NORTHERN INTERIOR OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

dians stood the lodge of a man who was now married to
one of the women previously brought down from Tsale-
kulhyé’s ill-fated winter quarters. That man had become
much attached to his wife, who had with her one of her little
daughters sharing her enforced exile. As the Indian was
in the act of fetching from his trap the salmon caught in
the course of the night, he was horrified to find among his
fish the disfigured body of Tsohtaih, which had floated
down until stopped by the fishing weir.

Guessing what had happened, and, on second thought,
fearing for the safety of his wife, he tried to neutralize the
effect of his first cry of surprise by declaring to all ques-
tioners that there was nothing’ the matter. Then he
hurriedly retired to ‘his shack, and, seizing his war-club
and dagger, he made his wife sit at his feet while he told
the curious of his discovery.

Enraged at the sight of the mangled remains of their
headman, the Naskhu’tins immediately strove to vent their
anger on the foreign woman and her daughter ; but, with
all the ardor which love and despair could inspire, her
husband successfully warded off all attacks on her, so that,
unable to accomplish their purpose-—inasmuch as they
could not use arrows for fear of killing their countryman—
they resolved to turn their attention to the authors of
Tsohtaih’s death, who were now beating a hasty retreat.

The Naskhu’tins had hardly left when T’scelkwet, who
had heard of the whole affair, assembled his own relatives
and set out on the tracks of the pursuers with the avowed
object of lending a helping hand to the Stuart Lake In-
dians in case of a conflict. Vainly did the outraged
Naskhu’tins endeavor to deter him from his undertaking.
The irate old man would listen to no entreaties and he
equally scorned all threats. Finding themselves unequal
to the task of successfully meeting two wide-awake enemies,

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