He then drew from his sack a curiously wrought antique pipe, and having filled it with tobacco, rendered mild by a mixture of certain leaves, handed it to his guest.  When this ceremony was concluded they began to speak.

‘I blow my breath,’ said the old man, ’and the stream stands still.  The water becomes stiff and hard as clear stone.’

‘I breathe,’ said the young man, ‘and flowers spring up over the plain.’

‘I shake my locks,’ retorted the old man, ’and snow covers the land.  The leaves fall from the trees at my command, and my breath blows them away.  The birds get up from the water, and fly to a distant land.  The animals hide themselves from my breath, and the very ground becomes as hard as flint.’

‘I shake my ringlets,’ rejoined the young man, ’and warm showers of soft rain fall upon the earth.  The plants lift up their heads out of the earth, like the eyes of children glistening with delight.  My voice recalls the birds.  The warmth of my breath unlocks the streams.  Music fills the groves wherever I walk, and all nature rejoices.’

At length the sun began to rise.  A gentle warmth came over the place.  The tongue of the old man became silent.  The robin and bluebird began to sing on the top of the lodge.  The stream began to murmur by the door, and the fragrance of growing herbs and flowers came softly on the vernal breeze.

Daylight fully revealed to the young man the character of his entertainer.  When he looked upon him, he had the icy visage of Peboan.{footnote [Winter.]} Streams began to flow from his eyes.  As the sun increased, he grew less and less in stature, and anon had melted completely away.  Nothing remained on the place of his lodge-fire but the miskodeed,{footnote [The trailing arbutus.]} a small white flower, with a pink border, which is one of the earliest species of northern plants.

‘The Undying Head’ is a rather long tale, but it makes up in weird conceits, fairy-tale prodigies, variety of incident, and energy of movement, for what it lacks in brevity.{footnote [See appendix D.]}

Chapter 60 Speculations and Conclusions

We reached St. Paul, at the head of navigation of the Mississippi, and there our voyage of two thousand miles from New Orleans ended.  It is about a ten-day trip by steamer.  It can probably be done quicker by rail.  I judge so because I know that one may go by rail from St. Louis to Hannibal—­a distance of at least a hundred and twenty miles—­in seven hours.  This is better than walking; unless one is in a hurry.

The season being far advanced when we were in New Orleans, the roses and magnolia blossoms were falling; but here in St. Paul it was the snow, In New Orleans we had caught an occasional withering breath from over a crater, apparently; here in St. Paul we caught a frequent benumbing one from over a glacier, apparently.