was always a man of great courage and
strength. He laughed at the caution of the others, and boldly pushed on
to his distant hunting grounds whenever he saw a prospect of success.
His wigwam, in which he left Shakoona and the two little ones during his
absence, was made as warm and comfortable as such a habitation can be.
It was arranged with the best of birch bark, and around outside, up to
within a few feet of the top, Kinesasis piled the dry moss of that
country, which grows there so plentifully. He cut abundance of wood,
and left plenty of frozen meat and fish on the high staging outside.
The only drawback was that the wigwam was situated on the outskirts of
the village, close to the dark forest. Once a day, when the ice would
be cut by the men of the village, Shakoona would take her buckets, made
of the skin of the sturgeon, and go to the lake for her supply of water.
It did not take her very long to make the trip, and she loitered not on
the way, as she generally had to leave her two little ones alone.
However, as the little girl was eight years of age and her brother only
two years younger, the mother knew they were quite able to take care of
themselves under ordinary circumstances during her brief absence from
them.

"One day, however, when she returned she was horrified beyond all
expression to find that a couple of great wolves had noiselessly crawled
in from the forest, and were greedily devouring her children. With a
scream, but not with a faint, she threw one of the leather buckets of
water on the smouldering fire which burned on the ground in the centre
of the wigwam. Then she instantly seized an axe, which fortunately was
near the door by which she had entered. The clouds of steam which
filled the wigwam quite disconcerted the wolves. When she had entered
they had at once begun to growl more savagely, and seemed as though they
would spring at her. The clouds of hot steam at once stopped their
snarling, as well as their tearing at the bodies of the children, and,
before they could do any further injury, Shakoona with one blow cut
through the backbone of one, severing the spinal cord, thus rendering
him powerless to move. The other one sprang at her ere she could
disengage the axe for another blow. The wolf's object had been to catch
her by the throat, but she had quickly thrown up her arm as a guard, and
into it the cruel brute sank his great yellow fangs.

"Shakoona was in a terrible position n