“You cannot escape from him as easily as that,” she cried. “The canoe will not allow itself to be tied, and his power over it is so great that at any moment he can cause it to return to him wherever he may be.”
When Panigwun heard that he sat down by the canoe and laid his hand upon it. “I will hold it,” he said. “Then let Mishosha call as he will; it shall not slip away.”
The girl shook her head doubtfully, but she went away to the lodge and returned with food, that Panigwun might not go hungry while guarding the canoe. All evening he sat there and on into the night, with the little brother, who would not leave him, by his side.
Presently the little brother fell asleep, and after a while, in spite of himself Panigwun began to nod. His hold upon the canoe loosened, and at last his head sunk upon his breast, and he too slept heavily.
When he awoke it was morning and the magician stood beside him looking at him with an evil glance. Panigwun sprang to his feet. “So you are here, grandfather!” he cried. “This island makes one forgetful. I had forgotten that we had left you behind us, but to-day I would have remembered and would have returned for you.”
The magician said nothing, but motioned him to take his brother up to the lodge.
Panigwun thought, “After all, I need not fear this magician so much. It is my turn now, and we will see what I can do.”
With this idea he said one morning, “Grandfather, I enjoyed our last hunting expedition so much that I would like to take another.”
The magician looked at him suspiciously, but he could not refuse to go. They stepped into the canoe, and soon they were speeding over the waters of the lake toward a distant hunting ground.