their hands and shouted with excitement and delight. They brought
armfuls of brush and laid it close to the pile. Nothing was needed to
complete the deed but to apply the fatal torches, now sending forth hot,
fierce gleams into the pale air, and brandished by a dozen yelling
savages.

At a signal from an aged chief, the brush was lighted. The fire cracked
and snapped; soon its snake-like wreaths curled about the pile, sending
thick smoke around the screaming victims, when, suddenly, old
Ka-te-qua--she who had taken charge of the children--rushed from the
neighboring forest. Tearing through the crowd, she flew to the pile of
fagots, and with vigorous strokes scattered the blazing wood in every
direction.

Then, turning toward the astonished savages, who had retreated a few
paces to escape the burning brands, she addressed them passionately in
the Indian tongue:

"The Great Spirit," she cried, "scowls upon you--the very flames hiss in
the wet grass. The sons of Ka-te-qua are gone to the happy hunting
grounds of the dead. Her wigwam is dark. The young pale-faces are to her
like the water-lilies of the stream. Why, when she was in the forest
gathering herbs for the sick of her tribe, did ye steal them from her
lodge like dogs?

"Is the tongue of Ka-te-qua forked? Has she not said that no warrior
need hunt the deer for the young pale-faces? With her they shall grow
like hickory saplings, towering with strength. The deer shall not be
more fleet than they, nor the songs of the birds more glad. The sun
shall paint their white skins. The love of the red man shall enter their
hearts: they shall be as the young of our tribe. Unbind them! Give them
to Ka-te-qua, or by the next moon a burning fever shall fall upon you.
Like panthers will you bite the dust. All the waters of the great
cataract cannot quench your thirst, and your mightiest hunters will be
as women."

She paused. A fine-looking chieftain arose and spoke:

"The sister of the great Medicine-man has spoken well. She dwells alone
in her wigwam Her arm is strong. Her eye is keen, like the hawk's. The
deer fall before her, and her arrow can find the heart of the grizzly
bear. Her corn stands higher than the grass of the prairie. She can feed
the young pale-faces. The Great Spirit gives them to her. Let it be so."

A council was held at once. This time more than half the chieftains
passed the club on in silence, for Ka-te-qua, as I have said, was
respected among the