t took down the spear, and braided the scalp-lock, was Sakechak,
the hunter of the little hill Wecheganawaw. He it was who first
sounded the war-whoop; he it was who took the first Padouca scalp; he
it was who pursued farthest the retreating enemy, and he who returned
from the weary pursuit to dance longest the dance of Triumph. And
Sakechak was as wise as brave, and as good as wise. Never was he
caught suffering his feelings to escape from his controul or
management; his word was esteemed in the council as the word of
wisdom; his warning of danger was regarded as the cry of the owl.
Never did he mock the wretched, or laugh, or scoff at the insane; he
was always respectful to the aged; and he daily cried to the Master of
Life, from the high grounds, with clay spread thick upon his hair, and
at every successful hunt offered, to the same Great Judge and
protecting guide of man, the best part of the animals he had caught.
That Great Being regarded him with more love than he regards other
mortals, and showed it by many signs. The fish he speared were always
fatter than those taken by other hunters; the deer that lay at the
foot of the wife of Sakechak could not be lifted like other men's by a
mere boy. The thunder that shattered, and the wind that prostrated,
the forest-trees in other places were never known to do the like by
the tall oaks that sheltered the hill Wecheganawaw. The corn of this
good hunter came out of the ground two suns sooner than other men's,
and the tobacco in his garden was ripe, yellow, and fit for use, while
that of his neighbours was green, and food for the worm. The
Caddoques, and the other Indians, might have seen enough of the
rewards bestowed upon goodness, in the person of Sakechak, to have
made them leave off their wickedness. But no, they kept on sinning,
until the Great Being deemed them unfit longer to live upon the earth
which he had created for their use.

Once upon a time, as Sakechak was about to rest his limbs for the
period of darkness, he felt the stirring of the ant which lay under
the skin of his left hand, and, binding over his eyes the hide of the
young badger, he laid his head upon a bundle of the leaves of the
black hornbeam, and slept as soon as possible[A]. His dream was
strange and wonderful, and it was accomplished. He saw the Master of
Life, being the first Caddoque who had ever seen him. He was a very
tall and big man, shaped like an Indian in all save his hands, which
we