54 A GEEAT MEDICINE. 



human power. There was but one chance, one 

 last frail hope to cling to : falling on their knees, 

 both prayed, and, in the agony of despair, be- 

 sought the 'Great Spirit' to use his power and 

 save their child give it back to them, or change 

 it into any form, so that it escape the teeth and 

 talons of the dreaded ogress. The prayer was 

 heard, and the boy, assuming at once the form of 

 a tiny squirrel, deftly slipped from out her grip, 

 but not unscathed; the marks inflicted by four 

 of her claws remain to this day on its back, as 

 evidence of the story's truthfulness. 



Hence it is that Indian boys seldom kill this 

 squirrel, ill-luck befalling all such profane trans- 

 gressors, and that 'medicine-men' (the doctors 

 and conjurors of the tribes) wear its skin as a 

 potent and all-powerful charm. 



The ' Store-keeper,' bearing on its back the 

 marks of the wicked old woman's finger-nails, 

 may be seen by any who choose to visit the 

 British Museum, where a specimen I shot is set 

 up very near the ' rock- whistler.' 



