Even Angus McLeod,
the trader's eldest son, had need of all his
patience and caution, for he had never seen
any woman he admired so much as the piquant
Magaskawee, called The Swan, one of these
belles of the forest.
The Sioux journeyed northward, toward the
Mouse River. They had wintered on that
stream before, and it was then the feeding
ground of large herds of buffalo. When it was
discovered that the herds were moving west-
ward, across the Missouri, there was no little
apprehension. The shrewd medicine-man be-
came aware of the situation, and hastened to
announce his prophecy:
"The Great Mystery has appeared to me in
a dream! He showed me men with haggard
and thin faces. I interpret this to mean a
scarcity of food during the winter."
The chief called his counselors together and
set before them the dream of the priest, whose
prophecy, he said, was already being fulfilled in
part by the westward movement of the buffalo.
It was agreed that they should lay up all the
dried meat they could obtain; but even for
this they were too late.
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