White man crowd Injun back, back, no game, no rain, no corn.

Injun heap like rivers, trees, all same--white man no like 'um, go on hot plain, no trees, no mountains, no game." But he threw off these somber moods quickly, and resumed his stories of himself, of long trips to the snowpeaks, which he seemed to regard in the light of highest daring.

The high mountains were not merely far from the land of his people; they were mythic places inhabited by monstrous animals that could change from beast to fowl, and talk--great, conjuring creatures, whose powers were infinite in scope.

As the red man struggled forward in his story, attempting to define these conceptions, the heart of the prairie youth swelled with a poignant sense of drawing near a great mystery.

The conviction of Jim's faith for the moment made him more than half believe in the powers of the mountain people.