“’Would you triumph o’er the strong? 
Be strong. 
Would you let them no more conquer? 
Conquer.’

“For a time the boy repeated them over and over.  He used to say that as the result of these meetings with the man in the moon he had grown so strong that he was nearly able to hold his own against his antagonist.  Then one day, when the man in the moon was puffing from the encounter, the latter said: 

“’Now by hard knocks and exercise I have put you on the way of ending your troubles.  Be strong, and conquer.  Farewell!  I am not coming again, as you do not need me any more.’

“Then away he flew back to his place in the moon.

“The boy seemed now to know that he was to use his strength for his own deliverance.  To test himself he began tossing up the stones that were so numerous on the shore of the lake.  First he began with quite small ones, but soon he found that he could pick up and throw about great big ones, that were like rocks.  When he returned from this last contest with the man in the moon it was nearly daylight.

“At first the people began ordering him about as usual.  But they soon had reason to be sorry for their cruelty and abuse, for the boy seized one after another of them and flung them with such violence against the rocks that their brains were dashed out and their blood ran in streams down the sides of the rocks—­where it turned into seams in the rocks which can be seen to this day.

“One person only, of all who lived in that dwelling, did the now strong boy leave alive, and that was, of course, the good-hearted little girl who used to speak kind words to him and befriend him when she could.

“They grew to be very fond of each other, and were afterward married and lived in full possession of all the things that once belonged to the cruel people for whom the little orphan boy had worked so long.”

“Well, sakehou,” said Sagastao, “I have been watching the man in the moon while you have been telling the story about his queer way of helping the boy to help himself, and he was looking pleased all the time.  So I am sure he is well satisfied with the way you have told the story.”

Old Mary was delighted with these words from the lips of the lad she loved with such a passionate devotion.

“But what do you think about it, little sister?” said the lad, calling to Minnehaha, who was cuddled down on the other side of Mary.

But the darling gave no answer, for she had long ago slipped off into Dreamland, and there she remained until the strong arms of Kennedy lifted her up from the canoe and carried her home.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Souwanas’s Love for Souwanaquenapeke—­How Nanahboozhoo Cured a Little Girl Bitten by a Snake—­How the Rattlesnake got Its Rattle—­The Origin of Tobacco—­Nanahboozhoo in Trouble.

Wahkiegun, as Souwanas named the home of his white friends, always had a warm welcome for Souwanas.  Little Souwanaquenapeke had learned to love him and nothing gave the grave old man greater pleasure than to have charge of her for hours at a time.  He often carried her away to his wigwam and with great delight explained to visiting Indians how his name was woven into that of the first little paleface born among his people.