^■ii'JS] FICTION 287 



would have his own. He heard the two breathing and could not be 

 deceived. Determined to have something to eat, the old man pounded 

 bones into small pieces and putting tliem into a large kettle which 

 he filled with water, he made soup. The husband and wife on the 

 other side of the partition did not talk. 



The nephew decided to leave the place. As he had been thinking 

 of doing so for some time, he had his plans well laid. Unobserved by 

 his uncle he had walked in circles around the lodge, going farther 

 and farther each day. When he had made paths three days' journey 

 in circuit he told his wife what he intended to do. That night the 

 uncle said : " I am going to be ab.sent two or three days. I can find 

 no game in all this country about here." " Well," said the nephew, 

 " hunters go whei'e they can find something to kill, and are often 

 gone many days. I, too, am going farther. Game is getting scarce 

 in our neighborhood." 



The j'oung man, being possessed of orenda (magic power), had 

 caused a lodge to be built in a place distant six days' journey. He 

 told his wife that he had an invisible brother in that lodge, to 

 whom he would send her; that this brother, was then under the 

 lodge, and that no stranger had ever seen him. Hitherto this in- 

 visible brother had always accompanied him, but in the future would 

 assist her. Taking an arrow from his quiver he removed the head. 

 Then, after shaking his wife until she was only a couple of inches 

 long, he put her into the arrow and replaced the point, saying, " In 

 three days I will follow you." Then sending the arrow toward the 

 east, at the same instant he heard the calling of the Gwenhgwenh- 

 onh^^' (the feathers on the arrow were taken from this bird), and 

 all the way the arrow sang with the voice of the Gwenhgwenhonh. 

 He could see the trail of the arrow as it went through the air. 



The nephew remained in his part of the lodge, waiting, and in 

 three days the old man appeared without game. When he came 

 in, talking with himself, he said: "What luck has my nephew had? " 

 " Very good. I have plenty to eat," answered the nephew. The 

 old man continued: "I found nothing; this hunting ground is bar- 

 ren, and my eyes see no more game. But though I have no fresh 

 food, I have plenty of bones here in this pile, which I shall break 

 up and have a soup." Then the young man heard his uncle break- 

 ing up the bones; there was a terrible racket and crushing. At last 

 the young man said, " My uncle makes too much noise." " My 

 nephew would not find fault if he were in my place. I am trying 

 to get something to eat," came the retort, and the old man, paying 

 no heed to what his nephew said, kept hard at work. The next 

 morning at daybreak he said, " I am going to hunt, and I shall be 

 away for three days." "T am glad," thought the nephew; he was 

 verv angry with his uncle and ready to fight. 



