86 THE BIG CANOE

Tumpety, tum, tum, he drummed as he marched away
into the forest, and Maada listened happily to his song
until it mingled with all the other noises of the
village.

That evening a fog came in from the sea. Across
the cove, up over the village it rolled like a downy
blanket, shrouding the tops of the totem and memorial
poles, obscuring all things. Maada watched with a
glad heart as it settled thickly upon the village. She
felt sure now that her plan would succeed.

When the great driftwood fires were lit in front
of the houses, lighting the village, and the merry-
makers, their spirits undampened by the thick gray
blanket that surrounded them, had gathered around
them to go on with their songs and games and dancing,
Maada slipped cautiously down to the beach and
pushed one of the smaller canoes off into the water.
Unobserved, she paddled quickly out of the cove,
rounded the headland and skirted the wooded shore,
following the noise of the surf, until she came to a
little cove behind the village which she knew would
be utterly deserted on a night like this.

Here she beached the canoe and ran swiftly back
along the foggy forest trail to the village. Twice she
returned to the cove with food and water and other
things that the white man would need on his long jour-
ney. At last all her preparations were completed and she
stole back to the firelit street just as the shamans were