160 A SPORTSMAN'S EDEN. 



and the pale moonlight was weird and sad, while 

 the wolves' howling and the winds were the 

 chief's lullaby. But, born to such scenes and 

 used to such music, Tumisco slept. At midnight 

 he woke, roused by the loud snorting of his horse 

 Nehoggets. With one wild bound that gallant 

 beast snapped his reata, and clearing his master's 

 recumbent form, fled with the speed of the night 

 wind. Tumisco listened. Beside him was a 

 sound as of the tearing and rending of flesh, and 

 between him and the moonlight stood, gigantic 

 and terrible, Soni-appoo, the Spirit of Evil, feed- 

 ing 1 on the fresh bear's-meat. Tumisco's cheek 



o 



blanched for the first time since childhood, and, 

 shrinking closer into his bloody bear's-hide, 

 he trembled lest the wild beating of his heart 

 should draw the fiend's attention to him. Then 

 Tumisco felt a mist rise round him, and his 

 heart died, and all became a blank. When the 

 morning sun rose life returned, and the chief 

 sought his people, and together the whole clan 

 scoured the mountain to find and slay Soni- 

 appoo. There they found him stretched in 

 slumber, his great arms spread among the pine- 

 trees, his huge black face turned with closed 

 eyes towards the sun, his breathing laboured and 

 loud. In silence the warriors surrounded the 

 demon, and bound him with ropes and reatas ; 



