Then, as the infuriated beast turned upon him, he drove an arrow into its body. Quenischquney leaped, but crashed to the ground within a bow-length. For some moments he thrashed wildly about in the ferns, coughing and snarling furiously. Then he became still. The lads approached cautiously, and saw him lying quietly upon his side. Running Fox drove another arrow into him, but he failed to move. Then they went up to him, and saw that he was dead.
“Did Quenischquney do much harm to you?” Running Fox asked Spotted Deer. “Come over here and let me look at you.”
“No, Quenischquney did not harm me,” Spotted Deer replied, bravely. “I felt his claws, but I stuck my knife into his throat, and he could not bite me. Yes, I am bloody, but most of it came from Quenischquney. It is a good thing you were with me. If I had been alone I might have been killed.”
Running Fox saw that Spotted Deer had escaped without serious injury. He had a number of painful gashes on his arms and the upper part of his body, but Running Fox hurried him to the spring and soon stopped the bleeding by soaking small pieces of sphagnum moss in the cold water and inserting it in the wounds.
“Well, you will have some marks on your body to tell about when we get back to our people,” laughed Running Fox.
“I will tell them how you killed Quenischquney,” replied Spotted Deer.
As Spotted Deer declared that he felt little pain from his injuries, they returned to the dead panther and cut off the claws. Then they sang medicine-songs, and danced about the body of Quenischquney until well along toward the middle of the night.
“Now we will stop,” Running Fox said, finally, “It will soon be light. Come, we will go back and lie down again.”
“Yes, we can sleep easy, fierce Quenischquney will not trouble us now,” replied Spotted Deer.