And ye are the angels of God,
sent to save me from death in the desert."
His famished and woe-begone face,
and his tones touched the hearts of the hunters;
They fed the poor father apace,
and they led him away to Ka-tha-ga.

[a] See the account of Father Menard, his mission and disappearance in the
wilderness, etc. Neill's Hist. Minnesota, pp 104 to 107 inc.

There little by little he learned
the tongue of the tawny Dakotas;
And the heart of the good father yearned
to lead them away from their idols--
Their giants [16] and dread Thunder-birds
--their worship of stones [73] and the devil.
"Wakan-de!" [a] they answered his words,
for he read from his book in the Latin,
Lest the Nazarene's holy commands
by his tongue should be marred in translation;
And oft with his beads in his hands,
or the cross and the crucified Jesus,
He knelt by himself on the sands,
and his dim eyes uplifted to heaven.
But the braves bade him look to the East
--to the silvery lodge of Han-nan-na; [b]
And to dance with the chiefs at the feast
--at the feast of the Giant Heyo-ka. [16]
They frowned when the good father
spurned the flesh of the dog in the kettle,