for his wife, and be a prince among them. He would not go: so they drew
away again and fought. A stone-axe brought the great man to the ground.
He was stunned, not killed. Then the other man gave up, and said he would
be one of them if they would take him. They would have killed him but for
one of their women. She said that he should live to tell them tales of
the south country and the strange people, when they came again to their
camp-fires. So they let him live, and he was one of them. But the chief
man, because he was stubborn and scorned them, and had killed the son of
their king in the fight, they made a slave, and carried him north a
captive, till they came to this lake--the Lake of the Great Slave.

"In all ways they tried him, but he would not yield, neither to wear
their dress nor to worship their gods. He was robbed of his clothes, of
his gold-handled dagger, his belt of silk and silver, his carbine with
rich chasing, and all, and he was among them almost naked,--it was
summer, as I said, yet defying them. He was taller by a head than any of
them, and his white skin rippled in the sun like soft steel."

Tybalt was inclined to ask Pierre how he knew all this, but he held his
peace. Pierre, as if divining his thoughts, continued:

"You ask how I know these things. Very good: there are the legends, and
there were the papers of the Company. The Indians tried every way, but it
was no use; he would have nothing to say to them. At last they came to
this lake. Now something great occurred. The woman who had been the wife
of the king's dead son, her heart went out in love of the Great Slave;
but he never looked at her. One day there were great sports, for it was
the feast of the Red Star. The young men did feats of strength, here on
this ground where we sit. The king's wife called out for the Great Slave
to measure strength with them all. He would not stir. The king commanded