"I will let you go down river," said Makamuk; "and the sled and the dogs
and the six hunters to give you safety shall be yours."

"You are slow," was the cool rejoinder. "You have committed an offence
against my medicine in that you did not at once accept my terms. Behold,
I now demand more. I want one hundred beaver skins." (Makamuk sneered.)

"I want one hundred pounds of dried fish." (Makamuk nodded, for fish
were plentiful and cheap.) "I want two sleds--one for me and one for my
furs and fish. And my rifle must be returned to me. If you do not like
the price, in a little while the price will grow."

Yakaga whispered to the chief.

"But how can I know your medicine is true medicine?" Makamuk asked.

"It is very easy. First, I shall go into the woods--"

Again Yakaga whispered to Makamuk, who made a suspicious dissent.

"You can send twenty hunters with me," Subienkow went on. "You see, I
must get the berries and the roots with which to make the medicine. Then,
when you have brought the two sleds and loaded on them the fish and the
beaver skins and the rifle, and when you have told off the six hunters
who will go with me--then, when all is ready, I will rub the medicine on
my neck, so, and lay my neck there on that log. Then can your strongest
hunter take the axe and strike three times on my neck. You yourself can
strike the three times."

Makamuk stood with gaping mouth, drinking in this latest and most