strings of white and pearly beads in his hand--beads made from the
shells which he had found in lake and river--and ask her to make for
him a warrior's cloak. Such beads were not found every day. To have as
many as a dozen strings around one's neck, and all one's sleeves
trimmed with them, and enough left to weave in and out of one's glossy
black hair, and to make a broad, tinkling band around each ankle--why,
Sptz was a rich girl! and best of all, it was all her own earning. No
one gave it to her for nothing. Her own ten fingers and round arms had
won those jewels.

By-and-by some chief as wise as Umpl and as great would come from a
far-off village, with the teeth of the Cave Bear on his arm, and the
feather of the eagle in his hair; by his side would hang a sword of
ruddy copper; in his hand would be a spear tufted with finest fur. The
green branches of peace would be waved, and he would pass in peace
along the plank-way from the shore; but while he talked with Umpl and
the other chiefs at the council his eyes, like a wise man's, would be
roving hither and yonder, learning much about this new village and its
people. And there, as she would be standing modestly behind the
village girls, yet a full head taller than any of them, and straight
as a young pine, with the sunlight flashing on her necklaces, there he
would see--Sptz.

What was to happen next she would not say, even to herself. But she
worked very hard at her deerskins, and always had one in hand,
pricking little holes in it in odd and fashionable patterns, into
which she could rub berry stain. Sometimes she ornamented them with
pictures of animals, queerly drawn, which were thought very fine. But
here Umpl could beat her.