136 MOOSWA 



That was the beginning. In the end, which 

 came toward daylight, Fra^ois had neither grub 

 stake, nor rifle, nor train-dogs. Time after time 

 he took in exchange for some asset a little bundle 

 of Red-willow counter sticks ; time after time the 

 little sticks, some long and some short, dwindled 

 until they were all gone. The evil fate that had 

 been his down at the trapping stuck to him in 

 gambling. 



Broken, and half numbed by loss of sleep and 

 a sense of impending disaster, brought on by his 

 despoiled condition, Fra^ois crawled off to a 

 friend s tepee, laid down like a train-dog, and 

 fell asleep. 



