r-indulgence at the feast. All was grief and lamentation. "Let us go
and tell poor Shee-shee-banze," said one, "he was so fond of
Way-gee-mar-kin."

They found him sitting on a bank, fishing. He had been up at peep of
day, to make preparation for receiving the intelligence.

He had caught two or three fish, and, extracting their bladders, had
filled them with blood, and tied them under his arm. When the friends of
Way-gee-mar-kin saw him, they called out to him,--

"Oh! Shee-shee-banze--your friend, Way-gee-mar-kin, is dead!"

With a gesture of despair, Shee-shee-banze drew his knife and plunged
it--not into his heart, but into the bladders filled with blood that he
had prepared. As he fell, apparently lifeless, to the ground, the
messengers began to reproach themselves: "Oh! why did we tell him so
suddenly? We might have known he would not survive it. Poor
Shee-shee-banze! he loved Way-gee-mar-kin so."

To their great surprise, the day after the funeral, Shee-shee-banze came
walking towards the wigwam of the dead chief. As he walked, he sang, or
rather chaunted to a monotonous strain,[50] the following:--

"Way-gee-mar-kin is dead, is dead,
I know who killed him.
I guess it was I--I guess it was I."

All the village was aroused. Everybody flew in pursuit of the murderer,
but he evaded them, and escaped to a place of safety.

Soon after, he again made his appearance, mincing as he walked, and
singing to the same strain as before,--

"If you wish to take and punish me,
Let the widows come and catch me."

It seemed a good idea, and the young women were recommended to go and
entice the culprit into the village, so that the friends of the deceased
could lay hold of him.

They went forth on their errand. Shee-shee-banze would suffer them to
approach, then he would dance off a little--now he would allow them to
come quite near; anon he would retreat a little before them, all the
time singing,

"Come, pretty widows, come and catch me."

Thus he decoyed them on, occasionally using honeyed words and flattering
speeches, until he had gained their consent to return with him to his
lodge, and take up their abode with him.

The friends of the murdered chief were scandalized at such inconstancy,
and resolved to punish all three, as soon as they could catch them.

They surrounded his lodge with cries and threatenings, but
Shee-shee-banze and his two brides had contrived to elude their
vigilance and gain h