DARBY THE Bear-hunter of Alaska.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVII, Issue 108, 9 May 1896, Page 6

DARBY THE Bear-hunter of Alaska.

BY SEWARD W. JSOPKIKS,

Aathorof 'In tbe China Sea,1 'Two GenbSemen of Hawaii,' 'Jack Robbina of America,' etc.

CHAPTER XXVI,

Tuebe waa a peculiar light in Maxom eyes. Ec looked ab me. I Jell what he was bMnking. Bab j«st then ifi.was dangerous to gpaak. Meeouga afeood near us, ablaze with wrath.

He poured forth a perfect torrenb of speech, firsb to one group of warriors, bhen to anolher, pointing; now to the dead Tananabs on the crimsoned snow, then to tho spots whore bis boats had been, and then to vi.

We' could 8«o where bbc boats had been. The bhow along bhe river bank was beaten down and scraped iDto deep grooves, showing where the beavy war-boats had been dragged up. -.',.. After a few minutes ?penb in fehua haranguing his followers, Mesouga turned tons'. '.. But now his manner changed. All the unbridled rage that) bad been apparenb in his manner was gone. In its place was a calmness than was terrifying—a malignant) cunning that was bub too well understood by all of us. If c lances of wrath could kill nob one of Mesouga's prisoners, evsn to the innocenb C'bilcoobs, would have lived an instant bob the sudden change in the manner of the chief; while to one who knew even a little of the Indian nature it was in itself enough to cause terror, waa also proof that) be did nob mean to strike us down in this, the fir»b explosion of hia wrath, bub to reaerte us for punishment, the moeb horrible that could be devised by himself and hia savage advisers,- that our dying agonies might be some slight balm to the injured pride and prospects of the party. • Do bhe white prisoners know what has happened ¥he asked. 'Is tho meani'tig of all this plain to them ?' •No chiaf,1 replied Maxom, calmly, 'it is not. You must remember that this is tho first time we have l>e»n in this spot. All wo can see is two Tananah warriors, dead, and beaten snow that looks as if boats had Uudod here and gone away again.' •The great Baar-Hunter of my enemies at Sitka has spoken the truth,1 said Meaouga. ' The war-boats of the Tananahs came here. Mesouga and his bravea left thorn in charge of two of his most trusted warfiora. See? The warriors of Meaouga are ho more. They are dead. The red enow fchnb is coloured by their blood tells Mosouga that an enemy with a knife has been here. And what did the enemy want of Mesouga's boats? Could he use them »H ? Could the ailonb foe who stole upon my warriors and plunged bis knife into ihcir hearts, pub a foot in one boab, a leg in another, an arm in another, and paddle them all ? What does fche Bear-Hunter and tho Long Knife say V 'How do you know ibwas bub one enemy?' »»ked Max/>m. 'There are Rats in the neighbourhood. How do you know that a party of them has nob discovered your warboats and taken them away ?'

A enaorcwrlefi-MesouKa's Up. ' Does the fndiaii know hia enemy ? he »6ked. 'Or is bhe Tananah an owl thab be looks wise and .sees nobbing? Do the Raba all walk on one pair of feet ? Mesouga aeea tbe tracka of three men. Two of them were. his warriors, the other an enemy. Mesouga's warriors wero killed for revenge. The boats were Bent; out on the river to drifb away irom us. Has the hunter or the Long Knife an eye to see V . ' • See what *' X asked.

• The war-boub of Mesouga,

He pointed down the river. There, seemingly a quarter of. a mile away, stranded oa a rock,- nearly five hundred feeb from the bank, was a long boat, such as are used by the natives along the Yukon as war vessels. It had evidently drifted with the swift current of the river, until it) reached-the rock which lay in its path, and was Bmashed upon it;. No other boab could be seen. The ochsrs had missed the rocks and hurried on down theewift-flowing river.

The warriors stood aboub in groups, waiting for Meaoucra's order*. He studied bhe sibuafcion carefully a momenfc, then be issued some connnahds. The band turned their dogboams around, and the procession moved slowly away from the Bpob, «ome of the men picking up the dead bodies of their comrades and placing them on sled's..

■ We were led elowly back over the route we had come to the deserted camp. Here Wesousja, who had walked along ahead of us, with bowed head, evidently much disturbed; growled out aomo moro tooimands, and the warriors went at once to work to rebuild tlie camp they had demolished. MeßOuya, seeing tho uselefsnesß of'the river, go far as the transportation of his band vvns concerned, had decided to return to his olil oiicampmevit, until he could make somo arrangements to get them over tho three hundred miles of snow that stretched between them and their homes. Immediately upon the completion of the work of rebuilding the encampment, a party of younjr men on sleds, drawn by fonr dogs ench, hurried away from u°, up toward the headwaters of the stream that; flowed past us, and Inter we saw them scuddinjr away to the north, getting nearer to the Yukon as they ran. . . Mesouua did not favour us with a knowledge of hi- t>U"i>, but Maxom explained to tnelho two courses that were open bo the enrnKcd cliief. If the bouts could bo recovered, of course, all difficulties came lo an end. And there wa« »o i-loubt tliat the pnrty which had left bad been despatched to look up the boats. If r.ho boacs weio not found, the cliief would, no douht, remain in the present camp until tlio Tukou froze aolid, and, if he had enough do«B and aleds to carry the xnembern of hi* band, leaving behind his tents and equipment?, he would strike off down the ice to the mouth of the Tananah. And if t.ho means of transportation vrere iaadequate. tlio Tonanahs would, perhaps, .attack the Kats and Kotch-a-Kucchins and take thoir dogs and reindeer, large numbers of both oi thci-e animals being owned by tho tribe* on tho Porcupine. • The accidont to the boats, which had so materially upaeb Mesouga's plans for the return of his party, also interfered with the plans for the burial of the Pigeon. The Btay of the party in this camp might) be prolonged to nu indefinite length, and now thab tb«rc were three dead in camp, it became »iiCß"Hftry to dispose ot them ak onpe. Theojeitnpmenb presented a busy scene for the reminder of the day. the Tananabs bonding ihoir Qnergie? toward making the plane as camfortablo as ib had been before. Maxom, lludleigh and 1 had now been eeparate-J, so that speech between as was im possible. 1 was firmly bound and placed inside one Of the huts. The others, I supposed, were trento I in the same way. • f.nii* in the day a warrior broughb me iOtu.j i).-»t'('(l iish, and my hands were releafed Song enough to enable ma to eat. J ,va* 'hen 'hound again, and left to my j ow:i "litter reilociions for the nighty Unruly, nor i>ltnation was worße how than it .Wi bucn ac any time before.

CHAPTER XXVII. Thebe tvas evidently a preab commotion in the oncampmenb. Sounds came to me in my hut which Droved that something oab of the ordinary was oithor happening or about to happen. The hubbub of mapy voices, the shouts of warriors, the cries and wailirigß of the girls of the Rats, the commands of tho chief, whose voice was easily identified among those of his follower's. 16 was tho second morning of my. isolation. We had spent two nights in the camp. Duriug all this time L had not aeen JJaxom, nor did I know whaS had been eoing on in the place. I was fed at intervale, but that eras ail. My curiosity would now he satisfied* however, for when I had listened to the unusual sounds for aboub half an hour, they suddenly ceased. Then two stalwarb Tananahf came into bhe hub and, releasing my feet add legs so tbab I could walk, beckoned for me to follow them. This waa ub first a matter of some difficulty, fer my muscles were stiff and' sore from the confinement. . I managed to scramble bo my feeb and limped oub of the hub after my bwo guides. Ab firsb my 'eyas were blinded by bhe glare from the snow. The Grsb few minutes I Bpsnti blinking and trying to accustom myself to bhe light. When I had accomplished this, bhe firsb thing I saw was Maxom, nob far away, being led, as I was, toward the space where the joy danca of the Tananahs bad been held. And Rtill a little farther away was Hadloigh, looking pale aad weak, walking, I under tbe caro of a fierce Tananab, in the same direction. Tho entire band was assembled. In the centre of the group, which waa arranged in a semi-circle with their backs to tha Yukon, stood bhree low biera made of dog-sleds laid upon posts ; and upon one of these lay the body of the Pigeon, and upon the others were • the bodies of the warrior* who had been slain ab their posts of duty. Near them safe Mesouga, grim, sullen, silenb, with some of his mosb trusted warriors close ab hand. Ab the head of each bier, or near ib,. was a post fastened in an upright position. When I entered upoo tho scone I looked with suspicion at) these posts. Too well I knew what.they were for. Near each posb stood a couple of warriors holding in their hands some thongs of deerbide. My fears proved only too well founded. Aba gesture from Mesouga, Maxom was placed with his back bo the post nearest tho Pigeon, and waa firmly fastened to ib by tho warriors. ' . My turn'came next), and I was bound bo the middle posb. On my left, Hadleigh was tied to the third. ; When this was done to the satisfaction of the several warriors, they lefb us and took their places behind Mesouga. , By this arrangement, Maxom, Hadleigh and I looked into the faces of our enemies ovar bhe dead bodies of the two Tananaha and the bride of Delobrek. Wcl were the only oqob of the entire party whose faces were turned toward thegroab river. ■ , For a moment all waa still.

Then Menouga rose, and bending bis fierce gaze upon na, said: ' When it is time for the greab warriors of the Tananahs to etrike, they do nob fear. Mesouga has been in the homes of the white men near the .coast), and has learned thai} they do»not love the Indian. When Mesonga was a boy, he was taken from bis people by a white trader and sold for thirty skins to white men who lived near tbe coast. Meaouga lived with these white men many years, and learned their language. Thab is why tha great chief of the Tananahs can speak to you now in your own tongue. And while Mesouga lived with bhese white men he learned to hate them. They were nob kind to Mesouga. They were cruel. They beat him when ho did not please them. They gave him fire-water to drink, and bhen when his legs refused to obey his will, they made him dance for their pleasure. Bub thera came a day when Me»ouga was a man. Tbe fears of the boy were gone. The bravery of bhe man had come. Creeping upon the white men one night when bhey were asleep, Meaouga buried his knife, not once', but many times, in their hearts. Then he escaped and went to his people; They made him chief. He is the greateab chief the Tananahs ever had. Ho will make the Tananaha the rulers of Alaska, and drive from the feeding ground of the reindeer and the moose all other Indians who will not; become warriors of the Tananahs; and he will drive tbe white men from the.place. Mesouga is a chief. He is greab. Now listen to what Mesouga has to say.'

1 We have been listening, rain boaster, said Maxom. ' VVbab do we care for what you havo said ? You call yourself a man, and brave, and then boast how you killed your enemies while they elepb. There is nob a feeble warbler among the birds who has not more courage than Mesougo, the woman of the Tananahs.1

[To be Continued,)