The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1895-03-09

filled with visions of dead Indians VIII
Tin her dreamy appeared to be drowned
.'At Inst she fell into n heavy slum
Der, and when she awoke deep still
ness reigned all around.
"She thought IL strange that no nois
or sound Of life came from the camp
but she concluded that they had eater
SO much the previous night that on,
and all were still sleeping.
/ "When the day and night had passed
and yet no sound from the people o
the camp, the poor girl became thor
oughly alarmed, but feared to move OF
call out, on account of the injunction
received from her mother.
Morning came again; and now from
the direction of the camp came fain,
sound, as of distant, signing wind
and, as the day grew older, the sound
became more of kissing nature. Dur
ing her last night in her lonely retreat
that noise was something fearful, and
poor Ne-nah was almost out of her
mind with terror
Sunlight, blessed sunlight again.
Now Ne-nah's three days and nights
were over, and she was free to go; but
her mother came not.
Tho girl called, hardly above her
breath at first, then louder, but no an
swer came to her ears. She could not
bear 1t longer, and so she determined
to reconnoiter the camp and sec what
had happened.
''As she approached the edge of the
clearing she saw, squirming over the
bark tent, up and over the fish stag
ing, over the canoes on the beach-in
fact, over everything that belonged to
the Indians-snahcs, large and small,
in countless numbers. She realized
that her people were either dead or
had fed, and she decided to start on
foot for the fort.
"Nc-nah, Indian-like, had natural
knowledge of the lay of the country,
and made her way through the track
less forest In remarkable manner for
one so young. Two days afterward she
came out on the shore of Long lake.
She was seen by one of the servants,
who brought her over in a canoe to the
fort.
THE gentleman in charge for the
Nor'wcst company heard her story, and
although he totally disbclieved it, yet
at her earnest demand and entreaty
for some one to go and look for her
parents, he sent his second officer and
party of men to visit the place.
"Thcy returned after four days alb
sence, and reported that they had
found the clothes of the Indians where
they lay in the camp, with nothing but
bones therein.
Seeing some of the snakes men
toned by the girl still moving about,
they set fire to the point before leav-
ing.
"You will notice." said Lag arde, at
this point of his story, that the trees
hereabouts are second growth, and by
their size you can see this happened
years ago. The Indians from that
time have never camped by or fished in
this lake. An occasional hunter, who
has been tempted to come to the shores
of the lake to see the home of the
Manitou Na-mels, is reported to have
seen an immense sturgeon disporting
itself on the surface.
Hardy would have been the Indian
who would have molested the mon
ster."
'And what became Of Ne-nahp" I
asked the guide.
"Shc married Big Marten, of Albany
district, and was known latter her es-
cape from death at Manitou Na-MelS) as
the Snake Woman. She died n few
years ago ut Fort Henley, and the most
of the Indians now living in that Sec
ton are descendants of hers" con-
cluded Lagarde.
Our work for the next few days lay
in sight of the lake, and although we
kept bright lookout, we failed to see
anything of the uncanny fish that had
been eaten by the Indians, had then been
turned into deadly serpents, and de-
voured the whole band, and finally re-
sumed its natural state in the waters
of the lake! Such was the Indian lie.
gend of this grand body of water.
Lagarde told me on subsequent
evening a wonderful story of "Winda-
go Woman" This incident happened
in his own young days, and, as he said,
must be true. Martin Hunter, in N.
Y. Ledger.