STORIES 463

and as he squashed them, dead goats fell from the mountain slopes above.
His packers worked very hard and managed to carry all the carcasses to
camp, where A//sid@x toasted the meat. He gave everything, meat, grease,
and hides to Nusgwaxtdn-i, saying that it was in return for the latter’s
present of a single kid the preceding day. Nusqwaxtan-i was thus shamed
and went back to Té/-io the next day, defeated.

A#sidx, with his father, Skimutcit?, and some friends, remained in
camp to prepare smoked goat meat and hides for the winter, taking full
advantage of the excellent hunting. One evening they heard the hooting
of an owl. There was something peculiar about the sound and Affsidx
said to his father:

“That is no owl, it is a person.”

Ignoring Skimutci#’s disbelief, A#/sidx set out to investigate. There
was deep snow on the ground so that he had to use snow-shoes, the crunch
of which apparently betrayed him, because the hooting ceased. Presently
it began again. Affsidx, having bound a goat-skin over his snow-shoes
to deaden the noise, crept forth and this time he was able to locate the
source of the sound, a tall blasted tree on the top of which he could see
a man seated. He was wearing a large abalone-shell nose-ring and
Akisiéx determined to shoot an arrow through the ornament.®” His aim
was faulty, it pierced the man’s neck and he fell down dead. Examining
the corpse, A#fsidx realized that he must have been a scout of the people
known to the Bella Coola as Xdf, a branch of the Carriers whose home
was in the south but who were accustomed to range far afield, always
ready for a quarrel. He cut off the head and carried it back to camp,
where Skimutcit? was sitting with his limbs spread out to get the full
benefit of the fire.

Adsiéx crashed the bloody head down on his father’s naked body,
saying as he did so:

“There’s your owl.”

Skimutcit? collapsed with terror.

“T am old,” he wailed, ‘‘and cannot run away. Anyway it does not
matter what happens to me, just cover me up in a corner.”

This seemed the best plan, so A#/sidx lifted the planks from one corner
of the floor of the shelter, and his father crawled down to cower under a
skin. Then the boards were replaced and ashes were strewed over all.
No one would have suspected that a man was hidden beneath. When
this was done A#fsidx and the other young men abandoned the camp.

The Bella Coola realized that the Xd# people were so superior in
numbers that they would have no chance in an open fight, but A#isidx

The story does not give the reason for this.