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' CHRONICLES Of THE GARIBOO oe aes

Dunlevey had ever seen. Thé'elder was called Agat and the younger
' At-t’uss—the Dené name for the black-headed chickadee.

their straight black hair, hanging loose down their backs to their
waists, was bound behind the i&¢k by strips of bright-colored ribbon
and by the usual bedded’ bahd™ around the head. Their very large
eyes, to be found in no tribe #6 numerously das the Shuswap, were of
a brilliance that in their deep-soft depths was indescribably beautiful,
and their straight, frank and fearless yet quetsing gaze was captivat-
ing in the extreme. So also were’ the fine regular features of their
oval faces, that showed none of the coarseness noticeable in some
other tribes. The elder girl, however, with her longer, narrower face,
leaned more to the Dene type," while the younger, with her broader
lines, betrayed the Shuswap type of her mother.

Yet both were much taller than their mother, and the soft and
delicate curving lines of their superb young figures was but half-
hidden in the voluminous folds of their calico dresses. Save for the
hair ribbons and headbands they wore no ornaments of any kind. “And
by gad!” said Dunlevey, “they didn’t need any.” The marvelously
healthy coloring in their cheeks showed up beautifully even through
their dusky skins. Their mother, too, showed unmistakable signs of
having been a beauty herself in her
time, though she was of the short,
broad type of figure more common
amcng the Shuswaps, yet it was
easy to see where the girls got
their beautiful big black eyes. But
Dunlevey wondered where they had
got their tall, stately stature, par-
ticularly noticeable in the elder
girl.

The mother wore Hee hair in two
thick braids hanging down her
back and covered over the head
by a magenta-colored kerchief, the MOF ETT j
encs of which crossed under the
braids at the back of the neck and “His long suit was shuffling
tied over the braids in a bow knot. cards. He followed mining
to demonstrate his exception-
al skill but his luck was only
entiated the ‘married woman or in the gold he made over the

widow from the young girl. table and not under the
riffles.”

The two styles of headdress differ-

Baptiste explained that the mother
had been the wife of an uncle of
his named Taghtliel, WHE NAG ARK | Oe ee OOS Pt age aes
ried into the Shuswap tribe at Soda Creek on the Brigade Trail, some
twenty miles below Fort Alexandria. Of course, that explained the tall
figures of the two girls, daughters of the stalwart Dene hunter, who
had been killed in an Scouser with grizzlies in the mountains East
of the fort.

“Dat tam you’ kin’ musket no good for hunt grizzly,” declared