Hewitt] FICTION 295 



old uncle has gone back to his own home and will not trouble us now 

 that he has eaten your wife's flesh." He added : " Your children 

 are living in this direction (pointing westward) ; be of good courage, 

 and go after them. I shall return. You will continue in one direc- 

 tion with your dogs until you reach the boys. You need never fear 

 to suffer such hard.ships again." So saying, he went hnme, and 

 when the brother looked after him he had disappeai-ed. 



The man and his dogs went toward the west. The dogs had left 

 the children in a place near a village where an old woman lived with 

 her granddaughter. While the young girl was in the woods gather- 

 ing fuel she heard the sound of voices. On listening, as the wind 

 came directly to her, she discovered that they were human voices, 

 and thought, " I will ask grandmother what to do." When she 

 reached home with her wood she told the old woman that she had 

 heard children crying and asked her to go to the woods to hear for 

 herself. The old woman asked : " In what direction were the 

 voices? It is a pleasure to know that there are children yet alive; 

 they must be for us." They went to the place. " Now listen ! " said 

 the girl. " True," said the grandmother. " Look everywhere and find 

 these children; they may be sent to us, as we are alone." The girl 

 followed the sound, which she could hear distinctly as coming from 

 the ground. She kept on until she found the two childi-en, seem- 

 ingly a year old, one slightly larger than the other. Going up to them 

 she told them to stop crying: that she would be their mother. As 

 she stood there talking her grandmother came, who pitied the chil- 

 dren; she found that they were clothed with skins. The grand- 

 mother said : " Xow stop crying. You shall be our children. I will 

 be your grandmother and my granddaughter will be your mother." 

 The girl added : "All we have shall be yours. I will love you as a 

 motlier." The boys stopped crying. Each had his little bow and 

 arrows and ball club. The children went home with the women. 

 The old woman said : " We will take care of these children. There 

 are many people in the village, but not a child among them all. I 

 lived here a long time, but have never seen a little child." The chil- 

 dren soon seemed larger and sometimes would go to hunt birds. 

 They were never gone long at a time, and never went out of sight 

 of the lodge. " Grandmother," called one of the boys one day, " come 

 and see what we have killed; it is all spotted and lies yonder in the 

 weeds." "Where is it? AVhere is it? " she asked. The boys led the 

 way, but she could hardly keep in sight of them, as the weeds were 

 tall. On reaching the spot she found a fawn, a few hours old, which 

 they had killed. She carried it home, saying to herself: "I am 

 thankful to have these children; they will be great hunters in time; 

 their game is getting larger. First they kill birds, now a fawn." 



