e there was a bold point with a picturesque clump of
pines shading a number of the odd little gabled structures with which
the Indians cover the graves of their dead. On the nearer side from off
to left appeared a smaller stream which wound across the meadow and
emptied into the Swan. At intervals during the day their trail had
bordered this little river, which Clare had christened the Meander.

The tepees of the Indian village were strung along its banks, and the
stream itself was filled with canoes. On a grassy mound to the right
stood a little log shack which had a curiously impertinent look there in
the midst of Nature untouched. On the other hand the tepees sprang from
the ground as naturally as trees.

Their coming naturally had the effect of a thunderclap on the village.
They had scarcely shown themselves from among the trees when their
presence was discovered. A chorus of sharp cries was raised, and there
was much aimless running about like ants when the hill is disturbed. The
cries did not suggest a welcome, but excitement purely. Men, women, and
children gathered in a dense little crowd beside the trail where they
must pass. None wished to put themselves forward. Those who lived on the
other side of the little stream paddled frantically across to be in time
for a close view.

As they approached, absolute silence fell on the Indians, the silence of
breathless excitement. The red-coat they had heard of, and in a general
way they knew what he signified; but a white woman to them was as
fabulous a creature as a mermaid or a hamadryad. Their eyes were saved
for Clare. They fixed on her as hard, bright, and unwinking as jet
buttons. They conveyed nothing but an animal curiosity. Clare nodded and
smiled to them in her own way, but no muscle of any face relaxed.

"Their manners will bear improving," muttered Stonor.

"Oh, give them a chance," said Clare. "We've dropped on them out of a
clear sky."

Some of the tepees were still made of tanned skins decorated with rude
pictures; they saw bows and arrows and bark-canoes, things which have
almost passed from America. The dress of the inhabitants was less
picturesque; some of the older men still wore their picturesque blanket
capotes, but the younger were clad in machine-made shirts and pants from
the store, and the women in cotton dresses. They were a pure race, and
as such presented for the most part fine, characteristic faces; but in
body they were undersized and