y lodge, but he found no relief to his mind.
He walked abroad, but to look at the sky, which had withdrawn from his
sight the only being he had ever loved, was painful to him now.
The next day, selecting the same hour, the White Hawk went back to the
prairie, and took his station near the ring; in order to deceive the
sisters, he assumed the form of an opossum, and sat among the grass as
if he were there engaged in chewing the cud. He had not waited long when
he saw the cloudy basket descend, and heard the same sweet music
falling as before. He crept slowly toward the ring; but the instant the
sisters caught sight of him they were startled, and sprang into their
car. It rose a short distance when one of the elder sisters spoke:
"Perhaps," she said, "it is come to show us how the game is played by
mortals."
"Oh no," the youngest replied; "quick, let us ascend."
And all joining in a chant, they rose out of sight.
Waupee, casting off his disguise, walked sorrowfully back to his
lodge--but ah, the night seemed very long to lonely White Hawk! His
whole soul was filled with the thought of the beautiful sister.
Betimes, the next day, he returned to the haunted spot, hoping and
fearing, and sighing as though his very soul would leave his body in its
anguish. He reflected upon the plan he should follow to secure success.
He had already failed twice; to fail a third time would be fatal. Near
by he found an old stump, much covered with moss, and just then in use
as the residence of a number of mice, who had stopped there on a
pilgrimage to some relatives on the other side of the prairie. The White
Hawk was so pleased with their tidy little forms that he thought he,
too, would be a mouse, especially as they were by no means formidable
to look at, and would not be at all likely to create alarm.
He accordingly, having first brought the stump and set it near the ring,
without further notice became a mouse, and peeped and sported about, and
kept his sharp little eyes busy with the others; but he did not forget
to keep one eye up toward the sky, and one ear wide open in the same
direction.
It was not long before the sisters, at their customary hour, came down
and resumed their sport.
"But see," cried the younger sister, "that stump was not there before."
She ran off, frightened, toward the basket. Her sisters only smiled, and
gathering round the old tree-stump, they struck it, in jest, when out
ran the mice, and amo
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