HAWK OF THE WILDERNESS

Franklin Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 19, 19 February 1940, Page 2

HAWK OF THE WILDERNESS

j From Mien on Ihe Snow Hawk playj ed a new game, ever lurking over the trails and fairly lifting wolf or puma I out of its skin with a sweep of the

i ready lash. Many small animals fell ito flu's quick-striking- thong. Even | cruel, ruthless Ouna the tiger came j to know ils hitler bile. So Hawk’s | life gained a new spice, for Hie heasls j which had once hunted hint for ids | ties]i alone, now pursued him in hatI red.

Hitherto Hie tigers, aware of Hie hoars’ might, had slimmed their territory. Bui one day. with the fresh weals of Hawk’s darling lash a burning agony on flanks and sides, a pair iof Hie striped killers forgot caution j and pursued him . straight to Yanu’s i lair. | Alone the savage mother pitted her ! grand and supple strength against odds which she would never have (braved voluntarily. Her deafening i roar Ihundrercd through Hie cave, | muffling as her huge jaws closed upon j Buna's muscular neck. Then, in the dark confinement of that stuffy’cave, began a struggle of wilderness Titans' : never to he forgotten by the manI child, flattened against Hie wall bei hind the shaggy bruin. Again and j again Yanu might have gained advanj lage by charging .her savage foes, i hut to do so would have left Hawk ! uncovered.

| INSTALMENT. 8. j Filing, snapping and rending wiial- [ ever her jaws closed upon, she re- | pulsed the great .male tiger with j smashes of her vast forepaws. But | the tigress, if smaller, was more cunI nmg, and wailed her chance. When i ''anus heavy neck arched in fending j off the male’s repeated assaults, the ! tigress suddenly sprang. Her fangs went in deep and locked by the ma.sive jaw-muscles in I lie unbreakable Ihroal-hold. in lliv fcnzy of desperation Yanu maul I lie male a crippling blow which burled him sprawling out of the cave. J beti she conceal rated upon (he snarling fury whose churning, doubled-up bind legs were clawing her 1.0 shreds. Twice She raked the tigress, half disembowelling her with each stroke, hut almost in the moment of victory those dreadful fangs cut into Yanu’s jugular. ‘■■real spouts of blood spattered Hawk, whose spear had at last found the tigress 1 1 earl—loo late, however, to save 'lanu, who will] glazed eyes was already breathing her last.

So passed Yanu. faithful fo Hie end to one who had unwittingly brought her doom in with him. Hawk wept unashamed tears upon .that silent shaggy form, tears of a lonely hoy who had lost a beloved friend. Then, unable to spring the dead tigress’ jaws from I heir grip, he cut off her claws. Finally, (hat none might violate the remains of Yanu, lie piled great stones across Ihe cave’s entrance and sel out upon the bloody trail of the male tiger.

; Hawk realised that his puny ; slrengl.ii was unequal lo subduing a beasl which could strike down a buf- ; lain with one blow. Climbing a tree j through 11 1 0 trees above Guna, whom ho found licking his wounds in a gully, lie loosed his small store of barbs down upon Ihe great beast. But Ihese. along will] the spear which lie hurled alter them, were only pinbricks lo Hie tiger. This further incensed Hawk, impotent to do more Ihan send back glare for glare and shrill yell for hoarse roar. But in that moment was horn 1 lie determination never lo rest until lie bad pulled down that killing-machine.

I I lawk hud not come scathiess f.l l rough I,lie bailie in (lie closeness of ; (he cave. One shoulder-blade was exposed, and he was covered with bJoud when he reached Mopeka withIbe tigress' claws dangling in one iiand. a spectacle to starlle and awe more than one full-grown warrior. Proudly .Mokuyi boasted of his son’s courage and prowess to (he oilier chiefs and head-men. Tenderly Awena pressed Ibe torn flesh into place and laid upon il healing poultices. New respecL for the former pariah became evident when for the lirst time he wore about his neck the si rung, claws of the conquered foe. The "little roaming Bedouin was soon abroad again, more self-confident than ever, and beginning lo feel himself a match for many of the beasts wiio once had so awed him.

Dawn found him resled and with appetite keen. After a break fa si of , wild duck which lie killed with the ' deadly hunting-whip, he swung lazily ; along through the warm golden suni rays slanting down into the dripping ’ middle tiers upon his naked hack. Be- : freshed and happy, lie was headin'.' j toward I lie sea-coast —as lie invariably did after a heavy storm, to pick over : the storm-drift, and rubbish which the i angry sea carried in from open water : beyond. i Near the channel through which the ill-slurred Cherokee had brought Ills : while parents, he observed floating wreckage eddying aboul (lie little hay. Kioga had gone two quick steps into the open beyond the cliff wall before he checked in open-mouthed wonder at what he saw in the hay and darted hack into the shadow of the cliffs, his heart hammering in excitement. For though he had always hoped to find just some such object in the bay, realisation of that hope stunned him momentarily.

(y WILLIAM L. CHESTER)

To a modern civilised child, the rusty old iron tramp ship which wallowed ponderously with every surge of the sea would have evoked a su- ; perior siiiii. Her superstructure was 1 torn away, her slack broken off short; j there were gaping holes in her deck; and in llmt part of her bottom which had rolled up oul of water yawned a ; jagged real which her crew had erj roneously supposed her death-blow i when liiey abandoned her in a sink|mg condition. .Matted seaweed hung ! from her sides in greai greenish fcs- | toons: and she looked exactly what ! she was, a bearded old derelict, unj wauled by sea or man. | But to Snow Hawk she was beaulij ful, magnificent, awesome. Greatly i impressed, he watched her settle : weariiy over upon her side. Here at j lasi was concrete evidence of an outer | world and of the greatness of civil--1 ised man.

When the waters had receded leaving Hie old ruin careened high and dry upon ils side, he came nearer. Throwing his grapnel across her how and | tugging at it lo make sure it liad taken hold somewhere above, he went hand over hand up her rusty side. Not for many a moon had human foot , pressed Hie sadly crumpled decks of ! Ihe vessel, and Ihe boy crept from | place fo place, peering suspiciously j down info Ihe black inferior through j her broken slack and ventilators, ! peopling her with a Ihousand imagin- ! ary evil Geebis and hobgoblins. ! He stood lense. near Ihe twisted j ladder leading within the hull, alert j lo defend himself against Hie monsters i of his fancy which he expected mom- ( enlarily lo hurst forth. Finally he i arrived al Ihe master’s cabin. A j momenl Snow Hawk paused warily, i I hen liplood in. his eager sparkling eyes slabbing every corner. lie noti ed with a lliriil of pleasure Ihaf though Ihe contents of the cabin were in disarray. due In Hie rolling of the ship, wider had not penetrated here.

Suddenly 1 1 is gaze became Fixed, and lie wen I forward to a chair which laced a desk. Between the two he saw Hie skeleton of a man to which strange garments sIiJJ clung. About its waist was a mouldy belt filled with gold coins, which he appropriated.

I l'Oii l.he desk Jay an ancient logbook. which on investigation proved lo be wrii ten in English dial Kioga, with some trouble, could read. ; Kioga read from the log-book: "The crew have taken all the ; lood willi them and abandoned ship. No sight of land yet. I have not. ! hie strength to leave my cabin toJ da>. Will God Jet me die on this I forsaken vessel for having returned I for my gold?” there was more, but the words were so indistinctly written as lo be illegible. What was gold? Why had Ibis poor dead thing returned for it I ' 1 ,ie risk of life? Why had the crew | iaken all Ihe food and left none? Ihi le bookcase bad disgorged ils conlents upon I fie floor. Almost the firs) thing (lie boy’s glistening eyes fell upon were the printed characters b(. had learned to know so well. Here were riches he could appreciate. .Some wide and catholic taste must have inspired such a colleclion of books. There were fhin volumes of Ihe classics—Shakespeare, Bacon, Thomas Browne: there 'were hislories. biographies and books upon mathemalcis and astronomy and navigation, 1 01 nes tilled with essays by .Will and Carlyle.

He discovered a sheaf of newspapers. most of them printed in English. Tim shortened forms of the headlines gave him some trouble at first, and (he continuation of front-page news on later pages. Often entire pages [were missing. And now the sound j of rushing waters far out on the reefs ! told him lie had not much time left lo explore the cabin. Suddenly lie stiffened, listening. [ The distant roar of the incoming tides reached his ears. lie clutched his J newspapers, slid down the side of I lie wreck, released his grapnel, coiled his rope and dashed for the shore in water already up to ids knees. He had not been a minute too soon, for with (he tide the sharks also came. Now he look time to examine his line new long knife. Then he looked •'d Hie money-belt. Curious and

firefly yellow discs, were Ihese valuable coins; a man had paid with his life for having returned lo save them. Awhile Snow Hawk examined Hie .fogies on their face and hack. Then, experimentally, lie scaled one out across the water, watching the yellow glint as the rays of (he setting sun j fell on I,lie skipping, leaping coin: then, I retaining but a few, he spent ten minutes seal-loving I lie others after the first.. Everything civilised men did, ho thought, was done with an eye to perfection, even to these things which skipped across I lie waves better than I lie best of fiat shells. On the morrow the wreck Imt been carried out and probably battered lo \ bils on the far reefs. Save for his j burning tongue and Ihe objects he j had salvaged, Kioga had nothing to show for thal hair-raising adventure

on I lie hulk, yet he would never forget if. It had been the most wonderful experience of his life. (To he Continued)