6o 



AMERICAN GAME FISHES. 



a potlatch prefaces the ceremony with a feast. It was to 

 aid in providing Salmon for a feast of this kind that I volun- 

 teered, and the incidents of which I will relate. 



I had just returned from a hunting-trip in the mountains, 

 was busily engaged in reloading cartridges, when a shadow fell 

 across my threshold. Looking up, I saw, intently watching 

 me, Skool, chief of the Sumas, prince of the Nootsachs of 

 the Lummies, and a man fitted by nature and disposition to 

 be Major Domo of Hades. A dirty, sneaking scoundrel he 

 is, and if he knew how to be worse than he is, Skool would 

 certainly be worse. 



I kept on with my work, paying no attention to him. For 

 some minutes he stood motionless as a statue, and then, in a 

 voice modulated to an almost womanly tenderness, he said, 

 "Brother, Skool is here." Then I dropped my tools and 

 asked him what he wanted. 



"I have known my brother these many years," began the 

 crafty Skool; "at times he is violent, and uses his hands on 

 the heads and bodies of us, his red brothers. But for all the 

 beatings he has given us, still we love him. True, we do not 

 like to be beaten with sticks; neither do we like to be kicked. 

 Should any other than our brother do these things, some 

 night a knife would seek his heart; but to even be abused by 

 the white hunter, who fears nothing, is an honor. Skool asks 

 a favor of his brother. When I told Skaleel, he said, 'No; 

 I, Skaleel, am old and wise he will never grant even you, 

 Skool, such a great favor. ' " 



"Well, what do you want?" I asked. 



Then Skool assumed an amusing attitude, and, in a voice 

 that would make the fortune of an actor, began: 



"I, Skool, am brave, and wise, and rich. I have many 

 canoes, many horses, many blankets. In the lodge of Skool 

 are many bundles of dried Salmon, many bales of blankets. 

 I have looked at this great wealth; I have thought, here is 

 wealth that would make tribes happy, wealthy, and contented; 



