Ojistoh should be married according to the custom
of our people, but it is also well that we should retain the friendship
of the priest and the nuns. On our return to Fort Perseverance,
therefore, the children must be married in the face of the Church; but
I charge you all not to let any one at the Post know that Oo-koo-hoo
and Ojistoh have already been married after the custom of our people.
It is well that we should live according to the ways of our
forefathers, and it is also well that we should seem to adopt the ways
of the white man. Now call Ojistoh, and let me hear what she has to
say.'

"When Ojistoh came in, her father told her that I was a good boy; that
I would certainly make a successful hunter; and that, if she would sit
upon the brush with me, they would give her plenty of marrow grease for
her hair and some porcupine quills for her moccasins. They might even
buy her some ribbon, beads, and silk thread for fancy work.
Furthermore, they said I would be given enough moose skins to make a
lodge covering.

"Ojistoh chewed meditatively upon the large piece of spruce gum in her
mouth, while she listened with averted eyes and drooping head. But old
Noo-koom, evidently supposing Ojistoh to be in doubt, interposed: 'You
must sit upon the brush with him, because I have promised that you
would. Did we not eat the fat and the blood, and use the firewood he
left at our door?'

"The remembrance, no doubt, of all that dainty eating decided Ojistoh,
and she gave her word that she would sit upon the brush with me if they
would promise to buy her a bottle of perfume when they returned to Fort
Perseverance. When Ojistoh left the lodge, her father said to me:

"'Listen, my boy, Noo-koom tells me that you have been sitting under
the blanket with my daughter Ojistoh. She is a good girl and will make
you happy; for she can make good moccasins.'

"'Yes,' I replied, 'I know the girl and I want her.'

"'To-morrow, then,' said her father, 'you must sit upon the brush with
her. I will tell the women to prepare the feast.'

"Next morning Ojistoh sat waiting in her lodge for me to come. Already
she wore the badge of womanhood, for not having a new dress she had
simply reversed her old one and buttoned it up in front instead of the
back. For it is the custom of Ojibway girls to button their dresses
behind and for married women to button theirs in front.

"My son, you should have seen me that morning, for I was bedeck