aw
a hole in the rocks and crept in and lay down at the farther end.
The rain did not stop, and when it grew dark he could not travel
because of the darkness and the storm, so he lay down to sleep
again; but before he had fallen asleep he heard something at the
mouth of the cave, and then something creeping toward him. Then soon
something touched his breast, and he put out his hand and felt a
person. Then he sat up.

[Footnote A: The Great Falls of the Missouri.]

Mika'pi stretched out his hand and put its palm on the person's
breast and moved his hand quickly from side to side, and then
touched the person with the point of his finger, which in sign
language means, "Who are you?" The stranger took Mika'pi's hand
and made him feel of his own right hand. The thumb and fingers were
closed except the forefinger, which was extended. When Mika'pi's
hand was on the stranger's hand the person moved his hand forward
with a zigzag motion, meaning Snake.

Mika'pi was glad. Here had come to him one of the tribe he was
seeking, yet he thought it better to wait for a time before fighting
him; so when, in signs, the Snake asked Mika'pi who he was he
replied, by making the sign for paddling a canoe, that he was a
River person, for he knew that the Snakes and the River people, or
Pend d'Oreilles, were at peace. Then the two lay down for the night,
but Mika'pi did not sleep. Through the long night he watched for
the first light, so that he might kill his enemy; and just at
daybreak Mika'pi, without noise, strung his bow, fitted an arrow
to the string, and sent the thin shaft through his enemy's heart.
The Snake half rose up and fell back dead. Mika'pi scalped him,
took his bow and arrows and his bundle of moccasins, and went out of
the cave and looked all about. Daylight had come, but no one was in
sight. Perhaps, like himself, the Snake had gone to war alone.
Mika'pi did not forget to be careful because he had been
fortunate. He travelled only a little way, and then hid himself and
waited for night before going on. After drinking from the river he
ate and, climbing up on a high rock wall, he slept.

He dreamed that he fought with strange people and was wounded. He
felt blood trickling from his wounds, and when he awoke he knew that
he had been warned to turn back. Other signs were bad. He saw an
eagle rising carrying a snake, which dropped from its claws. The
setting sun too was painted, a sure warning that danger was near. I