scholars smart in more ways than one." She held out the rod to the master.

There was a movement in the air like a flash. Benjamin, with noiseless
feet, had slipped up behind her. He had conceived the idea that the offer
of the rod somehow meant enmity to him. He seized the rod from behind the
woman, and, sweeping it through the air, with kindled eye and glowing
cheeks, wheeled before the master.

"Boston tilicum, don't you dare!"

"Boston tilicum" was the Chinook for an American, and the Chinook or trade
language had become common to all the tribes on the Columbia. The early
American traders on the Northern Pacific coast were from Boston.

He raised the rod aloft defiantly like a young champion, and presented a
heroic figure, which excited the tremulous admiration and wonder of the
little group. He then pointed it toward Mrs. Woods, and said
contemptuously in Chinook:

"Cloochman!" (woman).

The scene changed to the comical. Mrs. Woods snatched off her broad
sun-bonnet, revealing her gray hair, and assumed an appearance of
defiance, though her heart was really trembling with fear.

"I ain't afraid of no Injuns," she said, "and I don't take any impudence
from anybody. I've had to fight the whole world all my life, and I've
always conquered. There--now--there!"

She whipped the rod out of the young Indian's hand.