with only
the satisfaction of getting from her the information that at some future
interview she would tell him of the great object she had set her heart
upon, he had to leave the wigwam, feeling that his chances of winning
Astumastao were not quite so bright as he had vainly imagined.

Oowikapun, as we may well suppose, was very anxious to know the reasons
which had so strong a hold upon Astumastao as to cause her thus to act;
and, so soon as Indian etiquette would allow another visit to her
wigwam, he was not absent.

When some Indian maidens, who had been learning from Astumastao some new
designs in beadwork, at which she was very skillful, had retired, and
the two young people and the aunt were now left alone, she, in her
clear, straightforward manner, told what was uppermost in her heart. It
was of a purpose which had been growing there for years, but which she
had only seen the possibility of carrying out since her uncle's death.
She said she believed they ought to have a missionary to teach them the
truths in the book of heaven. Pe-pe-qua-napuay, the new chief, was not
unfriendly, as he had himself declared that he had lost faith in the old
pagan way; and Koosapatum, the conjurer, had lost his power over the
young men, who now feared not his threats; and at Tapastanum, the old
medicine man, they even laughed when he threatened them. So she had
resolved to go all the way to Norway House, to plead with the missionary
there to send away to the land of missionaries, and get one to come and
live among them and be their teacher of this right way, as described in
the book of heaven. She knew it was far away, and her hands and arms
would often get weary with paddling many days, and her feet would get
sore, and perhaps the moccasins would wear out in the portages where the
stones were sharp and the rocks many. But they had talked it all over,
and they had resolved to go. Two women were to go with her. One, who
was a widow, was to be the guide. She had gone over the way years ago,
with her husband, and thought that she could remember the trail. The
other was a young woman, the companion of Astumastao, who from being so
much with her had learned what she knew, and so longed, for more
instruction that she was willing to go on the long journey, hard and
dangerous though it was. These two women, she said, were anxious to go
with her. They were sick of the way they were living, and longed for
the better life and a