he susceptible ears of the maidens late into the night. There comes
to me now the picture of two young men with their robes over their
heads, and only a portion of the hand-made and carved chotanka, the
flute, protruding from its folds. I can see all the maidens slyly turn
their heads to listen. Now I hear one of the youths begin to sing a
plaintive serenade as in days gone by:

"Hay-ay-ay! Hay-ay-ay! a-ahay-ay!" (This
"Listen! you will hear of him--
Maiden, you will hear of him--
Listen! he will shortly go

Wasula feels that she must come out, but she has no good excuse, so she
stirs up the embers of the fire and causes an unnecessary smoke in the
teepee. Then she has an excuse to come out and fix up the tent flaps.
She takes a long time to adjust these pointed ears of the teepee, with
their long poles, for the wind seems to be unsettled.

Finally Chotanka ceases to be heard. In a moment a young man appears
ghost-like at the maiden's side.

"So it is you, is it?" she asks.

"Is your grandmother in?" he inquires.

"What a brave man you are, to fear an old woman! We are free; the
country is wide. We can go away, and come back when the storm is over."

"Ho," he replies. "It is not that I fear her, or the consequences of an
elopement. I fear nothing except that we may be separated!"

The girl goes into the lodge for a moment, then slips out once more.
"Now," she exclaims, "to the wood or the prairie! I am yours!" They
disappear in the darkness.

IV. A Meeting on the Plains

WE were encamped at one time on the Souris or Mouse river, a tributary
of the Assiniboine. The buffaloes were still plenty; hence we were
living on the "fat of the land." One afternoon a scout came in with the
announcement that a body of United States troops was approaching! This
report, of course, caused much uneasiness among our people.

A council was held immediately, in the course of which the scout was put
through a rigid examination. Before a decision had been reached, another
scout came in from the field. He declared that the moving train reported
as a body of troops was in reality a train of Canadian carts.

The two reports differed so widely that it was deemed wise to send
out more runners to observe this moving body closely, and ascertain
definitely its character. These soon returned with the positive
information that the Canadians were at hand, "for," said they, "there
are no bright metals in the movin