TRADING ON THE SHIP
AFTER the hides and tallow had been sent up to the ship, the captain said that the people could come aboard and trade.
The Father from the Carmel Mission near Monterey said he was going to visit the ship. He took some of his own Mission Indians with him. Docas, Oshda, and Pantu went along also to trade for their Mission.
The sailors took them out in one of the boats. As the Father went on board the ship, the captain gave orders to fire the big guns of the ship as a salute to him; then the sailors showed the visitors all over the ship. Pantu was much interested. He thought, “If only we Indians could have boats and ships to sail about in instead of just tule-boats!”
As the Father went on board the ship, the captain gave orders to fire the big guns as a salute to himAs the Father went on board the ship, the captain gave orders to fire the big guns as a salute to him.
As the Father went on board the ship, the captain gave orders to fire the big guns as a salute to him.
As the Father went on board the ship, the captain gave orders to fire the big guns as a salute to him.
At last the captain took them down into the trading-room. All around it were shelves, on which the goods were laid out. Father Catala had told Docas to bring a great many shoes andaxes for the Mission, so he bought those first. Then the captain said, “You brought so many hides you can still have some more things.”
At first, Docas did not know what to take. There were so many new and beautiful things spread out before him. Soon he saw a round, flat, thick thing, about as big as a cake of tallow, with a hole through the middle of it.
“What is it?” he asked.
“It’s a grindstone to sharpen your axes with,” answered the captain.
He showed Docas how to put a sharp edge on the axe with the grindstone, so Docas said he would take two of them. Docas also got some beads and a toothbrush for Pantu.
After the Father had finished his trading, they all got into the boat again, and the sailors started to row them back to the shore. When they were a little way from the ship, the sailors stopped rowing and rested, while the men on the ship fired a parting salute to the Mission Father.
All this time Pantu had been holding his toothbrush tightly in one hand. He was so happy to think that he was going to brush his teeth just as the little white boys did. As soon as they got to land, he jumped out and ran to the creek. He dipped the brush into the water, and he rubbed and rubbed his teeth with it. He rubbed so hard that the blood came.
“It isn’t so much fun as I thought it would be,” he said to himself.
On the next day they started for home, and Pantu had many things to tell Colla.