STEVENSON.] 



THE ANTELOPE. 63 



out of his house and said, "Boys, comedown into my house." "ISTo," 

 said they, "we wish to kill the antelope," and Ma'asewe added, "I 

 think you know all about him. " "Yes," said the mole, "I have been 

 near him and passed around him. " Then Ma'asewe requested him to 

 go into his house and prepare a road for them that the antelope might 

 not discover their approach. And the mole made an underground 

 road to the point where the antelope stood (the antelope facing west) 

 and bored a wee hole in the earth over this tunnel, and peeping through 

 he looked directly upon the heart of the antelope; he could see 

 its pulsations. "Ah, that is good, I think," he exclaimed, and re- 

 turning, he hastened to inform the boys. " Now, all is well," said the 

 mole; "you can enter my house and approach the antelope." When 

 they reached the tiny opening in the earth Ma'asewe looked up and 

 said, "See, younger brother, there is the heart of the antelope directly 

 above us ; I will shoot first ; " and pointing his arrow to the heart of the 

 antelope and drawing his bow strongly he pierced the heart, the shaft 

 being buried almost to its end in the body. " We have killed the ante- 

 lope," cried Ma'asewe, "now let us return quickly over the under- 

 ground road. " While the boys were still in this tunnel, the antelope, 

 who was not killed immediately by the shot, was mad with rage and he 

 ran first to the west to look for his enemy, but he could see no one; 

 then he ran to the south and found no one; then he turned to the east 

 with the same result, and then to the north and saw no one, and he 

 returned to the spot where he had been shot, and looking to the earth 

 discovered the diminutive opening. "Ah," said he, "I think there is 

 some one below who tried to kill me." By this time the boys were 

 quite a distance from the hole through which the arrow had passed. 

 The antelope thrust his left horn into the opening and tore up the 

 earth as he ran along above the tunnel. It was like inserting a knife 

 under a piece of hide; but he had advanced only a short distance when 

 he fell dead. The youths then came up from the house of the mole and 

 cried out, "See! the antelope is dead." 



Ma'asewe said, "Younger brother! let us go and get the flesh of the 

 antelope." U'yuuyewe remarked, "perhaps he is not yet dead. " The 

 mole said, "you boys wait here; 1 will go and see if he still lives," and 

 after examining and passing around him, he found that the body was 

 quite cold, and returning to the boys said, "Yes, boys, the antelope is 

 dead." "Perhaps you do not speak the truth," said Ma'asewe, but 

 the mole repeated "The antelope is dead." Ma'asewe insisted, how- 

 ever, that the mole should again examine him and the little animal made 

 a second visit. This time he dipped his hands into the heart's blood of 

 the animal and rubbed it all over his face, head, body, arms, and legs, 

 for Ma'asewe had accused him of lying and he wished this time to 

 carry proof of the death of the aiitelope; and returning to the boys he 

 cried, "See, boys, I am covered with the blood, and I did not lie." Then 

 Ma'asewe proposed that the three should go together; and when they 



