r little according to the way the
pictures and the colors fell upon the ground. Curious eyes stared at him
as he shook and tossed and counted up the pieces, until the Indians were
drawn into the game one after one, and they sat there playing for prizes
of weapons and fur robes and wampum through the rest of the day and
through the night until the sun rose once again. By that time the
clever, lucky Pau-Puk-Keewis had won everything they owned--deerskin
shirts, wampum, pipes, ermine robes and all sorts of weapons, and he
chuckled to himself.

Then the crafty Pau-Puk-Keewis said to them: "My wigwam is lonely, and I
want a companion in my wanderings. I want a slave. I will risk all the
wampum and the fur robes, everything that I have won, against the nephew
of Iagoo--that young man who is standing yonder. But if I win again, he
shall be my slave for life."

"Done!" cried Iagoo, his eyes glowing like coals beneath his shaggy
brows, and he seized the bowl and shook it fiercely, throwing out the
pieces on the ground. Pau-Puk-Keewis counted, took the bowl and threw in
his turn, and his throw was far more lucky than that of old Iagoo. "The
game is mine!" cried Pau-Puk-Keewis, smiling as he rose and looked about
him, and heaped all the robes and feathers and wampum and weapons in the
arms of Iagoo's nephew, now a slave.

"Carry them to my wigwam yonder," said Pau-Puk-Keewis, "and wait there
until I have need of you;" and he left the tent, followed by the angry
glances of all the other players, who had lost all their fine furs and
wampum belts and even the pipes they had been smoking.

Pau-Puk-Keewis strolled through the sunny morning singing to himself,
for his new wealth made him very happy, and he soon reached the
farthest wigwam of the village, which was the home of Hiawatha.

Nobody was there. Only Kahgahgee, the raven, tied to the ridge-pole,
screamed and flapped his wings, watching Pau-Puk-Keewis with glaring
eyes.

"All are gone," said Pau-Puk-Keewis, thinking of new mischief as he
spoke; "all are gone, and they have left the lodge for me to do with as
I choose."

He seized the raven by the neck and whirled him around in the air like a
rattle, until the bird was strangled, and he left Kahgahgee's dead body
dangling from the ridge-pole as an insult to Hiawatha. Then he went
inside and threw everything into the wildest disorder, piling together
all the kettles and bowls, and all the skins and buffalo-robes that he
c