by his hand rather than by any other; and something troubled his breast,
and a cloud came in his eyes, so that for a moment he could not see. He
looked at the girl, so serious, eye to eye. Perhaps she understood. So,
after a time, he got calm as the farthest light in the sky, his face
shining among them all with a look none could read. He sat down, and
wrote upon pieces of bark with a spear-point--those bits of bark I have
seen also at Fort O'Glory. He pierced them through with dried strings of
the slippery-elm tree, and with the king's consent gave them to the
Company's man, who had become one of the people, telling him, if ever he
was free, or could send them to the Company, he must do so. The man
promised, and shame came upon him that he had let the other suffer alone;
and he said he was willing to fight and die if the Great Slave gave the
word. But he would not; and he urged that it was right for the man to
save his life. For himself, no. It could never be; and if he must die, he
must die.

"You see, a great man must always live alone and die alone, when there
are only such people about him. So, now that the letters were written, he
sat upon the ground and thought, looking often towards the girl, who was
placed apart, with guards near. The king sat thinking also. He could not
guess why the Great Slave should give the letters now, since he was not
yet to die, nor could the Company's man show a reason when the king asked
him. So the king waited, and told the guards to see that the Great Slave
did not kill himself.

"But the queen wanted the death of the girl, and was glad beyond telling
that the Slave must light the faggots. She was glad when she saw the
young braves bring a long sapling from the forest, and, digging a hole,
put it stoutly in the ground, and fetch wood, and heap it about.