Two Little Savages

by Ernest Thompson Seton

  XXIV

  Hawkeye Claims Another Grand Coup

  "_Wa wa wa wa wa! Wa wa wa wa wa! Wa wa wa wa wa!_" Three times itechoed through the woods--a loud, triumphant cry.

  "That's Hawkeye with a big story of bravery; let's hide."

  So Sam and Yan scrambled quickly into the teepee, hid behind thelining and watched through an "arrow hole." Guy came proudly stepping,chin in air, uttering his war-whoop at intervals as he drew near, andcarrying his coat bundled up under one arm.

  "_Coup! Grand coup! Wa wa wa wa!_" he yelled again and again, butlooked simple and foolish when he found the camp apparently deserted.

  So he ceased his yells and, walking deliberately into the teepee,pulled out the sugar box and was stuffing a handful into his mouthwhen the other two Chiefs let off their wildest howls and, leapingfrom their concealment, chased him into the woods--not far, for Yanlaughed too much, and Sam had on but one boot.

  This was their re-gathering after a new search for adventures. Earlyin the morning, as he wiped off the breakfast knives by sticking theminto the sod, the Second War Chief had suggested: "Say, boys, in olddays Warriors would sometimes set out in different directions insearch of adventure, then agree to meet at a given time. Let's do thatto-day and see what we run across."

  "Get your straws," was Woodpecker's reply, as he returned from puttingthe scraps on the Wakan Rock.

  "No you don't," put in Hawkeye hastily; "at least, not unless you letme hold the straws. I know you'll fix it so I'll have to go home."

  "All right. You can hold the three straws; long one isWoodpecker--that's his head with a bit of red flannel to preventmistakes; the middle-sized thin one is me; and the short fat one isyou. Now let them drop. Sudden death and no try over."

  The straws fell, and the two boys gave a yell as Hawkeye's fatepointed straight to the Burns homestead.

  "Oh, get out; that's no good. We'll take the other end," he saidangrily, and persisted in going the opposite way.

  "Now we all got to go straight till we find something, and meet hereagain when that streak of sunlight gets around in the teepee to thatpole."

  As the sunstreak, which was their Indian clock, travelled just aboutone pole for two hours, this gave about four hours for adventures.

  Sam and Yan had been back some minutes, and now Guy, having recoveredhis composure, bothered not to wipe the stolen sugar from his lips,but broke out eagerly:

  "Say, fellers, I bet I'm the bully boy. I bet you I--"

  "Silence!" roared Woodpecker. "You come last."

  "All right; I don't care. I bet I win over all of you. I bet a milliondollars I do."

  "Go ahead, Chief Woodpecker-settin'-on-the-edge."

  So Sam began:

  "I pulls on my boots" [he went barefooted half the time]. "Oh, I tellyou I know when to wear my boots--an' I set out following my strawline straight out. I don't take no back track. _I'm_ not scaredof the front trail," and he turned his little slit eyes sadly on Guy,"and I kep' right on, and when I came to the dry bed of the creek itdidn't turn _me_; no, not a dozen rods; and I kept right till Icame to a Wasp's nest, and I turned and went round that coz it'scruel to go blundering into a nest of a lot of poor innocent littleWasps--and I kep' on, till I heard a low growl, and I looked up anddidn't see a thing. Then the growling got louder, and I seen it was ahungry Chipmunk roaring at me and jest getting ready to spring. Thenwhen I got out my bonearrer he says to me, he says, as bold as brass'Is your name Woodpecker?' Now that scared me, and so I told a lie--myvery first. I says, says I. 'No,' says I. 'I'm Hawkeye.' Well, youshould 'a seen him. He just turned pale; every stripe on his backfaded _when I said that name_, and he made for a hollow log andgot in. Now I was mad, and tried to get him out, but when I'd run toone end he'd run to the other, so we ran up and down till I had adeep-worn trail alongside the log, an' he had a deep-worn trail insidethe log, an' I was figgerin' to have him wear it right through at thebottom so the log'd open, but all of a sudden I says, 'I know what todo for you.' I took off my boot and stuffs the leg into one end of thelog. Then I rattles a stick at the other end and I heard him run intothe boot. Then I squeezes in the leg and ties a string around it an'brings him home, me wearing one boot and the Chipmunk the other, andthere he is in it now," and Sam curled up his free bunch of toes ingraphic comment and added: "Humph! I s'pose you fellers thought Ididn't know what I was about when I drawed on my long boots thismorning."

  "Well, I just want to see that Chipmunk an' maybe I'll believe you."

  "In there hunting for a loose patch," and Sam held up the boot.

  "Let's turn him out," suggested the Second Chief.

  So the string was cut and the Chipmunk scrambled out and away to asafer refuge.

  "Now, sonny," said Sam, as it disappeared, "don't tell your folks whathappened you or they'll swat you for a liar."

  "Oh, shucks! That's no adventure. Why, I--"

  "Hold on, Hawkeye; Little Beaver next."

  "Well, I don't care. I bet I--"

  Sam grabbed his knife and interrupted: "Do you know what Callahan'sspring lamb did when it saw the old man gathering mint? Go ahead,Little Beaver."

  "I hadn't much of an adventure, but I went straight through the woodswhere my straw pointed and ran into a big dead stub. It was too oldand rotten for Birds to use now, as well as too late in the season, soI got a pole and pushed it over, and I found the whole history of atenement in that stub. First of all, a Flicker had come years agoand dug put a fine big nesting-place, and used it maybe two or threetimes. When he was through, or maybe between seasons, the Chickadeesmade a winter den of it, for there were some Chickadee tail-feathersin the bottom. Next a Purple Blackbird came and used the hole, pilingup a lot of roots with mud on them. Next year it seems it came againand made another nest on top of the last; then that winter theChickadees again used it for a cubby-hole, for there were some moreChickadee feathers. Next year a Blue Jay found it out and nestedthere. I found some of her egg-shells among the soft stuff of thenest. Then I suppose a year after a pair of Sparrow-hawks happened onthe place, found it suited them, and made their nest in it and hatcheda brood of little Sparrow-hawks. Well, one day this bold robberbrought home to his little ones a Shrew."

  "What's that?"

  "Oh, a little thing like a Mouse, only it isn't a Mouse at all; it issecond cousin to a Mole."

  "I allus thought a Mole _was_ a Mouse specie," remarked Hawkeye,not satisfied with Yan's distinction.

  "Oh, you!" interrupted Sam. "You'll try to make out the Burnses issome kin to the Raftens next."

  "I bet I won't!" and for once Guy got even.

  "Well," Yan continued, "it so happened--about the first time in abouta million years--the little Hawks were not hungry just then. The Shrewwasn't gobbled up at once, and though wounded, it set to work toescape as soon as it was free of the old one's claws. First it hidunder the little ones, then it began to burrow down through thefeather-bed of the Sparrow-hawk's nest, then through the Blue Jay'snest, then through the soft stuff of the Blackbird's nest and amongthe old truck left by the Chickadees till it struck the hard mudfloor of the Blackbird's nest, and through that it could not dig. Itsstrength gave out now, and it died there and lay hidden in the lowestnest of the house, till years after I came by and broke open the oldstub and made it tell me a sad and mournful story--that--maybe--neverhappened at all. But there's the drawing I made of it at the place,showing all the nests just as I found them, and there's the dried upbody of the little Shrew."

  Sam listened with intense interest, but Guy was at no pains to concealhis contempt. "Oh, pshaw! That's no adventure--just a whole lot of's'posens' without a blame thing doing. Now I'll tell you what I done.I--"

  "Now, Hawkeye," Sam put in, "please don't be rough about it. Leave outthe awful things: I ain't well to-day. You keep back the scary partstill to-morrow."

  "I tell you I left here and went straight as a die, an' I seen aWoodchuck, but he wasn't in line, so I says: 'No, some other day. Ikin get you _easy_ any time.'
Then I seen a Hawk going off witha Chicken, but that was off my beat, an' I found lots o' old stumpsan' hundreds o' Chipmunks an' wouldn't be bothered with them. Then Icome to a farmhouse an'--an' I went around that so's not to scare theDog, an' I went pretty near as far as Downey's Dump--yes, a littlea-past it--only to one side--when up jumps a Partridge as big as aTurkey, an' a hull gang of young ones--about thirty or forty. I bet Iseen them forty rod away, an' they all flew, but one that lighted ona tree as far as--oh, 'cross that field, anyway. I bet you fellerswouldn't 'a' seen it at all. Well, I jest hauled off as ca'm as ca'man' let him have it. I aimed straight for his eye--an' that's where Ihit him. _Now who gets a grand coup, for there he is_!" Hawkeyeunrolled his coat and turned out a bobtailed young Robin in thespeckled plumage, shot through the body.

  "So that's your Partridge. I call that a young Robin," said the FirstChief with slow emphasis. "Rules is broke. Killed a Song-bird. LittleBeaver, arrest the criminal."

  But Hawkeye struggled with all the ferocity born of his recentexploit, and had to be bound hand and foot while a full Council wascalled to try the case. The angry protests weakened when he found howserious the Councillors were. Finally he pleaded "guilty" and wascondemned to wear a black feather of disgrace and a white feather forcowardice for three days, as well as wash the dishes for a week. Theywould also have made him cook for that term, but that they had hadsome unhappy experiences with some dishes of Guy's make.

  "Well, I won't do it, that's all," was the prisoner's defiant retort."I'll go home first."

  "And hoe the garden? Oh, yes; I think I see you."

  "Well, I won't do it. You better let me 'lone."

  "Little Beaver, what do they do when an Injun won't obey the Council?"

  "Strip him of his honours. Do you remember that stick we burned with'Sapwood' on it?"

  "Good idee. We'll burn Hawkeye for a name and dig up the old one"

  "No, you won't, you dirty mean Skunks! Ye promised me you'd never callme that again. I _am_ Hawkeye. I kin see farder'n--n--" and hebegan to weep.

  "Well, will you obey the Council?"

  "Yes; but I won't wear no white feather--I'm _brave_, boohoo!"

  "All right. We'll leave that off; but you must do the otherpunishments.

  "Will I still be Hawkeye?"

  "Yes."

  "All right. I'll do it."