The two were separated
by a partition of logs and hung with shelves on which were displayed
calicoes, tinned meats, and patent medicines. A door, cut in one end
of the partition, with buffalo-robes for portieres, permitted Cahill
to pass from behind the counter of one store to behind the counter of
the other. On one side Mary Cahill served the Colonel's wife with
many yards of silk ribbons to be converted into german favors, on the
other her father weighed out bears' claws (manufactured in Hartford,
Conn., from turkey-bones) to make a necklace for Red Wing, the squaw
of the Arrephao chieftain. He waited upon everyone with gravity, and
in obstinate silence. No one had ever seen Cahill smile. He himself
occasionally joked with others in a grim and embarrassed manner. But
no one had ever joked with him. It was reported that he came from New
York, where, it was whispered, he had once kept bar on the Bowery for
McTurk.
Sergeant Clancey, of G Troop, was the authority for this. But when,
presuming on that supposition, he claimed acquaintanceship with
Cahill, the post-trader spread out his hands on the counter and
stared at the sergeant with cold and disconcerting eyes.
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