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· 167 · CHAPTER 9 I do not wish to bleed my own heart, or sadden yours; suffice it to say, as darkness succeeds the meteor’s sudden glare, so his young life went out and left us in the midnight of despair. Dear little Hazeleye alone was left us then; that sweet rosebud, just opening into maidenhood, the very image of her mother, was our only hope, and as our hearts were bound up in hers, we consoled ourselves with the assurance that she was so isolated from the alluring serpent born of the white man that she was safe from all harm that might come from such a source. But soon, alas! we were compelled to learn the bitter truth, that no one is safe from the destroying hand of that soulless enemy, fed and fattened by the human race, so long as he is provided a home among them. One day, while I was absent on “giosse” (a hunt), and Hazeleye was fishing on the lake, two drunken “gigoike win” (fishermen) rowed their boat with such recklessness, they ran into “nintchiman” (her bark canoe), which was broken and capsized, throwing her out into sagaigan. Lonidaw, standing on the shore, saw the crash and heard “obebawg” (her scream). She wildly cried,“Mawandgia! Mawandgia! Dodam mawandgia nindjanis (Save! Save! Do save my child!)” But, paralyzed by that deadly drug, those drunken men, though white, could not see the living diamond · 168 · Simon Pokagon struggling in the lake for life, but centered all their powers on that false diamond of the alluring wine, of which they drank with idiotic “bapiwin” (laughter), while yet the lake was bubbling with her dying breath, and never raised “onindjima” (a hand) to save the child. Lonidaw, in her frenzy, plunged into the flood, and swam desperately, as none but a mother could, to save a drowning child. Zowan, returning home from the hunt in my advance in time to hear the screams of Hazeleye, rushed into the lake, and reached the wrecked canoe just at the time Lonidaw did; with plaintive cries and head erect, with anxious looks, to right, to left, and down into the lake he swam around the wrecked canoe, once, twice, thrice, then pausing, said in a most plaintive howl: “your child can not be saved.” All hope now gone, Lonidaw strangling, struggling, sank beneath the waves, then rose again; then sank and rose again. The dog swam quickly to her relief. Soon as she felt his touch, by chance she clutched her hands into the long hair of “onogan” (his hips), with that grip a drowning man clings to a straw. The dog, with all his might and main, pulled for the shore; nor did he pause until he drew her safe upon the land. During these heart-rending scenes, I was returning from the chase with a heavy deer across my shoulders thrown, pondering in my heart how warmly I should be greeted by wife and child on my return. As I was nearing home along the common trail on the terrace of the lake, Zowan met me on the run with whimpering cry, then gave the saddest howl I ever heard. It shocked my nerves, for well I knew he said, “Do hurry home.” Quickly I threw my burden down, and followed him almost on “migisi” (eagle) wings. He led me to the shore where Lonidaw unconscious lay. Her drenched clothes, capsized canoe upon the lake, and Hazeleye nowhere to be seen impressed me with the awful thought that she was drowned in the lake. Clasping Lonidaw in my arms, supposing she was dead, I carried her into our wigwam, and on mats of rushes she had lately made I laid her down. Soon she began to gasp for breath, and then began to breathe with a strange rattle in “okwegan” (her throat). During that long night of sorrow, amid sighs and groans, sobs and tears, she told me the sad story of our dear Hazeleye. When morning came, she was not herself. At times she would say in her mother tongue,“Sagaigan mamangashka (The waves run awful high), Queen of the Woods· 169 · mashkawissin bimadaga (it is hard to swim with Hazeleye). Nin gosabi! Nin gosabi! (I sink! I sink!) Bindas kejidin mitigo tchiman (Bring the boat quickly)!” And again she would say, “Nininendamowin ninidjaniss ninmawandjia (I thought it was my child that I had saved), maka nin mikawa animosh nin mawandjia (but I find it is the...

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