NATURE'S REALM. 141 
ming favor in the eyes of Pretty Cloud, had 
culminated in humiliation anddisgrace. Young 
Whistling Elk, after mature deliberation, had 
resolved to signalize himself by meeting and 
‘coping single-handed with ma-/o, the grizzly, 
and bearing home its claws as a trophy of his 
‘prowess. On his triumphant return the village 
would resound with his praise; the warriors 
would dance, and, best of all, Pretty Cloud, 
_ after plucking the thorns from his moccasins, 
would sing him to sleep. 
For the space of three days was Whistling 
Elk immured within the privacy of his wigwam, 
‘industriously employed in ‘“‘ making medicine” 
before issuing forth to the momentous struggle. 
For three days did he prowl throughout the 
wilds of the Black Hills before coming upon 
‘the object of his search, which, alas! proved 
so utterly morose and unmanageable, and so 
terribly reckless with tooth and claw, that three 
‘days more were required for Whistling Elk to 
pullhimselftogether. Meanwhile #za-¢o, some- 
what vexed and disgusted, but in no wise 
outed, had ambled leisurely away to his lair. 
One day an up-river steamboat, hailing from 
St. Louis, halted at the lower extremity of 
Devil's Island, directly opposite the Sioux vil- 
lage. Aside from a large party of choppers 
employed on a government contract, who dis- 
embarked at the island, there was a genteel 
and prepossessing man of faultless physique, 
with piercing black eyes, a sweeping mustache, 
and long, glossy hair, black as the plumage of 
the ravens that croaked in the island woods. 
Before proceeding up the river, however, the 
captain ordered a yawl to be lowered from the 
boat's side, in which the stranger and his lug- 
gage were deposited and paddled across the 
arm of the river to a bushy point only a short 
distance above the Sioux camp. When both 
man and luggage had been sately landed, the 
yawl, manned by the good-natured but awk- 
ward stevedores, put back to the steamer, 
leaving the handsome stranger standing on the 
bank, an object of curious interest to the Indi- 
ans, who, on the first appearance of the ‘ fire 
boat,” had flocked to the river. 
{To pe ConcLupED In May IssueE.] 
