he nearest of kin,
the avengers of blood, they will seek your life. You have no witness to
your story, not even the body or a grave to show. When they find your
mother has not arrived, their suspicions will be aroused. I believe
your story, strange as it is. When they demand of me the cause of your
mother's non-arrival I will tell them as you have told me; but they will
not believe it, and so you must not meet them, as in all probability
they will kill you, in spite of all that I can do. So you must flee
away from the avengers. You, my only son of your mother, must not fall
by the hands of her brothers. Meet me here to-night when the moon is at
her brightest, and I will then have decided what you must do. Flee
quickly.'

"It was indeed time for me to go, for hardly had I slipped away, and
hidden in the deep grass, ere I heard angry voices in reply to my
father's quiet words. But I could make out nothing at the time of what
was said. For hours I there remained. The day passed on, and the night
followed, and yet I waited until the old moon came up to its brightest
point. Then, returning to the appointed spot, there I found my father
waiting for me. His great sorrow was still on him, his love for the son
of her whom he had loved so well had shown itself in his acts. He had
with him a good horse and a warrior's bow and quiver of arrows. In
addition he had a supply of food and some other necessary things. He
embraced me more tenderly than I ever remember his having done before,
and then for an instant his strong Indian nature broke, and with one
convulsive sob he said, `Kah-se-ke-at' (`My beloved'), which was his pet
name for my mother. But quickly he regained his composure, and,
pointing to the north star, he said I was to direct my course so much
west of that and try to reach the friendly band of Maskepetoon, the
great chief of the land of the Saskatchewan. He commanded me to ride
fast, as he feared trouble, as my uncles, to whom he had told my story
in the presence of all the relatives, would not be pacified, but had
demanded that I be delivered up. So I was armed and mounted, but ere my
father would let me go he drew me down to him and kissed me, and then
said:--

"`Be brave, my son; never begin a quarrel; but if the story of your
mother's death is true--and I believe you, for you have never deceived
me--then in your innocency, if you are followed and attacked, use your
weapons, and if you must die,