osaunee. While I am absent, so direct me with
the concentrated power of your mind that I shall soon find a fat young
deer, and that my arrow shall not miss. I'll gratefully receive all the
help you can give me in this way, though I won't neglect, if I see the
deer, to take the best aim I can with bow and arrow."

"Do not scoff, O Dagaeoga. The lore and belief of my nation and of the
whole Hodenosaunee are based upon the experience of many centuries. And
do you not say in your religion that the prayer of the righteous
availeth? Do you think your God, who is the same as my Manitou, intended
that only the prayers of the white men should have weight, and that
those of the red men should vanish into nothingness like a snowflake
melting in the air? I may not be righteous,--who knows whether he is
righteous or not?--but, at least, I shall pray in a righteous cause."

"I don't mock, Tayoga, and maybe the power of your wish, poured in a
flood upon me, will help. Yes, I know it will, and I go now, sure that I
will soon find what I seek."

He left the cave and passed up the valley, full of confidence. The
earnestness of Tayoga had made a great impression upon him, clothing him
about with an atmosphere that was surcharged with belief, and, as he
breathed in this air, it made his veins fairly sparkle, not alone with
hope, but with certainty.

He walked up a deep defile which gradually grew shallower, and then
ascended rapidly. Finally he came out on a crest, crowned with splendid
trees, and he drew a great breath of pleasure as he looked upon a vast
green wilderness, deepened in color by the long and recent rains, and
upon the far western horizon a dim but splendid band of silver which he
knew was Andiatarocte. A lover of beauty, and with the soul of a poet,
he could have stood, gazing a long time, but there was a sterner task
forward than the contemplation of nature in the wild.

He must sink the poet in the hunter, and he began to look for tracks of
game, which he felt sure would be plentiful in the forest, since men had
long been hunting one another instead of the deer. He had an abundance
of will of his own, but he felt also, despite a certain incredulity of
the reason, that the concentrated will of his distant comrade was
driving him on.

He walked about a mile, remaining well under cover, having a double
object, to keep himself hidden from foes and also to find traces of
game. His confidence that he would find it, and ve