Red River Valley, and started forth for his first term in an Eastern
college, he knew that the next few years would be a fight to the very
teeth. If he could have called himself "Indian" or "White" he would have
known where he stood in the great world of Eastern advancement, but he
was neither one nor the other--but here he was born to be a thing apart,
with no nationality in all the world to claim as a blood heritage. All
his young life he had been accustomed to hear his parents and himself
referred to as "half-breeds," until one day, when the Governor-General
of all Canada paid a visit to the Indian school, and the principal, with
an air of pride, presented "Fire-Flint" to His Excellency, with "This
is our head pupil, the most diligent boy in the school. He is Trapper
Larocque's son."

"Oh? What tribe does he belong to?" asked the Governor, as he clasped
the boy's hand genially.

"Oh, Fire-Flint belongs to no tribe; he is a half-breed," explained
the principal.

"What an odd term!" said the Governor, with a perplexed wrinkle across
his brows; then, "I imagine you mean a half-blood, not breed." His voice
was chilly and his eyes a little cold as he looked rather haughtily at
the principal. "I do not like the word 'breed' applied to human beings.
It is a term for cattle and not men," he continued. Then, addressing
"Fire-Flint," he asked, "Who are your parents, my boy?"

"My father is half French and half Cree; my mother is about
three-quarters Cree; her grandfather was French," replied the boy,
while his whole loyal young heart reached out towards this great
man, who was lifting him out of the depths of obscurity. Then His