rk and detail of its lettered surface to a
minute scrutiny.

Finally with a grunt he raised the lid and contemplated the tobacco,
which was packed evenly in thin slices.

He stared long and curiously at his own distorted image, which was
reflected from the unpainted tin of the inside of the cover, felt
cautiously of the paraffined paper, and, raising the box to his nose,
sniffed noisily at the contents.

Apparently satisfied, he removed a dozen or more of the slices and
ground them slowly between the palms of his hands. This done, he rammed
possibly one-tenth of the mass into the bowl of his ancient pipe and
carefully conveyed the remainder to his pocket.

"Match?" he asked. And Bill passed over his monogrammed silver
match-box, which received its share of careful examination, evidently,
however, not meeting the approval accorded the gaudy tobacco-box.

The Indian abstracted about one-half of the matches, which he
transferred to the pocket containing the tobacco. Then, calmly
selecting a dry twig from the pile of firewood, thrust the end through
a hole in the broken stove, and after much noisy puffing at length
succeeded in igniting the tightly tamped tobacco in his pipe-bowl.

"Thank you," said Bill, contemplating his few remaining matches.
"You're a bashful soul, aren't you? Did you ever serve a term in the
Legislature?"

The Indian's command of English did not include a word Bill had
uttered; nevertheless, his mangled lip writhed about the pipe-stem in
grotesque grin.

"Boots!" he grunted, eying the bandaged feet. "No good!" and he
complacently wriggled the toes in his own soft moccasins. Bill noted
the movement, and a sudden desire obsessed him to possess at any cost
those same soft moccasins.

Wabishke, like most Indians, was a born trader, and he was quick to
note the covetous glance that the white _chechako_ cast toward his
footgear.

"Will you sell those?" asked Bill, pointing toward the moccasins. The
Indian regarded them thoughtfully, and again the toes wriggled
comfortably beneath the pliable moose-skin covering. Bill tried again.

"How much?" he asked, touching the moccasins with his finger.

The Indian pondered the question through many puffs of his short pipe.
He pointed to the new boots, and when Bill handed them to him he
carefully studied every stitch and nail of each. Finally he laid them
aside and pointed to the tobacco-box, which he again scrutinized and
laid with the boots.

"Match