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rio sat down beside the cooking-lamp and began to do justice to the savoury viands, the odour of which was so enticing that it was too much for the dogs of the family. These had to be expelled by means of old bones. Mrs Mangivik being an expert shot with such artillery, the hall was soon cleared. After the meal, conversation was resumed, and conducted with considerably greater ease, owing to the chief subject of it being the Indian girl's costume, which was somewhat elaborate, for, being a chief's daughter, her dress was in many respects beautiful--especially those portions of it, such as the leggings and the head-dress, which were profusely ornamented with coloured beads and porcupine-quill work. The examination of the various parts occupied a considerable time. The mode of ascertaining names had been already discovered, and looks of admiration require no translation, so that the three women were deeply engaged in a most interesting talk when Cheenbuk and his father entered the hut after the conference. "Ribs, ribs and slices! Quick, woman," cried Mangivik cheerily as he sat down. "Cheenbuk has been talking and I have been listening till we are both quite hungry.--That is a pretty girl you have brought home with you, my son," said the old man, with a stare of approval. "Almost as pretty as some of our own girls." "Much prettier, I think," returned the youth, as he quietly selected a rib of walrus that seemed suitable to his capacity. "Tell your mother how you got hold of her," said Mangivik, whose teeth were next moment fastened in a steak. Cheenbuk made no reply. Eskimo manners did not require an answer in the circumstances. But when he had taken the edge off his appetite--and it took a good deal of dental grinding to do that--he looked across at Adolay with a genial expression and began to give his mother and sister a second, and much more graphic, edition of the speech which he had just delivered to the men. Of course the narration served to strengthen the bonds of friendship which had already been formed between the Mangivik family and the Indian girl, who had been thus unexpectedly added to their circle. That evening Nootka begged her brother to give her a lesson in the Dogrib language. On the same evening, during a moonlight ramble, Adolay asked him to give her a little instruction in the Eskimo tongue, and, just before he retired for the night, his mother asked him if he intended to take
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