ng
himself a spirit, he allowed them to accompany him to the sand-banks.

They all seated themselves to watch his last farewell. The day was mild;
the sky clear, not a cloud appearing to dim the heavens, nor a breath of
wind to ruffle the tranquil waters. A perfect silence fell upon the
company. They gazed with eager eyes fastened on Wassamo, as he waded out
into the water, waving his hands. They saw him descend, more and more,
into the depths. They beheld the waves close over his head, and a loud
and piercing wail went up which rent the sky.

They looked again; a red flame, as if the sun had glanced on a billow,
lighted the spot for an instant; but the Feather of Flames, Wassamo of
the Fire-Plume, had disappeared from home and kindred, and the familiar
paths of his youth, forever.

XXII.

WEENDIGOES AND THE BONE-DWARF.

In a lonely forest, there once lived a man and his wife, who had a son.
The father went forth every day, according to the custom of the Indians,
to hunt for food to supply his family.

One day, while he was absent, his wife, on going out of the lodge,
looked toward the lake that was near, and she saw a very large man
walking on the water, and coming fast toward the lodge. He was already
so near that she could not, if she had wished to, escape by flight. She
thought to herself, "What shall I say to the monster?"

As he advanced rapidly, she ran in, and taking the hand of her son, a
boy of three or four years old, she led him out. Speaking very loud,
"See, my son," she said, "your grandfather;" and then added, in a tone
of appeal and supplication, "he will have pity on us."

The giant approached and said, with a loud ha! ha! "Yes, my son;" and
added, addressing the woman, "Have you any thing to eat?"

By good luck the lodge was well supplied with meats of various kinds;
the woman thought to please him by handing him these, which were savory
and carefully prepared. But he pushed them away in disgust, saying, "I
smell fire;" and, not waiting to be invited, he seized upon the carcass
of a deer which lay by the door, and dispatched it almost without
stopping to take breath.

When the hunter came home he was surprised to see the monster, he was so
very frightful. He had again brought a deer, which he had no sooner put
down than the cannibal seized it, tore it in pieces, and devoured it as
though he had been fasting for a week. The hunter looked on in fear and
astonishment, and in a whisper