nitoshaw seemed to see a young man standing. In another moment all
three had disappeared.

"'What is the matter with my eyes? I am not fully awake yet, and I
imagine things. Ugh, it is all in my eyes,' the maiden repeated to
herself. She hastened back to Nawakewee. The vision was so unexpected
and so startling that she could not believe in its truth, and she said
nothing to the old woman.

"Breakfast eaten, Manitoshaw threw off her robe and appeared in her
scantily cut gown of buckskin with long fringes, and moccasins and
leggings trimmed with quills of the porcupine. Her father's bow and
quiver were thrown over one shoulder, and the knife dangled from her
belt in its handsome sheath. She ran breathlessly along the shore toward
the outlet.

"Way off near the island Medoza the loon swam with his mate,
occasionally uttering a cry of joy. Here and there the playful Hogan,
the trout, sprang gracefully out of the water, in a shower of falling
dew. As the maiden hastened along she scared up Wadawasee, the
kingfisher, who screamed loudly.

"'Stop, Wadawasee, stop--you will frighten my game!'

"At last she had reached the outlet. She saw at once that the moose
had been there during the night. They had torn up the ground and broken
birch and willow twigs in a most disorderly way."

"Ah!" I exclaimed, "I wish I had been with Manitoshaw then!"

"Hush, my boy; never interrupt a storyteller."

I took a stick and began to level off the ashes in front of me, and to
draw a map of the lake, the outlet, the moose and Manitoshaw. Away off
to one side was the solitary wigwam, Nawakewee and the ponies.

"Manitoshaw's heart was beating so loud that she could not hear
anything," resumed my uncle. "She took some leaves of the wintergreen
and chewed them to calm herself. She did not forget to throw in passing
a pinch of pulverized tobacco and paint into the spring for Manitou, the
spirit.

"Among the twinkling leaves of the birch her eye was caught by a moving
form, and then another. She stood motionless, grasping her heavy bow.
The moose, not suspecting any danger, walked leisurely toward the
spring. One was a large female moose; the other a yearling.

"As they passed Manitoshaw, moving so naturally and looking so harmless,
she almost forgot to let fly an arrow. The mother moose seemed to
look in her direction, but did not see her. They had fairly passed her
hiding-place when she stepped forth and sent a swift arrow into the side