HAWK OF THE WILDERNESS

Franklin Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 21, 23 February 1940, Page 2

HAWK OF THE WILDERNESS

(By WILLIAM L. CHESTER)

INSTALMENT JO. He cul gradually to one side, so Llial liis trail might bring him above a ravine through which flowed a muddy racing stream whose every sinuosity and varying depth he knew with (lie intimacy of many swims and plunges there. Deliberately, as it' debating which trail lo pursue, he paused, nothing in his .allilude revealing his alert wariness.

liver nearer crept Yellow Weasel in a stalk of which a panther might have been proud. But the now awakened microphone ears of the Snow Hawk heard sounds beyond I lie regis ter of ordinary ears. Without turning his head. he sensed when liis enemy gathered his muscles. In the instant that the witch-doctor sprang with upraised lomaliawk, Kioga whirled. side-stepped with the quickness of (bought, and seized the falling tomahawk arm of his assailant. Mis other hand shot to the shaman’s corded throat, fastening there with liie tenacious grip of a boa’s fangs. The blow which would have cleft his skull to the’ ears bid scratched him.

Then for the second time a human being, more devil than human, tasted of I lie deadly force, within those young muscles as the Snow Hawk grappled his would-be assassin to (he ravine’s edge. A .moment they hung there tight-locked, the grisly medicine-man in frightful contrast to the flne-fea-fured, clean-skinned youth, strained body lo body in the fevered embrace of mortal combat.

The Snow Hawk fought with cunning holds, muscle-racking devices and leverages strange to the witch-doctor. The strength upon which Yellow Wens': i had counted, availed but little againsl this slippery fury, twining about . him like a eonslrieling anaconda which crushes while strangling, t pon liis lomaliawk arm Kioga worked some agonising twist of Oriental torlure. As the axe fell from his numbed. lingers. Yellow Weasel wrilhed and si ruck willi his free hand. clawing beasl-like with his nails, gouging for I lie eye. hut ever more blindly as I hose clenching fingers sealed out his air-supply. Aware of Ihe imminence of relribulion. the whole frame of Hie wifeh-doclor shuddered. Then suddenly lie was within a hair's hreallt

oi escaping as ior a m omen I Kioga relaxed liis Ihroaihoid, and Ihe shaman released in one fearful highpitched yell the terror which had been si niggling for utterance. But Kioga had loosened one grip only to jerk Yellow Weasel's hc||kiiil'e from its sheath. As I hey fell through space willi Hailing limbs, lie sent the blade plunging into I lie bony breast, twice for Awena, I wire for Aiokuyi: I lien slabbing and stabbing again on bis own accounl ere the con-

vulsive lingers of (lie shaman released him and fell away under (he water. Then Kioga sought the surface to brealhe air clean at lasi of (he lain! of his parents’ murder —and instantly plunged anew lo avoid being seen by ; Yellow Weasel’s cohorts, i That nighl, recalling (lie plot to assassinate Rawamic, he doubled back lo ’lhe village. From a vantage-point ■steady walch on Ihe chieflain’s lodge. And when a stealthy shadow emerged from Ihe darkness and raised Ihe skin before Ihe door. Hawk loosed a wavarrow through Ihe marauder, and ho fell wil lion I a sound, lying si ill. Next morning when Ihe sachem saw a human body, a knife gripped in ils

dead hand, arrowed upon liis very doorslep. it pul him on guard. Never was he to know to whom lie owed : gratitude for the assassination’s I'ailJ nre: hut, Ids roused suspicions had the jelled of pulling an end. temporarily, ; to the treasonous activities of the now ! thoroughly alarmed hong-Knil'e So- ; riely. i Two days later I lie young outlaw learned heyond all further douhf what; fate awaited should he ever fall into the power of his enemies. ft was to he war to the knife. Another might have lied the territory rather than face the hopeless odds confronting, this lone hoy with every man’s hand against him. Not Kioga! i lie claimed these wilds as his own- —- swamp, forest and mountain. If die he must, lie would perish here. So now. lie patrolled countless places of retreat, defence or undisturbed rest, memorising every place of concealment, of possible ambush, ever plotting

in advance how he could put them to use. Like any oilier hunted creature, the know Hawk sought and found a .suitable hide-away which lie could use during the long black wilder moons. II was a deep cavern, ideally situated midway between Hie base and summit of a sheer cliff rising some hundreds of feel up Hie side of a forested

canyon. Inaccessible except by a narrow and all bill impasalile lra.il. it had two oilier virtues —a running spring Irickling from some subterranean lissure. and a way of entrance via Ihe a ini os I. solid wall of dense evergreens which screened it at all seasens. This was lo he Ids lair, liis wilderness sanctuary from weather, beast and man. Into this rude but satisfactory domicile. he transported a supply of hardwood, and constructed a stone fireplace lo receive it. Hither lie brought his few possessions, among them liis precious books and newspapers, the Cherokee's log-book, and certain other objects contained in Mokuyi’s personal chest. Influenced by Kioga's directing intelligence, a change was taking place among the bears. Hitbrto they bad bad no need for added security gained by union with others' of their own kind. A mature bear was usually a Jaw unto himself, the most powerful

creature in liis neighbourhood. Except for family groups of mother and young, or younger cubs from the same Idler, or Ihe rare great concourses, (heirs were but random meetings haphazard and unpredictable eonsociaation as easily broken as formed, and having no permanent unity.

Bui Ihanks lo Snow Hawk's craft, his hears were heller fed than most, lor whereas he had once liunled only for his own sustenance, lie now killed fiir Ihe niouMis of all. Thus (he usual strife over Ihe possession of meal was conspicuous by ils absence among his hears—a factor which afIracled others to Hie band. As a result. he was soon hard-pressed lo pull down enough meal for I hem ail. Even heavier became Hie demands upon liis skill: even larger Ilia brutes who fell beneath bis knil'e and spear. Aomelhing must be done: so one day lie led lliem from their rein •;er mountain liaunls down info the rich wooded valleys where !lie buffaloherds fed. There be concentrated upon a small group of the tierce wild cattle —whose guardian bulls nrcsented a solid front as soon as they eaughl Ihe scent of Ihe ininiding bruins. As usual I lie bears circled, vainly seeking a weak spot in that horny wall, a defence they had never yet been able to carry by storm. But. under Snow Hawk il was to be different.

i Perceiving that the bears had surrounded the herd, and dial in al least one place Ihe trees grew thick enough . for his purpose, he climbed high, made his way among (he branches to a spot almosl over a great bull, and swung ' oid above Ihe huge rod-eyed animal. Then, willi all Hie lire and dash of a proving: bird, he dropped heavily upon Ihe beast’s quarter. Bellowing. Hie bull reared, bul too la 10. With a body-weight lurch, Snow Hawk swung himself beneath the bearded jaw. wrenching at one horn. Down came that burly animal in a Iwisiing fall Ilia! shook Ihe ground, ils own weight combining with Ihe quick velocity of Ihe man’s initial sfrike lo break the thick spine.

Taking swift advantage of the coni | fusion incident of this unexpected al--1 lack from on high, the hears came in, l crushing down the younger hulls with heavy smashing blows, their deep snarls mingling' with the bellowing of 11 1 0 herd. In all over twenty animals fell, while hill Iwo hears showed more than a few horn-marks received in the melee. So Kioga faughl them lo hunt in unison, a dangerous business but efficient. Despite their intelligence, this would probably never have occurred to lhe bears, 'though daily they saw tin' wolves achieving their ends in the same way. Himself Ihe product of his wild life, Snow Hawk had now become also the master of his environment, adding strength upon strength to that with which nature had equipped him. He tfunfed as did the creatures about him, combining the best of (heir methods with others suggested by Ids own

superior intelligence to attain a deadly surety of attack.

Heretofore his prowess had been chiefly in the arts of escape—the darting run. the long high spring, the breath-taking climb into the lofty crags, or the swift drop toward the dark ravines—all of which evidenced his wondrous co-ordination of nerve and sinew. But early maturity brought him a new force and drive that made him daily more nearly invincible.

None knew this better than the savage gangs of narrow-eyed wolves who linked in I lie tamarack swamps or the black hemlock forests. Boldly now. Kioga entered their haunts to entice them forth on his trail, by whipping them off I heir fresh kills, as once they had driven him from his.

Your marathon racer runs twentyfive miles and breasts the tape in a slate of near-collapse. Kioga once lured the lower valley pack for twice that distance over a mountain route, frequently letting the drooling leaders come within whip’s length before acquainting them with the stinging torture of that hissing thong. At Hie end of I lie run he look his position on a high rock, inducing them to attack by mouthing down on them an insulting mimicry of their own howls.

With dripping .jaws clinking, and blood infused eyes rolling in their own fire, the pack hesitated. Now and then one jumped and snapped, but in this old feud between Kioga and themselves the animals had learned prudence. They timed their leaps with noticeable care, for several mighty jaws were losl to the pack of late when that long glistening fang at Snow Hawk’s thigh drank the heart's blood of one who leaped too high!

INSTALMENT 11 But not all of Snow Hawk’s surplus energy was expended in hunting and looking for excitement. One place in the wilderness drew him irresistibly and received his frequent visits. This was known among the Indian witchdoctors as the Unti-Guhi, or the Haunted Whirl-pool, and was universally shunned as a very sink of peril. But not by Kioga. Never for a moment relaxing his grip upon the rope which bound him tii shelf or rock, he had fathomed many of the secrets of the Haunted Whirlpool by cautious exploration. He bad found channels unknown to the Indians where a craft might pass or hide in safety, and regularly paddled thence in his light canoe, racing through the Homelike canyon into the rapids, and riding their foaming crests into the mists that hung just above the Great Falls.

The great silver-grey puma often rode with him. Posed tense in the how. with back-laid ears and eyes glowing like fireballs, Mika resembled

some ancient worshipped animal-carv-, mg, rigid on its base at the portals of a pagan temple. Once or twice they were dimly glimpsed by the canoemen of Hopeka when the river-mists were crimsoned by the weird reflected flare of the northerly volcanoes. But they were not molested.

(To be Continued