He ran on with his great load of hiaqua. He reached the white snow on the side of the great pit; then all the otters jumped into the black lake and lashed it into white foam with their bodies and tails. A black mist came over the mountain; the storm winds came. The Great Tamanous was in the storm.
The winds blew the hunter from one side of the wide hole to the other side. He had his hands on his money and did not lose one string. The water helped the winds to throw him back to the great rock on the top [[198]]of the mountain. The hunter did not let the otters get one hiaqua.
He heard two voices in the thunder; one was the Great Tamanous. He heard the tamanous of all the mountain scream to him in the wind; he heard them laugh.
His body was like a leaf, as the winds blew him and tossed him from one rock to another. They did not break a string; they did not take his hiaqua. He did not give them one shell.
The night was two days long; he broke one string and threw it away to the winds. They laughed. He threw another string to the thunder voices. The thunder was heavier than before. He threw away every string of hiaqua; then his body dropped on the ground on the side of the mountain, and he went to sleep.
When his eyes came open he was hungry; he dug some camass root, and made a pipe and smoked. His bones were not broken, but his joints made a noise like a paddle on the edge of a canoe. His hair was like a blanket on his back; it lay on the ground while he was smoking.
“The Great Tamanous has done this,” said the hunter. He looked at the white mountain, and his heart was full of peace.
“I have no hiaqua. It is all given back to the Great Tamanous. I am well. I have no hunger for it. I will go home.” [[199]]
He found the trail overgrown with tall trees.
“Tamanous has done it,” he said.