as they could
carry and raced back to the hill. The night was dark, as the moon had
not yet risen, and when at length they gained the hillside, they saw
that the hunters still slept. Obeying the Manitou, they placed the
coals in a circle on the side of the hill, and then hid behind some
trees.

Scarcely had they done this, when the hunters awakened. At once they
noticed the strange, glowing circle on the hillside. They rubbed their
eyes and looked again; it was still there, burning and yet having no
flame. Terrified, they gazed at it, not daring to climb the hillside.
At last one said:

"My brothers, let us return at once to our village. This whispering
grass must be a great friend of Gitche Manitou, and we have done wrong
to eat of it. Let us return and warn our brothers."

"You are right, my brother," said the other hunter. "We will return
and tell of this strange, terrible warning which Gitche Manitou has
sent to us."

So saying, they turned and disappeared rapidly in the darkness, while
the circle on the hillside glowed brightly until the sun rose. When
daylight came there was nothing to be seen of the coals, but on the
hillside where they had been there was a large, brown circle, which
could be seen quite plainly from the valley. And there it can be seen
to this day.

On climbing the hill, the circle vanishes, and not a spot of burnt
grass is to be found, but always from the valley below the brown circle
can be seen. And the animals from that night have been afraid of
glowing fire, for they know the Manitou cannot give his protection
another time.

But he has been their greatest friend ever since that night. When they
are in any trouble they go at once to the Dark Hills, and, creeping
through the long passage, reach the cave where the bright fire glows.
There they tell the kind Manitou all that makes them sad, and he
comforts them. In the autumn he tells the deer where to hide in the
hills, so that the hunters cannot kill them. In the long, cold winter
he tells the hungry gray wolf where to find food, and in the summer he
shows the red fox how to double on his trail so that none may catch
him. And to all of them he has taught the secret of the glowing fire,
that its brightness means danger, save when they rest beside it in his
cave under the Dark Hills.

THE LEGEND OF MACKINAC ISLAND

Many years ago, a party of wild Ojibwa Indians were resting on the
shore of Lake Huron. The story