Page:The trail of the golden horn.djvu/74

70 moose steak which Zell had just fried. “You certainly learned your lessons well.”

The girl smiled, while an expression of pleasure shone in her eyes.

“Mrs. Norris always taught us,” she explained. “We took turns cooking at the school. I won several prizes for baking bread, and making cake. Tim was very fond of my cooking.”

“You were able to teach your mother many things, I suppose, when you went back home?”

“Not much. My mother, you see, was from the Coast, and the women there are good cooks. She was a Chilcat Indian, and her mother taught her. I have heard my father say that he married her because she was such a good cook. I guess, though, he was just in fun.”

“Does the missionary at The Gap do his own cooking now?” Marion asked.

“I suppose he does, Miss. But I don’t believe he eats much, anyway. He didn’t when we were at the school, as he was always thinking and writing so much. And now that he is alone maybe he eats less, for he must be working a great deal.”

“What does he write about?”

“He makes books for the Indians. He writes hymns, prayers, and the Bible in their own language. He has taught many of them to read.”

“Do the Indians use the books?”

“Oh, yes. They carry them with them to their hunting-grounds, and sing the hymns around their camp-fires at night.”

“But you told me that the Indians have left the mission.”

“In a way they have, but they like to read the Bible