his glass, which he held aloft. "But I have lived. And
I have been warm with life as you have never been warm. It is true, you
shall live long. But the longest nights are the cold nights when a man
shivers and lies awake. My nights have been short, but I have slept
warm."

He drained the glass. The shaking hand of a slave failed to catch it as
it crashed to the floor. Klakee-Nah sank back, panting, watching the
upturned glasses at the lips of the drinkers, his own lips slightly
smiling to the applause. At a sign, two slaves attempted to help him sit
upright again. But they were weak, his frame was mighty, and the four
old men tottered and shook as they helped him forward.

"But manner of life is neither here nor there," he went on. "We have
other business, Porportuk, you and I, to-night. Debts are mischances,
and I am in mischance with you. What of my debt, and how great is it?"

Porportuk searched in his pouch and brought forth a memorandum. He
sipped at his glass and began. "There is the note of August, 1889, for
three hundred dollars. The interest has never been paid. And the note
of the next year for five hundred dollars. This note was included in the
note of two months later for a thousand dollars. Then there is the
note--"

"Never mind the many notes!" Klakee-Nah cried out impatiently. "They
make my head go around and all the things inside my head. The whole! The
round whole! How much is it?"

Porportuk referred to his memorandum. "Fifteen thousand nine hundred and
sixty-seven dollars and seventy-five cents," he read with careful
precision.

"Make it sixteen thousand, make it sixteen thousand," Klakee-Nah said
grandly. "Odd numbers were ever a worry. And now--and it is for this
that I have sent for you--make me out a new note for sixteen thousand,
which I shall sign. I have no thought of the interest. Make it as large
as you will, and make it payable in the next world, when I shall meet you
by the fire of the Great Father of all Indians. Then the note will be
paid. This I promise you. It is the word of Klakee-Nah."

Porportuk looked perplexed, and loudly the laughter arose and shook the
room. Klakee-Nah raised his hands. "Nay," he cried. "It is not a joke.
I but speak in fairness. It was for this I sent for you, Porportuk. Make
out the note."

"I have no dealings with the next world," Porportuk made answer slowly.

"Have you no thought to meet me before the Great Father