dollars.  Peter had nothing but the wage he earned working on the C.P.R. section, which had been just enough to supply him with his daily muck-a-muck (food) before marriage.  How he calculated to feed two with the one basket of o-lil-ies (berries) which had been only large enough for one, did not seem to worry the community, as such things were taking place every day and were a common occurrence, and the klootchman always seemed to survive the ordeal.  And it must not be forgotten that Johnny had a seven and a half Stetson hat while all Peter could afford was a two bit cap.

It will always remain a mystery why one Indian should be more voluptuous, or gather more icties about him than another, when none of them have any visible assets from which to derive an income.  Unless it be that the more voluptuous Indian works every day of his weary, aimless life, spends nothing, and hoards the residual balance like a miser, lives on the old man before marriage, and on his klootchman after, we are unable to arrive at a solution.  No one knew by what means Johnny had acquired all his wealth.  Perhaps he had bought all his luxuries on jaw-bone from one store while he paid cash for his muck-a-muck in another.  There is one thing certain, the honest Indian is always the poorest, and in these days of the high cost of beans and bacon and rice, he has to be poorer to be more honest.  Now it came to pass that one day Johnny balanced his saddle, horse, quirt and Stetson hat with Peter’s nothing and argued that all the weight was in his own favor.  The keeka (girl) had made a mistake.  And to a man who measured everything by worldly icties this was sound argument, for the only big thing about Peter was his avoirdupois—­barring his heart, of course.  In the heat of his argument Johnny determined to deprive Peter of his sacred property.  And among the Indians this is not nearly so hazardous or hopeless or criminal an undertaking as it may seem through an Anglo-Saxon microscope.  Although a wife is considerable of an asset to a white man, she is not so to an Indian; and it may be to his advantage that he is more or less philosophical about it.  The cultus Indian was at Lillooet when this skookum tumtum (good thought) occurred to him.  He was cutting fire-wood with some of the Statlemulth (Lillooet Indians) in an effort to heal the wound in his left chest which had been left gaping since his recent defeat in battle.  He went back to Spence’s Bridge as fast as his seventy-five dollar cayuse, his sixty dollar saddle, his five dollar bridle and his two and a half quirt could carry him, and presented himself to his kith and kin.  The old man gave him a warm hand-shake.  They killed some fatted chickens and had the biggest time that the rancherie had ever known.  Peter and his schmamch (wife) were there and old acquaintances were renewed.  Johnny’s strong suit with his ancient flame was his personal icties; and when Peter was otherwise engaged he asked the girl to elope with him to Kamloops or Lillooet.  The next day was Sunday and Peter was going out with others on a cayuse hunt which had been planned some time before.  He invited Johnny because it would not be safe to leave him in possession of the fort, and in charge of such a valuable, though fickle, asset; for a great number of the Indian women are fickle.