“The squaws and children were very weak with hunger,” said the Great Tamanous to his heart.
The hunter was much ashamed; in the tree by the mountain he would be ashamed, but he never gave back the hiaqua. It was good and he wanted more.
One day he went up the side of Mount Tacoma. His own tamanous came to him while he waited; the [[194]]white elk talked to the hunter’s spirit. The tamanous said:
“You are not wise. You are like the mouth of a great fish. You have great hunger, but it is all for hiaqua. Your shoulders are covered with heavy strings of hiaqua. You have taken the shells from the nose and lips of your own squaw. You sell her elk meat, and she is starving like the other women. You will not feed her with the elk meat you will get to-day. I will send her meat. I am sent by the Great Tamanous. Listen! I will give you hiaqua enough to fill your heart.”
Then the tamanous, the spirit of the great elk from which his band was descended, told the hunter a secret. The tamanous told him of a place on the great white mountain where was much hidden hiaqua. If the hunter would seek it and obey, he should have enough to satisfy him.
The hunter went back to his village. He told his squaw he was going on a long hunt. He took many deerskins from his tent, and when it was very dark he went away.
He made his camp that night at the foot of Mount Tacoma. He could not sleep; he could not wait; he saw the sun rise from the top of the mountain; he had no fear. His tamanous had said he would be with him. [[195]]
Tu-me-na. Siwash Girl
From a Photograph