The Mountaineer 53 



swooped down from the clouds, turned the sky black, 

 and blew the old man with the strings of hiaqua about 

 him across the rocks and buried him in the snow. 

 Out of the darkness came the awful voice of Sahale de- 

 nouncing his wickedness. Also the terrified old man 

 began now to hear the mocking voice of Kahatete and 

 his attendant demons. The whole frame work of nature 

 seemed about to disrupt, for after the snow storm there 

 came a burst of volcanic fire upon the mountain sum- 

 mit, the air became thick and hot, and streams of water 

 poured down the mountain side. 



In spite of all this confusion of nature the old man 

 seems to have retained his consciousness and he began 

 to think how he might propitiate the offended deities. 

 He accordingly dropped one of his strings of hiaqua 

 as an offering, but this seems to have been a mere mock- 

 ery and the demons and the winds kept howling at him 

 in derisive tones, "Hiaqua ! hiaqua !" Then the old man 

 laid down one string after another of the hiaqua until 

 they were all gone. After this surrender of his treas- 

 ure he fell upon the ground and entered into the sleep 

 country. When he awoke he found himself at the very 

 place where he had gone to sleep the night before he 

 climbed to the summit. Being very hungry he gathered 

 camas roots with which to refresh himself, and while 

 eating he began to have many thoughts in regard to his 

 life and doings. His "tum-tum," as the Indians would 

 say (heart), was much softened as he contemplated his 

 greed for hiaqua. He found that he no longer cared 

 for hiaqua, and that his mind was calm and tranquil 

 and benevolent. Moreover he went to look at himself 

 in a pool, and discovered that he had marvelously 

 changed. His hair had become long and white as snow. 

 The mountain, itself, had changed its contour. The sun 

 shone brightly, the trees glistened with new leaves, the 

 mountain meadows were sweet with the perfume of 

 flowers, the birds sung in the trees, the mighty moun- 



