"Johnnie Kongapod never saw a wig before I showed him mine, and I never showed it to him until I had to. "Well, he came over from Illinois, and we started off together to the camp-meetin'. It was a lovely time on the prairies. The grass was all ripe and wavin', and the creeks were all alive with ducks, and there were prairie chickens everywhere. I felt very brisk and chipper. "We had two smart horses, and we cantered along. I sang hymns, and sort o' preached to Johnnie, when all at once we saw a shadow on the prairie like a cloud, and who should come ridin' up but three Injuns! I was terribly frightened. I could see that they were hostile Injuns--Sacs, from Black Hawk. One of them swung his tommyhawk in the air, and made signs that he was goin' to scalp me. Johnnie began to beg for me, and I thought that my last hour had come. "The Injun wheeled his pony, rode away, then turned and came dashin' towards me, with tommyhawk lifted. "'Me scalp!' said he, as he dashed by me. Then he turned his horse and came plungin' towards me again. "Elder, what do you think I did? I snatched off my bonnet and threw it upon the ground. Then I grabbed my wig, held it up in the air, and when the Injun came rushin' by I held it out to him. "'There it is,' said I. "Well--would you believe it?--that Injun gave one glance at it, and put spurs to his horse, and he never stopped runnin' till he was out of sight. The two other Injuns took one look at my wig as I held it out in my hand. "'Scalped herself!' said one. "'Took her head off!' said the other. 'She conjur's!' "They spurred their horses and flew over the prairie like the wind. And--and--must I say it?--Johnnie Kongapod--he ran too; and so I put on my wig, picked up my sun-bonnet, and turned and came home again. "There are some doughnuts, Johnnie Kongapod, if you did desert me. "Elder, this is a strange country. And don't you believe any stories about honest Injuns that the law condemns, and that go home to see their families overnight and return again; you will travel a long way, elder, before you find any people of that kind, Injuns or white folks. I know. I haven't lived fifty years in this troublesome world for nothin'. People who live up in the air, as you do, elder, have to come down. I'm sorry. You mean well!" Johnnie Kongapod arose, lifted his brown arm silently, and, bending his earnest face on Jasper, said: "_That_ story is true. You will know. Time tells the truth. Wait!" "Return in the morning to be shot!" said Aunt Olive. "Injuns don't do that way here. When I started for Injiany I was told of a mother-in-law who was so good that all her daughters' husbands asked her to come and live with them. They said she moved to Injiany. Now, I have traveled about this State to all the camp-meetin's, and I never found her anywhere. Stands to reason that no such story as that is true. You'll have to travel a long way, elder, before you find any people of that kind in these parts."