The Elder sat alone on a slab of granite outside a carelessly- erected tent on a Native reserve near Beardmore in northern Ontario, just east of Lake Nipigon. The previous night's rain was already drying off the ground, leaving only scattered mud patches in it's wake. Soon the early summer sun would turn these into crusty bits of dirt, only to be muddied the next rainfall. The roar of a twin-engine charter from Dryden filled the air. A squirrel, apparently frightened by the noise, scampered hurriedly past the Elder, pausing only mo ....