ke him several days to make the journey, and so he resolved
to go a little out of his way and visit a village of Indians, at the
meeting place of three rivers, and spend a little time with them, as
they were of the same tribe as his own people, and some of them were
distant relatives. Unfortunately for him they were in the midst of one
of their superstitious dances. The dances and sacrifices of dogs were a
kind of propitiatory offering to the Muche-Manito, the devil, to put him
in good humour, so that he would not interfere with them and prevent
their having great success in the coming spring hunt. Of course
Oowikapun was invited to join in the dance, but much to their surprise
he at first refused. This they could not understand, as in previous
visits he had been eager to spring into the magic circle and display his
agility and powers of endurance. When questioned as to his reasons for
declining, he told them of his visit to the camp of Memotas and what he
had heard and witnessed. They gathered around him and, Indianlike,
patiently listened in silence until he had told them his story.
Unfortunately it was not only received with incredulity, but with scorn.
The men were astounded, and indignantly exclaimed: "So he lets his wife
eat with him, does he? and cuts the wood himself, and carries the water
and prays to the Kissa-Manito to bless his enemies, instead of trying to
poison or shoot them! That is the white man's religion, is it? which
that Memotas has accepted. Well, let him keep it. It is not what we
want. As our fathers lived and died so will we. Don't be a fool,
Oowikapun. You will be wanting one of our daughters one of these days
to be your wife; then if you treat her like Memotas treats his, she will
be coming back and telling our women all about it, and there will be a
pretty fuss. O no; this will never do. You have had bad medicine
thrown into your eyes, and you do not see straight."

Thus they answered him; and day after day they bantered him, until at
length the poor fellow--anxious to follow the entreaties of Memotas, but
as yet unconscious of the divine power which he might have had if only
he had asked for it, and so lacking the strength to resist the
entreaties of his heathen friends, especially when he heard from lying
conjurers that even the black-eyed maidens were talking about his
strange unwillingness to join in the religious ceremonies for success in
the hunt--yielded to the tempter's p