During the afternoon of the following day Lawson the fur-runner for the
Hudson's Bay Company arrived with his dog-train. He shook hands with
Oo-koo-hoo and Amik and the boys, and kissed the women and the girls,
as the custom of the traders is. It being late in the day, Oo-koo-hoo
decided not to begin trading until next morning. So they spent the
evening in spinning yarns around the fire. Shortly after breakfast
strange dogs were heard. The boys ran out and saw an unknown man
approaching. When the newcomer--a French-Canadian half-breed--had
eaten, and had joined the others in a smoke, he gave me a letter from
Free Trader Spear. Then Oo-koo-hoo began questioning him:

"My brother, you are a stranger in this country; so I have given you
fire and food and tobacco in friendship. Tell me now why and from
whence you come?"

The half-breed replied: "My brother, I come from the Border
Lands--where the plains and the forests meet--and my name is Gibeault.
I have come to trade regularly with you as I am now working for Free
Trader Spear, whose post, as you know, is near Fort Consolation. You
will do well to encourage opposition to the Great Company, and thus
raise the price of furs."

The half-breed then presented the hunters with several plugs of "T &
B," some matches, tea, sugar, flour, and a piece of "sow-belly." For
some time Oo-koo-hoo sat holding a little fresh-cut tobacco in his
hand, until Gibeault, taking notice, asked him why he did not smoke it.

"The Great Company always gives me a pipe," replied the hunter.

The runner for the free trader, not to be outdone, gave him a pipe.