Then shall I deal with thy people after.'
'The Wolf will have it so. I will take his tokens,--but I would
warn him.' Mackenzie passed over the goods, taking care to clog
the rifle's ejector, and capping the bargain with a kaleidoscopic
silk kerchief. The Shaman and half a dozen young braves entered,
but he shouldered boldly among them and passed out.
'Pack!' was his laconic greeting to Zarinska as he passed her
lodge and hurried to harness his dogs. A few minutes later he
swept into the council at the head of the team, the woman by his
side. He took his place at the upper end of the oblong, by the
side of the chief. To his left, a step to the rear, he stationed
Zarinska, her proper place. Besides, the time was ripe for
mischief, and there was need to guard his back.
On either side, the men crouched to the fire, their voices lifted
in a folk-chant out of the forgotten past. Full of strange,
halting cadences and haunting recurrences, it was not beautiful.
'Fearful' may inadequately express it. At the lower end, under
the eye of the Shaman, danced half a score of women. Stern were
his reproofs of those who did not wholly abandon themselves to
the ecstasy of the rite.
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