hold it very dear I wish to give it to that people whom I hold dearest.
That people is the Crees of Rupert's House. And because you are the
fairest, I give you this robe so that there may be peace between your
people and me."

Ill-expressed as this little speech was, from the flowery standpoint of
Indian etiquette, nevertheless its subtlety gained applause. The Indians
grunted deep ejaculations of pleasure. "Good boy!" muttered Sam Bolton,
pleased.

Dick lifted the robe and touched it to the girl's hand. She gasped in
surprise, then slowly raised her eyes to his.

"Damn if you ain't pretty enough to kiss!" cried Dick.

[Illustration: "Pretty enough to kiss!" cried Dick]

He stepped across the robe, which had fallen between them, circled the
girl's upturned face with the flat of his hands, and kissed her full on
the lips.

The kiss of ceremony is not unknown to the northern Indians, and even
the kiss of affection sometimes to be observed among the more
demonstrative, but such a caress as Dick bestowed on May-may-gwán filled
them with astonishment. The girl herself, though she cried out, and ran
to hide among those of her own sex, was not displeased; she rather liked
it, and could not mis-read the admiration that had prompted it. Nor did
the other Indians really object. It was a strange thing to do, but
perhaps it was a white man's custom. The affair might have blown away
like a puff of gunpowder.