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He tried to wheedle it, but failed: he became abusive, and used bad language to the ox, but without success. He was in the height of his distress when Petawanaquat passed by with a load of firewood on his shoulder.
At that point Tony ceased to think, because tired nature asserted her claims, and he fell sound asleep. The practised ear of the Indian had detected the sound of horses' feet on the prairie. To any ordinary man no sound at all would have been perceptible save the sighing of the night wind. Petawanaquat, however, not only heard the tramp, but could distinguish it from that of buffalo.
Petawanaquat had only one wife, named Meekeye. He might have had half a dozen wives if he had chosen, because he was a strong, able, and successful hunter, which is equivalent to saying he was, for an Indian, a rich man, and among the Indians there is no legal limit, we believe, to the number of a man's wives. But our red man seemed to think one quite enough.
If you'll be advised by me you'll keep a sharp eye upon Petawanaquat. There, I'll say no more. You know I'm not an alarmist. Good-bye." "Good-bye, old boy." "I say." "Well?" "It was an awfully bad shot, that last of mine." "It was," admitted Victor, with a laugh, "to miss a thing as big as a door at a hundred yards is only so-so." "No chance of improvement, I fear," said Ian, with a sigh.
The red man paused a moment, with a slightly troubled look, but the shadow passed like a fleeting cloud as he dropped his arm, and, with an air of simple humility, sat down again beside his friend. "Petawanaquat is only a child," he added; "at present he is only learning. In good time he shall know all."
It was a long way off, however, and the ground between them seemed very broken and difficult to traverse on horseback. Ian Macdonald thought of the bear's claws, and a collar, and Elsie, and tightened his reins. Then he thought of the risk of breaking a horse's leg if the bear should lead them a long chase over such ground, and of the certain loss of time, and of Petawanaquat pushing on ahead.
Sinclair possessed a considerable amount of education, and spoke the Indian language fluently. Petawanaquat, although densely ignorant, had an acute and logical mind. To look at them as they sat there, spoon in hand, over a pan of burgout, one would not readily have guessed the drift of their conversation.
Tony even got the length of drawing first blood from a grizzly bear. It happened thus: He was out with Petawanaquat one day, in a narrow defile of the mountains. The Indian carried his gun; the boy his bow. Tony's quiver contained two sorts of arrows, one set shod with iron, and sharp, the other set not only blunt, but with a lumpy wooden head, meant not to pierce but to stun birds.
He dreamt that he caught sight of an Indian on the plains with Tony on his shoulder; that he gave chase, and almost overtook them, when, to save himself, the Indian dropped his burden; that he, Victor, seized his rescued brother in a tight embrace, and burst into tears of joy; that Tony suddenly turned into Petawanaquat, and that, in the sharp revulsion of feeling, he, Victor, seized the nose of the savage and pulled it out to a length of three yards, twisted it round his neck and choked him, thrust his head down into his chest and tied his arms in a knot over it, and, finally, stuffing him into a mud-puddle, jumped upon him and stamped him down.
The spirit of Petawanaquat has groaned within him he knew not why perhaps the Great Spirit was speaking to him in his heart. `Shall these deeds of evil never have an end? he asked, but there was no answer. Now, an answer has come. Jesus is the Saviour from sin. All things shall be put under Him. When that time comes all things shall be good. At present good and evil are mixed."
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