had
come to puzzle Peter--the same slim, graceful little body, the same
shining eyes, and yet she was half a dozen years younger than Nada. For
the first time Peter was looking at Sun Cloud, the daughter of Yellow
Bird. And in that moment he loved her, just as something gave him
confidence and faith in the starry-eyed woman whose hands were in his
master's. Then Yellow Bird called, and the girl went to her mother, and
Jolly Roger hugged her in his arms and kissed her on the scarlet mouth
she turned up to him. Then they hurried along the shore toward the
fishing camp, the children racing ahead to tell the news, led by Sun
Cloud--with Peter running at her heels.

[Illustration: They hurred to the camp, the children racing ahead to
tell the news]

Never had Peter heard anything from a man's throat like the two yells
that came from Slim Buck, Yellow Bird's husband and chief of the tribe,
after he had greeted Jolly Roger McKay. It was a note harking back to
the old war trails of the Crees, and what followed it that night was
most exciting to Peter. Big fires were built of white driftwood, and
there was singing and dancing, and a great deal of laughter and eating,
and the interminable howling of half a hundred Siwash dogs. Peter did
not like the dogs, but he did no fighting because his love for Sun
Cloud kept him close to the touch of her little brown hand.

That night, in the glow of the big fire outside of Slim Buck's tepee,
Jolly Roger's heart thrilled with a pleasure which it had not known for
a long time. He loved to look at Yellow Bird. Five years had not
changed her. Her eyes were starry bright. Her teeth were like milk. The
color still came and went in her brown cheeks, even as it did in Sun
Cloud's. All of which, in this heart of a wilderness, meant that she
had been happy and prosperous. And he also loved to look at Sun Cloud,
who possessed all of that rare wildflower beauty sometimes given to the
northern Crees. And it did him good to look at Slim Buck. He was a
splendid mate, and a royal father, and Jolly Roger found himself
strangely happy in their happiness. In the eyes of men and women and
little children he saw that happiness all about him. For three winters
there had been splendid trapping, Slim Buck told him, and this season
they had caught and dried enough fish to carry them through the
following winter, even if black days should come. His people were rich.
They had many warm blankets, and good clothes,