Indiana had succeeded in dyeing the
quills of the porcupine that she had captured on Grape Island; with these
she worked a pair of beautiful mocassins and an arrow case for Hector,
besides making a sheath for Louis's _couteau-du-chasse_, of which the young
hunter was very proud, bestowing great praise on the workmanship.
Indiana appeared to be deeply engrossed with some work that she was engaged
in, but preserved a provoking degree of mystery about it, to the no
small annoyance of Louis, who, among his other traits of character, was
remarkably inquisitive, wanting to know the why and wherefore of everything
he saw.
Indiana first prepared a frame of some tough wood, it might be the inner
bark of the oak or elm or hiccory; this was pointed at either end, and wide
in the middle--not very much unlike the form of some broad, flat fish; over
this she wove an open network of narrow thongs of deer-hide, wetted to make
it more pliable, and securely fastened to the frame: when dry, it became
quite tight, and resembled a sort of coarse bamboo-work such as you see on
cane-bottomed chairs and sofas.
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