第23章

Just then it occurred to him that good warriors always mourn for their departed friends and the usual mourning was black paint.He loosened his black braided locks,ground a dead coal,mixed it with bear's oil and rubbed it on his entire face.

During this time every hole in the tent was oc-cupied with an eye.Among the lookers-on was his grandmother.She was very near relenting.

Had she not feared the wrath of the Great Mys-tery,she would have been happy to call out to the boy:"Keep your dear dog,my child!"As it was,Hakadah came out of the teepee with his face looking like an eclipsed moon,leading his beautiful dog,who was even handsomer than ever with the red touches on his specks of white.

It was now Uncheedah's turn to struggle with the storm and burden in her soul.But the boy was emboldened by the people's admiration of his bravery,and did not shed a tear.As soon as she was able to speak,the loving grandmother said:

"No,my young brave,not so!You must not mourn for your first offering.Wash your face and then we will go."The boy obeyed,submitted Ohitika to Wacoota with a smile,and walked off with his grandmother and Wahchewin.

They followed a well-beaten foot-path leading along the bank of the Assiniboine river,through a beautiful grove of oak,and finally around and under a very high cliff.The murmuring of the river came up from just below.On the opposite side was a perpendicular white cliff,from which ex-tended back a gradual slope of land,clothed with the majestic mountain oak.The scene was im-pressive and wild.

Wahchewin had paused without a word when the little party reached the edge of the cliff.It had been arranged between her and Uncheedah that she should wait there for Wacoota,who was to bring as far as that the portion of the offering with which he had been entrusted.

The boy and his grandmother descended the bank,following a tortuous foot-path until they reached the water's edge.Then they proceeded to the mouth of an immense cave,some fifty feet above the river,under the cliff.A little stream of limpid water trickled down from a spring with-in the cave.The little watercourse served as a sort of natural staircase for the visitors.A cool,pleasant atmosphere exhaled from the mouth of the cavern.Really it was a shrine of nature and it is not strange that it was so regarded by the tribe.

A feeling of awe and reverence came to the boy.

"It is the home of the Great Mystery,"he thought to himself;and the impressiveness of his surroundings made him forget his sorrow.

Very soon Wahchewin came with some difficulty to the steps.She placed the body of Ohi-tika upon the ground in a life-like position and again left the two alone.

As soon as she disappeared from view,Unchee-dah,with all solemnity and reverence,unfast-ened the leather strings that held the four small bundles of paints and one of tobacco,while the filled pipe was laid beside the dead Ohitika.

She scattered paints and tobacco all about.

Again they stood a few moments silently;then she drew a deep breath and began her prayer to the Great Mystery:

"0,Great Mystery,we hear thy voice in the rushing waters below us!We hear thy whisper in the great oaks above!Our spirits are refreshed with thy breath from within this cave.0,hear our prayer!Behold this little boy and bless him!

Make him a warrior and a hunter as great as thou didst make his father and grandfather."And with this prayer the little warrior had com-pleted his first offering.