nce startled her. That they would make their way this far
north, when their reindeer had been sent back by paid messengers some
days before, had certainly seemed very improbable both to Johnny and to
the girl.

Evidently the Chukches were very revengeful in spirit or very faithful
in the performance of murders they had covenanted to commit. At any
rate, here they were. And the girl did not deceive herself, this was a
council chamber. She did not doubt for a moment that her sentence would
be death. Her only question was, could there be a way of escape? The
wall was lined with dusky forms this time. The entrance was closely
guarded. Only one possibility offered; above her head, some five feet, a
strong rawhide rope crossed from pole to pole of the igloo. Directly
above this was the smoke hole. She had once entered one of these when an
igloo was drifted over with snow.

The solemn parley of the council soon began. Like a lawyer presenting
his case, the headman of the reindeer tribe stood before them all and
with many gestures told his story. At intervals in his speech two men
stepped forward for examination. The jaw of one of them was very stiff
and three of his teeth were gone. As to the other, his face was still
tied up in bandages of tanned deer skin. His jaw was said to be broken.
The Jap girl, in spite of her peril, smiled. Johnny had done his work
well.

There followed long harangues by other members of the reindeer tribe.
The last speech was made by the headman of East Cape. It was the longest
of all.

At length a native boy turned to the Jap girl and spoke to her in
English.

"They say, that one; they say all; you die. What you say?"

"I say want--a--die," she replied smiling.

This answer, when interpreted, brought forth many a grunt of surprise.

"They say, that one! they say all," the boy went on, "how you want--a
die? Shoot? Stab?"

"Shoot." She smiled again, then, "But first I do two thing. I sing. I
dance. My people alletime so."

"Ki-ke" (go ahead) came in a chorus when her words had been
interpreted.

No people are fonder of rhythmic motion and dreamy chanting than are the
natives of the far north. The keen-witted Japanese girl had learned this
by watching their native dancing. She had once visited an island in the
Pacific and had learned while there a weird song and a wild, whirling
dance.

Now, as she stood up she kicked from her feet the clumsy deer skin boots
and, from beneath her parka