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