176 THE TRAPPER 



hanced by jet-black hair and deep dark eyes 

 there lurked still in this face the shadow of 

 bygone comeliness and of proud native woman- 

 hood. The figure, which was clothed in black 

 European clothing, excepting the tanned moccas- 

 ined feet, was tall and erect, unbent with the 

 weight of years, and hers was a bearing that 

 bespoke activity unusual to one of her years, 

 even among the tribes of her own enduring people. 



Her name was Nokum, the squaw of Gullfoot. 



There were no children in the cabin. Two sons 

 and a daughter there had been, who had married 

 and gone to hunting-grounds of their own. 



Gullfoot himself was a pure Chipewyan Indian : 

 chief of hunting people in manhood, child all his 

 life of the waste places near to the edge of the 

 Barren Grounds where the Eskimo is neighbour 

 over the marches to the north. He was a hand- 

 some man even at fifty ; a very handsome man. 

 He had beautiful, even features throughout : 

 a broad forehead typical of the Chipewyan 

 race high cheek-bones, a finely shaped nose, 

 a strong, square chin and a firm, clear-lipped 

 mouth. In stature he was tall for an Indian, 

 being not much under six feet, perfectly set up, 

 active in every movement ; lean ; an athlete, 

 every inch of him ; and at times this man's 

 bearing and reserve was that of a monarch, a man 

 whom you instinctively felt had pride of race, 

 and on whom you could never look as an inferior. 

 But he was no monarch, and made no pretence 

 to be. The days of the Great Chiefs were over, 

 though drops of their blood remained. Gullfoot 

 was Indian, and therefore a hunter and wanderer 



