his little girl said to the others: "We
do not know why they have gone, but we know they have gone. We must follow
the trail of the camp, and try to catch up with them." So the children
started to follow the camp. They travelled on all day; and just at night
they saw, near the trail, a little lodge. They had heard the people talk of
a bad old woman who killed and ate persons, and some of the children
thought that this old woman might live here; and they were afraid to go to
the lodge. Others said: "Perhaps some person lives here who has a good
heart. We are very tired and very hungry and have nothing to eat and no
place to keep warm. Let us go to this lodge."

They went to it; and when they went in, they saw sitting by the fire an old
woman. She spoke kindly to them, and asked them where they were travelling;
and they told her that the camp had moved on and left them, and that they
were trying to find their people, that they had nothing to eat, and were
tired and hungry. The old woman fed them, and told them to sleep here
to-night, and to-morrow they could go on and find their people. "The camp,"
she said, "passed here to-day when the sun was low. They have not gone
far. To-morrow you will overtake them." She spread some robes on the ground
and said: "Now lie here and sleep. Lie side by side with your heads toward
the fire, and when morning comes, you can go on your journey." The
children lay down and soon slept.

In the middle of the night, the old woman got up, and built a big fire, and
put on it a big stone kettle, full of water. Then she took a big knife,
and, commencing at one end of the row, began to cut off the heads of the
children, and to throw them into the pot. The little girl with the baby
brother lay at the other end of the row, and while the old woman was doing
this, she awoke and saw what was taking place. When the old woman came near
to her, she jumped up and began to beg that she would not kill her. "I am
strong," she said. "I will work hard for you. I can bring your wood and
water, and tan your skins. Do not kill my little brother and me. Take pity
on us and save us alive. Everybody has left us, but do you have pity. You
shall see how quickly I will work, how you will always have plenty of
wood. I can work quickly and well." The old woman thought for a little
while, then she said: "Well, I will let you live for a time, anyhow. You
shall sleep safely to-night."

The next day, early, the little girl too