Colina carefully avoided glancing in Strange’s direction.

“At that time Nesis had no idea of using what she learned from their talk,” she went on.  “She merely wished to hear English spoken, so that she would not forget what her father had taught her.  Nesis attached a mysterious virtue to the ability to speak English.  It was a kind of fetish with her.

“She believed that her father’s ability to speak English had threatened Watusk’s power in the tribe, and that Watusk, on that account, had had her father put out of the way.  Therefore she kept it a secret that she could speak it, too.

“Nesis said that all of Mr. Strange’s and Watusk’s talk was against the white people.  She said they used to discuss how the whites could be driven out of the country.  She said that Mr. Strange used to tell Watusk about how Louis Riel fought the whites.

“He said that Louis Riel would be the king of this country to-day if he had not gone crazy.  He used to ask Watusk how he would like to be a king.  He used to flatter Watusk and tell him he was a great chief.

“He explained to Watusk how he could kill a whole army of the whites if he could lead them into the little valley beyond the Kakisa.”

A gasp of astonishment escaped the court.  In almost every sentence of Colina’s there was the material of a fresh sensation.

Ambrose lifted his head, and a little color came back to his cheeks.  Whether or not it saved him in the end, it was sweet to hear himself justified.

Colina continued:  “Nesis said that Watusk often complained to Mr. Strange that my father was always making the goods dearer and the fur cheaper.  Mr. Strange told him to wait a little while and he would see great changes.

“Pretty soon things would get so bad, he explained, that the Company would take John Gaviller away and make him the trader.  He told Watusk to wait until the grain was thrashed next year, meaning last summer, and there would be great trouble.

“He said if Watusk did everything he told him he would make Watusk a great man.  At different times he gave Watusk presents—­silk handkerchiefs, finger rings, pistols, a sword.  By and by he said he would make Watusk great presents.

“Nesis’s story then jumped to the time, last summer, when Watusk and many of the people rode into Fort Enterprise to get flour,” Colina went on.  “In the mean time Ambrose Doane had been to Enterprise, and had gone away again to get an outfit.

“My father refused to give the Indians any flour because they had been trading with his competitor.  The Indians were angry, Nesis said, and Watusk was scared.  One night Gordon Strange came to see Watusk, and Nesis listened outside the teepee.

“She said Strange said to Watusk to let the Indians get mad.  Strange said he wanted to have trouble.  There was talk of burning the store then.  Strange said that would fix John Gaviller, all right.  He told Watusk that the police would let the people off easily because, as he said, my father had treated them so badly.”