"You gather the eggs," said the Magician, "while I keep watch in the canoe."
Seegwun hastened ashore, glad to quit the old man's company. Then the Magician cried out to the gulls:
"Ho, my feathered friends! Here is the human offering I promised you when you agreed to call me master. Fly down, my pretty ones! Fly down, and devour him!"
Striking the side of his canoe, he abandoned the youth to the mercy of the birds.
With harsh cries, the gulls swept down on Seegwun. Never had he heard such a clamor. Ten thousand wings beat the air, and stirred it like a storm. Whirling and darting they came upon him in a cloud. But Seegwun did not flinch. Shouting the Saw-saw-quan, or war-cry, he seized the first bird that attacked him. Then grasping it by the neck, he held it high above his head in his left hand, and with his right hand drew his knife, which glittered in the sun.
"Hold!" he cried. "Hold, you poor fools! Beware the vengeance of the Great Spirit."
The gulls paused in their attack, but still circled around him, with sharp beaks extended.
"Hear me, O Gulls!" he continued. "The Great Spirit gave you life that you might serve mankind. Slay me, and you slay one made to rule over all the beasts and birds. I tell you, beware!"
"But Mish-o-sha is all powerful." screamed the gulls. "He has bidden us destroy you."