he anxious mother when they appeared.

"'We have been to the lake,' they replied.

"She could hardly believe it.

"'My boys,' she said, 'you surely are mistaken, for no one who goes there
returns. The great monsters that devour our people live there, and they let
no one escape.'

"Then they told her of their battle with the great wolf, and how they had
killed him. They also showed her his heart, which they had brought home
with them.

"She was very much excited. She called the people together, and there was
great rejoicing at the death of this terrible wolf which had been such a
scourge to them.

"Some time after Sesigizit and Ooseemeeid asked their mother if she knew
where grew any good tough wood suitable for making bows and arrows. Her
answer was:

"'Far away in the foothills is a canyon, or ravine, where a forest of just
such wood as you need is growing, but the path that leads to it is narrow,
and there sits guard a great monster giant who kills and throws into the
ravine everyone who has attempted to get any of that wood. And in addition
there is a fierce mountain lioness prowling around somewhere on the route,
and she has already killed many people and carried them off to her den.'

"Ooseemeeid at once desired to set off and get a supply of this wood, but
Sesigizit, when he found out how fearful their mother was that they would
both be killed if they made the attempt, at first refused to go. His
objection, however, vanished when he saw his brother making ready to start,
and in spite of their mother's fears they started off.

"They had not gone very far when they met the great mountain lioness. She
was out hunting food for her cubs. These she had hidden in a den which was
away up on a precipitous mountain side.

"Ooseemeeid asked her if she knew the way to the canyon where grew the good
wood.

"'Yes,' she replied. 'I am just going that way, and I will show you the
route.' She said this because she wished in this way to allure the two boys
to walk near to her den, and there she would kill them for food for her
cubs.

"So she led them until they came to a place where the path was very
dangerous, because it was on a narrow, shelving rock around the mountain
side. Here the monster lioness asked the boys to walk on ahead of her, but
they refused, saying that they had been taught never to walk in front of
their elders. The lioness urged, but the boys were firm, and so she had to
yield and let them have th