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Big Otter understands him now. So shall it be in the great hereafter things that are dark now shall be light then. But Weeum could not leave his wife and child, and we would not let him take them away. Sometimes Weeum spoke mysteries. One day he said to me, `Brother, I must go to the far south to see the dear old one.
"And you, my friend," I said, "what will your movements be?" "Big Otter will go and help you to obey the commands of Weeum," he replied. "There is no wife, no child, waiting for him to return. He must be a father to Waboose. Muxbee will be her brother. The trail to Colorado is long. Big Otter has been there. He has been a solitary wanderer all his life, and knows the wilderness well.
Waboose found it out afterwards. Muxbee did not talk to Waboose of love. The ways of the pale-faces are strange. Once I thought that Muxbee liked Waboose, and that, perhaps, he might wed with her, and stay with us as the Good Weeum did, but I doubt it now. He only asked her to take him to the stunted pine where her father was so fond of going with her.
"Your duty is to obey the commands of Weeum! My tribe will not die of grief because Waboose does not return. As for Salamander send him where you please. He is nobody nothing!"
Big Otter waited a few seconds, still holding her hand, and then, turning to me, said in his native tongue, "Tell the pale-face mother that the sister of Big Otter was the wife of Weeum; that Big Otter loved Weeum better than a brother, and that Weeum loved Big Otter more than any man of his tribe. Every one loved Weeum the Good. He was so kind, and so brave!
Dismounting with something of the deliberate and stately air of one who is resolved not to commit himself, the Indian strode towards Mrs Liston, and, tenderly grasping one of her hands in both of his, said, "Weeum!" Truly there is but a step from the sublime to the ridiculous, and in some cases that step is an exceeding short one.
"Because you are still a servant of the Fur Company, and not entitled to break your engagement. Besides, it is desirable that Big Otter's people should know why he and Waboose have left them, and where they have gone; and if you explain matters correctly they will be quite satisfied, for they all respect the memory of Weeum the Good.
He paused a moment at this point, and then, with an evident effort to suppress emotion, added, "Weeum was drowned, soon after the day he spoke to me, while trying to save life. Since then there has been no sun in the sky for Big Otter."
I will take my wife and child, and will return to you again if the great Master of Life allows. If, however, I die or am killed, Waboose will reveal all that is in Weeum's heart. She cannot reveal it now. She will not even understand until a good pale-face visits your tribe. Weeum said no more. He left the mind of Big Otter dark. It is no longer dark. It is now clear as the sun at noon.
I also showed him the miniature, at which he gazed with visible but suppressed emotion. "Now," said I, in conclusion, "what do you think we should do?" "What Weeum wished must be done," he replied simply but firmly. "You were fond of Weeum?" I said. "Yes, Big Otter loved him like a brother."
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