ONCE, in the fall of the year, a chief and six or eight families went on a hunting expedition. For many days they found no game. At last the chief, who had as a charm a fawn skin pouch, called the party to his brush house and told each person to take hold of the pouch and say what animal he would kill the next day. The first man said he would kill a bear. The chief's wife said she would kill a wild goose. As the pouch was passed from one to another, the chief's daughter told her husband not to touch it and when it came near she grasped his hand to keep him from doing so, but he pulled it away and taking hold of the pouch said, "To-morrow, before daylight, I will kill two otters." At midnight he got up and went to where the river doubled nearly around and there he watched for otters. Soon he saw two and he killed both of them. He was hungry and, as it wasn't daylight, he cut open each otter and took out the heart. He roasted and ate the hearts then went home. Unwittingly he had destroyed the power of the charm. That day each person came home without game. The chief's wife had said she would get a wild goose, but when she clapped her hands and called, "Let them fall. Let them fall," they all flew over, for the charm was broken. The chief examined the two otters and when he saw that the hearts had been taken out, he was very angry. The young man's wife was frightened. She hid a piece of meat and a knife, telling her husband where he would find them in case of need. The chief said, "My son-in-law has broken the charm, we had better kill him." The daughter said, "If you kill him, kill me too." The chief, who didn't want to kill his daughter, said, "We will strip him naked, leave him, and go far away.
