er pleasant to his tongue. When he tried
to swallow, it would not remain, but came forth again. He felt a wish
to drink up the river. His head had an evil spirit inside which
squeezed the brain and tried to burst open the skull. His eyes, also,
were swelled up so that he could hardly see, and his nose was two times
more big than the day before."

"That must have been an awful size, Big Otter, considering the size of
it by nature! And what d'ye think was the cause of it all?"

As this question involved thought, the Indian smoked his pipe in silence
for some time, staring for inspiration into the fire.

"It must have been," he at length replied, "hunting with his fathers
before the right time had come. Big Otter was not dead, and he chased
the deer too much, perhaps, or fought too much. It may be that, having
only his earth-body, he ate too much."

"Don't ye think it's just possible," suggested Macnab, "that, having
only your earth-body, you _drank_ too much?"

"Waugh!" replied the red-man. Then, after a few minutes' devotion to
the pipe, he added, "Big Otter would like very much to taste the
fire-water again."

"It's well for you, my boy," returned the other, "that you can't get it
in these regions, for if you could you'd soon be in the happy
hunting-grounds (or the other place) without your earth-body."

At this point the Highlander became more earnest, and treated his
companion to what would have passed in civilised lands for a fair
temperance lecture, in which he sought to describe graphically the evils
of strong drink. To this the Indian listened with the most intense
attention and an owlish expression, making no audible comment whatever--
with the exception, now and then, of an emphatic "Waugh!" but indicating
his interest by the working of his features and the glittering of his
great eyes. Whether the reasoning of Macnab had much influence at that
time could not be ascertained, for he was yet in the middle of one of
his most graphic anecdotes when the Indian's owlish eyes shut with a
suddenness that was quite startling, and he roused himself just in time
to prevent his chin from dropping on his chest.

"Waugh!" he exclaimed with a slightly-confused look.

"Just so," replied Macnab with a laugh, "and now, boy, we'll turn in,
for it strikes me we're going to have warmish weather, and if so, we
shall have to make the most of our time."

Soon the blankets were spread; the fire was replenished with