r magicians, ere
the trailing of an enemy begins, to pronounce a short prayer, and
Topanashka had neglected it. His indignation at the discovery of
Shotaye's misdeed was the cause of this neglect. Now it came to his
mind.

"Kuawk, kuawk, kuawk!"

A crow flew overhead. It came from the tree where the others had been
sitting, or at least from that direction.

To the Indian the crow is a bird of ill omen. Its discordant voice is,
next to the cry of the owl, regarded as the most dismal forewarning.
The use of its plumage in magic is strongly condemned. Was it not
strange that those harbingers of misfortune so persistently followed
him, and that their repulsive croaking always interrupted his thoughts?
Topanashka resolved to make good on the spot what he had omitted, and
ere he moved, to pray.

In place of the formula which the warrior recites when he is on the
track of an enemy, Topanashka selected another one, spoken upon entering
dangerous ground where enemies may be lurking. It seemed to him that the
latter was better adapted to the occasion, since he was unarmed and
therefore unable to fight in case of necessity. He still carried with
him the same fetich, a rude alabaster figure of the panther, which we
saw dangling from his necklace on the day he went to visit the tapop.
But the necklace he had left at home this time, and he carried the
amulet in a leather satchel concealed under his wrap. He took out the
wallet and removed the fetich from it. To the back of the figure was
fastened a small arrow-head, on the sides a turquoise and a few shells
were tied with strings of yucca fibre.

The old man squatted on the ground, took from the same satchel a pinch
of sacred meal, and scattered it to the six regions. Then he
whispered,--

"[=A]-[=a]. Nashtio, Shiuana, Kopishtai! Make me precious this day, even
if the land be full of enemies. Let not my life be threatened by them.
Protect me from them. Let none of the Moshome go across this line," he
drew a line in the sand with the arrow-point, "give me protection from
them! Mokatsh, Tyame, Shiuana, shield my heart from the enemy."

While pronouncing the latter words he drew three more lines, breathed on
the fetich, placed it in the satchel again, and rose. He felt
strengthened, for he had performed his duty toward the Shiuana, had
satisfied Those Above.

"Kuawk, kuawk, kuawk!" The crow soared back over his head. The ugly,
ill-voiced bird! Topanashka's eyelids twitched an