None
could doubt his utter harmlessness; and the
chief's son afterward declared that at this mo-
ment he felt a premonition of some event, but
whether good or evil he could not tell.
No blows were struck--no coups counted.
The young man bade his warriors take up the
canoe and carry it to the shore; and although
they murmured somewhat among themselves,
they did as he commanded them. They seized
the light bark and bore it dripping to a hill
covered with tall pines, and overlooking the
waters of the Great Lake.
Then the warriors lifted their war-clubs over
their heads and sang, standing around the canoe
in which the black-robed stranger was still
kneeling. Looking at him closely, they per-
ceived that he was of a peculiar complexion,
pale and inclined to red. He wore a necklace
of beads, from which hung a cross bearing the
form of a man. His garments were strange,
and most like the robes of woman. All of these
things perplexed them greatly.
Presently the Black Robe told them by signs,
in response to their inquiries, that he came from
the rising sun, even beyond the Great Salt Water,
and he seemed to say that he formerly came
from the sky.
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