STILL PRE-EUROPEAN TIMES

border of ice clinging to the shore and announce the sad
news of their misfortunes to the next band of Indians, he
himself stood in the vicinity of the doomed camp waiting
for the end of the massacre, out of reach of hostile eyes
and arrows.

Next morning three large canoes came down, and those
who owed their lives to flight and the blinding snow-storm,
together with the courageous Nathadilhthcelh, made bold
to return to the scene of the disaster, where, amidst noisy
mourning, the dead bodies of the fallen, with the exception
of that of Tsalekulhyé, which could not be found, were
placed on a pile of dry wood and burned.

Now, Tsalekulhyé had two sons, ’Kwah, a young man
about twenty-five years old, who had just been married,
and was destined to become a very prominent figure in the
annals of Stuart Lake, and Céhulhtzcen, a few years
younger, who was as yet single. Both brothers were on a
hunting tour at the time of the massacre of their co-tribes-
men.

Great was their surprise and indignation when they were
told on their return of what had happened in their absence.
*Kwah was then but a young man, without title or claim to
consideration other than that which he owed to his father’s
rank, to which, according to the Carriers’ hereditary law,
he could not even aspire. Yet it was universally conceded
that to him and his relative, Nathadilhthcelh, must fall the
task of avenging the victims of the Blackwater Indians.
Many were even for immediate action ; but more moderate
counsels prevailed, as the old men knew well that the
Naskhu'tins, expecting reprisals, would be on their guard.
They resolved, therefore, to wait until one or two years had
elapsed without hostilities, wishing to lead the southern
Indians to suppose that their crime would remain
unpunished.

oS