"The Elks, however, were not dismayed. They only said:

"'Just wait until the contest is decided.'

"In the meantime the competitors under the water were so near together at
first that the people on the land heard the Moose say, 'Elk, are you cold?'
To which the mud turtle, who had covered the Elk competitor over with his
shell, replied:

"'No, Moose; but are you cold?'

"As the people on the shore could not hear any answer to this question it
gave some alarm to the Moose people about their champion, who they feared
must be benumbed with the cold. This was really the case, for in a short
time he came to the surface of the water so nearly frozen to death that he
had to be helped out of the water.

"When the mud turtle and Nanahboozhoo heard the shoutings of triumph of the
Elks they knew that the Moose champion had failed, and so they came up to
the surface. Nanahboozhoo swam ashore and joined in the pursuit of the
disheartened Moose people, who had again so signally failed.

"These repeated defeats very much angered and humiliated the Moose people.
They almost quarreled among themselves in their vexation as they talked
them over at their councils. Still they were in no humor to give up. They
had two very swift runners among them, and they decided to challenge the
Elks to a foot race. So they again sent a number of their party over to the
tent of the Elk people and said:

"'We are not at all satisfied yet, and we wish to know if the son of the
chief and his brother-in-law, the young stranger who has come into your
midst, will run a foot race against two of our young people.'

"This challenge was at once accepted and soon all preparations were made
for the great race. It was decided that it should be run on the ice of the
frozen lake, which was several miles round. Much snow had fallen, but the
people of both sides turned out for days and cleared out a good track. They
made it near the shore, and so that the finishing spot would be near where
was the starting point.

"The Moose felt quite certain of winning this time, because by their magic
their runners were to be turned into real Moose, with four legs, and they
argued that runners with four feet could surely beat those who had only
two. But there were others who had heard about this great race, and among
them was the wolf, the spirit brother of Nanahboozhoo, and so he came to
him the night before the race.

"'My brother,' he said, 'I will come and help you in