The red-man smoked over this remark in silence for a considerable time, evidently engaged in profound thought. He was one of those children of nature whose brains admit ideas slowly, and who, when they are admitted, turn them round and round and inside out without much apparent advantage.
At last he looked earnestly at his companion and asked—“Is there fire-water at Fort Dunregan?”
“Well, no—I believe not. At least there is none for red-men. Why do you ask? Did you ever taste fire-water?”
The Indian’s dark eyes seem to gleam with unwonted light as he replied in tones more solemn than usual:—
“Yes. Once—only once—a white brother gave some fire-water to Big Otter.”
“Humph!” ejaculated Macnab, “and what did you think of it!”
“Waugh!” exclaimed the red-man, sending a cloud out of his mouth with such energy that it seemed like a little cannon-shot, while he glared at his friend like a superannuated owl. “Big Otter thought that he was in the happy hunting-grounds with his fathers; his heart was so light and his limbs were so strong, but that was only a dream—he was still in this world. Then he took a little more fire-water, and the dream became a reality! He was away with his fathers on the shining plains; he chased the deer with the lightness of a boy and the strength of a bear. He fought, and his foes fell before his strong arm like snowflakes on the river, but he scalped them not. He could not find them—they were gone. Big Otter was so strong that he had knocked both their lives and bodies into the unknown! He saw his father and his mother—and—his wife and the little one who—died. But he could not speak to them, for the foes came back again, and he fought and took some more fire-water to make him fight better; then the world went on fire, the stars came down from the sky like snow when the wind is high. The Big Otter flew up into the air, and then—forgot—”
“Forgot what?” asked Macnab, much interested in his red friend’s idea of intoxication.
“Forgot everything,” replied the Indian, with a look of solemn perplexity.
“Well, I don’t wonder; you must have had a good swig, apparently. How did ye feel next morning?”