He fitted the arrow to the string, bent the great bow 331
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and let fly. The arrow sang a moment through the air, and then it stood out, buried to the feathers in the body of the lion. The wounded beast uttered a scream so fierce that all three shuddered and drew a little closer together, and then launched itself through the air like a projectile. It struck in the snow some- where, disappeared from their sight, and they heard terrible sounds of growling and fighting.
"Your arrow went straight to its heart," said Roka. "The spring w as its last convulsion of the muscles and now the other beasts are fighting over its body as they eat it."
"I don't care how soon this night is over," said Will. "All the meat-eating wild beasts in the mountains must be gathering about us."
"It is not a time for sleep," said Roka gravely. "While Manitou has given us the fire to serve as a wall around us, he tells us also that we must watch every minute of the night with the bows and arrows always in our hands, or we die."
"Aye," said Pehansan, "there is one that comes too near now !"
He sent an arrow slithering at a bulky figure dimly outlined not more than ten yards away. At so short a distance a Sioux could shoot an arrow with tremen- dous force, and there followed at once a roar of pain, a rush of heavy feet, and a wild threshing among the bushes.
"I know not what beast it was," said Pehansan proudly, "but like the other it will soon find a grave in the stomachs of the great wolves."
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They did not see any more figures for an hour or two, but a dreadful howling came from the great beasts, from every point in the complete circle about them. The three watched closely, tager to speed more arrows, but evidently the carnivora had taken tem- porary alarm and would not come too near lest the flying death reach them again. Roka cut fresh pieces from the buffalo and roasted them over one of the fires.
"Eat," he said to his comrades. "It is as wearing to watch and wait as it is to march and fight. Eat, even if you are not hungry, that your strength may be pre- served."
Will, who at any other time would have found the meat of the bull too tough before pounding, ate, and he ate, too, with an appetite, Roka and Pehansan join- ing with vigor.
The odor of the cooking steak penetrated the dark- ness about them and they heard the fierce growling of bears and the screaming of great cats. Will was growing so much used to these terrible noises, he felt so much confidence in their ring of fire that he laughed, and his laugh had a light trace of mockery.
"Wouldn't they be glad to get at us ?" he said, "and wouldn't they like to sink their teeth in the giant bull here? Why, there's enough of him to feed a whole gang of 'em !"
"But he'll feed our people down in the village," said Pehansan, who was also in good spirits. "Still the wild beasts are coming nearer. It is great luck that we have so much wood for the fires."
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He and Will built the fires higher, while Roka sent two or three arrows at the green or yellow eyes in the dark. The roars or fierce yells showed that he had hit, and they heard the sound of heavy bodies being threshed about in the dusk.
"We are not eaten but some of our enemies are," said Will. "It would be a good plan, wouldn't it, to slay them whenever we can in order that they may be food for one another?"
"It is wisely spoken," said Roka. "We will shoot whenever we see a target, but we will never neglect the fires because they are more important even than the arrows."
All through that dark, primordial night, in which they were carried back, in effect, at least ten thousand years, they never relaxed the watch for a moment. Now and then they sent arrows into the dusk, some- times missing and sometimes hitting, and the growling of the bears and wolves and the screaming of the great cats was almost continuous. The darkness seemed eternal, but at length, with infinite joy, they saw the first pale streak of dawn over the eastern mountains.
"Now the fierce animals will withdraw farther into the forest," said Roka. "Beyond the reach of our ar- rows they will be, but they will not depart wholly."
"Someone must go to the village for help," said Will, "help not only for us, but to take away two or three tons of this good meat. Why, the bull looks even big- ger this morning than he did last night. One of my snowshoes is broken, but, if Pehansan will lend me his, I'll make the trip."
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"You will not," said Roka. "Despite your skill with the bow and arrow you would be devoured before you had gone a mile. The fierce beasts would be in wait- ing for you and you would no longer have a ring of fire to protect you."
"Then what are we to do, Roka? We can't stay here forever within the ring of fire, living on steaks cut from the bull."
"Waditaka has become a great young warrior and he thinks much. Few as young as he is think as much as he does."
"I don't grasp your meaning, Roka."
"Perhaps it would be better to say that no one thinks of everything."
"I'm still astray."
"We'll call the people of the village to us."
"If you had the voice of old Stentor himself, of whom you never heard, you couldn't reach the village, which you know is more than twenty miles away."
"We will not call with our voices, Waditaka. Be- hold how clear the morning comes! It is the light of bright winter and there is no light brighter. The sun is rising over the mountains in a circle of burning gold and all the heavens are filled with its rays."
"You're a poet, Roka. The spell has fallen upon you."
"Against the shining blaze of the sky the smallest object will show, and a large object will be seen at a vast distance. Bring our blankets, Pehansan, and we will spread them over the little fire here."
Will laughed at himself. 335
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"The smoke signals !" he exclaimed. "How simple the plan and how foolish I was not to think of it !"
"As I told you," said Roka, "one young warrior, no matter how wise, cannot think of everything. We will talk not with our mouths but with the blankets."
In this case the signals were quite simple. Pehansan passed the blanket twice rapidly over the fire, allowing two great coils of smoke to ascend high in the air, and then dissipate themselves there. After five minutes he sent up the two smoky circles again. The signal meant "Come."
"We will soon see the answer," said Roka, "because they are anxious about us and will be looking for a sign."
All three gazed in the direction of the village, the only point from which the reply could be sent, and presently a circle of smoke, then two, then three, rose there. Pehansan, in order to be sure, sent up the two circles again, and the three promptly replied.
"It is enough," said Roka joyfully. "Now they will come in great force on their snowshoes, and we will be saved with our huge prize."
They waited in the utmost confidence and af times Pehansan sent up the two rings again to guide the re- lief band. But the people from the village had a long distance to travel, antl it was noon when they saw the dark figures among the undergrowth and hailed them with joyous cries. At least thirty had come, a few young warriors there were few in the village but mostly old men, and the dauntless, wiry old squaws.
They exclaimed in wonder and admiration over the 336
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mighty beast the three had killed, and among the bushes about the campfire they found great skeletons, all eaten clean by the huge mountain wolves.
"Truly you were saved by fire/' said old Xingudan, who had himself headed the relieving party.
With so many to lift and pull they were able to re- move the entire robe from the giant buffalo, the finest skin that many of them had ever seen. It was so vast that it was a cause of great wonder and admiration.
"It belongs," said Xingudan, "to Waditaka, Pehan- san and Roka, the three brave warriors who slew the buffalo."
"The
three live in different lodges and they will have to pass it one to another for use," said In- mutanka.
Will glanced at Roka, who understood him, and then he glanced at Pehansan, who also understood him.
"It is the wish of the three of us," said the youth, "that this great skin be accepted by the brave and wise Xingudan, whose knowledge and skill have kept the village unhurt and happy under conditions that might well have overcome any man."
A look of gratification, swift but deep, passed over the face of Xingudan, but he declined the magnificent offer. Nevertheless the three insisted, and old In- mutanka observed wisely that the skin should go only in the lodge of the head chief. At last Xingudan ac- cepted, and Will, although he had not made the offer for that purpose, had a friend for life.
The band began to cut up the vast body, which, when 337
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the flesh was well pounded and softened by the squaws, would alone feed the village for quite a period. The task could not be finished that day, but they built such a ring of great fires for the night that the fierce car- nivora did not dare to come near. The next day they reached the village with the great bull, carried in many sections.
Will's nerves had been attuned so highly during the terrible siege that he collapsed to a certain extent after his return to the village, but he suffered no loss of prestige because of it, as everybody believed that he and his comrades had been besieged by evil spirits, and Pehansan and Roka as well were compelled to take a long rest. He remained in the lodge a whole day, and Inmutanka brought him the tenderest of food and the juices of medicinal herbs to drink, telling him it was said on every side that the prophecy had come true, and his craft and skill had saved the village in the terrible winter.
The second day he was in the village, where the women and old men were pounding and drying the flesh of the buffalo, but only the most skilful were per- mitted to scrape the vast skin, which, when it was fi- nally cured, would make such an ornament as was never before seen in the lodge of a Sioux chief. But Will, Pehansan and Roka were not allowed to have a share in any work for a long time. They were three heroes who had fought with demons and who had triumphed, and for a space they were looked upon as demi-gods.
Nevertheless, they had their full share in the hunt. The wise old Xingudan, backed by the equally wise
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old Inmutanka, forbade any expeditions far from the village unless they were made in great force, and their judgment was soon proved by the fact that many bears, wolves and mountain lions of the greatest size were slain. Numerous fires, however, made the region im- mediately about the lodges safe, and as the river flowed almost at their feet the women could break the thick ice and catch fish, without fear of the wild beasts.
It was during this interval that Will began to think again very much of the faithful white friends whom he had lost, the redoubtable scout, the whistling and cheer- ful Little Giant, and the brave and serious Brady. He- raka had told him that they were dead, but he could not believe it. He began to feel that he would see them again, and that they would renew the great quest. He had preserved the map with care, but he had not looked at it for a long time. Yet he remembered the lines upon it as well as ever. As he had reflected be- fore, if it were destroyed, he could easily reproduce it from memory.
Then his three lost friends became vague again. The months that had passed since his capture seemed years, and he was so far away from all the paths of civi- lization that it was like being on another planet. He had never yet learned exactly where he was, but he knew it must be in the high mountains of the far north, and therefore toward the Pacific coast.
Then all these memories and mental questions faded, as the life of the village became absorbing again. Frightened herds of elk and moose, evidently chased by the great carnivora or in search of food, came into
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the valley and the Indians killed as many as they needed. They might have killed more, but Xingudan forbade them.
"Let them take shelter here/' he said, "and grow more numerous. It is not to the interest of our peo- ple that the big deer should decrease in numbers, and if we are wise we will let live that which we do not need to eat."
They saw the wisdom of Xingudan's words and obeyed him. Perhaps there was not another Indian village in all North America which had greater plenty than Xingudan's in that winter, so long and terrible, in the northern mountains. Big game was abundant, and fish could always be obtained through holes in the thick ice that invariably covered the river. Their greatest difficulty was in keeping the horses, but they met the emergency. Not only did the horses dig under the snow with their sharp feet, but the Indians them- selves, with Will at their head, uncovered or brought much forage for them.
Will understood why such sedulous care was be- stowed upon the ponies, which could be of little use among the great mountains. When spring was fully come they would go eastward out of the mountains, and upon the vast plains, where they would hunt the buffalo. Then he must escape. Although he was an adopted Sioux, the son of Inmutanka, and had adapted himself to the life of the village, where he was not un- happy, he felt at times the call of his own people.
The call was especially strong when he was alone in the lodge, and the snow was driving heavily outside.
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Then the faces of the scout, the Little Giant and the beaver hunter appeared very clearly before him. His place was with them, if they were still alive, and in the spring, when the doors of ice that closed the valley were opened, he would go, if he could.
But the spring was long in coming. Xingudan him- self could not recall when it had ever before been so late. But come at last it did, with mighty rains, the sliding of avalanches, the breaking up of the ice, floods in the river and countless torrents. When the waters subsided and the slopes were clear of snow Xingudan talked of moving. The lodges were struck and the whole village passed out of the valley. The tall youth, dressed fike the others and almost as brown as they, who had been known among white people as Will Clarke, but whom the Indians called Waditaka, won- dered what the spring was going to bring to him, and he awaited the future with intense curiosity and eager- ness.
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Altsheler, Joseph - [Great West 01] Page 28