lake;
Sishetakushin's instructions, and gift of Manikawan to White Brother
of the Snow; of the parting from Sishetakushin.

Vividly he detailed the long and tedious return to the Great Lake; and
how the angry spirits reaching up had seized Shad, cast him into the
snow, and lamed him.

"The friend of White Brother of the Snow could not walk. The Matchi
Manitu had wounded his knee. Manikawan, the sister of Mookoomahn, had
promised White Brother of the Snow that she would not leave his friend
until he came.

"Mookoomahn told Manikawan White Brother of the Snow would not hold
her to her promise. That White Brother of the Snow did not mean that
she should die for his friend.

"Manikawan would not listen to Mookoomahn, and she said: 'When White
Brother of the Snow comes he will find Manikawan waiting with his
friend. She has promised. If the Spirit of Death comes into the lodge,
White Brother of the Snow will find Manikawan's body with the body of
his friend, and he will know that Manikawan kept her word.'

"Seven suns ago Mookoomahn left the lodge. He travelled slowly, for
the spirits clung to his feet and made them heavy. The spirits tripped
him and made him fall often. He killed three ptarmigans as he
travelled, and the flesh of the ptarmigans made him strong to reach
the lodge of White Brother of the Snow.

"For seven suns the friend of White Brother of the Snow and Manikawan
have had no food. The Spirit of Death stood very near the lodge when
Mookoomahn left it. The Spirit of Death has entered the lodge and
destroyed Manikawan and the friend of White Brother of the Snow."

With this sombre prophecy Mookoomahn ceased speaking, and leaned back
exhausted. As they looked at him they could appreciate the sufferings
of Shad and Manikawan, and no great stretch of the imagination was
necessary to picture the gruesome spectacle that they had no doubt
awaited them in the lodge on the Great Lake.

XXV

A MISSION OF LIFE AND DEATH

Bob's face had grown pale and tense as he listened. With Mookoomahn's
last words he rose from the edge of the bunk where he had seated
himself, and turning to Ed Matheson, asked:

"Be you goin' with me, Ed? Th' moon's good for travellin', an' I knows
th' way."

"That I be," Ed responded, beginning his preparation at once. "I
couldn't be restin' here a minute knowin' them poor souls was dyin'
out there."

"I'm goin', too," declared Dick Blake, reaching for his adicky. "Three
can tra