"Ho, my brother, you have come to see about this thing," cried White Otter. "Well, I will tell you that I have had a great fight, but I am alive. Yes, I will show you something."
"Have you met the Evil People?" Little Raven asked, excitedly.
"Ho, Little Raven, you are very brave to come in here. No, I have not seen those mysterious people. But I have killed a very fierce animal," replied White Otter.
When his companions crawled to him, he told them how he had killed the lioness. He said that the latter had destroyed her two kittens in her dying rage. As Sun Bird and Little Raven could not see the great beast in the impenetrable darkness, they crawled forward and passed their hands over the carcass. Then White Otter said that after killing the lioness he had crept forward to the den, which was in a rocky recess at the end of the cave. A short distance beyond the body of his victim he had found the mutilated bodies of the two kittens.
"Now we will pull this animal out of here," proposed the young Ogalala.
It took them a long time to drag the heavy body of the mountain lion to the mouth of the cave. Once outside, however, they each counted coup upon the carcass, and danced joyfully about the trophy. Then White Otter cut off the claws, and removed the coarse tawny pelt. He also cut out the heart, which he said they would eat at their fire, as old Yellow Horse, the Ogalala medicine-man, declared it would give the hunter the strength and courage of the great cat itself.
"Yes, it is true," declared Sun Bird. "I have heard my father say it is a good thing to do."
The day was far spent when the lads finally returned to the ponies. Realizing that they could not reach the Minneconjoux village until long after dark, they moved farther down the wooded slope, and camped at the spot where they had passed the previous night.
"I am thinking about that mysterious place up there," said Sun Bird, as they sat before their fire. "I have heard my people tell how the Evil People change themselves into animals. Perhaps that great mountain cat was one of those people."
"I believe it is true," Little Raven declared, impulsively. "White Otter, perhaps you have done a bad thing. Those people may find out that you have killed a great chief. Perhaps they will do something bad to our people."