The Monmouth inquirer., 1921-04-21


year thy hunt was not large, and
other men did better by far"
"When a man grows DID," said the
chief quietly, ''the younger ones
overtake him. It has always been
thus"
"But there is no reason for thy
looking at the tobacco he was cut
ting for his pipe. "Yet If thou art
not wise the day will come when
thou shalt not come back to thy tent,
and maybe in another year thy bones
may be found on thy trapping line,
where in some blizzard thou had to lie
down and let death overtake thee.
Then the women Of thy household
will be left alone without man,
while thy wife's and daughters
young ones will know the great
hunger"
The old man was becoming inter-
ested, for all this roundabout talk
was just what he deemed proper be-
tween men before approaching the
real matter in hand.
He was shrewd and continued to
ply his file without appearing to pay
much attention.
There was an interval of silence.
Curran puffed at his pipe, also SEEM
ing nightly unconcerned.
"Hast thou thought of these wo-
men and children ?" he asked after
time.
Strong, able women are they"
said the old man, feeling the edge Of
his axe with his thumb. "Thou
shouldst see my woman at the net
ting of whitefsh and the stretching
of pelts. Her paddle in a canoe is
that of strong man, young and
well fed.
"My daughter is the child Of my
younger days. Few are as able.
Neither of them after / die will have
trouble about getting a man to help
in trapping. Thou knowest that the
hunting-grounds among our people
always belong to the woman. She
Anishku, my wife, and Ameou,
daughter of my first woman, have
trapping places that were owned by
their people since before the white
man came to this post.
There will be many to seek
Ameou now for the sake of her beau
ty and for the goodness of her hunt
ing land. Even in ten years from
now, should l not die till then, there
might be suitors for Anishku. More
over, by that time her two boys
would be grown men,"
The old man was scraping out his
pipe suggestively. Curran hanced
him a plug.
81 have it in mind that shall re-
main here many years." said Curran
after another silence. II need a
woman to look after the dwelling and
bear sons for me. do not wish to
speak to Ameou just now, because
she is still grieving; but l might con-
slider the taking Of her for a wife.
Thus couldst thou live here quietly.
always in the midst of plenty for
thee and thine"
The old man had long ago dis
cerned the drift of all this talk. He
shook his head indifferently, as if
the matter concerned him little; vet
he was by no means displeased.
Lorimer had certainly. proved
liberal son-in-law, and the lines of
the chiefs living since the marriage
had certainly been cast in pleasant
places. He had not the slightest OBJ
lection to renewing such an agree
able state of affairs.
Ameou is a fine woman" he said
at length. Like her there is none
other for beauty Of looks and dill
gence. A few weeks hence, when her
sorrow is less, / may speak to her OF
this matter. | can speak with thee
at some ether time as to what am
to get for the woman, as is our Gus
tom"
Curran merely grunted in answer.
So far everything was all right. OF
course, he had no prejudice against
the idea of paying for wife.
The custom, in its origin, was a
fair one. The woman always inher-
tied the knitting grounds from which
the husband was to get the benefit.
It was, therefore, proper that he
should pay for the double privilege
marrying the woman and obtain
ing something that was equivalent
to a dowry. The agent, however,
was not man concerned by ques-
tons of propriety and morality.
Scruples, large or small, had never
nlluCleu ally OI HIS dCLlUilS. ~ IIOo
roughshod over obstacles had ever
been his method of overcoming them.
The two held some further con-
versation, which was interrupted by
the arrival of some Nascaupees in
two canoes. They had been drying
fish for couple of weeks on the
river to the southwark. Now, be-
fore going northeast for their win
ter's hunt, they wanted some goods
from the post.
The trading took a couple ef
hours. Then, with one exception,
the men left the store. He was 81
ill-favored fellow known as Ituaga-
nu, or Scarface, because in former
years bear with sweep Of his paw
had partly torn one of the mans
cheeks away. o
Scarface looked about him eau
tiously to see if the coast was clear.
Then he pulled from beneath his
coat the pelt Of cross-fox. 1t was
a skin of very fine quality, so nearly
approximating true silver color
that it was worth a large price.
Curran looked at it, brushed back
the soft fur, estimated its length,
and studied every inch of the pelt for
possible defects.
1T is early in the year." he said
briefly.