, and every
one congratulated her that a brave admirer was on his way to her
father's lodge. She blushed, and hiding the trophy in her bosom, she
thanked the Good Spirit that it was a red ear, and not a crooked, that
she had found.

Presently it chanced that one who was there among the young men, espied
in the hands of Leelinau, who had plucked it indifferently, one of the
crooked kind, and at once the word "Wa-ge-min!" was shouted aloud
through the field, and the whole circle was set in a roar.

"The thief is in the corn-field!" exclaimed the young man, Iagoo by
name, and famous in the tribe for his mirthful powers of story-telling;
"see you not the old man stooping as he enters the field? See you not
signs that he crouched as he crept in the dark? Is it not plain by this
mark on the stalk that he was heavily bent in his back? Old man! be
nimble, or some one will take thee while thou art taking the ear."

These questions Iagoo accompanied with the action of one bowed with age
stealthily entering the corn-field. He went on:

"See how he stoops as he breaks off the ear. Nushka! He seems for a
moment to tremble. Walker, be nimble! Hooh! It is plain the old man is
the thief."

He turned suddenly where she sat in the circle, pensively regarding the
crooked ear which she held in her hand, and exclaimed:

"Leelinau, the old man is thine!"

Laughter rung merrily through the corn-field, but Leelinau, casting down
upon the ground the crooked ear of maize, walked pensively away.

The next morning the eldest son of a neighboring chief called at her
father's lodge. He was quite advanced in years; but he enjoyed such
renown in battle, and his name was so famous in the hunt, that the
parents accepted him as a suitor for their daughter. They hoped that his
shining qualities would draw back the thoughts of Leelinau from that
spirit-land whither she seemed to have wholly directed her affections.

It was this chief's son whom Iagoo had pictured as the corn-taker, but,
without objecting to his age, or giving any other reason, Leelinau
firmly declined his proposals. The parents ascribed the young daughter's
hesitancy to maiden fear, and paying no further heed to her refusal, a
day was fixed for the marriage-visit to the lodge.

The young warrior came to the lodge-door, and Leelinau refused to see
him; informing her parents, at the same time, that she would never
consent to the match.

It had been her custom to pass many of her