say: 'Let all the
people be summoned and let them crowd into the wigwam in which I lie,'
and when they have all come and stand thick about your bed, you will
say, 'Now raise me into a sitting position and put the pillows thick
behind my back and head that I may lean against them.' Then you
will speak to the people. The words will flow from your lips in a
continuous and golden stream. It will be the finest speech of your
life. It will be filled with magnificent words, many of them, eight or
ten syllables long. It will be mellow like the call of a trumpet. It
will be armed with force, and it will be beautiful with imagery; it
will be suffused and charged with color, it will be the very essence
of poetry and power, and as the aged Dagaeoga draws his very last
breath so he will speak his very last word, and thus, in a golden
cloud, his soul will go away into infinite space, to dwell forever
in the bosom of Manitou, with the immortal sachems, Tododaho and
Hayowentha!"

"Do you know, Tayoga, I think that would be a happy death," said
Robert earnestly.

The Onondaga laughed heartily.

"Thus does Dagaeoga show his true nature," he said. "He was born with
the spirit and soul of the orator, and the fact is disclosed often. It
is well. The orator, be he white or red, will lose himself sometimes
in his own words, but he is a gift from the gods, sent to lift up the
souls, and cheer the rest of us. He is the bugle that calls us to the
chase and we must not forget that his value is great."

"And having said a whole cargo of words yourself Tayoga, now what do
you propose that we do?"

"Push on with all our strength for the caves. I know now we are on the
right path, because I recall the country through which we are passing.
At noon we will reach a small lake, in which the fish are so numerous
that there is not room for them all at the same time in the water.
They have to take turns in getting the air above the surface on top of
the others. For that reason the fish of this lake are different from
all other fish. They will live a full hour on the bank after they are
caught."

"Tayoga, in very truth, you've learned our ways well. You've become a
prince of romancers yourself."

At the appointed time they reached the lake. There were no fish above
its surface, but the Onondaga claimed it was due to the fact that the
lake was covered with ice which of course kept them down, and which
crowded them excessively, and very uncomfortabl