he'll get over
un."

"As I was sayin', now, 'twas when I was layin' my trail t' th'
nu'th'ard o' Wanokapow. I gets my tilt built an' all in shape an'
stocked up, an' I goes out one mornin' lookin' t' kill a bit o' fresh
meat. 'Tis early, an' too soon t' set up th' traps, for th' fur ain't
prime.

"I gets a porcupine, which is all I wants, an' comin' down t' my
second tilt about th' middle o' th' forenoon, finds un all afire an' a
band o' twelve Injuns--I counts un, an' they's just a dozen--lookin'
on, an' dividin' up my things, which they takes out o' th' tilt before
they fires un.

"Now I were mad--too mad t' be scairt--an' I steps right down among
th' Injuns, an' when they sees me lookin' fierce an' ready t' kill un
all, they's too scairt t' do a thing or t' run, an' they just stands
lookin' at me.

"Well, I keeps on lookin' wonderful fierce, an' jumps about a bit an'
hollers. It makes me laugh now t' think how that passel o' Injuns
stared! One of un tells me a couple o' years after that they thinks I
gone crazy.

"'Tisn't long till I gets un all so scairt they thinks I'm goin' t'
shoot un all up, an' they's afeared t' run, thinkin' if they does I'll
start right in quick.

"Then I thinks it's time t' break th' news t' un, an' I tells un if
they builds th' tilt up new for me I'll let un off. An' they starts
right in t' build un, an' has un all done before th' sun sets. Th'
same tilt's standin' there yet--'

"Ed!" called Dick, from the canoe, "if you're through yarnin', come on
now an' get started back. It'll be dark now before we gets t' th'
tilt."

It was dark when they reached the tilt. Bill, sitting alone by the
camp-fire, had seen nothing of Manikawan while they were gone, and
none of them ventured to enter the tilt or to disturb her.

But, when they arose from their bed of boughs in the lee of the tent
the following I morning, they found that the fire at their feet had
b