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The Lost Hunter - A Tale of Early Times by John Turvill Adams
page 262 of 512 (51%)
child might wander in security ten days' journey, in every direction,
from the lodge of the Sachem, and narrow were the escapes from death
of the intrepid hunter, and yet scarcely scalps enough were obtained
to make a conaus or wrapper for the sloping shoulders of Leelinau. In
vain, the enamored youth extended his hunt still further, even twenty
days' journey from his starting point. Only at long intervals was a
beast discovered, but, finally, not one was to be found, and the youth
awoke to the conviction that he had been made a dupe to the cunning of
the Sachem.

After a fruitless chase he was musing one day sorrowfully over his
disappointed hopes, ashamed to go back to his village, to which he
had never returned without success before, when, suddenly, a man of
majestic presence stood before him. His nose was like the beak of an
eagle, and his eyes resembled fires in a dark night. Strange feathers,
of brilliant colors, were woven into his scalp-lock; a magnificent
robe of skins depended from his shoulders; and in his hand he held a
long spear, tipped with a pointed stone.

"My brother is sad," he said. "Let my brother give me the half of his
grief to bear."

Thus exhorted, Magisaunikwa disclosed the cause of his dejection to
his sympathizing friend.

"Is that all?" said the stranger. "Return, and thou shalt find the
conaus in thy lodge, and when thou beholdest them, remember they are
the gift of Manabozho. I am Manabozho."

He spoke, and before the astonished hunter had time to thank him,
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