  A few months ago Mr. Two Trees, a Sioux Indian, with his family, visited Fort Benton, where he hoped to dispose of some robes. While bathing in the Missouri the young hopefuls of the family discover a keg of gunpowder that has been washed out from a wrecked steamboat. They rejoice greatly over their prize; and after taking it ashore, hold a long discussion in their own musical language as to what they shall do with it. All-la-goo-la (the Mouse that Nibbles), the younger of the boys, proposes that they ask their father how they shall dispose of the powder. But his elder brother, the Wise Owl that Hoots, knows of a better plan: it is to dry the powder, and trade it for sugar to the "Man of Many Blankets," as they call the trader. They carry the keg of powder to the Two Trees teepee, against which their beloved father lies in peaceful slumber. Beyond they see Ka-ka-na-cha (the Crooked Road), their dear mother, and Chee-chi-cat-soo (the Singing Mud Turtle), their aunt, busily preparing robes for the trader. Stealing into the lodge unobserved, the boys find a puppy stewing over the fire, but manage to make room beside it for their keg of powder, which they leave to dry. While it is drying the young Two Trees stroll down to the trader's store, to look over his stock, and try and decide what they shall accept in exchange for their prize. The trader is studying his "medicine," or the paper that talks. Suddenly a heavy explosion is heard. The boys guess only too well what has happened, as they look out and see the Two Tree lodge sailing through the air, spread open like an umbrella, and followed by the puppy-dog stew. They see their noble father, rudely awakened from his nap, also attempting a short flight, while their mother, the Crooked Road, and their aunt, the Mud Turtle, exhibit every sign of surprise on the foreground. The boys fly; but after them come the avengers, and they are taught by painful experience the danger of meddling with gunpowder. |
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