the tension, she had forgotten to breathe. With one hand pressed
spasmodically against her breast and the other as tightly gripped
about the dog-whip, she was as turned to stone. Even as he
looked, relief came to her. Her muscles loosened; with a heavy
sigh she settled back, giving him a look of more than love--of
worship.

Thling-Tinneh was trying to speak, but his people drowned his
voice. Then Mackenzie strode forward. The Fox opened his mouth to
a piercing yell, but so savagely did Mackenzie whirl upon him
that he shrank back, his larynx all agurgle with suppressed
sound. His discomfiture was greeted with roars of laughter, and
served to soothe his fellows to a listening mood.

'Brothers! The White Man, whom ye have chosen to call the Wolf,
came among you with fair words. He was not like the Innuit; he
spoke not lies. He came as a friend, as one who would be a
brother. But your men have had their say, and the time for soft
words is past.

'First, I will tell you that the Shaman has an evil tongue and is
a false prophet, that the messages he spake are not those of the
Fire-Bringer. His ears are locked to the voice of the Raven, and
out of his own head he weaves cunning fancies, and he has made
fools of you. He has no power.

'When the dogs were killed and eaten, and your stomachs were heavy
with untanned hide and strips of moccasins; when the old men
died, and the old women died, and the babes at the dry dugs of
the mothers died; when the land was dark, and ye perished as do