Into a tree that stood beside the Falls of St. Anthony, a devout Sioux climbed, weeping and lamenting bitterly as he fastened to the branches a fine beaver skin. On the inside the skin had been carefully dressed and painted white, and it was decorated with the quills of porcupine. And while he offered this sacrifice to the spirit of the Falls, he cried out in a loud voice:—

“Thou who art a spirit, grant that our nation may pass here quietly without accident, may kill buffalo in abundance, conquer our enemies and bring in slaves, some of whom we will put to death before thee. The Foxes have killed our kindred. Grant that we may avenge them.”

Unk-ta-he, the god who dwelt under the Falls of St. Anthony, must have heard his prayer, for all that he asked was granted. Many buffalo fell to the lot of the hunters, and later in the season they attacked the nation of Foxes and great was their victory. They brought their captives home to offer to the spirit that had given them such glorious success.

On this early July day Hennepin and the timid Picard, looking up as they made the portage around the Falls, saw the Sioux presenting his ornamented robe and heard him offer up his prayer. Then they pushed their canoe into the water and took up their journey upon the stream that shot out so swiftly from the foot of the Falls. The Sioux climbed down out of the tree and joined his friends on their hunt along the river and out over the plains.

The crafty Aquipaguetin was with them, and as the days went by he kept thinking of the story Hennepin had told him of other white men sent out by La Salle with merchandise and arms to the mouth of the Wisconsin. Why should he not meet these men himself and receive their first lavish presents? Finally he could no longer restrain himself, and taking with him about ten men he paddled down the river after Hennepin and the Picard. The two white men had had many adventures. In their hunting they had not been fortunate, and many times they had come near to starvation. Once they had passed two days without food, when they came upon some buffalo crossing the river. The Picard managed to shoot one of the cows in the head. The animal being too heavy to haul ashore, they cut it into pieces in the water. Then they feasted so heartily that for several days they were too sick to resume the journey.

Hennepin and the Picard were yet some distance above the Wisconsin when Aquipaguetin overtook them. He did not stop long, but dipped paddle once more and soon reached the mouth of the river where Marquette, seven years before, had first seen the Mississippi. There he halted and looked about for signs of white men. No camp was beside the river, nor did any smoke rise as far as his eye could reach. Having searched in vain he at length turned northward with great wrath to seek out his foster son.

The Picard had gone off to hunt and the friar was alone under a shelter they had set up to protect them from the sun. Glancing up he saw his foster father coming toward him, club in hand. In terror of his life, he reached for a pair of the Picard’s pistols and a knife. Perhaps the friar, armed with these unholy weapons, daunted the chief, for he contented himself with showering upon his adopted son maledictions for camping on the wrong side of the river and thus exposing himself rashly to the enemy. Then he pushed on to rejoin his fellow-Sioux.

The party of hunters had now turned south, and in a few days they came upon Hennepin and the Picard, who joined them on the trail of big game. Many leagues down the Mississippi they hunted for buffalo, and altogether they captured a hundred and twenty of the shaggy beasts. While on the chase it was their practice to post old men on high points of the cliffs and neighboring hills to keep watch for enemies. One day Hennepin was busy with a sharp knife trying to cut a long thorn out of an Indian’s foot when an alarm was given in the camp. Two hundred bowmen sprang to their arms and ran in the direction of the alarm. Not to be left out of the fighting, the Indian with the wounded foot jumped up likewise............