s now resolved itself into the Alpine forest whence he
had come.

"But he troubled himself little with staring about; up he looked,
for the summit was at hand. To win that summit was well-nigh the
attainment of his hopes, if Tamanous were true; and that, with the
flush of morning ardor upon him, he could not doubt. There, in a
spot Tamanous had revealed to him, was hiaqua--hiaqua that should
make him the richest and greatest of all the Squallyamish.

"The chill before sunrise was upon him as he reached the last curve
of the dome. Sunrise and he struck the summit together. Together
sunrise and he looked over the glacis. They saw within a great
hollow all covered with the whitest of snow, save at the center,
where a black lake lay deep in a well of purple rock.

"At the eastern end of this lake was a small irregular plain of
snow, marked by three stones like mountains. Toward these the miser
sprang rapidly, with full sunshine streaming after him over the
snows.

"The first monument he examined with keen looks. It was tall as a
giant man, and its top was fashioned into the grotesque likeness of
a salmon's head. He turned from this to inspect the second. It was
of similar height, but bore at its apex an object in shape like the
regular flame of a torch. As he approached, he presently discovered
that this was an image of the kamas-bulb in stone. These two
semblances of prime necessities of Indian life delayed him but an
instant, and he hastened on to the third monument, which stood
apart on a perfect level. The third stone was capped by something
he almost feared to behold, lest it should prove other than his
hopes. Every word of Tamanous had thus far proved veritable; but
might there not be a bitter deceit at the last? The miser trembled.

"Yes, Tamanous was trustworthy. The third monument was as the old
man anticipated. It was a stone elk-head, such as it appears in
earliest summer, when the antlers are sprouting lustily under their
rough jacket of velvet.

"You remember, Boston tyee," continued Hamitchou, "that elk was the
old man's tamanous, the incarnation for him of the universal
Tamanous. He therefore was right joyous at this good omen of
protection; and his heart grew big and swollen with hope, as the
black salmonberry swells in