had hard work getting enough to eat, for they
lived far away from the places where the buffalo were plentiful, and
when the winter was long and hard there was much suffering.

"Blue Elk, though only a boy, thought deeply on the condition of his
people. He wanted them to be rich and powerful as other tribes were.
When he reached the age where the Indian youth leaves boyhood behind him
and becomes a brave, he entered upon a fast, as every Indian boy must do
before he can be counted a man. He first built a sweat lodge and
purified himself with the steam bath; then he blackened his face and
went off by himself to a lonely rock ledge up the side of the mountain
where he stayed for three days without eating anything, watching for
some sign from the Great Spirit, which would be a guide for his future
life.

"To the Indian this fast is of great significance. It is the conquering
of the body by the mind; the freeing of the soul from the desires of the
flesh. To him the silence around him is the Great Mystery, and he
believes that during this time he talks face to face with the Great
Spirit.

"Blue Elk lay for a long time, his soul steeped in profound peace,
waiting for the Great Spirit to speak to him through some phenomenon of
nature. There was only one wish in his heart; that through him his
people might become prosperous and great. At last he fell asleep and
dreamed that the Great Spirit stood before him in the form of a white
buffalo and spoke thus: 'Where the two bright eyes of heaven (the Twin
Stars) are seen shining at noonday, there will the fortune of my people
be found.'

"Blue Elk awoke much perplexed at this message from the Great Spirit.
What could it mean? 'It is not possible for the Two Stars to shine at
midday,' he said. But that was the message the Great Spirit had given
him, and so great was his faith that he never doubted for a moment that
a miracle would occur which would bring about the fortune of his people.

"Time passed on; Blue Elk became a brave and went on the warpath and
brought home the scalps of many enemies. But the tribe was still poor
and the winter often brought famine. One day when Blue Elk was being
hotly pursued by a band of enemies he hid in a deep cave in the side of
a hill. Faint and exhausted he flung himself on the floor. As his eyes
turned upward in a prayer to the Great Spirit he saw there was an
opening high up in the top of the cave and through the dark shaft thus
formed the T