Owindia | Page 7

his threat of revenge, and had caused me months of suffering in body
and mind; he knew me well enough to be sure that I was in earnest
when I told him that his life would be forfeited if the spell were not
removed. So I released my hold and quitted the house. On cutting open
my saddle I discovered that the whole original lining had been removed
and replaced by an immense number of baneful roots and herbs, which
I burnt on the spot. How this evil deed had been effected I could not
even surmise, but so it was, and from that hour I was a different
man--my mind recovered its equilibrium, I was no longer affected by
pain and distress of body, or haunted by nightly visions. Those who
smile at the medicine- man, and are sceptical as to his power, may keep
to their own opinions; I believe that the Almighty has imbued many of
His creatures, both animate and inanimate, with a subtle power for
good or evil, and that it is given to some men to evoke that power and
to bring about results which it is impossible for the uninitiated to
foresee or to avert!"
But we have wandered too far from Accomba and her sad history. We
must now transport the reader to that portion of the shores of the
Mackenzie which was described at the opening of our story. The scene

indeed should be laid a few miles lower down the river than that at first
described, but the aspect and condition of things is but little altered. A
number of camps are there, pitched within some ten, twenty, and thirty
yards of each other. The dark brown, smoke-tinted leather tents or
lodges, have a certain air of comfort and peacefulness about them,
which is in no wise diminished, by the smoke curling up from the
aperture at the top, or the voices of children running in and out from the
tent door. These are the tents of Mackenzie River Indians, speaking the
Slave tongue, and mostly known by name to the Company's officers at
the neighbouring forts or trading posts, known also to the Bishop and
Clergy at the Mission stations, who have often visited these Indians and
held services for them at their camps, or at the little English churches at
Fort Simpson, Fort Norman, etc. etc., and those little dark-eyed
children are, with but few exceptions, baptized Christians. Many of
them have attended the Mission Schools for the few weeks in Spring or
Fall, when their parents congregate round the forts; they can con over
portions of their Syllabic Prayer-books, and find their place in the little
Hymn books, for "O come, all ye faithful," "Alleluia! sing to Jesus;"
and "Glory to thee, my God, this night," while such anthems as "I will
arise," and others are as familiar to the Slave Indians as to our English
children. Yes, it is a Christian community we are looking at; and yet,
sad to say, it is in one of those homes that the dark deed was committed
which left five little ones motherless, and spread terror and confusion
among the whole camp.
It was a lovely morning in May, 1880. The ice upon the Mackenzie
River had but lately given way, having broken up with one tremendous
crash. Huge blocks were first hurled some distance down the river, then
piled up one above another until they reached the summit of the bank
fifty or sixty feet high, and being deposited there in huge unsightly
masses, were left to thaw away drop by drop, a process which it would
take some five or six weeks to accomplish. Some of the men had lately
returned from a bear hunt, being, however, disappointed of their prey--a
matter of less consideration than usual, for Bruin, being but lately
roused from his long winter sleep, was in a less prime condition than he
would be a few weeks later. Michel, the hunter, had one of his "ugly
fits" upon him;--this was known throughout the camps. The women
only shrugged their shoulders, and kept clear of his lodge. The men

paid him but little attention, even when he skulked in for awhile after
dark to smoke his pipe by their camp fire. But on this morning neither
Michel nor his wife had been seen outside their camp; only one or two
of the children had turned out at a late hour and looked wistfully about,
as if longing for someone to give them food and other attention.
Suddenly, from within the lodge a shot was heard, and a terrible
muffled sound, which none heard without a shudder. Then came the
shrieks of the terrified children, who ran out of the lodge towards their
neighbours. By this time