tch, and not long after he came hobbling in
eagerly with his face shining for joy as before. He looked around the
cabin, and again he grew sad, for there was no bird to be seen.

Each day after that the same thing happened. As he sat under the trees
he saw the little bird fly into the cabin, but when he entered there
was no bird to be seen. He grew sadder and looked so thin that the
chief became sad, too.

"My son," he said, "you must not think of this bird. It has flown
away. It will not come back. This is a spirit bird that you see enter
the cabin. Try not to think of it and be happy."

But the little Cree boy only shook his head and said, "I saw her go in
and she does not come out and she is not in the cabin. Where is she?
Where is my little bird?"

So the chief made up his mind that he would watch and see if the little
bird really did fly into the cabin. The next day he watched with Koto
under the trees, and in a few minutes the little boy grasped his hand.

"Look," he said, "look, there is my little bird." And there in a tree
near them were two brown birds, one of them Koto's pet. They flew away
together; then one, when it reached the side of the cabin, suddenly
disappeared. Quickly seizing his father's hand, Koto and the chief
reached the door of the little home. They looked eagerly around the
room, but there was not a bird to be seen. They searched every place,
for the chief was sure that he had seen it enter. There was no trace
of it any place. Going out, he looked at the side of the little house,
and there was a hole between the logs where the bird might easily
enter. Coming in, he looked for the hole on the inside, but could not
find it. Then he noticed that an old, gray jacket, which had been left
there by the white men, was hanging where the hole ought to be.

He took down the jacket and Koto gave a cry of delight. For from a
pocket of the coat peaked the head of his little bird, and there was
the hole between the logs, where the coat had hung. The bird seemed
quite pleased that they had found her, and after a while flew off her
nest to peck from Koto's hand. After some days her eggs were hatched,
and then the father bird consented to enter the cabin and help feed the
young ones. When the little birds grew large enough, they flew away
with the father bird, but for the rest of the summer Koto's little
brown friend remained with him, watching him weave his baskets, and
seemed very p