open my lips, he related the full story of
Deerfoot's death. He gave the particulars, and was not wrong in the
slightest one. The chief need not have forbidden me to speak, for I
could not say a word for a long time afterward. He told me nothing
more. I cannot explain it."

(Possibly psychologists may find the explanation of this remarkable
fact in mental telepathy, but how shall we explain the still more
extraordinary statement that follows?)

"My mother had grown old and feeble and died a few months after I came
home. I noticed that father stopped going to the elevation beyond the
village and looking toward the rising sun for the coming of Deerfoot.
Nor did he seem to wish to speak of him, though I know the Shawanoe was
much in his thoughts. The chief gradually failed, and when the weather
grew cold he did not leave his lodge.

"He and I lived together. I gave him affectionate attention and did not
let him lack for comfort. Others often visited him, for the Blackfeet
could not forget that he had been one of their greatest war chiefs. Our
lodge was not fashioned like the others. One side was the face of a
large rock, against which we always kindled the fire. At each of the
opposite two corners was a strong post. These were connected at the
tops by a horizontal beam and from each post was stretched another
beam, whose farther end rested on the rock. This and the three beams
gave support for the framework of the roof, which was made of the
boughs of trees. The sides and walls were of thick bark lined with
buffalo robes. This made the square room below free of all supports or
posts. My bed of furs was at one side and that of my father opposite.
An opening in the roof, where it joined the rock and exactly over the
fire, gave an outlet for the smoke.

"One calm, cold night in autumn, after I had piled a deal of wood on
the blaze and seen that my father was warmly wrapped in furs and
sleeping comfortably, I lay down and fell asleep almost at once. It
could not have been long afterward that I was awakened by the sound of
people talking together. At first I thought they were outside the
lodge, but the fire was burning so bright that it was like noonday
within and I saw that the two persons who were conversing were standing
only a few paces from me.

"One was Chief Taggarak, my father. His face was turned partly away and
toward me and there could be no mistake as to him. The other's back and
one shoulder hid his features,