THE ANCIENT ONE 31

back, for I have often dreamed of his return. Each
time I have seen him coming into our father’s house
with his arms piled high with presents; I have seen
him take a small white object from his pouch and
hold it up for all to see. What that object was, I could
not see clearly in my dream, but I am sure it was
the strange animal no Haida has ever looked upon.
Quahl will come back, and we shall all be proud of
him.”

Not long after Kinna’s prophecy, the fall rains
gave way to sleet and snow and the lodges were
hidden in a driving blizzard. Fires roared upon all
the hearths, and the sparks tore upward through the
smoke holes into the pelting storm. When darkness
fell, the streets were drifted deep with snow and the
totem and memorial poles were wrapped about with
thick white garlands. Even the dogs had crawled into
holes under the tall burial chests, so that no living
creature was abroad in the village when the wanderer,
returning, drove his canoe high upon the beach.

Because of the storm the dogs failed to notice the
noise made by the canoe scraping upon the shingle—
a noise that ordinarily would have caused them to
bark wildly and come tearing down to the water’s
edge. Quahl stumbled unmolested across the beach
and along the drifted street, his arms piled high with
bundles, until he reached the entrance of his father’s
lodge.

Trembling with excitement, he pushed back the

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