here it caught upon a high branch,
and remained.

From their position neither party knew that the other had fired. A tent
was between them, and the two reports had seemed as one. A trapper
cried out--

"Well done, Garey! Lord help the thing that's afore old Killbar's
muzzle when you squints through her hind-sights."

The Indian just then stepped round the tent. Hearing this side speech,
and perceiving the smoke still oozing from the muzzle of the young
hunter's gun, he turned to the latter with the interrogation--

"Did you fire, sir?"

This was said in well-accentuated and most un-Indianlike English, which
would have drawn my attention to the man had not his singularly-imposing
appearance riveted me already.

"Who is he?" I inquired from one near me.

"Don't know; fresh arriv'," was the short answer.

"Do you mean that he is a stranger here?"

"Just so. He kumb in thar a while agone. Don't b'lieve anybody knows
him. I guess the captain does; I seed them shake hands."

I looked at the Indian with increasing interest. He seemed a man of
about thirty years of age, and not much under seven feet in height. He
was proportioned like an Apollo, and, on this account, appeared smaller
than he actually was. His features were of the Roman type; and his fine
forehead, his aquiline nose and broad jawbone, gave him the appearance
of talent, as well as firmness and energy. He was dressed in a
hunting-shirt, leggings, and moccasins; but all these differed from
anything worn either by the hunters or their Indian allies. The shirt
itself was made out of the dressed hide of the red deer, but differently
prepared from that used by the trappers. It was bleached almost to the
whiteness of a kid glove. The breast, unlike theirs, was close, and
beautifully embroidered with stained porcupine quills. The sleeves were
similarly ornamented; and the cape and skirts were trimmed with the
soft, snow-white fur of the ermine. A row of entire skins of that
animal hung from the skirt border, forming a fringe both graceful and
costly. But the most singular feature about this man was his hair. It
fell loosely over his shoulders, and swept the ground as he walked! It
could not have been less than seven feet in length. It was black,
glossy, and luxuriant, and reminded me of the tails of those great
Flemish horses I had seen in the funeral carriages of London.

He wore upon his head the war-eagle bonnet, with its full circle