1 62 THE WILDERNESS HUNTER. 



The only discomfort we really minded was an 

 occasional night in wet blankets. 



In the evening the Indian and the white 

 hunter played interminable games of seven-up 

 with a greasy pack of cards. In the course 

 of his varied life the hunter had been a pro- 

 fessional gambler ; and he could have easily 

 won all the Indian's money, the more speedily 

 inasmuch as the untutored red man was 

 always attempting to cheat, and was thus 

 giving his far more skilful opponent a certain 

 right to try some similar deviltry in return. 

 However, it was distinctly understood that 

 there should be no gambling, for I did not 

 wish Ammal to lose all his wages while in my 

 employ; and the white man stood loyally by 

 his agreement. Ammal's people, just before 

 I engaged him, had been visited by their 

 brethren, the Upper Kootenais, and in a series 

 of gambling matches had lost about all their 

 belongings. 



Ammal himself was one of the Lower Koot- 

 enais; I had hired him for the trip, as the 

 Indians west of the Rockies, unlike their 

 kinsmen of the plains, often prove hard and 

 willing workers. His knowledge of English 

 was almost nil ; and our very scanty conver- 

 sation was carried on in the Chinook jargon, 

 universally employed between the mountains 

 and the Pacific. Apparently he had three 

 names : for he assured us that his " Boston '' 

 (/. e., American) name was Ammal ; his 

 " Siwash " (/. e., Indian) name was Appak ; 

 and that the priest called him Abel — for the 

 Lower Kootenais are nominally Catholics. 

 Whatever his name he was a good Indian, as 



