out
of the black lake and, sitting in a circle, watched him. And at every
thirteenth blow they tapped the ground with their tails in concert The
miser heeded them not, but labored lustily for hours. At last,
overturning a thin scale of rock, he found a square cavity filled to
the brim with hiaqua.

"He was a millionaire.

"The otters retired to a respectful distance, recognizing him as a
favorite of Tamanous.

"He reveled in the treasure, exulting. Deep as he could plunge his arm,
there was still more hiaqua below. It was strung upon elk sinews, fifty
shells on a string. But he saw the noon was passed, so he prepared to
depart. He loaded himself with countless strings of hiaqua, by fifties
and hundreds, so that he could scarcely stagger along. Not a string did
he hang on the tamanous of the elk, or the salmon, or the kamas--not
one--but turned eagerly toward his long descent. At once all the otters
plunged back into the lake and began to beat the waters with their tails;
a thick, black mist began to rise threateningly. Terrible are the storms
in the mountains--and Tamanous was in this one. Instantly the fierce
whirlwind overtook the miser. He was thrown down and flung over icy
banks, but he clung to his precious burden. Utter night was around him,
and in every crash and thunder of the gale was a growing undertone which
he well knew to be the voice of Tamanous. Floating upon this undertone
were sharper tamanous voices, shouting and screaming, always sneeringly,
'Ha, ha, hiaqua!--ha, ha, ha!' Whenever the miser attempted to continue
his descent the whirlwind caught him and tossed him hither and thither,
flinging him into a pinching crevice, burying him to the eyes in a snow
drift, throwing him on jagged boulders, or lacerating him on sharp lava
jaws. But he held fast to his hiaqua. The blackness grew ever deeper and
more crowded with perdition; the din more impish, demoniac, and devilish;
the laughter more appalling; and the miser more and more exhausted with
vain buffeting. He at last thought to propitiate exasperated Tamanous,
and threw away a string of hiaqua. But the storm was renewed blacker,
louder, crueler than before. String by string he parted with his
treasure, until at the last, sorely wounded, terrified, and weak, with a
despairing cry, he cast from him the last vestige of wealth, and sank
down insensible.

[Illustration: ROOSTER ROCK, COLUMBIA RIVER, ORE. On the Union Pacific
Ry.]

"It seemed a long sl