^°EWi^] FICTION 137 



were making this wampum as the reason why you have remained 

 away so long. I shall become in person just like their brother and 

 shall return home ill, as it were, and expectorate blood. When I 

 am in their lodge I shall cause the elks to run into the strawberry 

 patch, and you must give the usual alarm. While the sisters are 

 out driving the elk I shall have time to take their hearts fi'om under 

 the wing of the loon." 



The sisters, missing Hadjoqda, called to him many times. When 

 he reached the lodge they angrily asked him : " Where have you 

 been? What have you been doing?" "I have been making this 

 piece of wampum," said he. All three sisters wanted it, and they 

 were satisfied, for he gave it to them. They pardoned him for his 

 absence. Then he told them that their brother had come home 

 earlier than usual, and that he was ill and spitting up blood. 



Now, the lad, going back to the mole, returned its coat and donned 

 his own garments. Then, assvuning the exact form and manner of 

 Deadoendjadases, he walked through the clearing toward the lodge, 

 spitting blood. 



When he entered the lodge none of the sisters except the youngest 

 suspected any deceit. She looked at him sharply, saying, " This is 

 not our brother." Then they tried him with ditferent kinds of food, 

 but he would eat nothing imtil they brought him human flesh and 

 pounded green corn, which he ate heartily. This satisfied them that 

 there was no deception. 



While he was eating, the alarm came that the elks were in the 

 strawberry patch, and the three sisters, armed with their war clubs, 

 ran out to drive away the elks. The lad lost no time in going to the 

 bed and raising its cover. There he saw a lake in which a loon was 

 swimming. He called it to him and asked for the hearts. The 

 loon raised its left wing, for it was in doubt whether to give up the 

 hearts or not. "Oh, no," declared the lad; "the hearts are under 

 your right wing. So raise that wing." Being satisfied as to his 

 right to ask for the hearts, the loon did so; and the lad, seizing them, 

 rushed out of the lodge just as the sLsters returned from chasing the 

 elks. 



Resuming his natural form, the lad ran around exultingly, crying, 

 "I have taken your hearts. I have taken your hearts." Then the 

 three sisters pursued him with their war clubs. As the eldest was 

 on the point of overtaking him, the lad squeezed her heart and she 

 fell down in a faint. Then the second sister drew close to him, when 

 he at once squeezed her heai't and she, too, fell in a faint. The same 

 thing happened to the third sister also. Then the lad came to a great 

 round, flat rock, where Deadoendjadases was accustomed to kill his 

 victims ; he ran around this while the sisters, who had recovered from 

 their fainting spells, sought to close with him. Every little while 



