第27章

"But the boy's flesh became as hard as stone,and the bear's great teeth and claws made no im-pression upon it.Then he was so dreadfully heavy;and he kept laughing all the time as if he were being tickled,which greatly aggravated the bear.Finally Stone Boy pushed him aside and sent an arrow to his heart.

"He walked on for some distance until he came to a huge fallen pine tree,which had evi-dently been killed by lightning.The ground near by bore marks of a struggle,and Stone Boy picked up several arrows exactly like those of his uncles,which he himself carried.

"While he was examining these things,he heard a sound like that of a whirlwind,far up in the heavens.He looked up and saw a black speck which grew rapidly larger until it became a dense cloud.Out of it came a flash and then a thunderbolt.The boy was obliged to wink;and when he opened his eyes,behold!a stately man stood before him and challenged him to single combat.

"Stone Boy accepted the challenge and they grappled with one another.The man from the clouds was gigantic in stature and very powerful.

But Stone Boy was both strong and unnaturally heavy and hard to hold.The great warrior from the sky sweated from his exertions,and there came a heavy shower.Again and again the lightnings flashed about them as the two strug-gled there.At last Stone Boy threw his oppo-nent,who lay motionless.There was a murmur-ing sound throughout the heavens and the clouds rolled swiftly away.

"'Now,'thought the hero,'this man must have slain all my uncles.I shall go to his home and find out what has become of them.'With this he un-fastened from the dead man's scalp-lock a beauti-ful bit of scarlet down.He breathed gently upon it,and as it floated upward he followed into the blue heavens.

"Away went Stone Boy to the country of the Thunder Birds.It was a beautiful land,with lakes,rivers,plains and mountains.The young adventurer found himself looking down from the top of a high mountain,and the country appeared to be very populous,for he saw lodges all about him as far as the eye could reach.He particu-larly noticed a majestic tree which towered above all the others,and in its bushy top bore an enor-mous nest.Stone Boy descended from the moun-tain and soon arrived at the foot of the tree;but there were no limbs except those at the top and it was so tall that he did not attempt to climb it.

He simply took out his bit of down,breathed upon it and floated gently upward.

"When he was able to look into the nest he saw there innumerable eggs of various sizes,and all of a remarkable red color.He was nothing but a boy after all,and had all a boy's curiosity and reck-lessness.As he was handling the eggs carelessly,his notice was attracted to a sudden confusion in the little village below.All of the people seemed to be running toward the tree.He mischievously threw an egg at them,and in the instant that it broke he saw one of the men drop dead.Then all began to cry out pitifully,'Give me my heart!'

"'Ah,'exclaimed Stone Boy,exulting,'so these are the hearts of the people who destroyed my uncles!I shall break them all!'

"And he really did break all of the eggs but four small ones which he took in his hand.Then he descended the tree,and wandered among the silent and deserted lodges in search of some trace of his lost uncles.He found four little boys,the sole survivors of their race,and these he com-manded to tell him where their bones were laid.

"They showed him the spot where a heap of bones was bleaching on the ground.Then he bade one of the boys bring wood,a second water,a third stones,and the fourth he sent to cut willow wands for the sweat lodge.They obeyed,and Stone Boy built the lodge,made a fire,heated the stones and collected within the lodge all the bones of his ten uncles.

"As he poured the water upon the hot stones faint sounds could be heard from within the magic bath.These changed to the murmuring of voices,and finally to the singing of medicine songs.