box. "Ye have spoken of the streak of fat that runs in big men's
muscles, of the grit of women and the love, and ye have spoken fair; but
I have in mind things which happened when the land was young and the
fires of men apart as the stars. It was then I had concern with a big
man, and a streak of fat, and a woman. And the woman was small; but her
heart was greater than the beef-heart of the man, and she had grit. And
we traveled a weary trail, even to the Salt Water, and the cold was
bitter, the snow deep, the hunger great. And the woman's love was a
mighty love--no more can man say than this."

He paused, and with the hatchet broke pieces of ice from the large chunk
beside him. These he threw into the gold pan on the stove, where the
drinking-water thawed. The men drew up closer, and he of the cramps
sought greater comfort vainly for his stiffened body.

"Brothers, my blood is red with Siwash, but my heart is white. To the
faults of my fathers I owe the one, to the virtues of my friends the
other. A great truth came to me when I was yet a boy. I learned that to
your kind and you was given the earth; that the Siwash could not
withstand you, and like the caribou and the bear, must perish in the
cold. So I came into the warm and sat among you, by your fires, and
behold, I became one of you, I have seen much in my time. I have known
strange things, and bucked big, on big trails, with men of many breeds.
And because of these things, I measure deeds after your manner, and judge
men, and think thoughts. Wherefore, when I speak harshly of one of your
own kind, I know you will not take it amiss; and when I speak high of one
of my father's people, you will not take it upon you to say, 'Sitka
Charley is Siwash, and there is a crooked light in his eyes and small
honor to his tongue.' Is it not so?"