And in addition
there is a fierce mountain lioness prowling around somewhere on the route,
and she has already killed many people and carried them off to her den.'
"Ooseemeeid at once desired to set off and get a supply of this wood, but
Sesigizit, when he found out how fearful their mother was that they would
both be killed if they made the attempt, at first refused to go. His
objection, however, vanished when he saw his brother making ready to start,
and in spite of their mother's fears they started off.
"They had not gone very far when they met the great mountain lioness. She
was out hunting food for her cubs. These she had hidden in a den which was
away up on a precipitous mountain side.
"Ooseemeeid asked her if she knew the way to the canyon where grew the good
wood.
"'Yes,' she replied. 'I am just going that way, and I will show you the
route.' She said this because she wished in this way to allure the two boys
to walk near to her den, and there she would kill them for food for her
cubs.
"So she led them until they came to a place where the path was very
dangerous, because it was on a narrow, shelving rock around the mountain
side. Here the monster lioness asked the boys to walk on ahead of her, but
they refused, saying that they had been taught never to walk in front of
their elders. The lioness urged, but the boys were firm, and so she had to
yield and let them have their way.
"When in the most dangerous part of the pass the boys pretended to be very
much alarmed, and asked to be permitted to walk between her and the
mountain side.
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