The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-10-29


under the spreading baisams, across stretches
OF open ruskcag, and ever circling, twisting,
turning he travelled on, further and further is
and they trcmbled beneath him as he struggled
through the forest Often he stumbled over
the deep snow but he kept bravely on, hoping,
expecting each minute TO catch sight Of the wary
animal and give i the death shot At last he
came 70 the edge Of a small muskeag and there,
r,gh in the centre of it. stood the moose looking
al him. He raised his gun, took careful aim
The roar OF the report died away the smoke dis
appeared, and there stood the animal, as before
looking him sttnig hit in the face. 'Ha., he said
to himself, ! have missed an easy shot, too
must hurry to reload
He poured some powder into the barrel, rolled
trade ball down on top Of 1t, never stopping
TO patch II, and placed some powder in the pan.
still the moose stood watching him. and again
taking careful sight he fired straight at its
broadsidc. What? was 1t possible his eyes did
not deceive him. had he not seemed to look right
laden bush just back Of it, Just in line with the
spot on the animal he had aimed at? and the moose
where was he? Where had he vanished to? Was
i moose? No, IT could not have been; It was
He saw it all now, Twas the evil spirit him
game from this locality; twas he who had cursed
the traps so that all animals avoided them; twas
he hf in the form n q great bull moose; who day
through the forest and muskeags Hope died
within his breast, and he turned toward home
his empty gun; he was too weak to carry IT, More
dead than alive he staggered into the lodge that
wen bsd ane Gown and on ms S9noa Me
part, had been saved for him Rank and tough
az II was, he ate 1t with relish, and drank the
making sport q them; White VOL listened to
talk, and thought that all this tale Of the spirit
moose had come from his fathers Imagination;
he thought the psixati99 the hunger they had
story was finished, he said: Never mind,
father luck is sure to change. l will go with
this moose Perhaps after ALL you are mistaken
about its being Pah kah kons. You wcrc very
,h ts very hI ,h Sometimes People imagine
after all 1t was real moose you shot at and your
aim was not true
"'Ah, my son. the old man replied, I am not
mistaken Twas Pah kah- koos himself every
thing goes to prove that he is schcming to destroy
us The country of tho Black water ponds has
disappeared even the rabbits have disappeared
although it is not the year for them TO die oil
So quiet are uneasy through the long nights bark
ing and rushing wildly out in TO the forest Yet
having vcntpred near our camp They have the
power. you know, to see and hear many things
we can not , such as ghosts and the spirits good
and bad. lis Pah kah koos they see lowering
about our lodge. Listen! even now they are
barking at him
The women, frightened at the old man $ words,
couraecd them as best he could. telling them 10
have courage, that the next day he would surely
find food, and oil would be we'll Anyhow
he said TO morrow we will kin dog and have
good breakfast before setting out on the hunt
once his hunger is allayed, these idle fanCics will
leave ny father. and his courage and good sense
will return
Hal va! When morning broke not one Of the
dogs was to be found and making a circle around
the camp. White Wolf found their trail where they
had g! gone ne plnnginee swiftly through the snow
off without any breakfast and the two women
sadly watched them out of sight. and then reen-
ionsS awaiting thcrrcturn The DAY y went ts Slowly
by and as evening approached, they went out
often to look and listen for the hunters. but they
last. and neither men nor dogs had returned
Then the wife Of Fox Eyes began to talk strangely,
and telling Of things that had happened long long
ago. And again she would cry out that Pan X ali,
kons had taken away her husband and her son.
and she must start in search of them and bring
them home Often the young woman had to
siezc and force here TO her couch to keep her from
rushing wildly out into the night in search of the
absent ones. At last, far in the night the poor
4ld creature slept. and worn out. tired, almost to
ing her little baby to her breast slept too forget
tins, for time her troubles
When the Petrol woman awoke, day had al
ready broke, and she raised up and looked about
the lodge Her mother was gone: the white
tcethery ashes in the fire place were cold Could
wondered away in search Of the oa ABSENT S" on n@
She went ont side and there in the new fallen
St'", louhu her 1901 prints; here she had put on
her snow shoes. there was her trail disa ppea ring
in the gloomy forest When she found that She
was left alone the poor crea turc rly went crazy
herself and had it not been for the baby she likely
would have done so. but for its sake she built a
fire sat down and ngrsed it, and tried to, think
moose robe, she scrapct OIL the hair and boiled
it long time over the fire 1t did not become
tender and had little flavor, but she ate il ali.
So she bundled up the child and putting on her
snow shoes, went IN search Of her mother She
had circlcd around and around the camp and then.
worn out. had laid herself down under a large
FIR, tree, and there she found her wrapped in her
rabbit skin robe, quite dead and frozen hard
Two days the young. woman remained in the
lodge hoping praying for the hunters to return
But when the third morning broke she knew that
she would never see them again. and foolish as
the plan seemed, she concluded TO try to return
to her people who were winterng far to the south
She did not think that she could do So. but as
well die making the attempt to sit there in the
lodge and wait for death to come. So she loaded
kettle, some traps and snares and all the raw
hide old moccasins and such she could find To
in the centre she began the journey. The woman
was weak from long starvation and dragging
the tob2ggan. light as i was taxed her strength;
80 she did not go very far the first day and spent
most of the afternoon preparing shelter of poles
and brush for the night Four days, she sirug-
store Of rawhide became smaller and smaller
On the fifth morning she ate the last Of it and was
minded TO go no further to stay right there and
her on, and once more she packed the toboggan
and struggled along over the SNOW. About noon
she came across rabbit track, the first she had
seen. and a little further on found their trails
running in every direction Out came the SHARES
and were set and with strong heart she set
about building shelter. Long before shutdown
II was finished and she sat by the fire with rab-
bits boiling in the kettle, rabbits roasting over
the Goals.
Here she remained many days catching all
the rabbits she could and drying the meat of these
she did not eat And every day she became
stronger and stronger so when she did start on
more the toboggan seemed to run over the
snow of its own accord easily did she drag Il
And now the rabbit paths were everywhere and
she never lacked for fresh meat and every night
she knew that she was drawing nearer to her
people But still she was not sure she would
ever see them; the thought Of the awful fate of
her husband. OF Fox Eyes and his wife. was ever
IN her mind and she cried and mourncd for them
all the time And she thought that perhaps
Pah Kah- Koos was Just playing with her or
had forgotten hcr for time: and that instead Of
succeeding in reaching her friends he would yet
overtake and destroy her in some awful way. II
may he that the evil one did forget her or perhaps
he was too busy elsewhere To bother with her
anyhow the woman finally reached the plains Of
the Saskatchewan and found her people camping
there She lived to a great age and the baby
grew up and became the mother Of my mother"
And were Fox. Eyes and White Wolf never