"No like," repeated Bill, and smiled grimly.
Wabishke regarded him in wondering silence. In his life he had seen many strange things, but never a thing like this—a white man who of his own choice drank spring-water from a fish-can and poured good whisky upon his feet!
The Indian's eyes wandered from the pile of goods to the bottle, in which about one-fourth of the contents remained, and realized that he was at a disadvantage, for he knew by experience that a white man and his whisky are hard to part.
Selecting the can of salmon from the pile, he shoved it toward the man, who again shook his head. Then followed the match-box, the sheath-knife, and the shirt, until only the tobacco-box and the boots remained, and still the man shook his head.
Slowly the tobacco-box was handed back, and the Indian was eying the boots. Bill laughed.
"No. You'll need those. Just hand over the moccasins, and you are welcome to the boots and the booze."
The Indian hastily untied the thongs, and the white man thrust his bandaged feet into the soft comfort of the mooseskin moccasins. A few minutes later he took the trail, following the windings of Moncrossen's new tote-road into the North.
The air was filled with a light, feathery snow, and, in spite of the ache of his stiffened muscles, he laughed.
"The first bottle of whisky I ever entered on the right side of the ledger," he said aloud—and again he laughed.
He was in the big timber now. The tall, straight pines of the Appleton holdings stretched away for a hundred miles, and formed a high wall on either side of the tote-road, which bent to the contour of ridge and swamp and crossed small creeks on rough log bridges or corduroy causeways.