Brothers of Peril

followed in the "leads" of the great herds of caribou, going partly for the meat of the deer and partly to strike terror into the hearts of the Southern enemy. At the head of this party went Pan

y night. The hearts of the warriors were fired with the shameful flame. They dreamed things

of stew. But for Panounia, surely the men of the South would have scattered our lodges and led us, captive, to the playgrounds of

oxes barked at his power. The moon heard it, and the

of the edges of the land and the breast of the great waters beyond. He had heard, in his inland home, rumour of mighty wooden canoes walled higher than the peak of a wigwam, and manned by loud-mouthed warriors from beyond th

ake of a few dried fishes and a few dre

he added, "they slay at great distances by means of brown stake

inquired the lad. "I have heard it said that they sometimes fal

. They gleam in the sunlight, like a flash of lightning against a cloud. They cut quick

my heart I pray that they be but men, for the gods have

the seasons not arranged to your

nwa; "but strange men promise better

y's only companion was a man of small stature and unheroic spirit, whom the old chief could well spare. They took their way down the frozen, snow-drifted lake, dragging their food and sleeping-bags of skin on a rough sledge. The wind came out of a

odges. The scant fare of his own cooking left his stomach uncomforted. He hated the weariness of the march and dreaded the silence of the night. The cry of the wind across the tree-tops was, to his craven ear, the voice of some evil spirit. The barking of a fox on t

edge of provisions and their sleeping-bags. Then they collected whatever dry fuel they could find-dead twigs and branches, tree-moss and birch bark-and, with his ingenious contrivance of bow and notched stick, Ouenwa started a blaze. They roasted dried venison by holding it to the flame on the ends of pointed sticks. Each cooked what he wanted, and ate it without talk. All creation seemed shroud

ice over a bright stream. The old man did not move. He did not reply. Ouenwa drew closer to him, and heaped dr

he boy's blood chilled and thinned like water in his veins. He clutched his companion with frenzied hands. The fear of all the devils

hing more terrible than a fellow human. The stranger greeted them cordially,

ng here-an old man an

his intention of dwelling with the great arrow-m

ther to me since the day he saved my wife from death. Now I hunt for him, and work at his craft, and have left the river to be near him. My childr

longer than the rest, was plaited with jet-black feathers. His garments consisted of a shirt of beaver skins that reached half-way between hip and knee, trousers of dresse

ow he had once seen four of these monsters swinging together in the tide, with little boats plying between them, and banners red as the sunset flapping above them. He

hich kill at a hundred paces, and terrify at even a greater distance. But a nimble bowman m

ey held cheerfully on their way. Black Feather walked ahead, and Pot Friend, the old gossip, brought up the rear. The thong by which they dragged the sledge passed over the right shoulder of each, and was grasped in the right hand. After several hours of tramping along the level of the river's valley, Black Feather turned toward the western bank and led them into the woods. Presently, after experiencing several d

e sheer rocks and timbered valleys, wave-washed coves, ice-rimmed islands, and crouching headlands. Even Pot Friend forgot his weariness and shortness of breath for the moment, and surveyed th

ed. "And the roofs

Ouenwa did not hear th

ge of the wor

it, and go down behind it

oe would venture on the great salt water. I say it, who have built many canoes. And, if they voyaged so far, they would sl

"What do you know of how far men will venture?-you, who hav

ly through great dangers

leather. He accepted the charge and education of Ouenwa. He set the unheroic Pot Friend to the tasks of carrying water and wood, and snaring hares and grou