HAWK OF THE WILDERNESS

Franklin Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 17, 14 February 1940, Page 2

HAWK OF THE WILDERNESS

INSTALMENT G A pair of hunting eagles circled high above, no more wild. Tree and questing than tins naked brown boy whose vivid eyes swept every hollow and bluff for .a sight of the bated WaKnek. At last, far in I lie distance, be saw what looked like smoke. Me set out toward it. and in two hours be was close enough lo that smudge It look down upon a Wa-Kanek horsebunting camp.

It consisted of several semi-trans-parent tents of new white buffalo-hide already beginning lo glow red from (he fires within. A small band of horses were tethered al one side of the tents, within a wall of high-piled thorny brush. Horizontal pole-racks were heavy laden with strips of buf-falo-meal" drying in the autumn sun, already beginning to lower behind the southern mountains. From time to time one or another of the Indians would turn the dry meat.

Before Ihe largest tent stood a rack upon which a battle-shield hung, reflecting the dying light of Ihe setting sun: and on the tall pole near by dangled a dozen human scalps, grim trophies of a battle and a killing, perhaps a few hours before. Over the Wa-Kanek camp hung the haze of (he campfire-smoke, lending a disarming, sleepy air lo Ihe scene. Bui suddenly one of the Indians spoke to a companion, and pointed lo a faint whirl of dust oul on Ihe plain, which soon 'enlarged to a great moving cloild.

Snow Hawk had nol long to wait after dial before the scourges of Ihe plains swept into view—a band of Turly mounted warriors, hot on the trail of a galloping herd of wild horses. The Indians of the camp leaped into the saddles, and yelling and waving their gaudy blankets, dashed oul lo head Ihe herd off.

The were a breed differing from any horse known to modern natural M'ience. in shagginess of coal they seemed akin to the wild Tarpans of Tnrlary: but no Mongolian wild horse had ever (be flowing mane, nor the splendid height and temper of these

I swift coursers of Nato'wa, bounding j along lightly as deer, as if unconscious I of ground under hoof, i And now, fast behind them, with lazily spinning lariats, came (he Indian horse-hunters. Between these and jibe Tdankel-wavers. Ihe herd was quickly ringed and lired down by the . relenlless hunters on fresh mounts. Alter this selected animals were roped oul. hobbled, blindfolded and then broken to Ihe uses of barbaric men . . '. All that day and the next. Ihe fascinated Kioga watched these proceedj higs from bis eyrie height above the ' plain. Most of all he marvelled at the ; amazing feats performed by the In-

dians with those sneaking ropes, into which I heir lean hands seemed to put. inlelligence. He noticed that some of the ropes were taken into a certain lent, and when darkness approached again, he made up his mind to rearrange matters of ownership so that one of I hose remarkable weapons

should become his own. He . had. Iwo hours of dusk, and about an hour of semi-darkness in which lo work. Descending to the plain, he slipped without mishap into Ihe camp, wiggling on his belly like a snake, and keeping in the shadows cast by Ihe brush wall wherever pos-

sible. JI is heart came up into his throat when a horse nickered, but the sound gave no alarm lo the weary hunters cooking their meat over the lire not OH I y steps away. lie had another bad scare when a warrior came near; hut he escaped discovery by slipping benealh a long shield that lay where J if had fallen from the saddle-book. I The Indian picked up a rope within ; reach ol Kioga’s own arm and return- j

eu with il to the fire. Thereafter, if that shield moved very slowly toward the lent where much of the hunting-gear was kept, no one noticed its extraordinary animal ion. In a little while Ivioga had worked his way to a jioint where the tent was between him and the fire, hiding him from view of the diners.

A moment he listened lo the heavy . snoring of some exhausted Wa-Kanek | within, then lifted one side of the tent j ami slipped under and in. Suddenly j I"' slilfened as Ihe sleeper moved and I ceased snoring. Though Ihe man did | 1101 wake, he had turned facing Ihe , alarmed intruder; and thus for another : precious half-hour they lay, the \VaI Kanek at rest, Kioga tense as drawn

I wive anti with hatchet raised, ready to ; deal death it (lie need arose. At last i the sleeper turned once more and was | soon snoring-: and Ihe hoy drew a | deep breath ot relief. ; Quick- as lightning now, lie grabbed j up two hair ropes and a leather one: | I hen another object came under his ! seeking hand, and lie seized lhat too. i Casting a sharp glance at the sleeper, j he now withdrew as he had entered, , and began inching his way hack to ' safely beneath Ihe shield, with one! anxious eye ever on Ihe figures around ! I lie lire. ! lie caught a wliil'f of savoury broil- | ing meal, and realised suddenly that i be was famished. Only a slight change of course brought him near j the meal-racks. Awaiting a favour- j able moment, he reached up, snatched . one of the hanging buffalo strips, and ! in the wink of an eye was back under the shield and taking his first nourishment for more than twenty-four hours.

(By WILLIAM L. CHESTER)

(To be Hon tinned)

As be edged toward the brush wall, be could hear Ibe hunters laughing as they ale: another minute or two would have seen him safe and away. But al that moment Ihe Indian who had passed before returned to hang up the rope which he had knotted into a sort of haekamore— when his glance chanced to fall upon the long shield, which on 1 1 is previous visit had lain twenty feel nearer Ihe wall. Doubtless Ihe shield had been moved by Ibe sleeper in the tent: but already the savage’s eyes had narrowed, bis hand gone lo bis tomahawk'.. Kioga. watching with beating heart from under Ihe shield’s rim. knew that discovery was now unavoidable: but though dismayed, he retained his presence of mind. As the Indian drew nearer, he lossed a stick some distance beyond him, and al Ihe noise of ils fall Ihe warrior wheeled in swift alarm.

Kioga was up like a cat: twice he had plunged his flint knife deep into the enemy’s body, before the warrior realised he was attacked. Then, Iripping upon Ihe falling man, Kioga hurled himself headlong over the barrier of brush and was gone Behind him he heard the yells of his victim, and then .pandemonium as the knifed brave was discovered, with other evidences of Snow Hawk’s lone raid. With early dawn, Kioga found himself beyond immediate pursuit—and Ihe owner of three ropes, two of light horse-hair and a heavier one of leather. strong enough to stop a wild stallion in full gallop. His first thought was to vitalise the noose and keep it spinning after it had expanded into a loop, just as the Indians bad done. Knowing nothing of centrifugal force, and even less of the principles of imping, he found this difficult. But he persisted day after day in his practice, until he could cast a noose ilh some accuracy over a dead

slump. . Having acquired a certain dexterity j with the rope, he finally decided to try his skill. He succeeded in ambushj ing a calf on its way out of the bills, and dropped the noose over its head. He had tied Ihe oilier end lo his waist. One long moment the calf shook ils head, reared and kicked at Ihe strand Dial threatened its liberty, and then pounded bawling away. Bruised and bleeding, he returned disconsolate into the forest minus his second rope,

Ihe longest of the three. And so lie returned lo (lie village, bearing the trophies of his raid lo parade before Mokuyi and Awona, and to Haunt before Ihe envious eyes of Ihe oilier boys. Too long among humans. Kioga the miow Hawk now wended bis way toward the palisade. As he went, he played with his rope, tossing it over every stump’or boulder witliin reach of its forly-fool strand. Hoh! It would be different now, for be bad had an idea. With a toss, he managed lo gel a small noose up over a dead branch. Then he swarmed up Ihe

sframl, hand over hand, disappearing in Ihe enveloping foliage, j Now be would fail, and by holding ! li.-'hl lo his rope, reach the ground unI'nrl. hi (lie process of Ibis new game lu* learned that an initial push would set him swinging back and forth, an exhilarating experience which he quickly made more so by increas- : ing Ihe arc of his swing. Slowly he mastered Ihe laws of swinging and lolling bodies. Before the month was old. be could loss Ihe noose from cliff lo limb, swing and alight high up '

among ihe branches of some other tree beyond. But he could not abandon the idea of soaring in great gyres, like a wingless bird: and at last he devised something superior.—a three-pronged hook, made of horn bound with deer tendons, reinforced with stout hickory

and curved like the claws of a tree- j sloth. This was affixed to a handle, j one end of which carried a stout hone j eyelet, through which lie passed Ihe j rope, tying it securely. j When lie tossed this grapnel-like j object up into a tree, the rope followed

like the line behind a hurled harpoon. No amount of tugging would release it from the branch into which it hit,

so long as (he rope remained taut; but by sending an undulation along the slack, the bone points could he made lo release their hold and the hook to fall al his feet.

This grapnel gave him independence of clead or rotting limbs, and made every branch or ledge an anchorage under which to make long dizzy swings lo neighbouring ledges or trees, either from the ground or from oilier slarling-poinls. II was. he soon found, a I bribing sport, but entailing certain hazards.

He who would climb must learn to fall, and Kioga had early acquired the knack of twisting in mid-air to roll j out of a dangerous fall, as a gymnast , docs—though no gymnast could lay claim lo Ihe agility of Ibis supple brown bov.