FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142  
143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   >>   >|  
She crawled out cautiously, and looked up at the sun. It had passed the meridian. She was hungry, so she searched about and found some berries, but she longed for something more substantial. For the first time solitude seemed to pall upon her. She felt as if everything had been swept away. Toward night she crept down to the settlement. Several of the Indian women would take her in, she knew. There was Noko sitting just outside her tent; she would not accept a cabin of logs or stone. She was making a cape of gulls' feathers, that she might sell to some of the traders, who often took curious Indian finery home with their furs. Her three sons were trappers. One had a wife and three children that the poor mother provided for, and when her brave came home, she was devoted to him, grateful for a pleasant word. What curious ideas these aborigines had of wedded love! "Noko, will you take me in for the night, and give me some supper?" she asked, as she threw herself down beside the Indian woman, who, at forty, looked at least sixty, and though she had the face of her tribe, it was marked by a grave sort of pleasantness, and not the severity that generally characterized middle life. "Has the Sieur gone to Tadoussac?" "Not that I know of. But I have offended miladi. And your wigwam is always so clean, and there are no children." The woman shook her head with a sort of remonstrance. "You will have them of your own some day. When they are little, you will care for them. They will be no trouble. When they are older, you will be proud of them, and rejoice in their bravery. Then they go away, and forget." She began to put up her work. "Are you in earnest?" she asked. "Do you need shelter?" "Oh, the Gaudrions would take me in, but there is such a crowd, I am for a little quiet and solitude to-night." "Thou shalt have it. The Sieur has been good to me. But it is hardly wise to quarrel with one's home." "There was no quarrel. Miladi wanted me to do something that I could not. And you know I have no real claim upon them, Noko, I belong to Quebec, not to any person." She gave a little laugh that sounded almost shrill. There was not so much joy in belonging only to one's self. "To Quebec, yes." "Now let me kindle the fire. See how handy I can be. And to-morrow I can help you with that beautiful cape. I suppose the great ladies in Paris feel very grand in some of these things. I heard the Governor say that a g
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142  
143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Indian
 

quarrel

 

curious

 

children

 

Quebec

 
solitude
 
looked
 

rejoice

 
Gaudrions
 

earnest


shelter

 

wigwam

 
bravery
 

remonstrance

 
forget
 

trouble

 
morrow
 
kindle
 

beautiful

 

suppose


things

 

Governor

 

ladies

 

belonging

 

Miladi

 

wanted

 

sounded

 

shrill

 

belong

 

person


sitting

 
accept
 

Toward

 

settlement

 

Several

 
traders
 

feathers

 
making
 

meridian

 
hungry

searched
 

passed

 
crawled
 
cautiously
 

berries

 

longed

 
substantial
 

finery

 
marked
 

pleasantness