away thy mother be dead she was an old woman said but did not hear and with hand upon his shoulder roused him again i shall speak to thee what the man has spoken which is the tale of the troubles thou hast done and which thou hast told o fool to the captain alexander and thou shalt understand and say if it be true talk or talk not true it is so commanded had fallen among the mission folk and been taught by them to read and write in his hands he held the many fine sheets from which the man had read aloud and which had been taken down by a clerk when first made confession through the mouth of to captain alexander began to read listened for a space when a rose up in his face and he broke in abruptly the league of the old men that be my talk yet from thy lips it comes when thy ears have not heard with self appreciation his hair was parted in the middle nay from the paper it comes o never have my ears heard from the paper it comes through my eyes into my head and out of my mouth to thee thus it comes thus it comes it be there in the paper s voice sank in awe as he the sheets thumb and finger and stared at the it be a great medicine and thou art a of wonders it be nothing it be nothing the young man responded carelessly and he read at hazard from the document i that year before the break of the ice came an old many and a boy who was lame of one foot these also did i and the old m n m e much noise � it be true interrupted he made much noise and would not die for a long time but how dost thou know the chief man of the white men told thee no one beheld me and him alone have i told shook his head with impatience have i not told thee it be there in the paper o fool the league of the old men stared hard at the ink surface as the hunter upon the snow and says here but yesterday there passed a rabbit and here by the willow it stood and listened and heard and was afraid and here it turned its trail and here it went with great swiftness leaping wide and here with greater swiftness and wider came a and here where the claws cut deep into the snow the made a very great leap and here it struck with the rabbit under and rolling belly up and here leads off the trail of the l alone and there is no more rabbit � as the hunter looks upon the of the snow and sa rs thus and so and here dost thou too look upon the paper and say thus and so and here be the things old hath done even so said and now do thou listen and keep thy woman s tongue between thy teeth till thou art called upon for speech thereafter and for a long time read to him the confession and remained musing and silent at the end he said it be my talk and true talk but i am grown old and forgotten things come back to me which were well for the head man there to know first there was the man who came over the of the old men the ice mountains with cunning traps made of iron who sought the of the him i and there were three men seeking gold on the long ago them also i and left them to the and at the five fingers there was a man with a and much meat at the moments when paused to remember translated and a clerk reduced to writing the listened to each little tragedy till told of a man whose eyes were crossed and whom he had killed with a remarkably long shot hell said a man in the of the he said it and sorrowfully he was red haired hell he repeated that was my brother bill and at regular intervals throughout the his solemn hell was heard in the nor did his comrades check him nor did the man at the table rap him to order s head drooped once more and his eyes went dull as though a rose up and covered them from the world and he dreamed as only age can dream upon the colossal of youth later roused him again saying stand the league of the old men up o it be commanded that thou why you did these troubles and these people and at the end here seeking the law rose feebly to his feet and swayed back and forth he began to speak in a low and faintly voice but interrupted him this old man he is damn crazy he said in english to the square man his talk is foolish and like that of a child we will hear his talk which is like that of a child said the square man and we will hear it word for word as he speaks it do you understand understood and s eyes flashed for he had witnessed the play between his sister s son and the man in authority and then began the story the of a bronze which might well itself be wrought into bronze for the generations the crowd fell strangely silent and the square judge leaned head on hand and pondered his soul and the soul of his race only was heard the deep tones of with the shrill voice of the and now and again like the bell of the lord the wondering and meditative hell of the red haired man the league of the old men i am of the people so ran the interpretation of whose inherent hold of 