AN INDIAN LEGEND. 141 



beautiful spirit in visible presence before her. A sort of half 

 dreamy listlessness would steal over her senses ; and as the 

 honey-dews of slumber fell upon her eyelids, the musical 

 chimes of the Manitto's voice would awaken the echoes of 

 her heart. But it was only when she was alone that he 

 appeared as the youth of her first vision. If the wish to 

 behold him rose up in her heart, as it often did, when her 

 youthful companions were around her, then the soft faint 

 music would sound in her ear alone ; and in the joyous 

 humming-bird which quivered among the flowers beside her, 

 or in the many-tinted butterfly which rested on her cheek as 

 if mistaking it for a rose, she could recognize the presence of 

 the gentle spirit. 



One day Mo-na-wing was crossing one of those deep and 

 rapid streams which the mountain gorges send down toward 

 the great river, when she was overtaken by a sudden thunder- 

 storm. Her frail bark was driving rapidly down the current, 

 when the Manitto, who perceived, though he could not prevent 

 her danger, sent to her aid a young hunter who was at that 

 moment clambering down the cliff" towards the river-bank. 

 The hunter plunged boldly into the stream, and seizing the 

 prow of the canoe with one hand, while he supported himself 

 in the water with the other, he guided the bark safely to a 

 little cove where it was sheltered from the fury of the storm. 

 Fervent was the gratitude of Mo-na-wing both to the hunter 

 and to the watchful spirit who had sent him ; and she vowed to 

 offer her richest bracelet to the good Manitto for his timely aid. 



