At first,
this pertinacity provoked the crowd, which believed he was going
wrong; but a few words from Crowsfeather, the principal chief,
caused the commotion to cease. In a few more minutes le Bourdon
stopped, near the place of his destination. As a fresh scent of
whiskey was very perceptible here, a murmur of admiration, not
unmixed with delight, passed among the attendants.
"Now, let the young men build a fire for ME" said the bee-hunter,
solemnly--"not such a fire as that which is burning on the hill, but
a medicine-fire. I SMELL the whiskey spring, and want a medicine-
light to SEE it."
A dozen young men began to collect the brush; in a minute a pile of
some size had been accumulated on a flat rock, within twenty feet of
the spot where le Bourdon knew that the cask had been dashed to
pieces. When he thought the pile sufficiently large, he told
Crowsfeather that it might be lighted by bringing a brand from the
other fire.
"This will not be a medicine-light, for that can come only from
'medicine-matches,'" he added; "but I want a fire to see the shape
of the ground. Put in the brand, brothers; let us have a flame."
The desire of the bee-hunter was gratified, and the whole of the
base of the hill around the spot where the filled cask had broken,
was illuminated.
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