the water. The swift current carried him
along, and when he rose to the surface he was beyond his enemies.
For some time he floated on, but the arrow in his leg pained him and
at last he crept out on a sandbar. He managed to draw the arrow from
his leg, and finding at the edge of the bar a dry log, he rolled it
into the water, and keeping his hands on it, drifted down the river
with the current. Cold and stiff from his wounds, he crept out on
the bank and lay down in the warm sunshine. Soon he fell asleep.

When he awoke the sun was in the middle of the sky. His leg and arm
were swollen and pained him, yet he started to go home, and for a
time struggled onward; but at last, tired and discouraged, he sat
down.

"Ah," he said to himself, "true were the signs! How crazy I was to
go against them! Now my bravery has been useless, for here I must
stop and die. The widows will still mourn, and who will care for my
father and mother in their old age? Pity me now, O Sun; help me, O
Great Above Person! Give me life!"

Something was coming through the brush near him, breaking the sticks
as it walked. Was it the Snakes following his trail? Mika'pi
strung his bow and drew his arrows from the quiver. He waited.

No, it was not a Snake; it was a bear, a big grizzly bear, standing
there looking down at Mika'pi. "What is my brother doing here?"
said the bear. "Why does he pray for life?"

"Look at my leg," said Mika'pi; "swollen and sore. See my wounded
arm; I can hardly hold the bow. Far away is the home of my people,
and my strength is gone. Surely here I must die, for I cannot walk,
and I have no food."

"Take courage, my brother," said the bear. "Keep up a strong heart,
for I will help you, and you shall have life."

When he had said this he lifted Mika'pi in his arms and took him
to a place where there was thick mud, and there he took great
handfuls of the mud and plastered it on the wounds, and while he
was putting on the mud he sang a medicine song. Then he carried
Mika'pi to a place where there were many service berries, and he
broke off great branches of the fruit and gave them to him, saying,
"Eat; my brother, eat." He kept breaking off branches full of large,
ripe berries until Mika'pi was full and could eat no more.

Then said the bear, "Now lie down on my back and hold tight by my
hair and we will go on"; and when Mika'pi had got on his back and
was ready the bear started. All through the night he travelled on
wi