il^7i^-] FICTION 101 



for the Buffalo Man was gaining on him, and had just gone around 

 the turn ahead. Soon the man overheard the Buffaloes tell the 

 Buffalo Man to do his best, for the other man was gaining on him. 

 Shortly after noon the chief's son-in-law was only a few rods behind, 

 and the Buffalo Man was tired; the latter began to go zigzag and 

 soon afterward his opponent overtook him. 



The latter did not know at first how to shoot the Buffalo Man. 

 He could not shoot him in the side, for it was one immense rib; so 

 he decided to shoot from behind. He shot and the arrow went in up 

 to the feathers, only a little of it protruding. The two ran around 

 once more, and as they came near the stopping place the people en- 

 couraged the man to shoot a second time. He did so, and the Buffalo 

 fell dead. So the words of the Djogeon were fulfilled that some one 

 would come who would kill tlie young Buffalo. The people crowded 

 around the man and thanked him for what he had done. 



After this the -old man said to the people, "All can go where they 

 like." They separated, but he and his wife with their son-in-law and 

 daughter went home. Then the mother-in-law said to the man, " Now 

 you must get ready and go to see your mother." They started, the 

 man, his wife, and mother-in-law. They were ten days on the road. 

 It was the time of sugar making. When they got near his mother's 

 lodge his wife said. " My mother and I will stop in these woods; your 

 mother is making maple sugar and we will help her all we can." 

 The young man saw his mother and at night went to the lodge, leav- 

 ing his wife and her mother in the woods. 



In the night the wife and mother collected all the sap and brought 

 a great pile of wood. The next morning when the mother and her 

 son went to the woods they found no sap in the troughs under the 

 trees, but when they got to the boiling place the big trough was full 

 and a great pile of wood was near by. The work continued for some 

 days. Then the old woman said to her son-in-law : " It is time for 

 me to go home to my husband, and now you may be free. Have no 

 hard feelings. I shall take my daughter with me. You must 

 stay with your mother. There are many women about here who want 

 to marry you, but do not marry them ; there is but one that you should 

 marry — the granddaughter of the woman who lives in the last lodge 

 at the edge of the village. They are very poor and the girl takes care 

 of her grandmother. You may tell the people when you get home 

 tiiat you saw buffalo tracks in the swamp ; let them come out and 

 shoot ; the more they shoot the sooner we shall get home." 



The man told the people that he saw tracks in the swamp. The 

 people went out, but did not get far before they overtook the Buffa- 

 loes and killed them. The nuin knew all the time that they were 

 Buffaloes, but in his eyes they seemed like people. As he had been 

 absent from his people so long, and as the rest of his company had 



