_SNARES._ 1812. Machecawa, who was still a widower, made no secret of his admiration of Abbie. With a dogged determination, characteristic of his race, he resolved to win her, and having evidently made a deep study of the case, had put it down as a first axiom that, if he began by wooing the father and brothers, all things being favorable, he would soon have the daughter and sister. He had not been slow to observe a change in the atmosphere of the Chief's home since Abbie's return from the convent. He felt instinctively a lack of warmth in the welcome received. He had little encouragement to spend the day in the kitchen as he had done formerly. This coolness on the part of the weaker members of the family he attributed to two things. First, that they had moved into a new house overlooking the Falls, on the western hill of the village, which they regarded as altogether too grand for him; and, second, that Harold Wrenford had succeeded in rousing within them a want of trust and a suspicion that he had sinister designs upon certain members of the family. Numerous and costly gifts and game of all kinds found their way to the White House, as the new home was called. A short deerskin coat, or shirt, beautifully embroidered with colored silks and beads, was sent to the Chief. Moccasins similarly decorated were given to his sons. Baskets and bark boxes ornamented with colored porcupine quills were presented to Mrs. Wright, who was suspicious of the motives which prompted these offerings. The two younger boys, who were still in their teens, were delighted with the attentions of the Red Chief, for he taught them many lessons in hunting and trapping, and confided to them many secrets unknown to white men. Casting his Indian superstitions to the winds, he told them of the existence of iron mines in the neighboring hills. He led them into the depths of the forests that they might witness one of the strangest of ceremonies, which the Indians were shy of performing in the presence of whites--the ceremony of the marriage of the nets--and which Rug afterwards described as follows: "Supper was hardly finished when a huge fire was kindled on an open space on the bank of the river, and their Chief called out in a loud bass voice, 'Ho!' "'Ho! Ho!! Ho!!!' came thick and fast from every part of the camp. "They then surrounded two beautiful young Indian girls, and laying at their feet several rude nets, which had been made from the inner bark of trees, commenced to dance round them, yelling, stamping with their feet and brandishing their arms, while the two Indian maidens, who stood apart from each other, raised the nets between them and held them suspended in the air.