. As he closed upon him,
the old manito began to show his power, and changing himself into a fox
he passed the young hunter with ease, and went leisurely along.

Monedowa now, with a glance upward, took the shape of the strange bird
of red and deep-blue plumage, and with one flight, lighting at some
distance ahead of the manito, resumed his mortal shape.

When the mudjee monedo espied his competitor before him, "Whoa! whoa!"
he exclaimed; "this is strange;" and he immediately changed himself into
a wolf, and sped past Monedowa.

As he galloped by, Monedowa heard a noise from his throat, and he knew
that he was still in distress from the birch-bud which he had swallowed
at his mother-in-law's lodge.

Monedowa again took wing, and, shooting into the air, he descended
suddenly with great swiftness, and took the path far ahead of the old
manito.

As he passed the wolf he whispered in his ear:

"My friend, is this the extent of your speed?"

The manito began to be troubled with bad forebodings, for, on looking
ahead, he saw the young hunter in his own manly form, running along at
leisure. The mudjee monedo, seeing the necessity of more speed, now
passed Monedowa in the shape of a deer.

They were now far around the circle of the lake, and fast closing in
upon the starting-post, when Monedowa, putting on his red and blue
plumage, glided along the air and alighted upon the track far in
advance.

To overtake him, the old manito assumed the shape of the buffalo; and he
pushed on with such long gallops that he was again the foremost on the
course. The buffalo was the last change he could make, and it was in
this form that he had most frequently conquered.

The young hunter, once more a bird, in the act of passing the manito,
saw his tongue lolling from his mouth with fatigue.

"My friend," said Monedowa, "is this all your speed?"

The manito made no answer. Monedowa had resumed his character of a
hunter, and was within a run of the winning-post, when the wicked manito
had nearly overtaken him.

"Bakah! bakah! nejee!" he called out to Monedowa; "stop, my friend, I
wish to talk to you."

Monedowa laughed aloud as he replied:

"I will speak to you at the starting-post. When men run with me I make a
wager, and I expect them to abide by it--life against life."

One more flight as the blue bird with red wings, and Monedowa was so
near to the goal that he could easily reach it in his mortal shape.
Shining in beauty,