Howl not, and let my baby sleep.”
and after many verses monotonously soothing, came an incantation:
“Great Spirit, I place my babe
Upon the soft fur of thy breast,
Knowing Thou wilt protect,
As I cannot protect;
And therefore, oh Great Spirit,
Guard my child in slumber.”
Adam sang this song like a pleading. But his little partner could not sleep, or feared to sleep. Then the rover looked at the tiny face and realized that the child would soon be dying of starvation. At this he started to his feet, abruptly.
He had undergone the pains of hunger often, himself; he was not impatient now with the pangs in his stomach, nor the weakness in his muscles. But he could not bear the thought of the child so perishing, here in the wilderness.