He carried with him a primitive vessel, filled with some mysterious fluid, upon the virtues of which he had implicit reliance.  When he reached the camp in which the sick chief lay, he was summoned immediately before the ailing autocrat.  That individual stated his symptoms, and then, instead of asking, as we are apt to ask our physicians, whether there was any medicine available for them, he told the young medicine man that if no improvement was effected within a few days there would be a funeral in the village, and there would be one less medicine man in the vicinity.

This somewhat startling introduction did not disconcert the young man, who poured out a liberal dose of the fluid he had brought with him, and made the old chief drink it.  During the night he repeated the doses several times, and on the following day he kept up the treatment.  To every one’s astonishment the blood began to flow again in the veins of the once invincible chief, and those who had been pitying the young medicine man began to congratulate him on his triumph.  When, after a few days, the improvement became more marked, the young doctor explained to the chief that the water he had given him had been brought from springs in the distant mountains, and that if the chief desired to obtain another lease of life, he must visit those springs and remain there for some weeks.

With the enthusiasm of renewed vigor, the old man promptly agreed to the suggestion, and in a few days arrangements were complete for a grand march over the Rocky Mountains to Manitou.  Tradition tells of the splendor of the march, and of the way in which obstructions and hindrances were overcome.  Finally, the great mountain was seen in the distance, and a few days later a halt was made at the springs.  Here the old chief was given a regular treatment, and in a few days he was able to walk as vigorously as ever.  Finally, he returned to his tribe, not only renewed in health, but also renewed in youth.  The records of his race state that his appearance was entirely changed, and that, instead of looking like an old man, his features were those of a youth in his twenties.  The chief lived many years, and finally died in battle.

The fame of his cure naturally spread abroad with great rapidity.  The old man was so well known that he became a walking testimonial of the merits of the springs, and expeditions without number were in consequence made to them.  White people, as they came in contact with the Indians of the Far West, heard of the springs from time to time and of this wonderful cure.  By many the stories were confounded with the legends concerning the search of Ponce de Leon for the fountain of perpetual youth.  Later, however, more thorough investigation was made, and for more than a generation the truth, as well as the legends of Manitou, have been generally known.