"Stumbling," prompted Edwin. "Stumbling; there shall be no weariness in the pathway of life--" and so on to the end of the ritual. The woman clapped her hands, and shouted with laughter, as she exclaimed, "If your cloud and lightning and thunder do all you say they will do, they have more power than I supposed they had! Sit down and wait a while, and I will have some pemmican ready for you." "Did those old White-chests teach you all that?" asked the husband. "If they did, they have been stealing the rituals of some of our priests, and--" "Oh, let them alone!" said the wife; "they came to see me." "They came in without knocking on the door; that's bad luck!" the husband continued in his banter; "before entering a house they should knock, as the White-chests do." "Be careful, and don't spill it!" said the wife, as she handed a bag to George, who thanked her. "There they come!" said one of the Seven in a loud whisper, as he felt a tug on the rope that was tied to his arm. We hastened out of bed, being careful not to make any noise. George and Edwin sent the bag of pemmican first, then they were each pulled up and safely landed. We had built a fire in a vacant room adjoining our dormitory; into this warm room we repaired with our bag, and sat in a circle on the floor, Indian fashion. On a little table stood the one candle allowed us, shedding a feeble light. Two of the boys had stolen down to the dining-room for plates. Alexander, before whom the bag was placed, divided the pemmican equally, while we listened to George and Edwin's account of their adventure. The plates were passed around; I put out my hand to help myself from my plate, when a member of the Big Seven stopped me. "Wait," said he; "there is something more to be done." Aleck looked up; we all became silent; then he took a tiny bit of the pemmican, and held it toward the sky for a moment as a thank offering to Wakonda, then placed it with great solemnity on the floor in the centre of the circle. This done, we fell to eating, telling stories as we feasted, and had one of the most enjoyable nights of our lives. From time to time through the winter we had these nocturnal banquets, taking turns in going to the village for our supplies; but misfortune overtook us before the season was fairly over. One dark night we had our meeting as usual, and the Word of Command came to Lester and to Joel of the Big Seven. When the small boys had gone to sleep, we brought out our rope and let Joel down through the window. Then we put the noose around Lester and proceeded to lower him.