“One time Man-e-do went off on a long hunt.  He took three horses and traveled several days before making his camp.  He thought he would get so far away that the dog could not go back to the village and tattle.

“While hunting in the mountains near his camp, he found a valley which was full of game.  There he made many kills, and soon had all the meat his three horses could possibly carry.

“‘To-morrow,’ said he to his dog, ’we will start for home.  When we get there, you must keep your tongue in your mouth.  You must not tell where we have been.  If the other hunters do not find our valley, we can come back at any time and get all the meat we want.’

“‘All right,’ said the dog, ‘I’ll keep the secret.’

“‘See that you do,’ added his master; ’for if you don’t, I’ll make you sorry for it.’

“The next morning they started for home.  That night they camped beside a brook.  At daybreak Man-e-do arose and made ready to start, but the dog was nowhere to be seen.

“‘Where can he be?’ said he to himself.  ’Surely he has not gone home to the village.’  You see, he thought that at last he had broken the dog of his tattling.  Why then should he go on ahead?

“So he turned about and went back to his camp near the valley.  The dog was not there.  ‘Perhaps,’ thought he, ’a bear or a panther has killed him.’

“So he turned about and went home to his wigwam alone.  There he found the dog as well as ever.  He had been home a long time, and told all he knew about the valley of game and more too.  According to his stories, he and his master had killed more game than had ever been seen before, and there was plenty more in the valley yet.  All the hunters in the village were getting ready to go there to hunt.

“Man-e-do was very angry.  He caught the dog, and gave him the worst whipping any dog ever had.  ‘I’ll stop your tattling,’ said he.  And he caught the dog by the tongue and pulled it nearly out of his mouth.  Then he shoved a round stick back into his mouth and tied his mouth shut over it.

“He left the stick there for a long time.  When he took it out, the dog’s mouth was larger, and his tongue longer than any dog’s mouth and tongue had ever been before.

“Since that time, all dogs have had big mouths and long tongues.

“But,” added Old Klaws, “they don’t tattle as much as they did before.”

While Old Klaws had been telling this story, Old Boze had been lying in the shade and resting.  After a while, he thought to himself, “I’ll give that old mouser a scare and I’ll do it before little Luke can hinder me.”

So he got up and walked silently around to the corner of the porch.  With one foot raised, he stopped scarcely three feet from Old Klaws, who was sitting on the end of the top step.