LEGENDS OF VANCOUVER

the reason I say you will understand—you
are one of us-—you will know what I tell you
is true. The Great Tyee did not make that
archway, it was—” here his voice lowered-
"it was magic, red man's medicine and magic
—you savvy?”

“Yes,” I said. “Tell me, for I—savvy.”

“Long time ago,” he began, stumbling into
a half-broken English language, because, I
think, of the atmosphere and environment,
“long before you were born, or your father,
or grandfather, or even his father, this strange
thing happened. It is a story for women to
hear, to remember. Women are the future
mothers of the tribe, and we of the Pacific
Coast hold such in high regard, in great rever-
ence. The women who are mothers—o-ho!-
they are the important ones, we say. War-
riors, fighters, brave men, fearless daughters,
owe their qualities to these mothers—eh, is it
not always so?”

I nodded silently. The island was swinging
nearer to us, the “Grey Archway” loomed al-
most above us, the mysticism crowded close, it
enveloped me, caressed me, appealed to me.

“And?” I hinted.

“And,” he proceeded, “this ‘Grey Archway’
is a story of mothers, of magic, of witchcraft,
of warriors, of—1ove.”

An Indian rarely uses the word “love,” and

86

 

-‘—a = '-1;.