hey swam like the beavers,
Loud-laughing like loons on the lake
when the moon is a round shield of silver,
And the songs of the whippowils wake
on the shore in the midst of the maples.

But hark!--on the river a song,--
strange voices commingled in chorus;
On the current a boat swept along
with DuLuth and his hardy companions;
To the stroke of their paddles they sung,
and this the refrain that they chanted:

"Dans mon chemin j'ai rencontre
Deux cavaliers bien montes.
Lon, lon, laridon daine,
Lon, lon, laridon da."

"Deux cavaliers bien montes;
L'un a cheval, et l'autre a pied.
Lon, lon, laridon daine,
Lon, lon, laridon da."[W]

[U] The Dakotas say that for many years in olden times war-eagles made
their nests in oak trees on Spirit-island--_Wanagi-wita_, just below the
Falls till frightened away by the advent of white men.

[V] The Dakotas called Nicollet Island _Wi-ta Waste_--the Beautiful
Island.

[W] A part of one of the favorite songs of the French _voyageurs_.

[Illustration: ARRIVAL OF DULUTH AT KATHAGA]

Like the red, dappled deer in the glade
alarmed by the footsteps of hunters,
Discovered, disordered, dismayed,
the nude nymphs fled forth from the waters,
And scampered away to the shade,
and peered from the screen of the lindens.

A bold and adventuresome man was DuLuth,
and a dauntless in danger,
And straight to _Kathaga_ he ran,
and boldly advanced to the warriors,
Now gathering, a cloud on the strand,
and gazing amazed on the strangers;
And straightway he offered his hand
unto Wazi-kute, the _Itancan_.[X]
To the Lodge of the Stranger were led
DuLuth and his hardy companions;
Robes of beaver and bison were spread,
and the Peace-pipe[23] was smoked with the Frenchman.

[X] Head-chief

There was dancing and feasting at night,
and joy at the presents he lavished.
All the maidens were wild with delight
with the flaming red robes and the ribbons,
With the beads and the trinkets untold,
and the fair, bearded face of the giver;
And glad were they all to behold
the friends from the Land of the Sunrise.
But one stood apart from the rest--
the queenly and silent Winona,
Intently regarding the guest--
hardly heeding the robes and the ribbons,
Whom the White Chief b