THE SILVER BRACELET Ou

As the weeks passed, Maada had seen much of the
white slave. He had always been grateful to her for
saving his life; grateful also, for the many favors
which she, the chief’s daughter, was able to bestow—
gifts of food and warmer skins, tools, and more free-
dom and consideration than was accorded to any of
the other slaves. In return, he had made many trinkets
for her, little carved articles of bone and wood such
as no Haida had ever seen; he had sewed her beauti-
ful warm garments of fur which had made her the
envy of the village maidens. Best of all, he had pains-
takingly taught her to speak words and sentences in
the language of the Yetz Haada and she in turn had
taught him the Haida words, so that as time passed
they were each able to speak falteringly in the
language of the other.

The white slave had not complained about his
slavery; he had made no attempt to escape. Instead,
he had worked so diligently, so patiently, and had
entered so whole-heartedly into the life of the village,
that the old chief and all the others were greatly
pleased. In the course of a few weeks he had taught
his captors many things. He fashioned new tools and
utensils. He made seats and tables and benches for
the chief’s lodge. He built a cart with wooden wheels
which the Haidas drew back and forth through the
village street with shouts of laughter and pleasure.
These were the first wheels the Haidas had ever seen,
for, clever as they were at woodworking, they had