spot. In the
night there came three different moose. Bring me leaves of the birch and
cedar twigs; I will make medicine for moose,' she added.

"Manitoshaw obediently disappeared in the woods. It was a grove of
birch and willow, with two good springs. Down below was a marshy place.
Nawakewee had bidden the maiden look for nibbled birch and willow twigs,
for the moose loves to eat them, and to have her arrow ready upon the
bow-string. 'I have seen this very place many a time,' added my uncle,
and this simple remark gave to the story an air of reality.

"The Cree maiden went first to the spring, and there found fresh tracks
of the animal she sought. She gathered some cedar berries and chewed
them, and rubbed some of them on her garments so that the moose might
not scent her. The sun was already set, and she felt she must return to
Nawakewee.

"Just then Hinhankaga, the hooting owl, gave his doleful night call. The
girl stopped and listened attentively.

"'I thought it was a lover's call,' she whispered to herself. A singular
challenge pealed across the lake. She recognized the alarm call of the
loon, and fancied that the bird might have caught a glimpse of her game.

"Soon she was within a few paces of the temporary lodge of pine boughs
and ferns which the grandmother had constructed. The old woman met her
on the trail.

"'Ah, my child, you have returned none too soon. I feared you had
ventured too far away; for the Sioux often come to this place to hunt.
You must not expose yourself carelessly on the shore.'

"As the two women lay down to sleep they could hear the ponies munch
the rich grass in an open spot near by. Through the smoke hole of the
pine-bough wigwam Manitoshaw gazed up into the starry sky, and dreamed
of what she would do on the morrow when she should surprise the wily
moose. Her grandmother was already sleeping so noisily that it was
enough to scare away the game. At last the maiden, too, lost herself in
sleep.

"Old Nawakewee awoke early. First of all she made a fire and burned
cedar and birch so that the moose might not detect the human smell. Then
she quickly prepared a meal of wild turnips and berries, and awoke the
maiden, who was surprised to see that the sun was already up. She ran
down to the spring and hastily splashed handsful of the cold water in
her face; then she looked for a moment in its mirror-like surface.
There was the reflection of two moose by the open shore and beyond them
Ma