He heard a roaring sound and saw that from the bottom of the shining globe water was pouring. The water gave off a light of its own. His eye followed its plunge. He was far, far above the earth now. The Great River was a shiny black ribbon, barely visible, winding over the earth. Straight as a spear the water from the Council Fire Star was falling down to the place where the Great River began its winding course. He exulted. Already he had learned a secret no other Sauk knew, unless it be Owl Carver himself--the true source of the Great River. He saw a square, dark opening in the glowing surface of the star. The path led to it. Still walking on its hind legs, the White Bear pressed inexorably on toward that doorway, and Gray Cloud walked beside it. The colors of the rainbow shimmered in the light from the star, and it pulsed faintly like a beating heart. When he thought of what a mighty spirit must dwell in this magnificent lodge--perhaps Earthmaker himself--Gray Cloud's heart was once again full of fear. He trembled and his steps slowed. He could not come face to face with such a being. It would be like staring into the sun. His eyes would be burned out of his head. He felt himself weakening. The star-studded surface under his feet shook a little. He took a step and it quivered under his footfall. The White Bear was ahead of him now, leaving him out here alone among the stars, high above the earth on a bridge that was beginning to fall apart. He looked back over the way he had come. There was no bridge behind him. Nothing but a blackness. He screamed, waved his arms, staggered. He started to run forward after the Bear, his only protector, and his feet were sinking _into_ the bridge. The Bear and the doorway and the Council Fire Star itself seemed farther and farther away. He fell to his hands and knees, afraid to stand any more. But what was the fear trying to tell him? It was right that Gray Cloud should be afraid, meeting a spirit so much more powerful than himself. And now he must trust that the spirit would not hurt him. With that thought, he felt the bridge growing more solid under his hands. He pushed himself back to his feet. He was standing before the doorway. All above him and to the sides stretched the curving, shimmering, many-colored surface of the Council Fire Star. He did not see the White Bear. It must have gone into the star. He took a deep breath, and taking his fear with him, he plunged through the doorway. For a moment light blinded him. The air was full of a fluttering and a rustling. His eyes grew used to the light and he saw that he stood at the edge of a pool full of fish swimming in circles. They were not fish, he knew, but fish spirits. The spirits of trout and salmon and bass and walleye and sunfish and pike, all the fish of lakes and streams that fed his people. Full of fear of what else he might see, Gray Cloud raised his eyes. He saw a Turtle.