"What do you mean?"
"It no good. No can buy grub at Company store."
Boyd saw that the group was eying him suspiciously.
"Nonsense! What's the matter with it?"
"Storekeeper laugh and say it come from you. He say, take it back. He no sell my people any flour."
It was evident that even Constantine was vaguely distrustful.
Another native extended a coin, saying;
"We want money like this."
Boyd took the piece and examined it, whereupon a light broke upon him. The coin was stamped with the initials of one of the old fishing companies, and he instantly recognized a ruse practiced in the North during the days of the first trading concerns. It had been the custom of these companies to pay their Indians in coins bearing their own impress and to refuse all other specie at their posts, thus compelling the natives to trade at company stores. By carefully building up this system they had obtained a monopoly of Indian labor, and it was evident that Marsh and his associates had robbed the Aleuts in the same manner during the days before the consolidation. Boyd saw at once the cause of the difficulty and undertook to explain it, but he had small success, for the Indians had learned a hard lesson and were loath to put confidence in the white man's promises. Seeing that his words carried no conviction, Emerson gave up at last, saying:
"If the Company store won't take this money, I'll sell you whatever you need from the commissary. We are not going to have any trouble over a little thing like this."