A TRAP AVOIDED AND FRIENDS DISCOVERED At Rene's cry, suppressed though it was Has-se turned quickly, and in time to see the moccasin glide away through the water.

He also noted the spot of blood on his companion's finger, at which the latter was gazing with a look of horror.
Without a word the young Indian sprang to Rene's side, drew the little sharp-pointed dagger from its sheath, and firmly but deliberately enlarged with it the minute wound made by the fangs of the snake, until the blood flowed freely from it; then raising the hand to his own mouth, he sucked all that was possible of the poisoned blood from the wound, stopping several times during the operation to rinse his mouth with water.
When this was done he took a handful of slimy river mud and placed it over the wounded place, bidding his friend hold it there.

Then, seizing his paddle, he turned the bow of the canoe up-stream in the direction from which they had come.

He paddled back to a small lagoon that emptied into the stream, and in which he had noticed a peculiar species of water-lily growing as they passed it on their way down.
Pulling a handful of these up by the roots, he selected one of the bulbs attached to them, pounded it until it was a mass of fibre, and washing the river mud from the wounded hand, he replaced it with this.
The hand had already swollen and become very painful, but the application of the bruised lily-root acted so like a charm that Rene's face showed an instant sense of relief, and he expressed his gratitude to Has-se.
"It is nothing to do," replied the other.

"It is but the remedy of my people for such things." Then he added, with a sort of pride, "The pale-faces are wise in many matters that we poor red men know nothing of; but we have at least learned that for every evil there is a remedy close at hand, and that wherever poisonous serpents are found there also grows a plant that will render their poison harmless.