rve. Besides, we loved our children. They were not to blame for
bein' half-Indian; an' we could not separate them from their mothers, ef
we had a-wished. We did the only thing we could do, under the
circumstances--married the mothers by White men's laws, to make the
children legitimate. Even the heads of the Hudson's Bay Company were
forced to comply with the sentiment of the White settlers; an' their
descendants are among the first families of Oregon. But they had money
an' position; the trappers had neither, though there were some splendid
men among them--so our families were looked down upon. O, White Rose!
didn't I use to have some bitter thoughts in those days? for my blood
was high blood, in the State where I was raised."

"I can imagine it, very easily," said Mrs. Smiley, softly.

"But I never let on. I was wild and devil-may-care. To hide my
mortification, I faced it out, as well as I could; but I wasn't made, in
the beginnin', for that kind o' life, an' it took away my manhood. After
the country began to settle up, an' families--real White families--began
to move in, I used to be nearly crazy, sometimes. Many's the day that
I've rode through the woods, or over the prairies, tryin' to git away
from myself; but I never said a cross word to the squaw wife. Why should
I?--it was not her fault. Sometimes she fretted at me (the Indian women
are great scolds); but I did not answer her back. I displeased her with
my vagabond ways, very likely--her White husband, to whom she looked for
better things. I couldn't work; I didn't take no interest in work, like
other men."

"O, Mr. Chillis! was not that a great mistake? Would not some kind of
ambition have helped to fill up the blank in your life?"

"I didn't have any--I couldn't have any, with that old Indian woman
sittin' there, in the corner o' my hearth. When the crazy fit came on, I
jest turned my back on home, an' mounted my horse for a long, lonely
ride, or went to town and drank whisky till I was past rememberin' my
trouble. But I never complained. The men I associated with expected me
to amuse them, an' I generally did, with all manner o' wild freaks an'
incredible stories--some o' which were truer than they believed, for I
had had plenty of adventures in the mountains. White Rose, do you
imagine I ever loved that squaw wife o' mine?"

"I remember asking myself such a question, that night of the storm, as
you stood by the fire, so still and strange. I was specul