LIFE AND LOVE RETURN 275 



down among his dead-duck decoys, and each time he had to 

 rush from his blind to drive the hawk away or it would have 

 carried away one of his dead ducks; and being short of am- 

 munition, he did not care to waste a shot. But he ended the 

 trouble by taking up all his dead ducks save one. Then he 

 removed the pointed iron from his muskrat spear, and ramming 

 the butt of the iron into the sand, left it standing up beside the 

 duck as though it had been a reed. The next time the hawk 

 swooped down, he let it drive with full force at the dead duck, 

 and thus impale itself on the muskrat spear. 



But one day, after the geese had passed on their northward 

 journey, Oo-koo-hoo began making other decoys of a different 

 nature, and when I questioned him, he replied that he was going 

 to kill a few loons with his bow and arrow, as Granny wished 

 to use the skins of their necks to make a work-bag for the 

 Factor's wife at Fort Consolation. After shaping the decoys, 

 he mixed together gunpowder, charcoal, and grease with which 

 to paint the decoys black — save where he left spots of the light- 

 coloured wood to represent the white markings of those beautiful 

 birds. When the decoys were eventually anchored in the bay 

 they bobbed about on the rippling water quite true to life and 

 they even took an occasional dive, when the anchor thong ran 

 taut. 



OO-KOO-HOO'S COURTING 



After supper, when we were talking about old customs, I 

 questioned Oo-koo-hoo as to how the Indians married before it 

 was the custom to go to the Post to get the clergyman to perform 

 that rite; and in reply he said: 



" My son, Ojistoh and I were married both ways, so I don't 

 think I can do better than to tell you how our own marriage 

 took place. It was this way, my son: one night, when old 

 Noo-koom, Ojistoh's grandmother, became convinced that we 

 lovers had sat under the blanket long enough, she decided that 



