Hunting in Many Lands 



crossed the mountains eastward into t»he far-off 

 Piegan country. Then, with none to aid him 

 save the steady power of his own courage, he 

 had ventured upon the ledges of the Chief of 

 the Mountains, and, choking down each gasp 

 of panic when at overhanging corners the 

 black walls seemed striving to thrust him off 

 and down, he had finally forced his way to the 

 very summit. For four days and nights he had 

 fasted there, sleeping in the great cleft which 

 one can see from far out on the prairie. On 

 each of the first three nights, with ever in- 

 creasing violence, the spirit of the mountain 

 had come to him and threatened to hurl him 

 off the face of the cliff if he did not go down 

 on the following day. Each time he had re- 

 fused to go, and had spent the day pacing the 

 summit, chanting his warrior song and waving 

 his peace pipe in the air as an offering, until 

 finally, on the fourth night, the spirit had 

 yielded, had smoked the pipe, and had given 

 him the token of his life. None of the young 

 Flatheads, however, said Billy, had dared to 

 follow their great warrior's example ; so that to 

 this day he was the only man who had braved 

 the'spirit of the Chief and made it his friend. 

 After we were rolled in our blankets, and 

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