The next morning the woman and her boy set off to the forest near the
mountain, to gather berries and to dig up medicine roots. They took
the dog and the stick with them. At noon, after they had worked for
some time, they sat down to have their luncheon. The woman threw the
stick down on the ground, and the boy let the dog run away among the
shrubs. The dog wandered to the side of the mountain. There he found
an opening like the mouth of a cave. Peering into the place he saw
many buffaloes within, and he knew that at last he had found the
hiding place of the giant's plunder. He went back to the woman and the
boy and began to bark. This was the signal agreed on with his
companion. The woman and her son thought he was barking at a bird, and
they laughed at his capers as he jumped about. But he was in reality
calling to his comrade. The stick understood the call and wiggled like
a snake through the underbrush to the dog's side, unseen by the boy
and his mother. They then entered the large cave in the side of the
mountain, and there they found a great herd of buffaloes--all the
buffaloes that had been driven from the prairies. The dog barked at
them and snapped at their heels, and the stick beat them, and they
began to drive them quickly out of the cavern and eastward toward the
plains. But they still kept the shape of dog and stick. When evening
came, and it was time for the boy and his mother to go home, the boy
searched for the dog and the woman looked for her stick, but they
could not find them, and they had to go home without them.