ked up courage and resumed their patient waiting.

Then the cry of the panther, long drawn, wailing like the shriek of a
woman, came from the east and the west, and presently from the north and
the south also, followed soon by the dreadful hooting of the owls, and
then by the fierce growls of the bear. Tandakora, in spite of himself,
in spite of his undoubted courage, in spite of his vast experience in
the forest, shuddered. The darkness was certainly full of wicked
spirits, and they were seeking prey. So many owls and bears and panthers
could not be abroad at once in a circle about him. But Tandakora shook
himself and resolved to stand fast. He encouraged his warriors, who were
already showing signs of fright, and refused to let any one go.

But the forest chorus grew. Tandakora heard the gobble of the wild
turkey as he used to hear it in his native west, only he was sure that
the gobble now was made by a spirit and not by a real turkey. Then the
owl hooted, the panther shrieked and the bear growled. The cry of a
moose, not any moose at all, as Tandakora well knew, but the foul
emanation of a wicked spirit, came, merely to be succeeded by the weird
cries of night birds which the Ojibway chief had never seen, and of
which he had never dreamed. He knew, though, that they must be hideous,
misshapen creatures. But he still stood fast, although all of his
warriors were eager to go, and the demon chorus came nearer and nearer,
multiplying its cries, and adding to the strange notes of birds the
equally strange notes of animals, worse even than the growl of bear or
shriek of panther.

Tandakora knew now that the wicked spirits of earth and air were abroad
in greater numbers than he had ever known before. They fairly swarmed
all about him and his warriors, continually coming closer and closer and
making dire threats. The night was particularly suited to them. The
heavy black clouds floating before the moon and stars were met by thick
mists and vapors that fairly oozed out of the damp earth. It was an evil
night, full of spells and magic, and the moment came when the chief
wished he was in his own hunting grounds far to the west by the greatest
of the Great Lakes.

The darkness was not too great for him to see several of his warriors
trembling and he rebuked them fiercely, though his own nerves, tough as
they were, were becoming frayed and uneasy. He forgot to watch the trail
and listen for the sound of footsteps. All his att