第41章

"At last she had reached the outlet.She saw at once that the moose had been there during the night.They had torn up the ground and broken birch and willow twigs in a most disorderly way.""Ah!"I exclaimed,"I wish I had been with Manitoshaw then!""Hush,my boy;never interrupt a story-teller."

I took a stick and began to level off the ashes in front of me,and to draw a map of the lake,the outlet,the moose and Manitoshaw.Away off to one side was the solitary wigwam,Nawakewee and the ponies.

"Manitoshaw's heart was beating so loud that she could not hear anything,"resumed my uncle.

"She took some leaves of the wintergreen and chewed them to calm herself.She did not forget to throw in passing a pinch of pulverized tobacco and paint into the spring for Manitou,the spirit.

"Among the twinkling leaves of the birch her eye was caught by a moving form,and then an-other.She stood motionless,grasping her heavy bow.The moose,not suspecting any danger,walked leisurely toward the spring.One was a large female moose;the other a yearling.

As they passed Manitoshaw,moving so nat-urally and looking so harmless,she almost forgot to let fly an arrow.The mother moose seemed to look in her direction,but did not see her.They had fairly passed her hiding-place when she stepped forth and sent a swift arrow into the side of the larger moose.Both dashed into the thick woods,but it was too late.The Cree maiden had already loosened her second arrow.Both fell dead before reaching the shore.""Uncle,she must have had a splendid aim,for in the woods the many little twigs make an arrow bound off to one side,"I interrupted in great ex-citement.

"Yes,but you must remember she was very near the moose.""It seems to me,then,uncle,that they must have scented her,for you have told me that they possess the keenest nose of any animal,"I per-sisted.

"Doubtless the wind was blowing the other way.But,nephew,you must let me finish my story.

"Ovedoyed by her success,the maiden has-tened back to Nawakawee,but she was gone!

The ponies were gone,too,and the wigwam of branches had been demolished.While Manito-shaw stood there,frightened and undecided what to do,a soft voice came from behind a neighbor-ing thicket:

"'Manitoshaw!Manitoshaw!I am here!'

She at once recognized,the voice and found it to be Nawakeewee,who told a strange story.

That morning a canoe had crossed the Wanagiska carrying two men.They were Sioux.The old grandmother had seen them coming,and to de-ceive them she at once pulled down her temporary wigwam,and drove the ponies off toward home.

Then she hid herself in the bushes near by,for she knew that Manitoshaw must return there.

"'Come,my granddaughter,we must hasten home by another way,'cried the old woman.

"But the maiden said,'No,let us go first to my two moose that I killed this morning and take some meat with us.'

"'No,no,my child;the Sioux are cruel.

They have killed many of our people.If we stay here they will find us.I fear,I fear them,Manitoshaw!'

"At last the brave maid convinced her grand-mother,and the more easily as she too was hun-gry for meat.They went to where the big game lay among the bushes,and began to dress the moose.""I think,if I were they,I would hide all day.

I would wait until the Sioux had gone;then Iwould go back to my moose,"I interrupted for the third time.

"I will finish the story first;then you may tell us what you would do,"said my uncle reprov-ingly.

"The two Sioux were father and son.They too had come to the lake for moose;but as the game usually retreated to the island,Chatansapa had landed his son Kangiska to hunt them on the shore while he returned in his canoe to intercept their flight.The young man sped along the sandy beach and soon discovered their tracks.He followed them up and found blood on the trail.

This astonished him.Cautiously he followed on until he found them both lying dead.He exam-ined them and found that in each moose there was a single Cree arrow.Wishing to surprise the hunter if possible,Kangiska lay hidden in the bushes.

"After a little while the two women returned to the spot.They passed him as close as the moose had passed the maiden in the morning.He saw at once that the maiden had arrows in her quiver like those that had slain the big moose.He lay still.

"Kangiska looked upon the beautiful Cree maiden and loved her.Finally he forgot himself and made a slight motion.Manitoshaw's quick eye caught the little stir among the bushes,but she immediately looked the other way and Kan-giska believed that she had not seen anything,At last her eyes met his,and something told both that all was well.Then the maiden smiled,and the young man could not remain still any longer.

He arose suddenly and the old woman nearly fainted from fright.But Manitoshaw said:

"'Fear not,grandmother;we are two and he is only one.'

"While the two women continued to cut up the meat,Kangiska made a fire by rubbing cedar chips together,and they all ate of the moose meat.Then the old woman finished her work,while the young people sat down upon a log in the shade,and told each other all their minds.

"Kangiska declared by signs that he would go home with Manitoshaw to the Cree camp,for he loved her.They went home,and the young man hunted for the unfortunate Cree band during the rest of his life.

"His father waited a long time on the island and afterward searched the shore,but never saw him again.He supposed that those footprints he saw were made by Crees who had killed his son.""Is that story true,uncle?"I asked eagerly.

"'Yes,the facts are well known.There are some Sioux mixed bloods among the Crees to this day who are descendants of Kangiska."