re not treated with equal state,
for the woman drank from a copper-trimmed ladle, made from the polished
skull of a buffalo, while my cup was a dried gourd. We ate in
ceremonial silence, and were sunk in our own thoughts. There was food
till the stomach sickened at its gross abundance: whitefish, broth,
sagamite, the feet of a bear, the roasted tail of a beaver. I watched
the slaves bring the food and bear it away, and I said to myself that I
was sitting at my wedding feast,--a feast to celebrate a false marriage.

After the feast, the calumet was danced before us. Still there was
silence between the woman and myself as we sat side by side. I
wondered if she realized that this strange dance was still further
confirmation of what we had done; that it was part of the ceremony of
our marriage. It was a picture as unreal, as incomprehensible, as the
fate we had invited. The sun was westering, and shone full upon the
dancing braves. Their corded muscles and protruding eyes made them
ghastly as tortured wretches of some red-lit inferno. There was no
laughter nor jesting. The kettle-drum rumbled like water in a cave,
and the chant of the singers wailed, and died, and wailed again. And
this was for my wedding. I looked down at the woman's hand that bore
my ring, and saw that the strong, nervous fingers were gripped till
they were bloodless. What was she thinking? I tried to meet her look,
but it was rapt and awed. A wave of heat ran through me; the wild
music beat into my blood. This savage ritual that I had looked at with
alien eyes suddenly took to itself the dignity of the terrible
wilderness that bound us. The pageantry of its barbarism seized upon
me; it was a fitting setting for one kind of marriage,--not a marriage
of flowers and dowry, but the union of two great, stormy hearts who,
through clash and turmoil, had found peace at last. But ours was a
mock marriage, and we had not found peace. My breath choked me. I
leaped to my feet, and begged Onanguisse to end the ceremony, and let
me do my share. I knew what was my part as bridegroom, and Pierre and
Labarthe were waiting with their arms laden. I distributed hatchets,
Brazil tobacco, and beads from Venice. Then I turned to Onanguisse.

"We go to the land of the Malhominis, to the wild rice people. They
live toward the south-west?"

He nodded. "Across La Baye des Puants as the wild goose flies. Then
down till you find the mouth of the wild rice