For some minutes the Indians were lost in thought, or deep in prayer.
"My brother," asked the chief at last, "where is your share?"
"What share," answered Storm, "can I carry on my back? How many horses, how many canoes, can I carry on my back through the woods? That much is my share."
"You take nothing?"
"Before I left salt water, my friends of the big canoe gave me a gun, a belt, a wallet, a pouch, a knife—yes, and one other thing I have never shown you, a secret thing which is my medicine. I will ask you, my brothers, to give me a supply of ball and powder, a robe, and your good will."
"Where do you go?"
"When all is done and the ice breaks, I go into the Wilderness. You have often told me about Rain, the Sacred Woman of the Blackfeet. Men of all nations go to her lodge for counsel in their sorrow, sickness, or peril. I go to make my offering at the holy lodge, and seek the guidance of the Sacred Woman."
CHAPTER V
THE WHOLE ARMOR
I—RENUNCIATION