The Land of the Musk-Oat 



The band of youngsters trooped round Jones, and 

 after tasting the white lumps, shrieked in such 

 delight that the braves and squaws shuffled out of the 

 tepees. 



In all his days Jones had never seen such miserable 

 Indians. Dirty blankets hid all their person, except 

 straggling black hair, hungry, wolfish eyes and moc- 

 casined feet. They crowded into the path before the 

 cabin door and mumbled and stared and waited. No 

 dignity, no brightness, no suggestion of friendliness 

 marked this peculiar attitude. 



u Starved ! &quot; exclaimed Rea. &quot; TheyVe come to 

 the lake to invoke the Great Spirit to send the rein 

 deer. Buff, whatever you do, don t feed them. If 

 you do, we ll have them on our hands all winter. It s 

 cruel, but, man, we re in the north ! &quot; 



Notwithstanding the practical trapper s admoni 

 tion Jones could not resist the pleading of the chil 

 dren. He could not stand by and see them starve. 

 After ascertaining there was absolutely nothing to 

 eat in the tepees, he invited the little ones into the 

 cabin, and made a great pot of soup, into which he 

 dropped compressed biscuits. The savage children 

 were like wildcats. Jones had to call in Rea to assist 

 him in keeping the famished little aborigines from 

 tearing each other to pieces. When finally they were 

 all fed, they had to be driven out of the cabin, 



157 



