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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/33772-h.zip b/33772-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f2da8cf --- /dev/null +++ b/33772-h.zip diff --git a/33772-h/33772-h.htm b/33772-h/33772-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1f72010 --- /dev/null +++ b/33772-h/33772-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3383 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<!-- $Id: header.txt 236 2009-12-07 18:57:00Z vlsimpson $ --> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Hawk Eye, by David Cory. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; } + +h1,h2,h3 { text-align: center; clear: both; } + +p { margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em; text-indent: 1em; } + .tp1 {font-size: 110%;} + .tp2 {font-size: 150%;} + +hr { width: 33%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; clear: both; } + +ins.correction {text-decoration:none; border-bottom: thin dotted red;} + +.tn { background-color: #EEE; color: inherit; font-size: 80%; margin: 2em 10% 1em 10%; padding: 0.5em 1em 0.5em 1em; font-family: sans-serif; border: thin solid black; } + +table { margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; } + +th { font-size: 80%; } + +.toc { width: 65%; } + +.pagenum { + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + color: silver; +} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.right {text-align: right;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold; font-size: 80%;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Hawk Eye, by David Cory + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Hawk Eye + +Author: David Cory + +Release Date: September 20, 2010 [EBook #33772] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAWK EYE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Patrick Hopkins and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="tn"> + +<h3>Transcriber's Note</h3> + +<p>• Spelling, hyphenation, and capitalization have been retained as in the original publication, except for obvious typographical errors.</p> + +<p>• Such typographical errors have been corrected. Corrections are marked with dotted underlines. Place your mouse over the word and the original text will <ins class="correction" title="Like this!">appear</ins>.</p> + +<p>• The position of some illustrations has been changed to better fit with the context.</p> + +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Cover." width="365" height="500" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/endpaperl.jpg" alt="Left End Paper." width="372" height="500" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4"><!--[Pg 4]--></a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus001.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="400" /><br /> + <span class="caption">THE SHAFTS SPED TO THEIR MARKS AND TWO BIRDS FLUTTERED AND FELL TO EARTH.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5"><!--[Pg 5]--></a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h1>HAWK EYE</h1> + +<p class="center"><span class="tp1">BY</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="tp2">DAVID CORY</span></p> + +<p class="center"><i>Author of</i></p> + +<p class="center">"LITTLE INDIAN," and others</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus002.png" alt="Hawk Eye with rabbit." width="218" height="300" /> +</div> + +<p class="center">GROSSET & DUNLAP</p> + +<p class="center">PUBLISHERS NEW YORK</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6"><!--[Pg 6]--></a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1938, by</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">GROSSET & DUNLAP, Inc.</span></p> + +<p class="center"><i>All Rights Reserved</i></p> + +<p class="center"><i>Printed in the United States of America</i></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="FOREWORD" id="FOREWORD"></a>FOREWORD</h2> + + +<p>There is a secure immortality and a depth of intuition +in the utterance of Wordsworth, the peer of +nature's poets, when from his pastoral reed he +strikes the notes:</p> + +<p class="center">"The child is father of the man."</p> + +<p>Nothing could be more insistently and persistently +true of the Indian child—the girl to be the +mother of warriors, the boy to become a hero and +the father of future "braves."</p> + +<p>It goes back, all of it, to a heredity born of three +vital and vitalizing forces. The Indian holds with +steadfastness and devotion to his many and weird +ceremonies, but these all lead him back to the supreme, +piloting force of his life, his unfailing faith +in the Great Mystery.</p> + +<p>The altar stairs to the spirit world are hills, buttressed +by granite; trees that talk with the winds—whispers +from the spirit world; the thunder of the +waterfall—the voice of the Great Mystery; stars—the +footprints of warriors treading the highways<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> +of the Happy Hunting Ground. In all of these he +sees God.</p> + +<p>Falling into communion with this happy philosophy +of life, the glory of Indian motherhood crosses +our path—and there are few things more beautiful. +When the day of expectation dawns upon her, she +seeks the solitude of all the majesty in which from +childhood she has seen the footprints of God—revels, +communes, rehearses to herself the heroism of the +greatest hero of her tribe, and all that the impress +of it may be felt upon the master man, the miracle +of whose life has been entrusted to her to work out.</p> + +<p>For the first two full years of his life, a spiritual +hand guides his steps. There, in struggle and patience +and self-denial, he must learn all of nature's +glad story.</p> + +<p>His grandparents then take him into their +school. He learns to ride before he can walk; he is +taught the use of the bow and arrow, which means +hitting the mark, keenness of vision, a steady aim, +precision, so that when the crisis comes he is ready—an +ample reason for the brave, effective and self-reliant +conduct of the Indian soldier on the fields of +France in the World War.</p> + +<p>Deep breathing in the open air, giving full lung +power; self-denial, giving strength of limb and en<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>durance +in the race; fellowship with all of nature's +winsome and wild moods; a discerning will power; +a steadfast reliance upon the guiding hand of the +Great Spirit, empower the Indian boy to stand on +all the high hills of history and challenge any militant +force that may confront him.</p> + +<p>The sphere is complete; Boy: Mother: God.</p> + +<p class="right"> +<img src="images/illus006.png" alt="Joseph K Dixon" width="300" height="86" /><br /> +Leader of the Rodman Wanamaker Historical<br /> +Expeditions to the North American Indian</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="ACKNOWLEDGMENTS" id="ACKNOWLEDGMENTS"></a>ACKNOWLEDGMENTS</h2> + + +<p>Any writer who adds to the number of books on +that ever fascinating subject, the American Indian, +must owe thanks to many authors who have written +about the Indians. My special thanks, for information +concerning the customs and legends of the +Sioux, are given to:</p> + +<p>Joseph Kossuth Dixon, author of <i>The Vanishing +Race</i>,</p> + +<p>George Bird Grinnell, author of <i>When Buffalo +Ran</i>,</p> + +<p>Charles A. Eastman, author of <i>Indian Boyhood</i>,</p> + +<p>Lewis Spence, author of <i>The Myths of the North +American Indians</i>.</p> + +<p>Grateful acknowledgment is made, also, of valuable +information found in the <i>Thirty-Second Report +of the Bureau of American Ethnology</i>.</p> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">David Cory</span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + + +<table summary="Table of Contents" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="toc"> +<tr><th align="right">CHAPTER</th><th colspan="2" align="right">PAGE</th></tr> +<tr><td align="right">I</td><td><span class="smcap">Wild Geese</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">13</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">II</td><td><span class="smcap">Plans and Pelts</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">20</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">III</td><td><span class="smcap">Loading the Canoes</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">28</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">IV</td><td><span class="smcap">Jealous Slow Dog</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">34</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">V</td><td><span class="smcap">Hawk Eye's Offering</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">40</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">VI</td><td><span class="smcap">The Bear</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">47</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">VII</td><td><span class="smcap">The Kill</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">51</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">VIII</td><td><span class="smcap">The Pelt Is Removed</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">57</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">IX</td><td><span class="smcap">The Rapids</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">61</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">X</td><td><span class="smcap">The Beaver Dam</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">67</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XI</td><td><span class="smcap">Toeprints in the Sand</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">76</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XII</td><td><span class="smcap">Across the Prairie</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">83</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XIII</td><td><span class="smcap">The Boys Are Taken Prisoners</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">89</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XIV</td><td><span class="smcap">Hawk Eye's Revenge</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">96</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XV</td><td><span class="smcap">Two Good Shots</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">102</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XVI</td><td><span class="smcap">Ohitika Is Wounded</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">108</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XVII</td><td><span class="smcap">The Trading Post</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">113</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XVIII</td><td><span class="smcap">Journey's End</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">120</a></td></tr> +</table> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="HAWK_EYE" id="HAWK_EYE"></a>HAWK EYE</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>WILD GEESE</h3> + + +<p>Slow Dog, Medicine Man, looked out of +his lodge. Wild geese were honking +overhead. To the Indian it meant the return +of spring.</p> + +<p>"I must be the first to kill one," muttered +Slow Dog. Entering his lodge, he presently +came out with bow and arrows. Hastening +toward a bend in the river which formed a +sheltered cove, he hid among a clump of willow +bushes and waited in the hope that the +birds might come down to feed.</p> + +<p>Slow Dog was not the only one to notice +the geese, however. Two boys, one about fifteen +years of age, the other, close to thirteen, +had also heard the honking.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Get your bow and arrows," cried Hawk +Eye, the elder, darting into his tepee. The +younger boy, Raven Wing, ran to his lodge +for his weapons. In a few minutes both were +hurrying to the river.</p> + +<p>"There's Slow Dog hiding in the bushes," +whispered Raven Wing. "He wishes to be +the first to bring one to earth."</p> + +<p>"Leave him there," answered Hawk Eye, +noticing that the flock, headed by an old gander, +had slightly altered its course. "The +geese are making for the lake." Breaking +into a run, the boys headed for Big Stone +Lake, from whose southern boundary issued +the "sky-tinted waters" of the Minnesota +River.</p> + +<p>As they hurried through the timber belt +that bordered the river's edge, Raven Wing +remarked, "they may come down in the +marsh."</p> + +<p>Ice still lay thick upon the lake, but on the +shallower waters it had begun to melt under +the increasing warmth of the sun.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Can they see us?" asked Hawk Eye as +Raven Wing, who was in the lead, stopped at +the further end of the grove.</p> + +<p>"No. We have yet time to run across this +open space," answered the younger boy.</p> + +<p>On reaching a thicket of willows, the boys +halted; then crept in to almost the edge of a +frozen stretch of swamp.</p> + +<p>"Here they come!" whispered Raven +Wing. As the flock settled on the marshland, +Hawk Eye fitted an arrow to his bow. "I'll +take the one close to the leader," he said. Almost +simultaneously Raven Wing let fly his +arrow. The feathered ash wood shafts sped +to their marks and two birds fluttered and +fell to earth. Alarmed at the fall of their +comrades, the flock rose in the air, but before +they could get beyond arrow range, two more +birds dropped to earth.</p> + +<p>"We've outwitted Slow Dog," chuckled +Hawk Eye, as he made his way over the half-frozen +ground to pick up his birds.</p> + +<p>"He must return empty-handed," laughed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> +Raven Wing, retrieving his arrows from the +birds he had slain. "What do you intend to +do with your first kill?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Give it to Old Smoky Wolf," answered +Hawk Eye. "The goose first slain in the +Spring is always made the occasion for a +feast."</p> + +<p>"I will give mine to my stepfather, Black +Eagle," said Raven Wing. "He will be our +chief when Old Smoky Wolf takes the trail of +departed warriors."</p> + +<p>"Because you have outwitted him, Slow +Dog will now bear another grudge against +you," went on Hawk Eye.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps it were better had I not seen the +geese," sighed Raven Wing. "I would not be +the cause for further trouble between him +and my stepfather."</p> + +<p>"Slow Dog would find one if it suited his +fancy," said Hawk Eye. "He has a tongue +with two ends, like a serpent's. But he has no +need to look for an excuse. He has not forgotten +that it was you who discovered the +buffalo herd during the great blizzard and so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> +saved us all from starvation. Had you not +done so, he would have succeeded in convincing +many that the famine had been sent by +the gods to punish us all for allowing your +mother to hunt with the men. You, he hates. +But for you, he might have persuaded the +tribe to elect him chief in place of Old Smoky +Wolf."</p> + +<p>"He hates Black Eagle," said Raven +Wing, sadly.</p> + +<p>"Because he knows our warriors will +choose Black Eagle to succeed Old Smoky +Wolf," added Hawk Eye.</p> + +<p>As the boys neared camp, Slow Dog came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> +out of the bushes by the river bank. A scowl +spread over his face on seeing the dead geese. +"He is a great hunter when the birds fly down +to be killed," he sneered.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus014.png" alt="" width="600" height="311" /><br /> + <span class="caption">SLOW DOG CAME OUT OF THE BUSHES BY THE RIVER BANK.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Had they not changed their course, your +arrow would have slain one," answered +Raven Wing, quietly.</p> + +<p>Slow Dog turned on his heel and walked +to his tepee. The two boys continued on their +way. Presently they halted beside Old +Smoky Wolf's lodge. At the sound of approaching +footsteps, the aged chief had bade +his wife go out to greet whoever the visitors +might be.</p> + +<p>Hawk Eye handed her one of the birds he +had slain. "'Tis the first goose brought to +earth. Hawk Eye would present it to our +chief," explained the boy. As he and Raven +Wing were about to turn away, Old Smoky +Wolf appeared in the doorway of the lodge. +He gravely thanked Hawk Eye on learning +of the gift.</p> + +<p>"You both shall come to the feast," he +added kindly. The boys thanked him and as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> +they turned away, a smile spread over Old +Smoky Wolf's wrinkled face.</p> + +<p>"My tribe are not women. A brave is no +stranger in my village. These boys will become +great hunters. At the sound of their +moccasins the beaver will lie down to be +killed," grunted the old chief.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus016.png" alt="Hunter and buffalo." width="300" height="183" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>PLANS AND PELTS</h3> + + +<p>The sun grew warmer. The snow melted +and trickled in little rivulets down to the +river. Crocuses bloomed and red-winged +blackbirds cried amid the yellowing willows +in the bottoms. At last the ice broke in the +river and the waters rushed madly along between +its banks.</p> + +<p>The hunters, who had been industrious +all winter, gathered together the pelts of the +animals they had killed. Buffalo robes and +deer skins, together with pelts of minks, martins, +foxes, wolves, beavers, bears, fishers, +otters and raccoons. Thousands of muskrat +skins were also made up into bundles.</p> + +<p>The packs were loaded into canoes and +the hunters set off down stream for the trading +post at Mendota.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p> + +<p>Raven Wing and Hawk Eye watched the +canoes for some time. When the last frail +craft had turned the bend in the river, Raven +Wing said to Hawk Eye, "Let us make the +trip also, and take our pelts to the trading +post."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus020.png" alt="" width="443" height="600" /><br /> + <span class="caption">RAVEN WING AND HAWK EYE WATCHED THE CANOES FOR SOME TIME.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Will your stepfather allow you to go on +so long a trip?" asked Hawk Eye.</p> + +<p>"I can but ask him," answered Raven +Wing.</p> + +<p>"We will go, you and I, if he agrees," said +Hawk Eye. "I have no father to ask permission +of. Besides, I am two years older than +you. My mother I know will give her consent."</p> + +<p>Presently both boys were on their way to +their lodges. Bending Willow, Raven +Wing's mother, looked up as her son stood +before her.</p> + +<p>"I would like to take the pelts I have cured +from my winter's hunting to the trading post. +Hawk Eye plans to go also and we can make +the journey together," he announced in a low +voice.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p> + +<p>Bending Willow regarded the tall, strong +boy for several minutes before she answered +him.</p> + +<p>"I have no objection, son," she answered +quietly. "But you must receive permission +from your stepfather."</p> + +<p>"Will you speak a good word for me?" +said Raven Wing.</p> + +<p>"I will, my son," answered Bending Willow. +"I know that you will be careful. You +are strong and tall for your years. You are +a fine hunter; you know the river; your canoe +is well made."</p> + +<p>As she finished speaking, Black Eagle +strode up.</p> + +<p>"The hunters are well on their way," he +said. "The last canoe is now out of sight."</p> + +<p>"Raven Wing wishes to take his pelts to +the trading post," announced Bending Willow.</p> + +<p>Black Eagle turned to his stepson. "You +wish to go?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied the boy. "Hawk Eye will +go with me. He has many fine skins, also."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a><br /><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You have had no experience as a +trader," said Black Eagle. "The pale faces +at the post will offer you foolish trinkets for +your good pelts. They may even make you +dull and foolish with their minne wauken, +(firewater) and when your eyes are heavy-lidded +and your mind falters, strip you of +your pack."</p> + +<p>"I will learn by watching our hunters +when they offer their pelts," answered Raven +Wing. "I will not be deceived by trinkets, +nor will I taste the firewater."</p> + +<p>"I see no reason why he should not go," +said Black Eagle after a silence of several +minutes. "How does his mother look upon +this adventure?" he added, turning to Bending +Willow.</p> + +<p>"He must go some time. I am willing," +she answered simply.</p> + +<p>"Hawk Eye goes with you?" asked Black +Eagle.</p> + +<p>"He is now asking permission of his +mother," replied Raven Wing.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus022.png" alt="Bending Willow." width="297" height="300" /> +</div> + +<p>"When do you plan to go?" inquired +Bending Willow.</p> + +<p>"At once," said Raven Wing.</p> + +<p>"That is wise," said Black Eagle. "The +boys will easily catch up to the hunters if +they ply their paddles with vigor." He did +not add that there was safety in numbers, not +wishing to needlessly alarm Bending Willow. +He could see that she was concerned over the +adventure, although she tried to hide her +feelings.</p> + +<p>The matter being settled, Raven Wing +strode over to Hawk Eye's lodge. Since the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> +death of Running Deer, Hawk Eye had taken +his father's place with credit. Being two +years older than Raven Wing, he naturally +had had more experience. Notwithstanding +his advantage, in age he was no taller nor +stronger than the younger boy.</p> + +<p>As Raven Wing neared the tepee, he +heard Hawk Eye's mother, Light Between +Clouds, say in a low voice;</p> + +<p>"You are my only support since the death +of Running Deer."</p> + +<p>"Sure, Mother," answered Hawk Eye, +"but you would not have me always remain in +our village. Hawk Eye is now a man; he has +a mother in his wigwam, but he need not ask +her permission to go on the hunt."</p> + +<p>"'Tis a long journey to the trading post," +answered Light Between Clouds. "You have +had no experience at bargaining with the +palefaces. Why not wait and go with the +next band of trappers? There will be another +party setting out soon."</p> + +<p>"They will merely trade in my pelts with +their own and I shall have nothing to say,"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> +cried Hawk Eye. "Besides, I would like to +gain experience first-hand. I am strong. I +can handle my father's gun with the best of +the hunters. I am a boy no longer. Comes +another snow and I shall be a warrior."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus024.png" alt="Canoe on the river." width="600" height="325" /> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>LOADING THE CANOES</h3> + + +<p><ins class="correction" title="Original: Missing starting "">"You</ins> are my only son," sighed Light Between +Clouds, gazing lovingly upon the +stalwart form of Hawk Eye. "You are the +main support of your sister and me. I am +loath to give my consent. It is a long journey +to the trading post at Mendota."</p> + +<p>"Black Eagle, my stepfather, is willing +that I should go," broke in Raven Wing.</p> + +<p>"And what does Bending Willow say?" +inquired Light Between Clouds.</p> + +<p>"She agrees with my stepfather," answered +Raven Wing.</p> + +<p>"Then you have my permission to go," +said Light Between Clouds, turning to Hawk +Eye. "And may the Great Spirit look kindly +upon your adventure." Without further<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> +words, she turned on her heel and walked toward +a nearby lodge.</p> + +<p>"So your mother is willing that you should +go," said Raven Wing.</p> + +<p>"Yes, she has given her consent, as you +have heard," answered Hawk Eye.</p> + +<p>"Why did she leave us so suddenly?" +asked Raven Wing, doubtfully.</p> + +<p>"She has gone for moccasins, I think," +replied Hawk Eye. "My grandmother is +skilful at making them; she always keeps a +supply on hand."</p> + +<p>"You have more pelts than I have," remarked +Raven Wing, lingering a moment to +watch Hawk Eye deftly pack the skins in +several bundles of convenient size.</p> + +<p>"We will need two canoes; yours and +mine," said Hawk Eye. "But should one be +damaged during the trip, we can get along +with one. We must lose no time in starting."</p> + +<p>"I will be ready as soon as you are," answered +Raven Wing. He returned to his +lodge, gathered together his pelts, which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> +were already packed in several bundles, and +carried them down to the river. Hawk Eye, +having more experience, attended to the +loading of the frail vessels.</p> + +<p>During the loading and packing, Ohitika, +Hawk Eye's favorite dog, watched the proceedings +in silence. Except for an occasional +wag of his tail, he stood still, showing no impatience.</p> + +<p>"I would like to take Ohitika," said Hawk +Eye. "He is my favorite dog, my friend. +My father found him in a deserted Chippeway +village five years ago. He was but a +puppy then, his mother and the rest of the +litter had been killed by wolves, and father +discovered him lying in an old woodchuck +hole. Father bundled him in his blanket and +brought him home to me. I named him Ohitika +because he was so brave even as a pup. +At first he was my playmate, but he has become +my hunting companion. I hate to leave +him behind. But to make room for him it will +be necessary to place one of my packs in your +canoe."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus028.png" alt="Bow and arrows." width="261" height="300" /> +</div> + +<p>"That can easily be done," answered +Raven Wing. "I have fewer packs than +you."</p> + +<p>"I shall take my father's gun, also," went +on Hawk Eye, as he transferred a bundle of +pelts to Raven Wing's canoe. "I am glad +that I have learned to use it. It is a fine gun, +as Running Deer, my father, often said. He +was not given to boast of his prowess as a +hunter, but always claimed it was due to his +gun that he rarely missed the mark."</p> + +<p>"I must have a gun," cried Raven Wing. +"A fine gun, like yours. Do you think my +stock of pelts will bring me one?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span></p> + +<p>"If you are clever at trading," answered +Hawk Eye with a chuckle. "And if not," he +added kindly, "you shall have some of mine to +fill in."</p> + +<p>When the last pack had been carefully +loaded, Hawk Eye looked critically at his +work. "You have displayed much skill," observed +Black Eagle, who came up at that +moment.</p> + +<p>"I took pains to watch the hunters load +their craft at sunup," said Hawk Eye.</p> + +<p>"Safe carriage depends on good loading +as well as skill with the paddles," said Black +Eagle. "Be sure you re-load as well after +making portage below Lac Qui Parle. You +will come to a succession of rapids after leaving +the lake behind you."</p> + +<p>Black Eagle might have said more had +not Bending Willow at that point arrived +with a bundle.</p> + +<p>"I have brought you maple sugar," she +explained, handing the package to Raven +Wing. "'Tis some that I had on hand from +the sugar camp."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a href="images/illus030_full.png"><img src="images/illus030.png" alt="Map of Minnesota." width="600" height="395" /></a> +</div> + +<p>As she finished speaking, Light Between +Clouds came running toward them.</p> + +<p>"These dried buffalo tongues will come in +handy should you not find plenty of game," +she cried, giving the bundle to Hawk Eye.</p> + +<p>Sensing that the departure was at hand, +Ohitika waited no longer, but leaped lightly +into his master's craft. Stepping into their +canoes, the boys raised their paddles, then +dipped them into the water and made for the +middle of the river.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>JEALOUS SLOW DOG</h3> + + +<p>From his tepee Slow Dog gloomily +watched the departure of Raven Wing +and Hawk Eye, and his roving eye fell on the +graceful figure of Bending Willow, who was +waving a brave farewell to her only son, now +fast becoming a young brave.</p> + +<p>Bending Willow was the daughter of a +haughty chief of the Spirit Lake and Leaf +Dweller Sioux, and was considered the most +beautiful woman in the tribe. When widowed +at the age of twenty, she had bravely +assumed the care and bringing up of her son.</p> + +<p>Slow Dog had early realized that if he +married her his influence in the tribe would +be greatly increased, and resenting her preference +to cherish in widowhood the memory<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> +of her husband, had been a persistent although +an unsuccessful suitor.</p> + +<p>The day had come, however, when Slow +Dog's tepee grew lonely, and many hours had +been spent near that of Taopee, whose fat +daughter did beadwork while Slow Dog +played on a reed flute. In due course of time +a pony, two guns and some blankets had secured +the bride, who, veiled with a blanket +was taken to her lover's lodge and left there +by a friend.</p> + +<p>From then on Slow Dog was busy with +practical things, for the father-in-law's +family must be provided with game for a +year, or until a little papoose should swing +from a lodge pole. Notwithstanding that +his lodge was no longer lonely, the heart of +Slow Dog still yearned for the beautiful +Bending Willow.</p> + +<p>In the early part of the previous autumn +Bending Willow had returned from the wild +rice fields where she and the women of the +tribe had reaped a goodly harvest. Assisted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> +by a young squaw named Wadutah, she had +pitched her tepee in one of the villages of the +Sisseton Sioux along the southern shore of +Big Stone Lake.</p> + +<p>Black Eagle, a great warrior and a wise +counsellor, was generally regarded as the +successor to Old Smoky Wolf when the aged +chief should take the trail of departed warriors. +Out of deference to the memory of his +friend, Lone Star, Black Eagle had long refrained +from approaching Bending Willow, +whom he had always admired. But just before +the winter season had set in, he had +pressed his suit and Bending Willow had consented +to become his wife, for she, too, had +often marked the prowess and wisdom of her +husband's companion. A marriage feast had +been celebrated and she had entered Black +Eagle's lodge.</p> + +<p>Slow Dog had long coveted the leadership +of the tribe. He had plotted secretly to overthrow +the rule of Old Smoky Wolf, but his efforts +had been in vain. Black Eagle's +popularity had been greatly increased by his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> +marriage, which only added to the jealousy +of Slow Dog.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus034.png" alt="Canoe on the river." width="600" height="180" /> +</div> + +<p>"With Bending Willow in his lodge, Black +Eagle will prove a worthy successor to Old +Smoky Wolf," Slow Dog had often heard old +squaws remark, nodding their gray heads +over their beadwork.</p> + +<p>Slow Dog had not joined the braves, +women and children who had gathered at the +river bank to speed the departure of the boys. +His long-nursed jealousy kept him away from +the crowd of well-wishers. But his keen eyes +noted as Hawk Eye and Raven Wing rounded +a bend in the river and were lost to sight, +that Black Eagle had stepped into his canoe +and paddled northward.</p> + +<p>Was Black Eagle merely going to fish in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> +Big Stone Lake, from whose southern boundary +flowed the Minnesota River, he wondered, +or was he bound for the Red River of +the North, which flowed from the upper end +of the lake to Hudson Bay?</p> + +<p>Presently Bending Willow returned to her +tepee which stood on a point of high ground +overlooking the river. From his lodge Slow +Dog could see her slender form as she busied +herself preparing food. Wild thoughts filled +his mind. Some dark night it might be possible +to seize her, place her in his canoe and +glide down the river. He pictured her in the +frail craft as he swiftly paddled downstream, +past the tepees of the Warpeton Sioux. He +knew every twist and turn of the river. At +Mankate, meaning "Blue Earth" in his language, +it turned sharply to the north and +east. Bending Willow should see Mendota, +"the meeting of the waters," for there the +beautiful Minnesota completed its long journey +of four hundred miles and mingled its +"sky-tinted waters" with those of the Mich-e-see-be, +"Father of Running Waters."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p> + +<p>Not there, however, would he beach his +canoe. He would go further; past the high +white cliffs along the shore to Kaposia, and +down the Mich-e-see-be, upon whose western +bank dwelt the Medawakantens. Then up +the Canon River to its head waters where +stood the villages of the Wahpekutes, the +fourth tribe of the Minnesota Sioux. There +he would dwell with Bending Willow, the +Fawn of the Dakotas, the most beautiful +woman of the Sioux nation.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus036.png" alt="" width="600" height="305" /><br /> + <span class="caption">FROM HIS LODGE SLOW DOG COULD SEE HER SLENDER FORM AS SHE BUSIED HERSELF PREPARING FOOD.</span> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span></p> + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>HAWK EYE'S OFFERING</h3> + + +<p>Hawk Eye and Raven Wing pointed +their canoes to the middle of the river +and bent to their paddles. In spite of its +many twists and turns and the menace of +fallen trees floating in the channel, they +made good progress.</p> + +<p>The river ran through a narrow valley, +with hillsides covered with white flowers and +bottom lands dotted with yellow cowslips. +Birds, busy with their nesting, winged their +way through the balmy air. Willows, cottonwoods, +elms and soft maples made a leafy +border along the shore.</p> + +<p>Toward late afternoon they came to a +widening of the river.</p> + +<p>"Lac Qui Parle," Hawk Eye called back, +slowing down that Raven Wing might come<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> +alongside. "I have heard my father say that +in the paleface tongue. It means the <ins class="correction" title="Original: "lake that speaks."">'lake +that speaks.'"</ins></p> + +<p>"Black Eagle once told me that the Mich-e-see-be +has a great widening which is called +Lake Pepin by the white man. It is bordered +by high bluffs and cliffs so steep that +very few cedars can take root," answered +Raven Wing.</p> + +<p>"I have heard my father tell that only low +hills guard the Minnesota until its fringe of +trees thickens and it enters the big woods. +The hills change to bluffs that creep closer to +the water. At the mouth of the Blue Earth +River there is but a narrow strip of sand. +From there on the Minnesota makes a bend +upward toward the land of snow and the rising +sun," said Hawk Eye.</p> + +<p>"It is a long river," said Raven Wing. +"We shall have dipped our paddles many, +many times before we come to the trading +post."</p> + +<p>"Have you fully decided to exchange your +pelts for a gun?" inquired Hawk Eye.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Raven Wing quickly. +"I would like one like yours."</p> + +<p>"It is a fine weapon, as I have often told +you," Hawk Eye said. "My father was proud +of it. He kept our lodge well supplied with +meat before an Objibway's bullet ended his +life."</p> + +<p>"Let us make camp," Raven Wing suggested +after a time. "I see a sandy beach. +Up to now the shore has been bordered with +great flat rocks."</p> + +<p>"It is too early," Hawk Eye said. "The +weather is fine. It is better to keep to our +paddles until sundown. Take care that your +canoe does not grate upon a hidden rock. +There are many in the water."</p> + +<p>Raven Wing was glad when his elder +companion later turned toward shore for he +was becoming a little tired. It required skill +as well as strength to paddle the heavy laden +canoes.</p> + +<p>"My father's grandmother was a Wahpeton +Sioux. Her tribe, called the People of +the Leaves, used to build their movable te<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>pees +along the shores of this lake," said +Raven Wing.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus040.png" alt="Sioux brave." width="600" height="378" /> +</div> + +<p>"That was many, many years ago. We +shall have to sleep beneath a tree," answered +Hawk Eye.</p> + +<p>"My grandfather made his first offering +to the Great Spirit here," went on Raven +Wing. "He tossed his most beloved possession, +a necklace of bear claws, into this very +lake."</p> + +<p>"It is a beautiful spot for such a ceremony," +Hawk Eye said, thoughtfully. "I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> +have not as yet made my offering to the Great +Spirit."</p> + +<p>Raven Wing made no answer. After his +father's death his mother had arranged the +ceremony for him. He now wished that she +had chosen for that occasion the spot on +which his grandfather had stood.</p> + +<p>As the canoes scraped bottom, Hawk Eye +said; "I will here offer my most valued possession +to the Great Spirit." Stepping on +shore, he opened a doeskin pouch that was +fastened to his belt.</p> + +<p>"Your necklace of panther claws!" exclaimed +Raven Wing as Hawk Eye drew forth +his prize trophy.</p> + +<p>"Yes," Hawk Eye answered, quietly. For +a moment he held it in his open palm for a +last look. Close by rose a great boulder of +granite. Clenching his fist about his most +beloved possession, he climbed to the top of +the rock and stood facing the lake for some +little time. Then, holding the necklace in his +right hand, he cried;</p> + +<p>"O Great Spirit, I implore you to com<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>mand +the Sun, Moon and Stars to make my +path smooth that I may reach the brow of the +first hill.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus042.png" alt="" width="600" height="537" /><br /> + <span class="caption">HE CLIMBED TO THE TOP OF THE ROCK AND STOOD FACING THE LAKE FOR SOME LITTLE TIME.</span> +</div> + +<p>"O Great Spirit, I implore you to command +the Winds, Clouds, Rain and Snow to make +smooth my path that I may reach the brow +of the second hill.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p> + +<p>"O Great Spirit, I implore you to command +the Hills, Valleys, Rivers, Lakes, Trees and +Grasses to make smooth my path that I may +reach the brow of the third hill.</p> + +<p>"O Great Spirit, I implore you to command +the Birds, Animals and Insects to make +smooth my path that I may reach the brow of +the fourth hill.</p> + +<p>"O Great Spirit, make me strong in heart +and limb to reach the brow of the fifth hill, +upon whose summit are the Happy Hunting +Grounds.</p> + +<p>"O Great Spirit, receive my most precious +offering," and he flung the necklace far out +into the lake.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus043.png" alt="Wolf." width="147" height="300" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>THE BEAR</h3> + + +<p>On awakening the next morning +after a restful night, Hawk Eye said:</p> + +<p>"Fresh meat tastes better than pemmican. +I will take my bow and arrows and see +what game I can find. In the meantime you +might gather some dry wood and start a +fire."</p> + +<p>After a plunge in the cool waters of the +lake, he set out. For some distance he traveled +to the north, and on emerging from the +timber, he came upon a hillside covered with +low bushes. He had set an arrow against the +bowstring in readiness for whatever kind of +game might suddenly start up. As he looked +about, a rabbit darted across an open space. +But before it could reach cover, Hawk Eye's +arrow brought it tumbling to the ground.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Enough for our morning meal," he observed. +After retrieving the arrow, he slung +the dead rabbit over his shoulder and started +on his way back to camp.</p> + +<p>As there was no special trail leading toward +the water, he followed a course indicated +by several landmarks he had made note +of when first setting out. After crossing an +open space, he paused at the edge of the timber +belt that lined the banks of the river. He +thought he had heard a slight noise in the +underbrush. As the sound was not repeated, +he strode in among the trees, setting an arrow +against the bowstring. Presently he +heard a pounding noise followed by a wheeze, +and as he peered among the tree trunks, he +made out the form of a huge black bear.</p> + +<p>Surprised for a moment, the bear halted; +then with a grunt took a step forward. Unprepared +for such big game, Hawk Eye +dropped into a backward walk, keeping his +eyes fixed upon the animal, which now quickened +its steps. Raising his bow and continu<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>ing +to step backwards, he aimed an arrow at +the heart of the bear and let fly. With a cry +of pain and rage it tore the barbed shaft from +its bleeding side and rushed at him. Before +he could fit another arrow to the string, his +heel caught on a projecting root and he found +himself sprawling upon the ground. Springing +to his feet, he attempted to recover his +bow which had dropped from his hand, but +before he could pick it up, the infuriated animal +was almost upon him. Avoiding its outstretched +paws, he ran toward the river.</p> + +<p>As he went crashing through the tangled +underbrush, he felt for his hunting knife. +Although somewhat relieved at finding it still +in his belt, he knew that his strength and skill +would be unequal to the task of slaying the +ferocious animal. His principal hope lay in +reaching the spot where Raven Wing had +kindled the fire for their morning meal. +Once there ahead of the bear he could rely on +Raven Wing and the loaded gun he had left +with him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p> + +<p>Soon, however, this hope disappeared. +The bear was gaining on him. Due to its +great weight it easily crashed through the +thick underbrush and tangled vines that impeded +his own progress.</p> + +<p>Closer came the great lumbering animal +and he could almost feel its hot breath upon +his neck as he fought his way through a dense +thicket toward the river.</p> + +<p>Continuing on as best he could he came to +an open space, covered with wide flat rocks. +A short distance ahead rose a giant boulder. +Scattered about its base lay a number of big +rocks. Leaping upon one of them, he managed +to jump to a narrow ledge upon the almost +perpendicular side of the great boulder. +From there he worked his way up to its flat-topped +surface by clinging to crevices and +projecting pieces of granite.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>THE KILL</h3> + + +<p>The bear had made straight for the big +boulder. Discovering that even by +standing on its hind feet it could not reach +the ledge upon which Hawk Eye had leaped +from the nearby rock, it came down on all +fours and began to circle the base of the +boulder. On coming to a point where the +base extended for some considerable distance, +it managed to climb up the steep incline +by means of its strong claws. At a point +further up, however, the flat surface of the +summit projected like the rim of a hat and +forced the panting animal to merely cling to +its position. At length it managed to get one +front paw over the edge. At once Hawk Eye +stabbed it with his knife. Roaring with pain, +it pulled it down. After a few minutes it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> +worked its way to one side where the rim was +less pronounced and getting a firm hold on a +shelf of rock with its hind feet, again +stretched over a front paw. Before Hawk +Eye could use his knife its other paw came +above the rim and its head appeared. Growling +and showing its teeth, it dug the claws of +its hind feet into the slanting rocky side and +raised itself.</p> + +<p>Hawk Eye had only his knife. No loose +rocks lay upon the flat surface. Holding it +firmly in his fist he began to maneuver for a +fatal plunge at the animal's throat. But the +knowing beast kept its head in motion, making +it well nigh impossible for him to avoid +her gaping jaws. For several minutes he attempted +to plunge the sharp blade into its +throat. Suddenly the foothold it had managed +to maintain with its hind feet gave way, +and in order to avoid plunging down the side +of the great boulder, the bear desperately +pressed its chin upon the top of the rim to +keep from falling.</p> + +<p>The animal's mouth now being closed by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a><br /><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> +the pull-down of its body, and its head held +rigid by its weight, Hawk Eye seized the opportunity +he had been waiting for. Advancing +cautiously with knife in hand, he came +down on his knees and whipped the sharp +blade across the side of its throat.</p> + +<p>The hold of its front paws weakened, its +head slipped off the ledge top, and its heavy +body hurtled to the ground. For a short time +the mortally wounded animal rolled about, +moaning and pawing the ground until, with +a final quiver, it lay still.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus050.png" alt="" width="445" height="600" /><br /> + <span class="caption">ITS HEAVY BODY HURTLED TO THE GROUND.</span> +</div> + +<p>Hawk Eye climbed down the rock and +gazed silently at the huge body.</p> + +<p>Then looking up into the sky, he murmured: +"O Great Mystery, my heart is glad +that you have aided me to gain a necklace of +bear claws. My spirit sings because you have +looked with favor upon the offering of my +most beloved possession."</p> + +<p>Squatting down beside the bear's body, +he lifted one of the paws and carefully examined +the great claws before commencing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> +to remove them one by one with his knife.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus052.png" alt="Campsite." width="300" height="213" /> +</div> + +<p>When all had been cut away, he placed +them in the doeskin pouch that hung at his +belt. He also slit the pelt down the belly and +cut a number of juicy steaks.</p> + +<p>"I will return with Raven Wing for the +pelt," he thought, as he retraced his steps to +the spot where he had dropped his bow and +quiver of arrows. After some little distance +he came upon them and the body of the rabbit +which he had killed.</p> + +<p>As he made his way back to the shore, he +noticed that the sun was high in the heavens. +Raven Wing by this time must be wondering +what had kept him away for so long a time.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> +Quickening his steps into a run, he soon came +to their beached canoes. A fire which had +been kindled on the sand had burned down to +a heap of dead ashes. He looked about for +Raven Wing. He was nowhere in sight.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus053.png" alt="Bear." width="228" height="300" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>THE PELT IS REMOVED</h3> + + +<p>Hawk Eye set the package of bear +meat in one of the canoes and again +looked about. Noticing that his gun had +been taken from the canoe in which he had +left it, he concluded that Raven Wing had +grown tired of waiting for him to return.</p> + +<p>Not having tasted food since the previous +evening, he took out some pemmican and +commenced to eat. His appetite somewhat +satisfied, he stood up and again looked about +him.</p> + +<p>"I may as well go back and skin the bear. +Raven Wing may not return for some little +time," he thought. The morning had already +slipped away and by the time the bear's pelt +could be removed he realized that the sun +would be low in the sky. So he set off without<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> +delay, stopping only at a tiny spring for a +cool drink.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus055.png" alt="Brave hunting." width="600" height="149" /> +</div> + +<p>On nearing the spot where he had first +encountered the bear, his ears caught the +sound of some one treading softly. As he +slipped behind a tree trunk and fitted an arrow +to his bowstring, he heard Raven Wing's +voice calling.</p> + +<p>"Thought at first you might be the mate +of the bear I killed a while ago," cried Hawk +Eye, coming out into the open.</p> + +<p>"What! You say you have slain a bear?" +exclaimed Raven Wing, dropping a couple of +prairie chickens which he had shot.</p> + +<p>"Come, I will show you my kill," answered +Hawk Eye.</p> + +<p>"I was following your trail from the hillside +when I caught sight of you at the edge +of the timber," explained Raven Wing.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> +"From what I now see of the trail I should +judge you were being chased by the bear."</p> + +<p>"I was," admitted Hawk Eye, with a grin. +"But it was no laughing matter at the time, +as you will soon see for yourself."</p> + +<p>Presently they came to the rocky, flat +open space. As Raven Wing advanced and +caught sight of the animal's huge form lying +close to the base of the giant boulder, he uttered +a cry of amazement.</p> + +<p>"What a bear!" he cried. "But look! +Someone has already removed the claws."</p> + +<p>"They are safe in my doeskin pouch," answered +Hawk Eye. "I wished to make sure +of a necklace of bear claws before leaving the +body."</p> + +<p>"The Great Spirit has rewarded you for +sacrificing the necklace of panther claws," +said Raven Wing in an awe-struck voice.</p> + +<p>"He has indeed," agreed Hawk Eye. +After a moment's silence Hawk Eye said, +"Help me remove the pelt."</p> + +<p>Without further words both boys set to +work. It was no mean job they had under<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>taken. +They found it necessary to cut down +two strong young saplings with which to turn +over the immense body. At length they were +able to tear the hide clear of the carcass.</p> + +<p>As Raven Wing bound it up in a neat, +tight roll, he remarked, "I see you have already +taken the choice cuts."</p> + +<p>"They are in my canoe," answered Hawk +Eye, wiping his blood-stained hands on the +bear's head.</p> + +<p>"We have another pelt to trade," chuckled +Raven Wing, shouldering the package. "We +had better start at once for the river. The +sun is low."</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Hawk Eye. "I do not +like the idea of leaving our canoes for so long +a time. Let us make haste."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus057.png" alt="River." width="300" height="194" /> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p> + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>THE RAPIDS</h3> + + +<p>"Give me the pack," said Raven Wing, +after some little distance. Hawk Eye +placed it on the younger boy's shoulder and +took the gun which he had been carrying. +Examining it to satisfy himself that it was +loaded, he dropped the barrel into the curve +of his left arm. From the brow of the gentle +sloping hill they could see the river bordered +by trees through a narrow valley.</p> + +<p>Great rocks of granite and limestone +cropped out everywhere upon the treeless +prairie and were turned a pinkish hue in the +glow of the setting sun. As the sun sank +lower in the west the boulders took on many +fanciful shapes.</p> + +<p>"Not so long ago buffaloes roamed this +prairie," remarked Hawk Eye. "Now they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> +graze further toward the land of the setting +sun."</p> + +<p>"We will have plenty of fresh meat for our +evening meal," said Raven Wing.</p> + +<p>"Yes, we have more than enough with the +prairie hens you shot and the bear meat," +chuckled Hawk Eye.</p> + +<p>"You also killed a rabbit," added Raven +Wing.</p> + +<p>On arriving at the beach where their +canoes lay, Hawk Eye unrolled the bear hide +and spread it very carefully from one bow to +another.</p> + +<p>"At sunrise," he said, "I will scrape it +clean with my knife. I think it will dry in the +sun as we paddle and make a good pelt."</p> + +<p>Raven Wing collected an armful of dry +wood and started a fire. Before long both +hungry boys were enjoying a hearty meal of +prairie hen and rabbit meat. After a drink +at the spring nearby, they spread their blankets +beneath a tree and went to sleep.</p> + +<p>At sunup Hawk Eye set to work on the +bear pelt while Raven Wing re-kindled the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> +fire and prepared their morning meal. When +this was finished, he covered the smouldering +embers with fresh earth and followed Hawk +Eye to the beach. Pushing their canoes into +the water, they bent to the paddles.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus060.png" alt="Brave by the campfire." width="600" height="161" /> +</div> + +<p>At this point the river was narrow. +Again fallen trees blocked the channel. At +times the boys found it necessary to push +them out of the way. Progress was slow, and +the sun was well up in the sky by the time +they passed the mouth of a small river called +The Last Stream With Trees.</p> + +<p>"Fearless Bear told me the Minnesota +coils like a snake. He spoke the truth," remarked +Hawk Eye. "I have already counted +eight turns in less distance than the eye can +reach."</p> + +<p>"The turns do not bother me," answered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> +Raven Wing. "But I have heard that there +are rapids further on. They may cause us +trouble."</p> + +<p>"We will make a portage," said Hawk +Eye. "We cannot trust our pelts to the angry +waters."</p> + +<p>"Then we must unload the canoes and +shoulder the packs," said Raven Wing. +"That will not be easy."</p> + +<p>"It will be hard work," agreed Hawk Eye.</p> + +<p>Instead of going ashore for their midday +meal, the boys ate pemmican while paddling. +At sundown they ran the canoes ashore and +prepared to make camp for the night. After +a hearty meal of bear meat which had been +well-cooked the day before, they rolled themselves +in their blankets and lay down for the +night. For some little time they lay awake +listening to the night noises. But they were +weary with paddling, and in spite of the persistent +calls of the whippoorwills, they at +length fell into a sound sleep.</p> + +<p>Hawk Eye was the first to awaken. See<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>ing +Raven Wing still asleep, he quietly strode +down to the river for a bath. As Raven Wing +still slept on, Hawk Eye unpacked some pemmican +and ate his morning meal. Presently +Raven Wing awoke and seeing that Hawk +Eye was about ready to launch the canoes, he +hurried down to the river to bathe. He would +have launched his own craft had not the elder +boy wisely counseled him to first make a +hearty meal. Before long they were both +out on the river.</p> + +<p>On coming to the rapids, Hawk Eye +grounded his craft on a narrow strip of sand +and unloaded. As soon as Raven Wing had +placed his packs upon the sand, Hawk Eye +said;</p> + +<p>"You and I will shoulder my canoe and +carry it beyond the rapids."</p> + +<p>Waist-high in the tumbling waters they +bore it to quiet water and laid it on the shore. +When Raven Wing's canoe had been safely +transported, they returned for the packs. +One by one these were carried through the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> +rapids without mishap. The canoes were +then pushed into the water and reloaded. +Once more the boys took their seats and paddled +down stream.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus063.png" alt="Fishing in the river." width="600" height="433" /> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p> + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>THE BEAVER DAM</h3> + + +<p>During the next few days the boys +made good progress. They passed the +Yellow Medicine, Sparrowhawk and Redwood +rivers. On the fourth day when but a +few miles above the mouth of the Cottonwood, +Raven Wing said: "Let us go ashore. +It is time we ate."</p> + +<p>So they beached the canoes on a sandy +shore. Hawk Eye took out pemmican and +dried bear meat from a pack and sat down +beside Raven Wing. When their hunger +was satisfied, Hawk Eye said:</p> + +<p>"I think there may be beavers upstream," +pointing to a rivulet that emptied into the +Minnesota a short distance from them. "If +so, and there are many, we can come here +later on and get pelts. Shall we see?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p> + +<p>"By all means," agreed Raven Wing. +"Let us go at once."</p> + +<p>Picking up their bows and arrows, they +started off. Following the winding course of +the stream for a considerable distance they +came to a dam which held back the water and +formed a fair-sized lake.</p> + +<p>At once the boys knew that it had been +built by beavers. The Musquash, sometimes +called the muskrat, although it ought to be +called the muskbeaver, because it is really a +beaver and no rat at all, never builds dams +nor digs canals. It has a flat tail like the +beaver and not at all resembling the tapering +tail of water rat. It builds houses, much like +the beaver's, only smaller.</p> + +<p>"We will not forget this spot," chuckled +Raven Wing. "We will get many pelts on our +next visit."</p> + +<p>"No one shall learn of its location," added +Hawk Eye. "We will get the pelts for ourselves."</p> + +<p>"The dam is in fine condition," said Raven +Wing, who had climbed up upon it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p> + +<p>Not a beaver was to be seen, however. +The wary animals had dived out of sight at +hearing the boys approach.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus066.png" alt="" width="537" height="591" /><br /> + <span class="caption">THE WARY ANIMALS HAD DIVED OUT OF SIGHT AT HEARING THE BOYS APPROACH.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Fearless Bear once told me," remarked +Raven Wing, "that hunters rarely see<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> +beavers building a dam. He says that they +build at night and that it is no easy matter for +a hunter to watch them."</p> + +<p>"The musquash is easier to hunt," said +Hawk Eye. "But he is less than half the size +of the beaver; besides, his pelt is not so valuable."</p> + +<p>"I've seen a beaver caught that weighed +almost eighty pounds," said Raven Wing. +"It had beautiful fur and a tail as big as a +musquash."</p> + +<p>"No fur on its tail," laughed Hawk Eye. +"It's covered with rough scales. Beaver uses +it to scull its way through the water."</p> + +<p>"I wish the dam were larger," said Raven +Wing. "Big dam, many beavers."</p> + +<p>"There are plenty of beavers here," said +Hawk Eye. "Enough for you and me unless +some hunter comes across it before another +snow."</p> + +<p>As Raven Wing stepped off the dam and +walked upstream along the bank, he said; +"Fearless Bear told the hunters one night +when I was in his lodge, that he had seen a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> +beaver dam near a great body of water that +measured two hundred and sixty feet long +and six feet high."</p> + +<p>"Might not have been so many beavers at +work on it," said Hawk Eye. "Probably it +took a long time to build it."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus068.png" alt="Beaver." width="300" height="155" /> +</div> + +<p>As the boys strolled along they noted the +number of stumps which were all that remained +of the trees which the beavers had +cut down and divided into short lengths, such +as could be carried by mouth when building +the dam.</p> + +<p>"Sharp teeth to cut these trees," remarked +Raven Wing. "Some of these +stumps are two feet thick."</p> + +<p>"Did Fearless Bear tell you how the beaver +works?" asked Hawk Eye.</p> + +<p>"He supports himself by his tail when he +rears on his hind legs to cut down a tree,"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> +answered Raven Wing. "With his teeth he +cuts the wood as neatly as a hunter cuts it +with his hatchet. No nibbling like a mouse," +went on Raven Wing, "he makes a neat job, +and can even make the tree fall in the direction +he wishes."</p> + +<p>"What else did Fearless Bear say?" asked +Hawk Eye.</p> + +<p>"When the beaver has cut the tree into +short lengths he drags the cuttings to the +place where he is to build the dam. He brings +the branches, too, in his mouth and rolls +stones along the shore to pile on them and +hold them in place. At first the dam is rough +and loose, but the beavers keep constantly at +work, smoothing and pressing it down and +stopping all the gaps with clay and pebbles +from the bank. As time goes on it becomes +overgrown with grass and bushes and looks +as if it were a natural bank, just like this +one," said Raven Wing.</p> + +<p>"After a freshet, beaver must make repairs," +remarked Hawk Eye.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus070.png" alt="Brave with headdress." width="304" height="400" /> +</div> + +<p>"Fearless Bear told me he once made +holes in a dam and during the night watched +the beavers patch up the damaged places," +laughed Raven Wing.</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't care to be a beaver," said +Hawk Eye. "It must be tiresome to live under +the ice roof of a pond. I've noticed how +the beavers sport and play when the ice +breaks up."</p> + +<p>Raven Wing turned on his heel and +pointed to a beaver lodge. It stood not far<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> +from the bank, its roof above the water line. +Both boys were well aware that the beaver +builds the doorway to his lodge well below the +freezing line. As they both stood looking at +the deserted lodge, Raven Wing said; "Beaver +often has two openings down deep in the +water. Through these hidden entrances he +drags branches and pieces of bark up to his +dining room, which being above the water +line, is dry and comfortable."</p> + +<p>"Come," said Hawk Eye. "Let us go back +to our canoes now. We have seen enough +for today."</p> + +<p>As they strode toward the Minnesota +River, Raven Wing said; "I shall trade some +of my pelts for steel traps. With these we +can catch the beaver more easily than by +spears."</p> + +<p>"I will, too," said Hawk Eye.</p> + +<p>"We will not have to bait the traps," went +on Raven Wing. "Fearless Bear tells me to +merely rub them with some odor or essence +of which the animals are fond."</p> + +<p>"That will be easy," grinned Hawk Eye.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p> + +<p>Presently they rounded a bend in the little +stream and came to the spot where they had +beached their canoes. To their dismay they +found that they had disappeared.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus072.png" alt="Moccasins and headdress." width="400" height="249" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>TOEPRINTS IN THE SAND</h3> + + +<p>For a moment the boys stood silent and +uncertain. Hawk Eye was the first to +speak. "Follow me," he cried, and ran down +the bank of the little stream. He soon came +to a sandy point where its waters mingled +with those of the Minnesota.</p> + +<p>"Look," he said. "One of our heavy +loaded canoes went aground here," and he +pointed to deep marks in the sand. "And +here are the toeprints of the thief who +pushed them off."</p> + +<p>"He has gone downstream with them," +said Raven Wing. "His canoe was probably +caught in the swift current as it rounded the +point and was carried downstream before he +could tow the canoes into the big river, and +his towline tightened across the point and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> +grounded our first canoe here. Then he +came back and pushed it off and around the +point."</p> + +<p>"We must follow," said Hawk Eye. Keeping +as close to the river as was possible, the +boys set off at an easy lope. Presently they +were forced to change their course, for the +willows, cottonwoods, elms and soft maples +that lined the banks made progress slow and +difficult.</p> + +<p>Leaving the narrow valley through which +the river made continuous twists and turns, +they hurried up the slope and soon found +themselves on the treeless prairie, which +stretched far away to the sky. As far as eye +could reach not a tree could be seen. Except +for great boulders of granite and limestone +which dotted it here and there, the plain was +covered with grass.</p> + +<p>As they turned to follow a course parallel +with that of the river, Raven Wing thoughtfully +remarked:</p> + +<p>"We are not sure that our canoes are being +taken downstream."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The thief," answered Hawk Eye, "would +have to pass many Sioux villages on the +banks of the river if he did otherwise. He +will take the pelts to the trading post at Mendota."</p> + +<p>"Yes, you are right," answered Raven +Wing. "Why should he tow our heavy laden +canoes upstream? And how would he account +for their possession should he meet +with any of our own people? We are two +birds with broken wings. Paddles and current +will carry the canoes faster than we can +hope to run for any length of time."</p> + +<p>"But we must get back our canoes," answered +Hawk Eye.</p> + +<p>Raven Wing made no answer. He slowly +loosened the leather thong about his neck and +opened a small doeskin bag that hung by a +leather thong about his neck. Squatting +down he took out the wing of a crow.</p> + +<p>"I will make medicine," he said. After +some little time he replaced the crow's wing +in the doeskin bag and fastened the leather +thong about his neck.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a><br /><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The Great Mystery bids me remember +how the river runs," he said.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus076.png" alt="" width="447" height="600" /><br /> + <span class="caption">"THE GREAT MYSTERY BIDS ME REMEMBER HOW THE RIVER RUNS," HE SAID.</span> +</div> + +<p>"And how does it run?" asked Hawk Eye.</p> + +<p>Tightening its string until the bow was +shaped like a half moon, Raven Wing laid it +upon the ground. Placing an arrow, pointed +outward, at the center of the curved ash +wood, he said, "This arrow points to the Ever +Summer Land."</p> + +<p>Setting another arrow, with feathered +end against the bowstring at a point half +way between the tips, he dropped a pebble +beside it and said; "This arrow points to the +Land of Snows."</p> + +<p>When a third arrow, pointed outward, +with two pebbles beside it, had been placed +at one tip of the bow, he said;</p> + +<p>"Thither lies the Land of the Rising Sun."</p> + +<p>The fourth and last arrow he laid with +stone head pointing outward, at the other tip +of the bow. Then, having placed three pebbles +beside it, he said;</p> + +<p>"Thither lies the Land of the Setting Sun."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The Great Mystery is kind," remarked +Hawk Eye.</p> + +<p>"He has bid me remember my stepfather's +description of the Minnesota's +course," answered Raven Wing.</p> + +<p>"And now what do you propose to do?" +asked Hawk Eye.</p> + +<p>"We will make a trail across the prairie +towards the rising sun straight as the flight +of an arrow. <ins class="correction" title="Original: "Come">Come</ins>; let us start," answered +Raven Wing.</p> + +<p>At once both boys set off at an easy lope. +Ohitika bounded ahead, flushing a flock of +ground sparrows which chattered loudly at +the interruption to their grassy nest building. +But to the clamor of their voices and +whirring wings the dog failed to see a badger +which was burrowing in the sod.</p> + +<p>As the boys pressed on, larks and blue +birds filled the air with song; prairie wolves +skulked away to grove and swale, and rattlesnakes +glided over moist places to rocky +shelter.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p> + +<p>High up in the sky a sand-hill crane, +northward bound in lonely flight, sounded a +far off call.</p> + +<p>"'Tis a good omen," cried Hawk Eye.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus079.png" alt="Brave." width="177" height="600" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>ACROSS THE PRAIRIE</h3> + + +<p>As the sun rode slowly down the sky +and passed the barriers of the low-hanging +clouds, a herd of tiny prong-horned +antelopes scampered near for a closer view +of the boys and dog.</p> + +<p>"Down, Ohitika!" Hawk Eye commanded. +"We need fresh meat," he added, turning to +Raven Wing.</p> + +<p>"But they are beyond arrow flight," answered +the younger boy.</p> + +<p>"They are inquisitive animals," said +Hawk Eye. "I will try to bring them nearer. +<ins class="correction" title="Original: "Let">Let</ins> us lie down and see if I cannot attract +their attention."</p> + +<p>Both boys dropped to the ground. Hawk +Eye fastened a moccasin to one end of his +bow and slowly waved it to and fro. In a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> +few minutes an antelope came slowly toward +them. Pausing now and again, it +gradually came within range. In the meantime +Raven Wing had set the head of an +arrow against the string. At length he let +it fly. The stricken animal gave a leap into +the air and fell to the ground. Its frightened<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> +comrades galloped away and were out of +range before Raven Wing could send out +another arrow.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus081.png" alt="" width="600" height="552" /><br /> + <span class="caption">HAWK EYE FASTENED A MOCCASIN TO ONE END OF HIS BOW AND SLOWLY WAVED IT TO AND FRO.</span> +</div> + +<p>The sun was now near its setting, so the +boys decided to make camp close to a great +boulder. From a clump of low bushes Raven +Wing gathered enough dry twigs and leaves +to make a small fire, and before long strips +of antelope meat were roasting over the +flames. The bushes grew around a tiny +spring, at which they drank and satisfied +their thirst before they sat down to eat.</p> + +<p>When the meal was ended, Hawk Eye +said: "Let us cut up the choice parts of the +antelope into thin strips. These can be hung +from a strip of hide and allowed to dry in the +sun as we journey on."</p> + +<p>For some little time before darkness came +down the boys were busy preparing the meat +for drying.</p> + +<p>"We will get up with the sun," said Hawk +Eye, as he stretched himself on the ground.</p> + +<p>At the first pale tint of dawn the boys +awoke. After drinking and bathing at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> +spring they ate heartily of the portion of well +cooked meat that remained from their evening +meal. Taking another long drink at +the spring, they hung their bows from their +shoulders and lifted the leather thong with +the strips of meat from the bush tops.</p> + +<p>"The wind and the sun will soon dry the +meat," remarked Hawk Eye, taking hold of +one end. Raven Wing grasped the other and +they set off over the short, light green, hair-like +grass of the upland. Dew glittered on +stem and flower as the sun rose higher. Now +and again the peep of the prairie chick or +the call of the plover came to their ears. As +they neared a rocky ridge a badger slipped +into his den.</p> + +<p>At length Raven Wing remarked, "Very +soon we should come across a trail to the +river."</p> + +<p>"The trail of the paleface trader Renville?" +inquired Hawk Eye.</p> + +<p>"Yes; 'tis wide and well worn by the +wheels of his carts and the hoofs of his oxen," +answered Raven <ins class="correction" title="Original: Wing."">Wing.</ins><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p> + +<p>As the sun reached the middle of the sky, +Hawk Eye stopped. Dropping his end of the +leather thong, he said;</p> + +<p>"We have not yet found the trail. Let +us spread apart. I will follow a line running +between the land of Snows and the Rising +Sun. You go forward slantingly toward the +Ever Summer Land. But neither of us may +go far without again setting face toward the +Rising Sun. By so doing, one of us may come +upon the trail as we journey toward the upward +bend of the river."</p> + +<p>"We must keep within the sound of each +other's voice," cautioned Raven Wing.</p> + +<p>"Yes," agreed Hawk Eye. "I will shoulder +the meat. It is by now quite dry." Making +a bundle of the strips, he set off at a +slant towards the north. Raven Wing +veered towards the south.</p> + +<p>Before long he halted at a faint, distant +call from Hawk Eye.</p> + +<p>"He has come across the trail," said Raven +Wing to himself. Turning toward the +north, he broke into a run. As he came to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> +the ridge of a low swell of ground, he saw +Hawk Eye. In a few minutes he stood beside +him.</p> + +<p>"You have found the trail," he laughed, +perceiving the sunken track made by cart +wheels.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but we must go fast to catch the +thief," answered Hawk Eye. "We must gain +a point of vantage on the bank ahead of him. +Once there, we can lay plans to recover our +stolen canoes."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus085.png" alt="Deer with antlers." width="265" height="300" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>THE BOYS ARE TAKEN PRISONERS</h3> + + +<p>The sun set and it set again. Raven +Wing and Hawk Eye pushed on across +the prairie toward the Minnesota River. +They had left the trail and were veering toward +the north.</p> + +<p>"It would not be wise to make the great +ford called by the white men Sioux," Hawk +Eye had said. "We must come at a fair distance +from there down the river to a point +where the banks are high and the timber +heavy."</p> + +<p>"We will continue to journey through the +night until the river is in sight," answered +Raven Wing.</p> + +<p>Hawk Eye grunted in assent. Once only +did they pause for water at a spring in the +midst of a clump of cottonwood trees.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p> + +<p>As the sun rose they neared the river and +soon after they were camping not far from a +bluff, eating their breakfast beside a small +fire, which sent so thin a column of smoke +into the air that it was almost dissipated before +it reached the treetops.</p> + +<p>When the meal was over, Raven Wing +said:</p> + +<p>"I will take Ohitika and keep watch over +the river while you get some sleep." Armed +with his bow and arrows, he strode off toward +the brow of the bluff.</p> + +<p>Hawk Eye loaded his gun and placed it +against a tree, together with powder horn +and bullet pouch. Then, throwing himself +at full length on the green moss beneath the +tree, he fell into a sound sleep.</p> + +<p>Scarcely a quarter of an hour had passed +when he was startled by the report of a gun, +which was followed by a war cry from Raven +Wing and a series of war whoops. At the +same instant, and before he could attempt to +rise, his legs and arms were pinioned to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> +ground by two Indians. For a minute Hawk +Eye was paralyzed. Then the terrible reality +of his position, the cry of warning from Raven +Wing, and the sight of the thong with +which his captors were about to bind him, +brought him to his senses. With a display +of strength that surprised his captors, he +hurled them right and left. As one of them +struggled to his feet, he received a blow from +Hawk Eye's tomahawk that felled him; the +other, fearing for his life, dodged behind a +tree.</p> + +<p>As Hawk Eye glanced quickly around in +search of his gun which no longer rested +against the tree, he saw Raven Wing between +the tree trunks being hurried away +by two other Indians. As the arrow leaps +from the bow Hawk Eye sprang forward in +pursuit. The Indians saw him coming, but +having dropped their guns in the scuffle with +Raven Wing, they were unable to fire at +Hawk Eye as he approached. At this point +the Indian who had hidden behind the tree<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a><br /><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> +threw a heavy stick which struck Hawk Eye +on the back of the head with such force that +he fell, bleeding and insensible, upon the +ground.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus089.png" alt="" width="446" height="600" /><br /> + <span class="caption">AS THE ARROW LEAPS FROM THE BOW HAWK EYE SPRANG FORWARD IN PURSUIT.</span> +</div> + +<p>When Hawk Eye recovered from the +effects of the blow, he found himself lying +on the cold earth in total darkness, and firmly +bound hand and foot.</p> + +<p>In vain he tried to break the leather +thongs. He called loudly for Raven Wing, +hoping his friend had somehow escaped and +would come to his aid. But only echoes of +his own voice answered him. The dreadful +thought now flashed across his mind that the +enemy had buried him alive in some dark +cave. At length the gray dawn shone in upon +him and showed that he was in a deep hollow +in the bluff overhanging the river.</p> + +<p>Again he called to Raven Wing. Scarcely +had the echoes of his voice died away, when +a man's figure darkened the mouth of the +cave.</p> + +<p>"Raven Wing!" cried Hawk Eye.</p> + +<p>"Slow Dog has heard your call," answered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> +a sneering voice. Bending over the helpless +boy the Medicine Man drew a scalping knife +from his belt and cut the thong that bound +his feet and hands, and signed for him to rise.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus091.png" alt="" width="600" height="362" /><br /> + <span class="caption">"SLOW DOG HAS HEARD YOUR CALL," ANSWERED A SNEERING VOICE.</span> +</div> + +<p>With difficulty Hawk Eye stood upon his +legs, numbed by long binding. He said +nothing, however, observing that the sneer +still played about Slow Dog's lips.</p> + +<p>"Come," commanded the Medicine Man. +Hawk Eye obeyed and followed him to the +timber belt where the struggle of the previous +night had taken place. Presently they +came to an Indian camp. There were no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> +tepees, but the several blankets that lay under +the trees indicated where the party had +lain during the night. A Chippeway Indian +squatted beside a fire, holding Hawk Eye's +dog by a leash.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus092.png" alt="Equipment." width="300" height="278" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h3>HAWK EYE'S REVENGE</h3> + + +<p>From the fact that the camp was without +tepees or squaws, and the Chippeway's +face was daubed with red paint, Hawk +Eye knew that he had fallen in with a small +party on the warpath, but he could not account +for the Medicine Man's presence with +the Sioux's hereditary enemy. As he +thought over the matter Slow Dog's detaining +hand gripped his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Son of Running Deer," said the Medicine +Man, "I have no cause to quarrel with you. +But between Black Eagle and me there is +much bad blood. You shall return to your +village. It is mine no longer. Say to Old +Smoky Wolf that I have become a Chippeway; +that I and my Chippeway brothers will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> +soon pay a visit to his village to take scalps. +Say to Black Eagle that I shall hold his stepson +a captive."</p> + +<p>As he finished, Ohitika gave a sudden +spring, whipping the leash from the hand +of the Indian beside the fire. Leaping across +the ground, he sprang at Slow Dog's throat. +As the Medicine Man raised his foot and +kicked the animal, Hawk Eye dealt him a +blow between the eyes and darted off, followed +by the faithful dog.</p> + +<p>On coming to a tree against which were +propped two guns, with powder horns and +bullet pouches, he slowed down to pick them +up, then dashed ahead. At a distance of +fifty feet or more he saw Raven Wing, bound +to a tree. One of the guns he had captured +carried a ramrod sharpened at one end, and +on coming up to Raven Wing, he began to +sever the thongs that bound him with the +sharpened point. Before he could finish, +however, Slow Dog, who had followed, +sprang upon him. Staggering forward,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> +Hawk Eye fell to the ground, carrying the +Medicine Man with him.</p> + +<p>As Slow Dog attempted to rise, Hawk +Eye raised his foot and struck him so heavily +upon the stomach that he fell with a groan +and lay writhing upon the ground. In the +meantime, the Chippeway had come up and +springing like an infuriated tiger toward +Raven Wing, drove a knife at the boy's +throat.</p> + +<p>Fortunately, Raven Wing's arms were +tied in front of him, so that by raising them +he was enabled to ward off the blow. The +knife fortunately merely scratched the fleshy +part of his left arm, but in doing so severed +the thong that bound them. With a mighty +wrench Raven Wing burst the thong that +Hawk Eye had all but severed, and slipped +around behind the tree. As the Chippeway +again rushed after him, Hawk Eye felled +him with the butt of his gun.</p> + +<p>"Follow me!" shouted Hawk Eye, and +bounded toward the cave in the bluff, which +was not more than fifty yards distant. A<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> +couple of arrows from the bows of two Chippeway +Indians who were returning to camp +from an early hunting trip followed him. +The suddenness of his flight, however, had +rendered their hasty aim uncertain, and in +another moment he was around and behind +the sheltering cliff. With wild yells the Indians +darted forward in pursuit.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus096.png" alt="" width="600" height="355" /><br /> + <span class="caption">A COUPLE OF ARROWS ... FOLLOWED HIM.</span> +</div> + +<p>About thirty paces beyond the point of +the cliff that hid him for a few moments from +view, was the cave in which he had spent +the night. Quick as thought he sprang up +the steep trail to its entrance and darted in.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> +Crouching behind a ledge of rock close to +the entrance, he waited for the two Indians +to appear. Presently he saw one of them +peering around the bend in the cliff wall. +Raising his gun to his shoulder, he fired. The +Indian's face disappeared from sight, but +whether the bullet had hit the mark, Hawk +Eye could not determine.</p> + +<p>In the meantime Raven Wing, not daring +to run into range of the arrows from the +two Indians, had darted into the bushes and +made for the rocky ground in the rear of the +camp. In doing so he happened to pass the +tree against which Slow Dog had rested +Hawk Eye's gun, with shot-belt and powder +horn. Picking them up, he climbed over the +rocks and up to a wooded ridge that overlooked +the cave in which Hawk Eye had +sought shelter.</p> + +<p>From this high point Raven Wing noticed +that the bed of dried up water course led +through the bushes towards the cave. Without +further delay he hurried down to it, and +sped swiftly along between its high bush-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>bordered +banks. But, on drawing near to +the cave, he was disappointed to find an open +space, without tree or shrub, between it and +the edge of the bushes.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus098.png" alt="Brave with headdress." width="300" height="296" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h3>TWO GOOD SHOTS</h3> + + +<p>Peering cautiously out between the +heavy undergrowth, Raven Wing saw +the two Indians, who had pursued Hawk Eye, +crouching behind a boulder on the opposite +side of the open space. He realized that it +would be impossible for him to cross the open +ground without being hit by an arrow, and +he also felt reasonably certain that as soon +as they were joined by Slow Dog, they would +set off to find him, leaving the Medicine Man +to prevent Hawk Eye's escape from the cave.</p> + +<p>While debating as to what might be the +best thing to do, he looked towards the cave +and to his surprise saw Hawk Eye signing +to him from behind a ledge of rock that +screened him completely from the view of +the enemy.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span></p> + +<p>Answering the sign to assure his friend +that he had seen him, Raven Wing made a +series of signs which were finally understood +by Hawk Eye to mean that he was to come +out and expose himself to the view of the +Indians.</p> + +<p>Stepping out of the cave, he uttered a +piercing war whoop and darted back. Slow +Dog and his comrades answered with a volley +of arrows. This was just what Raven Wing +had expected, and before they could again +fit arrows to their bows, he dashed across +the open space and slipped into the cave, followed +by Ohitika.</p> + +<p>Angered at being outwitted by a boy, +Slow Dog and the Chippeways rushed forward +across the open space, but before they +had covered half its distance, a bullet from +Hawk Eye's gun brought one of the Chippeways +tumbling to earth. Without waiting to +pick him up, Slow Dog and his comrade +sought the shelter of the bushes, where they +lay concealed. From the mouth of the cave +the boys could see four canoes drawn up on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> +the beach. As Hawk Eye reloaded his gun, +Raven Wing caught sight of an Indian stealing +down towards the canoes. Lifting the +gun to his shoulder, Raven Wing fired and +the Chippeway fell face downward on the +sand.</p> + +<p>"Good!" grunted Hawk Eye. "The odds +are now with us. However, Slow Dog's +craftiness more than equals ours. If he sees +he cannot get us, he will try to make off with +our canoes."</p> + +<p>"But if he ventures on the beach, he +knows he will be shot," remarked Raven +Wing.</p> + +<p>"He will wait for darkness," said Hawk +Eye.</p> + +<p>"Darkness protects the rabbit as well as +the fox," cried Raven Wing. As he finished, +a low exclamation burst from Hawk Eye's +lips. "Look!" he said. "Someone is stealing +through the bushes!"</p> + +<p>"The bodies of the two braves still lie upon +the ground," said Raven Wing. "Perhaps<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> +the brave we left for dead in the camp has recovered."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus102.png" alt="Brave behind fallen tree." width="600" height="326" /> +</div> + +<p>For some time the boys kept their gaze +directed toward the canoes, but no second +brave dared to venture toward them, although +they lay only a few yards distant +from the edge of the timber. Slow Dog and +his companion were held at bay by the watchful +eyes of the two boys. A bullet would be +their answer to any attempt to reach the +canoes.</p> + +<p>The canoes now became the chief object +of interest to all concerned. Slow Dog realized +that if the boys should succeed in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> +reaching the canoes they could escape. This, +of course, they could not hope to do as long +as daylight lasted nor even when night +should arrive, unless it were a very dark one, +since he and his comrade were armed with +bow and arrows. On the other hand, he +knew, now that the boys had possession of +the guns, that it would be almost certain +death to venture on the beach so long as there +was sufficient light to enable Hawk Eye to +aim with his gun.</p> + +<p>"Let them make the first move," thought +the crafty Medicine Man.</p> + +<p>In the meantime Hawk Eye and Raven +Wing were making plans for the coming of +darkness. As the sun's last rays faded away +and the night began to deepen, Hawk Eye +moved close to the entrance of the cave. Adjusting +his gun to his satisfaction, he marked +its position exactly on the rock so that, when +the canoes should be entirely hidden from +sight, he could make reasonably certain of +hitting any object directly in front of them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> +And in order to show Slow Dog that he and +Raven Wing were still on the alert, he shortly +aimed at the canoes, which were now invisible, +and fired.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus104.png" alt="Tepee." width="163" height="300" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h3>OHITIKA IS WOUNDED</h3> + + +<p>Almost instantaneously a death cry +rent the air, proving that the bullet +had hit either Slow Dog or his companion.</p> + +<p>"Ugh!" grunted Hawk Eye. "Slow Dog's +trick has failed him. The odds are two to +one in our favor." Hardly had he finished +speaking when an arrow struck the ledge of +rocks behind which they were crouching.</p> + +<p>"Slow Dog is no mean marksman," said +Raven Wing. "We must not be careless."</p> + +<p>As Hawk Eye <ins class="correction" title="Original: re-loaded">reloaded</ins> his gun, he noticed, +in spite of the gathering gloom, blood +stains upon the stock. For several moments +he regarded them in silence. Then turned +to Raven Wing.</p> + +<p>"I think I have a plan that will work well," +he said. "Come here, Ohitika," he cried,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> +squatting down on the floor of the cave. The +faithful dog came fawning to his feet.</p> + +<p>"Smell, smell!" he commanded, placing +the blood stained gunstock close to the dog's +nose.</p> + +<p>Ohitika answered with a growl. It was +enemy smell to him. He had not forgotten +that Slow Dog had kicked him.</p> + +<p>"Take your gun and hold the dog by the +collar," said Hawk Eye to Raven Wing. +Again resting his gun on the ledge of rock, +he fired. Before the echoes of the report had +died away, a second arrow entered the cave's +mouth and struck the rock wall in the rear.</p> + +<p>"Come, follow me, before Slow Dog finds +time to fit another arrow to his bow," said +Hawk Eye.</p> + +<p>Raven Wing obeyed. When out of the +cave, and to one side of the opening, Hawk +Eye seized Raven Wing's loaded gun and +gave him his. "Load it," he said in a low +voice, grasping the leather thong about +Ohitika's neck to give Raven Wing the free +use of both hands. Then, like three shadows,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> +the two boys and the dog, glided into the +dense darkness. Almost immediately Hawk +Eye released his hold upon the dog and whispered, +"Go get him! Go get him!"</p> + +<p>As Ohitika darted off in the murky darkness, +Raven Wing all but tripped over the +body of the Chippeway he had killed. Forgetting +the urgent need to reach the canoes, +he felt with his hand for the Chippeway's +scalp lock. Grasping it tightly in his left +hand, he deftly circled it at its base with his +knife and tore it away.</p> + +<p>"You are now a warrior," whispered +Hawk Eye.</p> + +<p>Groping their way toward the beach, they +made as much speed as safety would permit. +Hawk Eye's course proved straight and true +and in a few minutes they heard the river +water lapping at the sand. Suddenly, from a +distance, came a series of yaps and barks. +Confident that Ohitika aided by the darkness +would be above to hold Slow Dog at bay for a +reasonable length of time, Hawk Eye whispered, +"I must find the body of the Chip<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>peway +I killed!" Hardly were the words out +of his mouth when he came upon it stretched +over the bow of one of the canoes.</p> + +<p>As he bent over to obtain the highly prized +scalp, Raven Wing noiselessly launched the +two enemy canoes and gave them a push to +set them in the current. The paddles, which +he had removed before launching, he laid in +his own canoe, but as he was about to set it +afloat, Hawk Eye said;</p> + +<p>"We can't leave the dog."</p> + +<p>"It is the only way out," answered Raven +Wing. "Come, push off your canoe."</p> + +<p>"No," said Hawk Eye. "I will not leave +Ohitika."</p> + +<p>For a moment Raven Wing paused. +Then, seizing hold of Hawk Eye's canoe, he +dragged it off the beach. As the yelps and +barks drew nearer, he climbed into his. +Hawk Eye, stepping slowly into his craft, sat +down and raised his gun to his shoulder.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the barking changed to a yell +of pain.</p> + +<p>"Ohitika has been hit by an arrow," cried<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> +Hawk Eye, and he fired his gun into the air.</p> + +<p>"'Twill warn Slow Dog to halt and also +enable Ohitika to lay a straight course to us," +went on Hawk Eye.</p> + +<p>As the canoes began to drift away from +shore, the sound of a sudden splash caused +Hawk Eye to exclaim in a low voice, "Ohitika +is swimming toward us."</p> + +<p>Laying down his gun, he picked up his +paddle and noiselessly dipped it in the water +to check the canoe's progress.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus109.png" alt="Wolf." width="132" height="300" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<h3>THE TRADING POST</h3> + + +<p>There being neither moon nor stars, +Hawk Eye could no longer make out the +shore line, but as he softly dipped his paddle, +his ears caught the sound of a faint wheeze +close at hand, followed by a muffled bark. +Dropping the paddle, he leaned over the side +of the canoe and lifted in his faithful dog. +As he laid the animal down, the feathered +end of an arrow brushed his cheek. Gently +feeling with his fingers, he found that the +barb had only slantingly penetrated the +fleshy part of the dog's thigh. A short, deft +stroke of his knife made it easy to pull out +the arrow. Picking up his paddle, he turned +the canoe midstream, and after a few strokes +came alongside Raven Wing who had been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> +holding his canoe from floating away with +the current.</p> + +<p>"Come in with me," said Hawk Eye in a +low voice. "We must keep together or we +may become separated in the darkness."</p> + +<p>Raven Wing climbed into Hawk Eye's +canoe and held on to his own while Hawk Eye +bent to his paddle. In a short time they were +far down stream.</p> + +<p>At early dawn they came across the two +Chippeway canoes. Fastening to each a long +strip of buffalo hide, they easily towed them +down the river.</p> + +<p>It was pleasant paddling as the beautiful +Minnesota twisted and turned in its broad +and sunny valley. Cottonwood and willow +bordered its banks, which rolled back in gentle +slopes of pale green, dotted with tree +clumps, to the broad prairie. Blooming wild +rose vines crept close to the water which +sparkled in the sunshine or reflected the tints +of the sky.</p> + +<p>At its mouth, where it emptied into the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> +Mississippi, the Minnesota spread out around +a great flat island.</p> + +<p>"We will not beach our canoes here," said +Hawk Eye. "Fearless Bear advised me to see +the trader on that little island yonder. He is +known to deal justly with the red men. The +Sioux call him Walking Wind."</p> + +<p>Running their own canoes gently up on +the sandy beach, they pulled the empty Chippeway +canoes a little further up on shore and +looked about them.</p> + +<p>"Come, we will go to the post," said Hawk +Eye, pointing to a building made of native +limestone, with shutters and doorways of +wood painted white.</p> + +<p>As the boys drew near, they noticed +groups of Indians with their squaws and Canadian +boatmen with pipes in their mouths, +gathered in front of a great wing, which on +entering they found to be the company store. +Blankets, traps, sleigh bells, scarlet cloth, +beads, silk handkerchiefs and earbobs lay +spread upon long counters. On others, al<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>ready +sorted and packed for shipment, lay +pelts of muskrat, fox, wolf, beaver and mink, +together with skins of deer and hides of +buffalo.</p> + +<p>"You need not look for a gun," said Hawk +Eye in a low voice, noticing that Raven Wing +paid little attention to the display on the +counters. "You already have Slow Dog's +gun; it is a fine one. But you are in need of +powder and bullets, as I am."</p> + +<p>As he finished speaking, a white man of +about thirty, tall and muscular, came forward +and asked them in the Sioux language +what they wanted.</p> + +<p>Both boys held up their guns and answered +that they wished ammunition for +their weapons.</p> + +<p>"What have you in exchange?" asked the +trader.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus114.png" alt="" width="445" height="600" /><br /> + <span class="caption">"WHAT HAVE YOU IN EXCHANGE?" ASKED THE TRADER.</span> +</div> + +<p>"We have pelts; they are in our canoes +on the beach," said Hawk Eye.</p> + +<p>"Bring them here and we will trade," +smiled the trader.</p> + +<p>As the boys turned to go back to the river,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a><br /><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> +the trader asked; "How came you by the +fresh scalps at your belts?"</p> + +<p>"We killed two thieving Chippeways," answered +Hawk Eye. Here he paused, thinking +it best not to mention Slow Dog, for he +was a Sioux and the tribe must not be humiliated +by the telling of his treachery. "We +took their canoes. Will you trade also for +canoes?" Hawk Eye continued after a brief +silence.</p> + +<p>"I will go with you and look at them," +answered the trader. Beckoning to three Indians, +he accompanied the boys to the river.</p> + +<p>"My Indian brothers will help you carry +the pelts," he explained as they went along.</p> + +<p>On arriving at the shore, the trader's eyes +glittered as he looked at the beautifully built +Chippeway canoes. "I will take them in +trade," he said.</p> + +<p>"We would rather part with our own +canoes," answered Hawk Eye. "We would +be proud to return to our village in our +enemy's canoes and with their scalps at our +belt."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p> + +<p>The trader smiled at the boy's words. "In +that case I will be content to take the Sioux-built +craft," he said. "The Sioux excels the +Chippeway in horsemanship, but does not +equal them in canoe building."</p> + +<p>In the meantime the three Indians had +shouldered most of the cargo. When Hawk +Eye and Raven Wing had shouldered the +balance, they all set off for the post.</p> + +<p>The trader had shown much generosity, +agreed the boys as later on they loaded their +purchases in the Chippeway canoes. How +delighted would be Light Between Clouds +with the scarlet cloth, thought Hawk Eye. +Bending Willow will appear even more beautiful +with the necklace of bright beads at her +throat, thought Raven Wing.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<h3>JOURNEY'S END</h3> + + +<p>Early the following morning Hawk Eye +and Raven Wing pushed off from the +landing and followed up the twisting course +of the river. Paddling was not so easy +against the current.</p> + +<p>"We have no need to hurry," remarked +Hawk Eye. "We will visit on our way," and +so they stopped to beach their canoes whenever +they saw upon the bluffs the summer +houses of poles and leaves which the Sioux +erect in place of the winter tepees of dressed +buffalo skin.</p> + +<p>Black Dog gave them a hearty welcome. +For several weeks they enjoyed his hospitality. +Further up the river they disembarked +at Penichon's village, where an old +warrior who had once gone on the warpath<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> +with Smoky Wolf, made much of them on +learning that they were from the band of his +old friend.</p> + +<p>"Say to Smoky Wolf," he commanded, as +Hawk Eye and Raven Wing took leave of the +aged brave, "that I predict you will be great +warriors."</p> + +<p>Again they beached their canoes on coming +to Shakepay's village, the largest of all. +And so it went all the way up the sky-tinted +water of the curving, twisting river. At Lac +Qui Parle, their last stopping place, they +visited the village of the Wahpeton Sioux, +called the people of the leaves.</p> + +<p>Here it was that Raven Wing was reminded +of the time, many, many years before, +when his grandfather made his first +offering to the Great Mystery.</p> + +<p>"Red Feather was a great warrior," said +an old squaw. "I remember when he was +very young that Uncheeda, his grandmother, +led him to the top of a high rock from which +to fling his most beloved possession into the +lake."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It was a necklace of bear claws, was it +not?" asked Raven Wing.</p> + +<p>"Yes, my son it was," answered the old +squaw.</p> + +<p>At length the two boys took leave of the +friendly Wahpetons. Indian Summer had +come and gone as they rounded the last bend +in the river and saw thin smoke rising from +their village fires.</p> + +<p>Ohitika sensed the nearness of old familiar +places and began to bark. The boys bent +to their paddles, sending their frail craft +along at a faster pace.</p> + +<p>The sunshine hung like yellow smoke over +Big Stone Lake. Bright-colored leaves, +loosed by the wind, scurried along the +ground. Only the burr oaks held valiantly +to their raiment. A thin crust of ice lay on +the quiet waters of slough and marshland, +but at warm noon, they again reflected the +sky tints of an autumn day. Wild geese +honked overhead and wild ducks winged upward +from the watery wild rice fields.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p> + +<p>On a rise of ground overlooking the river +stood two squaws.</p> + +<p>"Six moons have waned since our boys +left for the trading post," said Light Between +Clouds.</p> + +<p>"You have counted each moon as I have," +sighed Bending Willow. "And since the day<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> +Slow Dog disappeared so strangely from our +village, my heart has been filled with dread. +He has been no friend to me."</p> + +<p>"He is jealous of Black Eagle," added +Light Between Clouds.</p> + +<p>As she finished speaking, Bending Willow +started to run down to the river's edge. "I +see two canoes rounding the bend," she called +back. Light Between Clouds ran swiftly +after her.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus120.png" alt="" width="600" height="532" /><br /> + <span class="caption">LIGHT BETWEEN CLOUDS RAN SWIFTLY AFTER HER.</span> +</div> + +<p>Black Eagle, just returning with a young +deer which he had killed upon his back, let it +fall upon the ground on seeing Bending Willow +running toward the river. He, too, had +been worried over the long absence of his +stepson. As he passed Smoky Wolf's tepee, +the aged chief, who was smoking beside it, +looked up.</p> + +<p>"I think Raven Wing and Hawk Eye are +coming up the river," cried Black Eagle as he +ran on.</p> + +<p>Old Smoky Wolf slowly rose to his feet. +"I, too, must welcome the young braves," he +murmured. In a short time all the men,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> +women and children were standing upon the +bank to await the boys' arrival.</p> + +<p>As the canoes grated upon the sandy +beach, Old Smoky Wolf raised his right arm +and shouted, "They come in Chippeway canoes +with scalps at their belts. My village +has two more warriors to send upon the warpath."</p> + +<p class="center">THE END</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/endpaperr.jpg" alt="Right End Paper." width="371" height="500" /> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Hawk Eye, by David Cory + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAWK EYE *** + +***** This file should be named 33772-h.htm or 33772-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/7/7/33772/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Patrick Hopkins and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Hawk Eye + +Author: David Cory + +Release Date: September 20, 2010 [EBook #33772] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAWK EYE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Patrick Hopkins and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + +- Illustration captions in {brackets} have been added by the transcriber +for reader convenience. + +- The position of some illustrations has been changed to better fit with +the context. + +- Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. In all +other cases spelling, hyphenation, and capitalization have been retained +as in the original publication, except for the following: + +- Page 108, "re-loaded" changed to "reloaded", consistent with +other instances (As Hawk Eye reloaded his gun). + + * * * * * + + + + +[Illustration: {Cover.}] + + + + +[Illustration: {Left inside cover. Family sitting outside tepee.}] + + + + +[Illustration: THE SHAFTS SPED TO THEIR MARKS AND TWO BIRDS FLUTTERED +AND FELL TO EARTH.] + + + + + HAWK EYE + + + BY + DAVID CORY + _Author of_ + "LITTLE INDIAN," and others + + + [Illustration: {Hawk Eye with rabbit.}] + + + GROSSET & DUNLAP + PUBLISHERS NEW YORK + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1938, BY + GROSSET & DUNLAP, INC. + _All Rights Reserved_ + + + + + _Printed in the United States of America_ + + + + +FOREWORD + + +There is a secure immortality and a depth of intuition in the utterance +of Wordsworth, the peer of nature's poets, when from his pastoral reed +he strikes the notes: + +"The child is father of the man." + +Nothing could be more insistently and persistently true of the Indian +child--the girl to be the mother of warriors, the boy to become a hero +and the father of future "braves." + +It goes back, all of it, to a heredity born of three vital and +vitalizing forces. The Indian holds with steadfastness and devotion to +his many and weird ceremonies, but these all lead him back to the +supreme, piloting force of his life, his unfailing faith in the Great +Mystery. + +The altar stairs to the spirit world are hills, buttressed by granite; +trees that talk with the winds--whispers from the spirit world; the +thunder of the waterfall--the voice of the Great Mystery; stars--the +footprints of warriors treading the highways of the Happy Hunting +Ground. In all of these he sees God. + +Falling into communion with this happy philosophy of life, the glory of +Indian motherhood crosses our path--and there are few things more +beautiful. When the day of expectation dawns upon her, she seeks the +solitude of all the majesty in which from childhood she has seen the +footprints of God--revels, communes, rehearses to herself the heroism of +the greatest hero of her tribe, and all that the impress of it may be +felt upon the master man, the miracle of whose life has been entrusted +to her to work out. + +For the first two full years of his life, a spiritual hand guides his +steps. There, in struggle and patience and self-denial, he must learn +all of nature's glad story. + +His grandparents then take him into their school. He learns to ride +before he can walk; he is taught the use of the bow and arrow, which +means hitting the mark, keenness of vision, a steady aim, precision, so +that when the crisis comes he is ready--an ample reason for the brave, +effective and self-reliant conduct of the Indian soldier on the fields +of France in the World War. + +Deep breathing in the open air, giving full lung power; self-denial, +giving strength of limb and endurance in the race; fellowship with all +of nature's winsome and wild moods; a discerning will power; a steadfast +reliance upon the guiding hand of the Great Spirit, empower the Indian +boy to stand on all the high hills of history and challenge any militant +force that may confront him. + +The sphere is complete; Boy: Mother: God. + + [Illustration: Signature, Joseph K Dixon] + + Leader of the Rodman Wanamaker Historical + Expeditions to the North American Indian + + + + +ACKNOWLEDGMENTS + + +Any writer who adds to the number of books on that ever fascinating +subject, the American Indian, must owe thanks to many authors who have +written about the Indians. My special thanks, for information concerning +the customs and legends of the Sioux, are given to: + +Joseph Kossuth Dixon, author of _The Vanishing Race_, + +George Bird Grinnell, author of _When Buffalo Ran_, + +Charles A. Eastman, author of _Indian Boyhood_, + +Lewis Spence, author of _The Myths of the North American Indians_. + +Grateful acknowledgment is made, also, of valuable information found in +the _Thirty-Second Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology_. + + DAVID CORY + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I WILD GEESE 13 + + II PLANS AND PELTS 20 + + III LOADING THE CANOES 28 + + IV JEALOUS SLOW DOG 34 + + V HAWK EYE'S OFFERING 40 + + VI THE BEAR 47 + + VII THE KILL 51 + + VIII THE PELT IS REMOVED 57 + + IX THE RAPIDS 61 + + X THE BEAVER DAM 67 + + XI TOEPRINTS IN THE SAND 76 + + XII ACROSS THE PRAIRIE 83 + + XIII THE BOYS ARE TAKEN PRISONERS 89 + + XIV HAWK EYE'S REVENGE 96 + + XV TWO GOOD SHOTS 102 + + XVI OHITIKA IS WOUNDED 108 + + XVII THE TRADING POST 113 + + XVIII JOURNEY'S END 120 + + + + +HAWK EYE + + + + +CHAPTER I + +WILD GEESE + + +Slow Dog, Medicine Man, looked out of his lodge. Wild geese were honking +overhead. To the Indian it meant the return of spring. + +"I must be the first to kill one," muttered Slow Dog. Entering his +lodge, he presently came out with bow and arrows. Hastening toward a +bend in the river which formed a sheltered cove, he hid among a clump of +willow bushes and waited in the hope that the birds might come down to +feed. + +Slow Dog was not the only one to notice the geese, however. Two boys, +one about fifteen years of age, the other, close to thirteen, had also +heard the honking. + +"Get your bow and arrows," cried Hawk Eye, the elder, darting into his +tepee. The younger boy, Raven Wing, ran to his lodge for his weapons. In +a few minutes both were hurrying to the river. + +"There's Slow Dog hiding in the bushes," whispered Raven Wing. "He +wishes to be the first to bring one to earth." + +"Leave him there," answered Hawk Eye, noticing that the flock, headed by +an old gander, had slightly altered its course. "The geese are making +for the lake." Breaking into a run, the boys headed for Big Stone Lake, +from whose southern boundary issued the "sky-tinted waters" of the +Minnesota River. + +As they hurried through the timber belt that bordered the river's edge, +Raven Wing remarked, "they may come down in the marsh." + +Ice still lay thick upon the lake, but on the shallower waters it had +begun to melt under the increasing warmth of the sun. + +"Can they see us?" asked Hawk Eye as Raven Wing, who was in the lead, +stopped at the further end of the grove. + +"No. We have yet time to run across this open space," answered the +younger boy. + +On reaching a thicket of willows, the boys halted; then crept in to +almost the edge of a frozen stretch of swamp. + +"Here they come!" whispered Raven Wing. As the flock settled on the +marshland, Hawk Eye fitted an arrow to his bow. "I'll take the one close +to the leader," he said. Almost simultaneously Raven Wing let fly his +arrow. The feathered ash wood shafts sped to their marks and two birds +fluttered and fell to earth. Alarmed at the fall of their comrades, the +flock rose in the air, but before they could get beyond arrow range, two +more birds dropped to earth. + +"We've outwitted Slow Dog," chuckled Hawk Eye, as he made his way over +the half-frozen ground to pick up his birds. + +"He must return empty-handed," laughed Raven Wing, retrieving his +arrows from the birds he had slain. "What do you intend to do with your +first kill?" he asked. + +"Give it to Old Smoky Wolf," answered Hawk Eye. "The goose first slain +in the Spring is always made the occasion for a feast." + +"I will give mine to my stepfather, Black Eagle," said Raven Wing. "He +will be our chief when Old Smoky Wolf takes the trail of departed +warriors." + +"Because you have outwitted him, Slow Dog will now bear another grudge +against you," went on Hawk Eye. + +"Perhaps it were better had I not seen the geese," sighed Raven Wing. "I +would not be the cause for further trouble between him and my +stepfather." + +"Slow Dog would find one if it suited his fancy," said Hawk Eye. "He has +a tongue with two ends, like a serpent's. But he has no need to look for +an excuse. He has not forgotten that it was you who discovered the +buffalo herd during the great blizzard and so saved us all from +starvation. Had you not done so, he would have succeeded in convincing +many that the famine had been sent by the gods to punish us all for +allowing your mother to hunt with the men. You, he hates. But for you, +he might have persuaded the tribe to elect him chief in place of Old +Smoky Wolf." + +"He hates Black Eagle," said Raven Wing, sadly. + +"Because he knows our warriors will choose Black Eagle to succeed Old +Smoky Wolf," added Hawk Eye. + +As the boys neared camp, Slow Dog came out of the bushes by the river +bank. A scowl spread over his face on seeing the dead geese. "He is a +great hunter when the birds fly down to be killed," he sneered. + +[Illustration: SLOW DOG CAME OUT OF THE BUSHES BY THE RIVER BANK.] + +"Had they not changed their course, your arrow would have slain one," +answered Raven Wing, quietly. + +Slow Dog turned on his heel and walked to his tepee. The two boys +continued on their way. Presently they halted beside Old Smoky Wolf's +lodge. At the sound of approaching footsteps, the aged chief had bade +his wife go out to greet whoever the visitors might be. + +Hawk Eye handed her one of the birds he had slain. "'Tis the first goose +brought to earth. Hawk Eye would present it to our chief," explained the +boy. As he and Raven Wing were about to turn away, Old Smoky Wolf +appeared in the doorway of the lodge. He gravely thanked Hawk Eye on +learning of the gift. + +"You both shall come to the feast," he added kindly. The boys thanked +him and as they turned away, a smile spread over Old Smoky Wolf's +wrinkled face. + +"My tribe are not women. A brave is no stranger in my village. These +boys will become great hunters. At the sound of their moccasins the +beaver will lie down to be killed," grunted the old chief. + +[Illustration: {Hunter and buffalo.}] + + + + +CHAPTER II + +PLANS AND PELTS + + +The sun grew warmer. The snow melted and trickled in little rivulets +down to the river. Crocuses bloomed and red-winged blackbirds cried amid +the yellowing willows in the bottoms. At last the ice broke in the river +and the waters rushed madly along between its banks. + +The hunters, who had been industrious all winter, gathered together the +pelts of the animals they had killed. Buffalo robes and deer skins, +together with pelts of minks, martins, foxes, wolves, beavers, bears, +fishers, otters and raccoons. Thousands of muskrat skins were also made +up into bundles. + +The packs were loaded into canoes and the hunters set off down stream +for the trading post at Mendota. + +Raven Wing and Hawk Eye watched the canoes for some time. When the last +frail craft had turned the bend in the river, Raven Wing said to Hawk +Eye, "Let us make the trip also, and take our pelts to the trading +post." + +[Illustration: RAVEN WING AND HAWK EYE WATCHED THE CANOES FOR SOME +TIME.] + +"Will your stepfather allow you to go on so long a trip?" asked Hawk +Eye. + +"I can but ask him," answered Raven Wing. + +"We will go, you and I, if he agrees," said Hawk Eye. "I have no father +to ask permission of. Besides, I am two years older than you. My mother +I know will give her consent." + +Presently both boys were on their way to their lodges. Bending Willow, +Raven Wing's mother, looked up as her son stood before her. + +"I would like to take the pelts I have cured from my winter's hunting to +the trading post. Hawk Eye plans to go also and we can make the journey +together," he announced in a low voice. + +Bending Willow regarded the tall, strong boy for several minutes before +she answered him. + +"I have no objection, son," she answered quietly. "But you must receive +permission from your stepfather." + +"Will you speak a good word for me?" said Raven Wing. + +"I will, my son," answered Bending Willow. "I know that you will be +careful. You are strong and tall for your years. You are a fine hunter; +you know the river; your canoe is well made." + +As she finished speaking, Black Eagle strode up. + +"The hunters are well on their way," he said. "The last canoe is now out +of sight." + +"Raven Wing wishes to take his pelts to the trading post," announced +Bending Willow. + +Black Eagle turned to his stepson. "You wish to go?" he asked. + +"Yes," replied the boy. "Hawk Eye will go with me. He has many fine +skins, also." + +"You have had no experience as a trader," said Black Eagle. "The pale +faces at the post will offer you foolish trinkets for your good pelts. +They may even make you dull and foolish with their minne wauken, +(firewater) and when your eyes are heavy-lidded and your mind falters, +strip you of your pack." + +"I will learn by watching our hunters when they offer their pelts," +answered Raven Wing. "I will not be deceived by trinkets, nor will I +taste the firewater." + +"I see no reason why he should not go," said Black Eagle after a silence +of several minutes. "How does his mother look upon this adventure?" he +added, turning to Bending Willow. + +"He must go some time. I am willing," she answered simply. + +"Hawk Eye goes with you?" asked Black Eagle. + +"He is now asking permission of his mother," replied Raven Wing. + +[Illustration: {Bending Willow.}] + +"When do you plan to go?" inquired Bending Willow. + +"At once," said Raven Wing. + +"That is wise," said Black Eagle. "The boys will easily catch up to the +hunters if they ply their paddles with vigor." He did not add that there +was safety in numbers, not wishing to needlessly alarm Bending Willow. +He could see that she was concerned over the adventure, although she +tried to hide her feelings. + +The matter being settled, Raven Wing strode over to Hawk Eye's lodge. +Since the death of Running Deer, Hawk Eye had taken his father's place +with credit. Being two years older than Raven Wing, he naturally had had +more experience. Notwithstanding his advantage, in age he was no taller +nor stronger than the younger boy. + +As Raven Wing neared the tepee, he heard Hawk Eye's mother, Light +Between Clouds, say in a low voice; + +"You are my only support since the death of Running Deer." + +"Sure, Mother," answered Hawk Eye, "but you would not have me always +remain in our village. Hawk Eye is now a man; he has a mother in his +wigwam, but he need not ask her permission to go on the hunt." + +"'Tis a long journey to the trading post," answered Light Between +Clouds. "You have had no experience at bargaining with the palefaces. +Why not wait and go with the next band of trappers? There will be +another party setting out soon." + +"They will merely trade in my pelts with their own and I shall have +nothing to say," cried Hawk Eye. "Besides, I would like to gain +experience first-hand. I am strong. I can handle my father's gun with +the best of the hunters. I am a boy no longer. Comes another snow and I +shall be a warrior." + +[Illustration: {Canoe on the river.}] + + + + +CHAPTER III + +LOADING THE CANOES + + +"You are my only son," sighed Light Between Clouds, gazing lovingly upon +the stalwart form of Hawk Eye. "You are the main support of your sister +and me. I am loath to give my consent. It is a long journey to the +trading post at Mendota." + +"Black Eagle, my stepfather, is willing that I should go," broke in +Raven Wing. + +"And what does Bending Willow say?" inquired Light Between Clouds. + +"She agrees with my stepfather," answered Raven Wing. + +"Then you have my permission to go," said Light Between Clouds, turning +to Hawk Eye. "And may the Great Spirit look kindly upon your adventure." +Without further words, she turned on her heel and walked toward a +nearby lodge. + +"So your mother is willing that you should go," said Raven Wing. + +"Yes, she has given her consent, as you have heard," answered Hawk Eye. + +"Why did she leave us so suddenly?" asked Raven Wing, doubtfully. + +"She has gone for moccasins, I think," replied Hawk Eye. "My grandmother +is skilful at making them; she always keeps a supply on hand." + +"You have more pelts than I have," remarked Raven Wing, lingering a +moment to watch Hawk Eye deftly pack the skins in several bundles of +convenient size. + +"We will need two canoes; yours and mine," said Hawk Eye. "But should +one be damaged during the trip, we can get along with one. We must lose +no time in starting." + +"I will be ready as soon as you are," answered Raven Wing. He returned +to his lodge, gathered together his pelts, which were already packed in +several bundles, and carried them down to the river. Hawk Eye, having +more experience, attended to the loading of the frail vessels. + +During the loading and packing, Ohitika, Hawk Eye's favorite dog, +watched the proceedings in silence. Except for an occasional wag of his +tail, he stood still, showing no impatience. + +"I would like to take Ohitika," said Hawk Eye. "He is my favorite dog, +my friend. My father found him in a deserted Chippeway village five +years ago. He was but a puppy then, his mother and the rest of the +litter had been killed by wolves, and father discovered him lying in an +old woodchuck hole. Father bundled him in his blanket and brought him +home to me. I named him Ohitika because he was so brave even as a pup. +At first he was my playmate, but he has become my hunting companion. I +hate to leave him behind. But to make room for him it will be necessary +to place one of my packs in your canoe." + +[Illustration: {Bow and arrows.}] + +"That can easily be done," answered Raven Wing. "I have fewer packs than +you." + +"I shall take my father's gun, also," went on Hawk Eye, as he +transferred a bundle of pelts to Raven Wing's canoe. "I am glad that I +have learned to use it. It is a fine gun, as Running Deer, my father, +often said. He was not given to boast of his prowess as a hunter, but +always claimed it was due to his gun that he rarely missed the mark." + +"I must have a gun," cried Raven Wing. "A fine gun, like yours. Do you +think my stock of pelts will bring me one?" + +"If you are clever at trading," answered Hawk Eye with a chuckle. "And +if not," he added kindly, "you shall have some of mine to fill in." + +When the last pack had been carefully loaded, Hawk Eye looked critically +at his work. "You have displayed much skill," observed Black Eagle, who +came up at that moment. + +"I took pains to watch the hunters load their craft at sunup," said Hawk +Eye. + +"Safe carriage depends on good loading as well as skill with the +paddles," said Black Eagle. "Be sure you re-load as well after making +portage below Lac Qui Parle. You will come to a succession of rapids +after leaving the lake behind you." + +Black Eagle might have said more had not Bending Willow at that point +arrived with a bundle. + +"I have brought you maple sugar," she explained, handing the package to +Raven Wing. "'Tis some that I had on hand from the sugar camp." + +[Illustration: {Map of Minnesota.}] + +As she finished speaking, Light Between Clouds came running toward them. + +"These dried buffalo tongues will come in handy should you not find +plenty of game," she cried, giving the bundle to Hawk Eye. + +Sensing that the departure was at hand, Ohitika waited no longer, but +leaped lightly into his master's craft. Stepping into their canoes, the +boys raised their paddles, then dipped them into the water and made for +the middle of the river. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +JEALOUS SLOW DOG + + +From his tepee Slow Dog gloomily watched the departure of Raven Wing and +Hawk Eye, and his roving eye fell on the graceful figure of Bending +Willow, who was waving a brave farewell to her only son, now fast +becoming a young brave. + +Bending Willow was the daughter of a haughty chief of the Spirit Lake +and Leaf Dweller Sioux, and was considered the most beautiful woman in +the tribe. When widowed at the age of twenty, she had bravely assumed +the care and bringing up of her son. + +Slow Dog had early realized that if he married her his influence in the +tribe would be greatly increased, and resenting her preference to +cherish in widowhood the memory of her husband, had been a persistent +although an unsuccessful suitor. + +The day had come, however, when Slow Dog's tepee grew lonely, and many +hours had been spent near that of Taopee, whose fat daughter did +beadwork while Slow Dog played on a reed flute. In due course of time a +pony, two guns and some blankets had secured the bride, who, veiled with +a blanket was taken to her lover's lodge and left there by a friend. + +From then on Slow Dog was busy with practical things, for the +father-in-law's family must be provided with game for a year, or until a +little papoose should swing from a lodge pole. Notwithstanding that his +lodge was no longer lonely, the heart of Slow Dog still yearned for the +beautiful Bending Willow. + +In the early part of the previous autumn Bending Willow had returned +from the wild rice fields where she and the women of the tribe had +reaped a goodly harvest. Assisted by a young squaw named Wadutah, she +had pitched her tepee in one of the villages of the Sisseton Sioux along +the southern shore of Big Stone Lake. + +Black Eagle, a great warrior and a wise counsellor, was generally +regarded as the successor to Old Smoky Wolf when the aged chief should +take the trail of departed warriors. Out of deference to the memory of +his friend, Lone Star, Black Eagle had long refrained from approaching +Bending Willow, whom he had always admired. But just before the winter +season had set in, he had pressed his suit and Bending Willow had +consented to become his wife, for she, too, had often marked the prowess +and wisdom of her husband's companion. A marriage feast had been +celebrated and she had entered Black Eagle's lodge. + +Slow Dog had long coveted the leadership of the tribe. He had plotted +secretly to overthrow the rule of Old Smoky Wolf, but his efforts had +been in vain. Black Eagle's popularity had been greatly increased by +his marriage, which only added to the jealousy of Slow Dog. + +[Illustration: {Canoe on the river.}] + +"With Bending Willow in his lodge, Black Eagle will prove a worthy +successor to Old Smoky Wolf," Slow Dog had often heard old squaws +remark, nodding their gray heads over their beadwork. + +Slow Dog had not joined the braves, women and children who had gathered +at the river bank to speed the departure of the boys. His long-nursed +jealousy kept him away from the crowd of well-wishers. But his keen eyes +noted as Hawk Eye and Raven Wing rounded a bend in the river and were +lost to sight, that Black Eagle had stepped into his canoe and paddled +northward. + +Was Black Eagle merely going to fish in Big Stone Lake, from whose +southern boundary flowed the Minnesota River, he wondered, or was he +bound for the Red River of the North, which flowed from the upper end of +the lake to Hudson Bay? + +Presently Bending Willow returned to her tepee which stood on a point of +high ground overlooking the river. From his lodge Slow Dog could see her +slender form as she busied herself preparing food. Wild thoughts filled +his mind. Some dark night it might be possible to seize her, place her +in his canoe and glide down the river. He pictured her in the frail +craft as he swiftly paddled downstream, past the tepees of the Warpeton +Sioux. He knew every twist and turn of the river. At Mankate, meaning +"Blue Earth" in his language, it turned sharply to the north and east. +Bending Willow should see Mendota, "the meeting of the waters," for +there the beautiful Minnesota completed its long journey of four hundred +miles and mingled its "sky-tinted waters" with those of the +Mich-e-see-be, "Father of Running Waters." + +Not there, however, would he beach his canoe. He would go further; past +the high white cliffs along the shore to Kaposia, and down the +Mich-e-see-be, upon whose western bank dwelt the Medawakantens. Then up +the Canon River to its head waters where stood the villages of the +Wahpekutes, the fourth tribe of the Minnesota Sioux. There he would +dwell with Bending Willow, the Fawn of the Dakotas, the most beautiful +woman of the Sioux nation. + +[Illustration: FROM HIS LODGE SLOW DOG COULD SEE HER SLENDER FORM AS SHE +BUSIED HERSELF PREPARING FOOD.] + + + + +CHAPTER V + +HAWK EYE'S OFFERING + + +Hawk Eye and Raven Wing pointed their canoes to the middle of the river +and bent to their paddles. In spite of its many twists and turns and the +menace of fallen trees floating in the channel, they made good progress. + +The river ran through a narrow valley, with hillsides covered with white +flowers and bottom lands dotted with yellow cowslips. Birds, busy with +their nesting, winged their way through the balmy air. Willows, +cottonwoods, elms and soft maples made a leafy border along the shore. + +Toward late afternoon they came to a widening of the river. + +"Lac Qui Parle," Hawk Eye called back, slowing down that Raven Wing +might come alongside. "I have heard my father say that in the paleface +tongue. It means the 'lake that speaks.'" + +"Black Eagle once told me that the Mich-e-see-be has a great widening +which is called Lake Pepin by the white man. It is bordered by high +bluffs and cliffs so steep that very few cedars can take root," answered +Raven Wing. + +"I have heard my father tell that only low hills guard the Minnesota +until its fringe of trees thickens and it enters the big woods. The +hills change to bluffs that creep closer to the water. At the mouth of +the Blue Earth River there is but a narrow strip of sand. From there on +the Minnesota makes a bend upward toward the land of snow and the rising +sun," said Hawk Eye. + +"It is a long river," said Raven Wing. "We shall have dipped our paddles +many, many times before we come to the trading post." + +"Have you fully decided to exchange your pelts for a gun?" inquired Hawk +Eye. + +"Yes," answered Raven Wing quickly. "I would like one like yours." + +"It is a fine weapon, as I have often told you," Hawk Eye said. "My +father was proud of it. He kept our lodge well supplied with meat before +an Objibway's bullet ended his life." + +"Let us make camp," Raven Wing suggested after a time. "I see a sandy +beach. Up to now the shore has been bordered with great flat rocks." + +"It is too early," Hawk Eye said. "The weather is fine. It is better to +keep to our paddles until sundown. Take care that your canoe does not +grate upon a hidden rock. There are many in the water." + +Raven Wing was glad when his elder companion later turned toward shore +for he was becoming a little tired. It required skill as well as +strength to paddle the heavy laden canoes. + +"My father's grandmother was a Wahpeton Sioux. Her tribe, called the +People of the Leaves, used to build their movable tepees along the +shores of this lake," said Raven Wing. + +[Illustration: {Sioux brave.}] + +"That was many, many years ago. We shall have to sleep beneath a tree," +answered Hawk Eye. + +"My grandfather made his first offering to the Great Spirit here," went +on Raven Wing. "He tossed his most beloved possession, a necklace of +bear claws, into this very lake." + +"It is a beautiful spot for such a ceremony," Hawk Eye said, +thoughtfully. "I have not as yet made my offering to the Great Spirit." + +Raven Wing made no answer. After his father's death his mother had +arranged the ceremony for him. He now wished that she had chosen for +that occasion the spot on which his grandfather had stood. + +As the canoes scraped bottom, Hawk Eye said; "I will here offer my most +valued possession to the Great Spirit." Stepping on shore, he opened a +doeskin pouch that was fastened to his belt. + +"Your necklace of panther claws!" exclaimed Raven Wing as Hawk Eye drew +forth his prize trophy. + +"Yes," Hawk Eye answered, quietly. For a moment he held it in his open +palm for a last look. Close by rose a great boulder of granite. +Clenching his fist about his most beloved possession, he climbed to the +top of the rock and stood facing the lake for some little time. Then, +holding the necklace in his right hand, he cried; + +"O Great Spirit, I implore you to command the Sun, Moon and Stars to +make my path smooth that I may reach the brow of the first hill. + +[Illustration: HE CLIMBED TO THE TOP OF THE ROCK AND STOOD FACING THE +LAKE FOR SOME LITTLE TIME.] + +"O Great Spirit, I implore you to command the Winds, Clouds, Rain and +Snow to make smooth my path that I may reach the brow of the second +hill. + +"O Great Spirit, I implore you to command the Hills, Valleys, Rivers, +Lakes, Trees and Grasses to make smooth my path that I may reach the +brow of the third hill. + +"O Great Spirit, I implore you to command the Birds, Animals and Insects +to make smooth my path that I may reach the brow of the fourth hill. + +"O Great Spirit, make me strong in heart and limb to reach the brow of +the fifth hill, upon whose summit are the Happy Hunting Grounds. + +"O Great Spirit, receive my most precious offering," and he flung the +necklace far out into the lake. + +[Illustration: {Wolf.}] + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE BEAR + + +On awakening the next morning after a restful night, Hawk Eye said: + +"Fresh meat tastes better than pemmican. I will take my bow and arrows +and see what game I can find. In the meantime you might gather some dry +wood and start a fire." + +After a plunge in the cool waters of the lake, he set out. For some +distance he traveled to the north, and on emerging from the timber, he +came upon a hillside covered with low bushes. He had set an arrow +against the bowstring in readiness for whatever kind of game might +suddenly start up. As he looked about, a rabbit darted across an open +space. But before it could reach cover, Hawk Eye's arrow brought it +tumbling to the ground. + +"Enough for our morning meal," he observed. After retrieving the arrow, +he slung the dead rabbit over his shoulder and started on his way back +to camp. + +As there was no special trail leading toward the water, he followed a +course indicated by several landmarks he had made note of when first +setting out. After crossing an open space, he paused at the edge of the +timber belt that lined the banks of the river. He thought he had heard a +slight noise in the underbrush. As the sound was not repeated, he strode +in among the trees, setting an arrow against the bowstring. Presently he +heard a pounding noise followed by a wheeze, and as he peered among the +tree trunks, he made out the form of a huge black bear. + +Surprised for a moment, the bear halted; then with a grunt took a step +forward. Unprepared for such big game, Hawk Eye dropped into a backward +walk, keeping his eyes fixed upon the animal, which now quickened its +steps. Raising his bow and continuing to step backwards, he aimed an +arrow at the heart of the bear and let fly. With a cry of pain and rage +it tore the barbed shaft from its bleeding side and rushed at him. +Before he could fit another arrow to the string, his heel caught on a +projecting root and he found himself sprawling upon the ground. +Springing to his feet, he attempted to recover his bow which had dropped +from his hand, but before he could pick it up, the infuriated animal was +almost upon him. Avoiding its outstretched paws, he ran toward the +river. + +As he went crashing through the tangled underbrush, he felt for his +hunting knife. Although somewhat relieved at finding it still in his +belt, he knew that his strength and skill would be unequal to the task +of slaying the ferocious animal. His principal hope lay in reaching the +spot where Raven Wing had kindled the fire for their morning meal. Once +there ahead of the bear he could rely on Raven Wing and the loaded gun +he had left with him. + +Soon, however, this hope disappeared. The bear was gaining on him. Due +to its great weight it easily crashed through the thick underbrush and +tangled vines that impeded his own progress. + +Closer came the great lumbering animal and he could almost feel its hot +breath upon his neck as he fought his way through a dense thicket toward +the river. + +Continuing on as best he could he came to an open space, covered with +wide flat rocks. A short distance ahead rose a giant boulder. Scattered +about its base lay a number of big rocks. Leaping upon one of them, he +managed to jump to a narrow ledge upon the almost perpendicular side of +the great boulder. From there he worked his way up to its flat-topped +surface by clinging to crevices and projecting pieces of granite. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE KILL + + +The bear had made straight for the big boulder. Discovering that even by +standing on its hind feet it could not reach the ledge upon which Hawk +Eye had leaped from the nearby rock, it came down on all fours and began +to circle the base of the boulder. On coming to a point where the base +extended for some considerable distance, it managed to climb up the +steep incline by means of its strong claws. At a point further up, +however, the flat surface of the summit projected like the rim of a hat +and forced the panting animal to merely cling to its position. At length +it managed to get one front paw over the edge. At once Hawk Eye stabbed +it with his knife. Roaring with pain, it pulled it down. After a few +minutes it worked its way to one side where the rim was less pronounced +and getting a firm hold on a shelf of rock with its hind feet, again +stretched over a front paw. Before Hawk Eye could use his knife its +other paw came above the rim and its head appeared. Growling and showing +its teeth, it dug the claws of its hind feet into the slanting rocky +side and raised itself. + +Hawk Eye had only his knife. No loose rocks lay upon the flat surface. +Holding it firmly in his fist he began to maneuver for a fatal plunge at +the animal's throat. But the knowing beast kept its head in motion, +making it well nigh impossible for him to avoid her gaping jaws. For +several minutes he attempted to plunge the sharp blade into its throat. +Suddenly the foothold it had managed to maintain with its hind feet gave +way, and in order to avoid plunging down the side of the great boulder, +the bear desperately pressed its chin upon the top of the rim to keep +from falling. + +The animal's mouth now being closed by the pull-down of its body, and +its head held rigid by its weight, Hawk Eye seized the opportunity he +had been waiting for. Advancing cautiously with knife in hand, he came +down on his knees and whipped the sharp blade across the side of its +throat. + +The hold of its front paws weakened, its head slipped off the ledge top, +and its heavy body hurtled to the ground. For a short time the mortally +wounded animal rolled about, moaning and pawing the ground until, with a +final quiver, it lay still. + +[Illustration: ITS HEAVY BODY HURTLED TO THE GROUND.] + +Hawk Eye climbed down the rock and gazed silently at the huge body. + +Then looking up into the sky, he murmured: "O Great Mystery, my heart is +glad that you have aided me to gain a necklace of bear claws. My spirit +sings because you have looked with favor upon the offering of my most +beloved possession." + +Squatting down beside the bear's body, he lifted one of the paws and +carefully examined the great claws before commencing to remove them one +by one with his knife. + +[Illustration: {Campsite.}] + +When all had been cut away, he placed them in the doeskin pouch that +hung at his belt. He also slit the pelt down the belly and cut a number +of juicy steaks. + +"I will return with Raven Wing for the pelt," he thought, as he retraced +his steps to the spot where he had dropped his bow and quiver of arrows. +After some little distance he came upon them and the body of the rabbit +which he had killed. + +As he made his way back to the shore, he noticed that the sun was high +in the heavens. Raven Wing by this time must be wondering what had kept +him away for so long a time. Quickening his steps into a run, he soon +came to their beached canoes. A fire which had been kindled on the sand +had burned down to a heap of dead ashes. He looked about for Raven Wing. +He was nowhere in sight. + +[Illustration: {Bear.}] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE PELT IS REMOVED + + +Hawk Eye set the package of bear meat in one of the canoes and again +looked about. Noticing that his gun had been taken from the canoe in +which he had left it, he concluded that Raven Wing had grown tired of +waiting for him to return. + +Not having tasted food since the previous evening, he took out some +pemmican and commenced to eat. His appetite somewhat satisfied, he stood +up and again looked about him. + +"I may as well go back and skin the bear. Raven Wing may not return for +some little time," he thought. The morning had already slipped away and +by the time the bear's pelt could be removed he realized that the sun +would be low in the sky. So he set off without delay, stopping only at +a tiny spring for a cool drink. + +[Illustration: {Brave hunting.}] + +On nearing the spot where he had first encountered the bear, his ears +caught the sound of some one treading softly. As he slipped behind a +tree trunk and fitted an arrow to his bowstring, he heard Raven Wing's +voice calling. + +"Thought at first you might be the mate of the bear I killed a while +ago," cried Hawk Eye, coming out into the open. + +"What! You say you have slain a bear?" exclaimed Raven Wing, dropping a +couple of prairie chickens which he had shot. + +"Come, I will show you my kill," answered Hawk Eye. + +"I was following your trail from the hillside when I caught sight of you +at the edge of the timber," explained Raven Wing. "From what I now see +of the trail I should judge you were being chased by the bear." + +"I was," admitted Hawk Eye, with a grin. "But it was no laughing matter +at the time, as you will soon see for yourself." + +Presently they came to the rocky, flat open space. As Raven Wing +advanced and caught sight of the animal's huge form lying close to the +base of the giant boulder, he uttered a cry of amazement. + +"What a bear!" he cried. "But look! Someone has already removed the +claws." + +"They are safe in my doeskin pouch," answered Hawk Eye. "I wished to +make sure of a necklace of bear claws before leaving the body." + +"The Great Spirit has rewarded you for sacrificing the necklace of +panther claws," said Raven Wing in an awe-struck voice. + +"He has indeed," agreed Hawk Eye. After a moment's silence Hawk Eye +said, "Help me remove the pelt." + +Without further words both boys set to work. It was no mean job they had +undertaken. They found it necessary to cut down two strong young +saplings with which to turn over the immense body. At length they were +able to tear the hide clear of the carcass. + +As Raven Wing bound it up in a neat, tight roll, he remarked, "I see you +have already taken the choice cuts." + +"They are in my canoe," answered Hawk Eye, wiping his blood-stained +hands on the bear's head. + +"We have another pelt to trade," chuckled Raven Wing, shouldering the +package. "We had better start at once for the river. The sun is low." + +"Yes," answered Hawk Eye. "I do not like the idea of leaving our canoes +for so long a time. Let us make haste." + +[Illustration: {River.}] + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE RAPIDS + + +"Give me the pack," said Raven Wing, after some little distance. Hawk +Eye placed it on the younger boy's shoulder and took the gun which he +had been carrying. Examining it to satisfy himself that it was loaded, +he dropped the barrel into the curve of his left arm. From the brow of +the gentle sloping hill they could see the river bordered by trees +through a narrow valley. + +Great rocks of granite and limestone cropped out everywhere upon the +treeless prairie and were turned a pinkish hue in the glow of the +setting sun. As the sun sank lower in the west the boulders took on many +fanciful shapes. + +"Not so long ago buffaloes roamed this prairie," remarked Hawk Eye. "Now +they graze further toward the land of the setting sun." + +"We will have plenty of fresh meat for our evening meal," said Raven +Wing. + +"Yes, we have more than enough with the prairie hens you shot and the +bear meat," chuckled Hawk Eye. + +"You also killed a rabbit," added Raven Wing. + +On arriving at the beach where their canoes lay, Hawk Eye unrolled the +bear hide and spread it very carefully from one bow to another. + +"At sunrise," he said, "I will scrape it clean with my knife. I think it +will dry in the sun as we paddle and make a good pelt." + +Raven Wing collected an armful of dry wood and started a fire. Before +long both hungry boys were enjoying a hearty meal of prairie hen and +rabbit meat. After a drink at the spring nearby, they spread their +blankets beneath a tree and went to sleep. + +At sunup Hawk Eye set to work on the bear pelt while Raven Wing +re-kindled the fire and prepared their morning meal. When this was +finished, he covered the smouldering embers with fresh earth and +followed Hawk Eye to the beach. Pushing their canoes into the water, +they bent to the paddles. + +[Illustration: {Brave by the campfire.}] + +At this point the river was narrow. Again fallen trees blocked the +channel. At times the boys found it necessary to push them out of the +way. Progress was slow, and the sun was well up in the sky by the time +they passed the mouth of a small river called The Last Stream With +Trees. + +"Fearless Bear told me the Minnesota coils like a snake. He spoke the +truth," remarked Hawk Eye. "I have already counted eight turns in less +distance than the eye can reach." + +"The turns do not bother me," answered Raven Wing. "But I have heard +that there are rapids further on. They may cause us trouble." + +"We will make a portage," said Hawk Eye. "We cannot trust our pelts to +the angry waters." + +"Then we must unload the canoes and shoulder the packs," said Raven +Wing. "That will not be easy." + +"It will be hard work," agreed Hawk Eye. + +Instead of going ashore for their midday meal, the boys ate pemmican +while paddling. At sundown they ran the canoes ashore and prepared to +make camp for the night. After a hearty meal of bear meat which had been +well-cooked the day before, they rolled themselves in their blankets and +lay down for the night. For some little time they lay awake listening to +the night noises. But they were weary with paddling, and in spite of the +persistent calls of the whippoorwills, they at length fell into a sound +sleep. + +Hawk Eye was the first to awaken. Seeing Raven Wing still asleep, he +quietly strode down to the river for a bath. As Raven Wing still slept +on, Hawk Eye unpacked some pemmican and ate his morning meal. Presently +Raven Wing awoke and seeing that Hawk Eye was about ready to launch the +canoes, he hurried down to the river to bathe. He would have launched +his own craft had not the elder boy wisely counseled him to first make a +hearty meal. Before long they were both out on the river. + +On coming to the rapids, Hawk Eye grounded his craft on a narrow strip +of sand and unloaded. As soon as Raven Wing had placed his packs upon +the sand, Hawk Eye said; + +"You and I will shoulder my canoe and carry it beyond the rapids." + +Waist-high in the tumbling waters they bore it to quiet water and laid +it on the shore. When Raven Wing's canoe had been safely transported, +they returned for the packs. One by one these were carried through the +rapids without mishap. The canoes were then pushed into the water and +reloaded. Once more the boys took their seats and paddled down stream. + +[Illustration: {Fishing in the river.}] + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE BEAVER DAM + + +During the next few days the boys made good progress. They passed the +Yellow Medicine, Sparrowhawk and Redwood rivers. On the fourth day when +but a few miles above the mouth of the Cottonwood, Raven Wing said: "Let +us go ashore. It is time we ate." + +So they beached the canoes on a sandy shore. Hawk Eye took out pemmican +and dried bear meat from a pack and sat down beside Raven Wing. When +their hunger was satisfied, Hawk Eye said: + +"I think there may be beavers upstream," pointing to a rivulet that +emptied into the Minnesota a short distance from them. "If so, and there +are many, we can come here later on and get pelts. Shall we see?" + +"By all means," agreed Raven Wing. "Let us go at once." + +Picking up their bows and arrows, they started off. Following the +winding course of the stream for a considerable distance they came to a +dam which held back the water and formed a fair-sized lake. + +At once the boys knew that it had been built by beavers. The Musquash, +sometimes called the muskrat, although it ought to be called the +muskbeaver, because it is really a beaver and no rat at all, never +builds dams nor digs canals. It has a flat tail like the beaver and not +at all resembling the tapering tail of water rat. It builds houses, much +like the beaver's, only smaller. + +"We will not forget this spot," chuckled Raven Wing. "We will get many +pelts on our next visit." + +"No one shall learn of its location," added Hawk Eye. "We will get the +pelts for ourselves." + +"The dam is in fine condition," said Raven Wing, who had climbed up upon +it. + +Not a beaver was to be seen, however. The wary animals had dived out of +sight at hearing the boys approach. + +[Illustration: THE WARY ANIMALS HAD DIVED OUT OF SIGHT AT HEARING THE +BOYS APPROACH.] + +"Fearless Bear once told me," remarked Raven Wing, "that hunters rarely +see beavers building a dam. He says that they build at night and that +it is no easy matter for a hunter to watch them." + +"The musquash is easier to hunt," said Hawk Eye. "But he is less than +half the size of the beaver; besides, his pelt is not so valuable." + +"I've seen a beaver caught that weighed almost eighty pounds," said +Raven Wing. "It had beautiful fur and a tail as big as a musquash." + +"No fur on its tail," laughed Hawk Eye. "It's covered with rough scales. +Beaver uses it to scull its way through the water." + +"I wish the dam were larger," said Raven Wing. "Big dam, many beavers." + +"There are plenty of beavers here," said Hawk Eye. "Enough for you and +me unless some hunter comes across it before another snow." + +As Raven Wing stepped off the dam and walked upstream along the bank, he +said; "Fearless Bear told the hunters one night when I was in his lodge, +that he had seen a beaver dam near a great body of water that measured +two hundred and sixty feet long and six feet high." + +"Might not have been so many beavers at work on it," said Hawk Eye. +"Probably it took a long time to build it." + +[Illustration: {Beaver.}] + +As the boys strolled along they noted the number of stumps which were +all that remained of the trees which the beavers had cut down and +divided into short lengths, such as could be carried by mouth when +building the dam. + +"Sharp teeth to cut these trees," remarked Raven Wing. "Some of these +stumps are two feet thick." + +"Did Fearless Bear tell you how the beaver works?" asked Hawk Eye. + +"He supports himself by his tail when he rears on his hind legs to cut +down a tree," answered Raven Wing. "With his teeth he cuts the wood as +neatly as a hunter cuts it with his hatchet. No nibbling like a mouse," +went on Raven Wing, "he makes a neat job, and can even make the tree +fall in the direction he wishes." + +"What else did Fearless Bear say?" asked Hawk Eye. + +"When the beaver has cut the tree into short lengths he drags the +cuttings to the place where he is to build the dam. He brings the +branches, too, in his mouth and rolls stones along the shore to pile on +them and hold them in place. At first the dam is rough and loose, but +the beavers keep constantly at work, smoothing and pressing it down and +stopping all the gaps with clay and pebbles from the bank. As time goes +on it becomes overgrown with grass and bushes and looks as if it were a +natural bank, just like this one," said Raven Wing. + +"After a freshet, beaver must make repairs," remarked Hawk Eye. + +[Illustration: {Brave with headdress.}] + +"Fearless Bear told me he once made holes in a dam and during the night +watched the beavers patch up the damaged places," laughed Raven Wing. + +"I wouldn't care to be a beaver," said Hawk Eye. "It must be tiresome to +live under the ice roof of a pond. I've noticed how the beavers sport +and play when the ice breaks up." + +Raven Wing turned on his heel and pointed to a beaver lodge. It stood +not far from the bank, its roof above the water line. Both boys were +well aware that the beaver builds the doorway to his lodge well below +the freezing line. As they both stood looking at the deserted lodge, +Raven Wing said; "Beaver often has two openings down deep in the water. +Through these hidden entrances he drags branches and pieces of bark up +to his dining room, which being above the water line, is dry and +comfortable." + +"Come," said Hawk Eye. "Let us go back to our canoes now. We have seen +enough for today." + +As they strode toward the Minnesota River, Raven Wing said; "I shall +trade some of my pelts for steel traps. With these we can catch the +beaver more easily than by spears." + +"I will, too," said Hawk Eye. + +"We will not have to bait the traps," went on Raven Wing. "Fearless Bear +tells me to merely rub them with some odor or essence of which the +animals are fond." + +"That will be easy," grinned Hawk Eye. + +Presently they rounded a bend in the little stream and came to the spot +where they had beached their canoes. To their dismay they found that +they had disappeared. + +[Illustration: {Moccasins and headdress.}] + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +TOEPRINTS IN THE SAND + + +For a moment the boys stood silent and uncertain. Hawk Eye was the first +to speak. "Follow me," he cried, and ran down the bank of the little +stream. He soon came to a sandy point where its waters mingled with +those of the Minnesota. + +"Look," he said. "One of our heavy loaded canoes went aground here," and +he pointed to deep marks in the sand. "And here are the toeprints of the +thief who pushed them off." + +"He has gone downstream with them," said Raven Wing. "His canoe was +probably caught in the swift current as it rounded the point and was +carried downstream before he could tow the canoes into the big river, +and his towline tightened across the point and grounded our first canoe +here. Then he came back and pushed it off and around the point." + +"We must follow," said Hawk Eye. Keeping as close to the river as was +possible, the boys set off at an easy lope. Presently they were forced +to change their course, for the willows, cottonwoods, elms and soft +maples that lined the banks made progress slow and difficult. + +Leaving the narrow valley through which the river made continuous twists +and turns, they hurried up the slope and soon found themselves on the +treeless prairie, which stretched far away to the sky. As far as eye +could reach not a tree could be seen. Except for great boulders of +granite and limestone which dotted it here and there, the plain was +covered with grass. + +As they turned to follow a course parallel with that of the river, Raven +Wing thoughtfully remarked: + +"We are not sure that our canoes are being taken downstream." + +"The thief," answered Hawk Eye, "would have to pass many Sioux villages +on the banks of the river if he did otherwise. He will take the pelts to +the trading post at Mendota." + +"Yes, you are right," answered Raven Wing. "Why should he tow our heavy +laden canoes upstream? And how would he account for their possession +should he meet with any of our own people? We are two birds with broken +wings. Paddles and current will carry the canoes faster than we can hope +to run for any length of time." + +"But we must get back our canoes," answered Hawk Eye. + +Raven Wing made no answer. He slowly loosened the leather thong about +his neck and opened a small doeskin bag that hung by a leather thong +about his neck. Squatting down he took out the wing of a crow. + +"I will make medicine," he said. After some little time he replaced the +crow's wing in the doeskin bag and fastened the leather thong about his +neck. + +"The Great Mystery bids me remember how the river runs," he said. + +[Illustration: "THE GREAT MYSTERY BIDS ME REMEMBER HOW THE RIVER RUNS," +HE SAID.] + +"And how does it run?" asked Hawk Eye. + +Tightening its string until the bow was shaped like a half moon, Raven +Wing laid it upon the ground. Placing an arrow, pointed outward, at the +center of the curved ash wood, he said, "This arrow points to the Ever +Summer Land." + +Setting another arrow, with feathered end against the bowstring at a +point half way between the tips, he dropped a pebble beside it and said; +"This arrow points to the Land of Snows." + +When a third arrow, pointed outward, with two pebbles beside it, had +been placed at one tip of the bow, he said; + +"Thither lies the Land of the Rising Sun." + +The fourth and last arrow he laid with stone head pointing outward, at +the other tip of the bow. Then, having placed three pebbles beside it, +he said; + +"Thither lies the Land of the Setting Sun." + +"The Great Mystery is kind," remarked Hawk Eye. + +"He has bid me remember my stepfather's description of the Minnesota's +course," answered Raven Wing. + +"And now what do you propose to do?" asked Hawk Eye. + +"We will make a trail across the prairie towards the rising sun straight +as the flight of an arrow. Come; let us start," answered Raven Wing. + +At once both boys set off at an easy lope. Ohitika bounded ahead, +flushing a flock of ground sparrows which chattered loudly at the +interruption to their grassy nest building. But to the clamor of their +voices and whirring wings the dog failed to see a badger which was +burrowing in the sod. + +As the boys pressed on, larks and blue birds filled the air with song; +prairie wolves skulked away to grove and swale, and rattlesnakes glided +over moist places to rocky shelter. + +High up in the sky a sand-hill crane, northward bound in lonely flight, +sounded a far off call. + +"'Tis a good omen," cried Hawk Eye. + +[Illustration: {Brave.}] + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +ACROSS THE PRAIRIE + + +As the sun rode slowly down the sky and passed the barriers of the +low-hanging clouds, a herd of tiny prong-horned antelopes scampered near +for a closer view of the boys and dog. + +"Down, Ohitika!" Hawk Eye commanded. "We need fresh meat," he added, +turning to Raven Wing. + +"But they are beyond arrow flight," answered the younger boy. + +"They are inquisitive animals," said Hawk Eye. "I will try to bring them +nearer. Let us lie down and see if I cannot attract their attention." + +Both boys dropped to the ground. Hawk Eye fastened a moccasin to one end +of his bow and slowly waved it to and fro. In a few minutes an antelope +came slowly toward them. Pausing now and again, it gradually came within +range. In the meantime Raven Wing had set the head of an arrow against +the string. At length he let it fly. The stricken animal gave a leap +into the air and fell to the ground. Its frightened comrades galloped +away and were out of range before Raven Wing could send out another +arrow. + +[Illustration: HAWK EYE FASTENED A MOCCASIN TO ONE END OF HIS BOW AND +SLOWLY WAVED IT TO AND FRO.] + +The sun was now near its setting, so the boys decided to make camp close +to a great boulder. From a clump of low bushes Raven Wing gathered +enough dry twigs and leaves to make a small fire, and before long strips +of antelope meat were roasting over the flames. The bushes grew around a +tiny spring, at which they drank and satisfied their thirst before they +sat down to eat. + +When the meal was ended, Hawk Eye said: "Let us cut up the choice parts +of the antelope into thin strips. These can be hung from a strip of hide +and allowed to dry in the sun as we journey on." + +For some little time before darkness came down the boys were busy +preparing the meat for drying. + +"We will get up with the sun," said Hawk Eye, as he stretched himself on +the ground. + +At the first pale tint of dawn the boys awoke. After drinking and +bathing at the spring they ate heartily of the portion of well cooked +meat that remained from their evening meal. Taking another long drink at +the spring, they hung their bows from their shoulders and lifted the +leather thong with the strips of meat from the bush tops. + +"The wind and the sun will soon dry the meat," remarked Hawk Eye, taking +hold of one end. Raven Wing grasped the other and they set off over the +short, light green, hair-like grass of the upland. Dew glittered on stem +and flower as the sun rose higher. Now and again the peep of the prairie +chick or the call of the plover came to their ears. As they neared a +rocky ridge a badger slipped into his den. + +At length Raven Wing remarked, "Very soon we should come across a trail +to the river." + +"The trail of the paleface trader Renville?" inquired Hawk Eye. + +"Yes; 'tis wide and well worn by the wheels of his carts and the hoofs +of his oxen," answered Raven Wing. + +As the sun reached the middle of the sky, Hawk Eye stopped. Dropping his +end of the leather thong, he said; + +"We have not yet found the trail. Let us spread apart. I will follow a +line running between the land of Snows and the Rising Sun. You go +forward slantingly toward the Ever Summer Land. But neither of us may go +far without again setting face toward the Rising Sun. By so doing, one +of us may come upon the trail as we journey toward the upward bend of +the river." + +"We must keep within the sound of each other's voice," cautioned Raven +Wing. + +"Yes," agreed Hawk Eye. "I will shoulder the meat. It is by now quite +dry." Making a bundle of the strips, he set off at a slant towards the +north. Raven Wing veered towards the south. + +Before long he halted at a faint, distant call from Hawk Eye. + +"He has come across the trail," said Raven Wing to himself. Turning +toward the north, he broke into a run. As he came to the ridge of a low +swell of ground, he saw Hawk Eye. In a few minutes he stood beside him. + +"You have found the trail," he laughed, perceiving the sunken track made +by cart wheels. + +"Yes, but we must go fast to catch the thief," answered Hawk Eye. "We +must gain a point of vantage on the bank ahead of him. Once there, we +can lay plans to recover our stolen canoes." + +[Illustration: {Deer with antlers.}] + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE BOYS ARE TAKEN PRISONERS + + +The sun set and it set again. Raven Wing and Hawk Eye pushed on across +the prairie toward the Minnesota River. They had left the trail and were +veering toward the north. + +"It would not be wise to make the great ford called by the white men +Sioux," Hawk Eye had said. "We must come at a fair distance from there +down the river to a point where the banks are high and the timber +heavy." + +"We will continue to journey through the night until the river is in +sight," answered Raven Wing. + +Hawk Eye grunted in assent. Once only did they pause for water at a +spring in the midst of a clump of cottonwood trees. + +As the sun rose they neared the river and soon after they were camping +not far from a bluff, eating their breakfast beside a small fire, which +sent so thin a column of smoke into the air that it was almost +dissipated before it reached the treetops. + +When the meal was over, Raven Wing said: + +"I will take Ohitika and keep watch over the river while you get some +sleep." Armed with his bow and arrows, he strode off toward the brow of +the bluff. + +Hawk Eye loaded his gun and placed it against a tree, together with +powder horn and bullet pouch. Then, throwing himself at full length on +the green moss beneath the tree, he fell into a sound sleep. + +Scarcely a quarter of an hour had passed when he was startled by the +report of a gun, which was followed by a war cry from Raven Wing and a +series of war whoops. At the same instant, and before he could attempt +to rise, his legs and arms were pinioned to the ground by two Indians. +For a minute Hawk Eye was paralyzed. Then the terrible reality of his +position, the cry of warning from Raven Wing, and the sight of the thong +with which his captors were about to bind him, brought him to his +senses. With a display of strength that surprised his captors, he hurled +them right and left. As one of them struggled to his feet, he received a +blow from Hawk Eye's tomahawk that felled him; the other, fearing for +his life, dodged behind a tree. + +As Hawk Eye glanced quickly around in search of his gun which no longer +rested against the tree, he saw Raven Wing between the tree trunks being +hurried away by two other Indians. As the arrow leaps from the bow Hawk +Eye sprang forward in pursuit. The Indians saw him coming, but having +dropped their guns in the scuffle with Raven Wing, they were unable to +fire at Hawk Eye as he approached. At this point the Indian who had +hidden behind the tree threw a heavy stick which struck Hawk Eye on +the back of the head with such force that he fell, bleeding and +insensible, upon the ground. + +[Illustration: AS THE ARROW LEAPS FROM THE BOW HAWK EYE SPRANG FORWARD +IN PURSUIT.] + +When Hawk Eye recovered from the effects of the blow, he found himself +lying on the cold earth in total darkness, and firmly bound hand and +foot. + +In vain he tried to break the leather thongs. He called loudly for Raven +Wing, hoping his friend had somehow escaped and would come to his aid. +But only echoes of his own voice answered him. The dreadful thought now +flashed across his mind that the enemy had buried him alive in some dark +cave. At length the gray dawn shone in upon him and showed that he was +in a deep hollow in the bluff overhanging the river. + +Again he called to Raven Wing. Scarcely had the echoes of his voice died +away, when a man's figure darkened the mouth of the cave. + +"Raven Wing!" cried Hawk Eye. + +"Slow Dog has heard your call," answered a sneering voice. Bending over +the helpless boy the Medicine Man drew a scalping knife from his belt +and cut the thong that bound his feet and hands, and signed for him to +rise. + +[Illustration: "SLOW DOG HAS HEARD YOUR CALL," ANSWERED A SNEERING +VOICE.] + +With difficulty Hawk Eye stood upon his legs, numbed by long binding. He +said nothing, however, observing that the sneer still played about Slow +Dog's lips. + +"Come," commanded the Medicine Man. Hawk Eye obeyed and followed him to +the timber belt where the struggle of the previous night had taken +place. Presently they came to an Indian camp. There were no tepees, but +the several blankets that lay under the trees indicated where the party +had lain during the night. A Chippeway Indian squatted beside a fire, +holding Hawk Eye's dog by a leash. + +[Illustration: {Equipment.}] + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +HAWK EYE'S REVENGE + + +From the fact that the camp was without tepees or squaws, and the +Chippeway's face was daubed with red paint, Hawk Eye knew that he had +fallen in with a small party on the warpath, but he could not account +for the Medicine Man's presence with the Sioux's hereditary enemy. As he +thought over the matter Slow Dog's detaining hand gripped his shoulder. + +"Son of Running Deer," said the Medicine Man, "I have no cause to +quarrel with you. But between Black Eagle and me there is much bad +blood. You shall return to your village. It is mine no longer. Say to +Old Smoky Wolf that I have become a Chippeway; that I and my Chippeway +brothers will soon pay a visit to his village to take scalps. Say to +Black Eagle that I shall hold his stepson a captive." + +As he finished, Ohitika gave a sudden spring, whipping the leash from +the hand of the Indian beside the fire. Leaping across the ground, he +sprang at Slow Dog's throat. As the Medicine Man raised his foot and +kicked the animal, Hawk Eye dealt him a blow between the eyes and darted +off, followed by the faithful dog. + +On coming to a tree against which were propped two guns, with powder +horns and bullet pouches, he slowed down to pick them up, then dashed +ahead. At a distance of fifty feet or more he saw Raven Wing, bound to a +tree. One of the guns he had captured carried a ramrod sharpened at one +end, and on coming up to Raven Wing, he began to sever the thongs that +bound him with the sharpened point. Before he could finish, however, +Slow Dog, who had followed, sprang upon him. Staggering forward, Hawk +Eye fell to the ground, carrying the Medicine Man with him. + +As Slow Dog attempted to rise, Hawk Eye raised his foot and struck him +so heavily upon the stomach that he fell with a groan and lay writhing +upon the ground. In the meantime, the Chippeway had come up and +springing like an infuriated tiger toward Raven Wing, drove a knife at +the boy's throat. + +Fortunately, Raven Wing's arms were tied in front of him, so that by +raising them he was enabled to ward off the blow. The knife fortunately +merely scratched the fleshy part of his left arm, but in doing so +severed the thong that bound them. With a mighty wrench Raven Wing burst +the thong that Hawk Eye had all but severed, and slipped around behind +the tree. As the Chippeway again rushed after him, Hawk Eye felled him +with the butt of his gun. + +"Follow me!" shouted Hawk Eye, and bounded toward the cave in the bluff, +which was not more than fifty yards distant. A couple of arrows from +the bows of two Chippeway Indians who were returning to camp from an +early hunting trip followed him. The suddenness of his flight, however, +had rendered their hasty aim uncertain, and in another moment he was +around and behind the sheltering cliff. With wild yells the Indians +darted forward in pursuit. + +[Illustration: A COUPLE OF ARROWS ... FOLLOWED HIM.] + +About thirty paces beyond the point of the cliff that hid him for a few +moments from view, was the cave in which he had spent the night. Quick +as thought he sprang up the steep trail to its entrance and darted in. +Crouching behind a ledge of rock close to the entrance, he waited for +the two Indians to appear. Presently he saw one of them peering around +the bend in the cliff wall. Raising his gun to his shoulder, he fired. +The Indian's face disappeared from sight, but whether the bullet had hit +the mark, Hawk Eye could not determine. + +In the meantime Raven Wing, not daring to run into range of the arrows +from the two Indians, had darted into the bushes and made for the rocky +ground in the rear of the camp. In doing so he happened to pass the tree +against which Slow Dog had rested Hawk Eye's gun, with shot-belt and +powder horn. Picking them up, he climbed over the rocks and up to a +wooded ridge that overlooked the cave in which Hawk Eye had sought +shelter. + +From this high point Raven Wing noticed that the bed of dried up water +course led through the bushes towards the cave. Without further delay he +hurried down to it, and sped swiftly along between its high +bush-bordered banks. But, on drawing near to the cave, he was +disappointed to find an open space, without tree or shrub, between it +and the edge of the bushes. + +[Illustration: {Brave with headdress.}] + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +TWO GOOD SHOTS + + +Peering cautiously out between the heavy undergrowth, Raven Wing saw the +two Indians, who had pursued Hawk Eye, crouching behind a boulder on the +opposite side of the open space. He realized that it would be impossible +for him to cross the open ground without being hit by an arrow, and he +also felt reasonably certain that as soon as they were joined by Slow +Dog, they would set off to find him, leaving the Medicine Man to prevent +Hawk Eye's escape from the cave. + +While debating as to what might be the best thing to do, he looked +towards the cave and to his surprise saw Hawk Eye signing to him from +behind a ledge of rock that screened him completely from the view of the +enemy. + +Answering the sign to assure his friend that he had seen him, Raven Wing +made a series of signs which were finally understood by Hawk Eye to mean +that he was to come out and expose himself to the view of the Indians. + +Stepping out of the cave, he uttered a piercing war whoop and darted +back. Slow Dog and his comrades answered with a volley of arrows. This +was just what Raven Wing had expected, and before they could again fit +arrows to their bows, he dashed across the open space and slipped into +the cave, followed by Ohitika. + +Angered at being outwitted by a boy, Slow Dog and the Chippeways rushed +forward across the open space, but before they had covered half its +distance, a bullet from Hawk Eye's gun brought one of the Chippeways +tumbling to earth. Without waiting to pick him up, Slow Dog and his +comrade sought the shelter of the bushes, where they lay concealed. From +the mouth of the cave the boys could see four canoes drawn up on the +beach. As Hawk Eye reloaded his gun, Raven Wing caught sight of an +Indian stealing down towards the canoes. Lifting the gun to his +shoulder, Raven Wing fired and the Chippeway fell face downward on the +sand. + +"Good!" grunted Hawk Eye. "The odds are now with us. However, Slow Dog's +craftiness more than equals ours. If he sees he cannot get us, he will +try to make off with our canoes." + +"But if he ventures on the beach, he knows he will be shot," remarked +Raven Wing. + +"He will wait for darkness," said Hawk Eye. + +"Darkness protects the rabbit as well as the fox," cried Raven Wing. As +he finished, a low exclamation burst from Hawk Eye's lips. "Look!" he +said. "Someone is stealing through the bushes!" + +"The bodies of the two braves still lie upon the ground," said Raven +Wing. "Perhaps the brave we left for dead in the camp has recovered." + +[Illustration: {Brave behind fallen tree.}] + +For some time the boys kept their gaze directed toward the canoes, but +no second brave dared to venture toward them, although they lay only a +few yards distant from the edge of the timber. Slow Dog and his +companion were held at bay by the watchful eyes of the two boys. A +bullet would be their answer to any attempt to reach the canoes. + +The canoes now became the chief object of interest to all concerned. +Slow Dog realized that if the boys should succeed in reaching the +canoes they could escape. This, of course, they could not hope to do as +long as daylight lasted nor even when night should arrive, unless it +were a very dark one, since he and his comrade were armed with bow and +arrows. On the other hand, he knew, now that the boys had possession of +the guns, that it would be almost certain death to venture on the beach +so long as there was sufficient light to enable Hawk Eye to aim with his +gun. + +"Let them make the first move," thought the crafty Medicine Man. + +In the meantime Hawk Eye and Raven Wing were making plans for the coming +of darkness. As the sun's last rays faded away and the night began to +deepen, Hawk Eye moved close to the entrance of the cave. Adjusting his +gun to his satisfaction, he marked its position exactly on the rock so +that, when the canoes should be entirely hidden from sight, he could +make reasonably certain of hitting any object directly in front of +them. And in order to show Slow Dog that he and Raven Wing were still +on the alert, he shortly aimed at the canoes, which were now invisible, +and fired. + +[Illustration: {Tepee.}] + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +OHITIKA IS WOUNDED + + +Almost instantaneously a death cry rent the air, proving that the bullet +had hit either Slow Dog or his companion. + +"Ugh!" grunted Hawk Eye. "Slow Dog's trick has failed him. The odds are +two to one in our favor." Hardly had he finished speaking when an arrow +struck the ledge of rocks behind which they were crouching. + +"Slow Dog is no mean marksman," said Raven Wing. "We must not be +careless." + +As Hawk Eye reloaded his gun, he noticed, in spite of the gathering +gloom, blood stains upon the stock. For several moments he regarded them +in silence. Then turned to Raven Wing. + +"I think I have a plan that will work well," he said. "Come here, +Ohitika," he cried, squatting down on the floor of the cave. The +faithful dog came fawning to his feet. + +"Smell, smell!" he commanded, placing the blood stained gunstock close +to the dog's nose. + +Ohitika answered with a growl. It was enemy smell to him. He had not +forgotten that Slow Dog had kicked him. + +"Take your gun and hold the dog by the collar," said Hawk Eye to Raven +Wing. Again resting his gun on the ledge of rock, he fired. Before the +echoes of the report had died away, a second arrow entered the cave's +mouth and struck the rock wall in the rear. + +"Come, follow me, before Slow Dog finds time to fit another arrow to his +bow," said Hawk Eye. + +Raven Wing obeyed. When out of the cave, and to one side of the opening, +Hawk Eye seized Raven Wing's loaded gun and gave him his. "Load it," he +said in a low voice, grasping the leather thong about Ohitika's neck to +give Raven Wing the free use of both hands. Then, like three shadows, +the two boys and the dog, glided into the dense darkness. Almost +immediately Hawk Eye released his hold upon the dog and whispered, "Go +get him! Go get him!" + +As Ohitika darted off in the murky darkness, Raven Wing all but tripped +over the body of the Chippeway he had killed. Forgetting the urgent need +to reach the canoes, he felt with his hand for the Chippeway's scalp +lock. Grasping it tightly in his left hand, he deftly circled it at its +base with his knife and tore it away. + +"You are now a warrior," whispered Hawk Eye. + +Groping their way toward the beach, they made as much speed as safety +would permit. Hawk Eye's course proved straight and true and in a few +minutes they heard the river water lapping at the sand. Suddenly, from a +distance, came a series of yaps and barks. Confident that Ohitika aided +by the darkness would be above to hold Slow Dog at bay for a reasonable +length of time, Hawk Eye whispered, "I must find the body of the +Chippeway I killed!" Hardly were the words out of his mouth when he +came upon it stretched over the bow of one of the canoes. + +As he bent over to obtain the highly prized scalp, Raven Wing +noiselessly launched the two enemy canoes and gave them a push to set +them in the current. The paddles, which he had removed before launching, +he laid in his own canoe, but as he was about to set it afloat, Hawk Eye +said; + +"We can't leave the dog." + +"It is the only way out," answered Raven Wing. "Come, push off your +canoe." + +"No," said Hawk Eye. "I will not leave Ohitika." + +For a moment Raven Wing paused. Then, seizing hold of Hawk Eye's canoe, +he dragged it off the beach. As the yelps and barks drew nearer, he +climbed into his. Hawk Eye, stepping slowly into his craft, sat down and +raised his gun to his shoulder. + +Suddenly the barking changed to a yell of pain. + +"Ohitika has been hit by an arrow," cried Hawk Eye, and he fired his +gun into the air. + +"'Twill warn Slow Dog to halt and also enable Ohitika to lay a straight +course to us," went on Hawk Eye. + +As the canoes began to drift away from shore, the sound of a sudden +splash caused Hawk Eye to exclaim in a low voice, "Ohitika is swimming +toward us." + +Laying down his gun, he picked up his paddle and noiselessly dipped it +in the water to check the canoe's progress. + +[Illustration: {Wolf.}] + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE TRADING POST + + +There being neither moon nor stars, Hawk Eye could no longer make out +the shore line, but as he softly dipped his paddle, his ears caught the +sound of a faint wheeze close at hand, followed by a muffled bark. +Dropping the paddle, he leaned over the side of the canoe and lifted in +his faithful dog. As he laid the animal down, the feathered end of an +arrow brushed his cheek. Gently feeling with his fingers, he found that +the barb had only slantingly penetrated the fleshy part of the dog's +thigh. A short, deft stroke of his knife made it easy to pull out the +arrow. Picking up his paddle, he turned the canoe midstream, and after a +few strokes came alongside Raven Wing who had been holding his canoe +from floating away with the current. + +"Come in with me," said Hawk Eye in a low voice. "We must keep together +or we may become separated in the darkness." + +Raven Wing climbed into Hawk Eye's canoe and held on to his own while +Hawk Eye bent to his paddle. In a short time they were far down stream. + +At early dawn they came across the two Chippeway canoes. Fastening to +each a long strip of buffalo hide, they easily towed them down the +river. + +It was pleasant paddling as the beautiful Minnesota twisted and turned +in its broad and sunny valley. Cottonwood and willow bordered its banks, +which rolled back in gentle slopes of pale green, dotted with tree +clumps, to the broad prairie. Blooming wild rose vines crept close to +the water which sparkled in the sunshine or reflected the tints of the +sky. + +At its mouth, where it emptied into the Mississippi, the Minnesota +spread out around a great flat island. + +"We will not beach our canoes here," said Hawk Eye. "Fearless Bear +advised me to see the trader on that little island yonder. He is known +to deal justly with the red men. The Sioux call him Walking Wind." + +Running their own canoes gently up on the sandy beach, they pulled the +empty Chippeway canoes a little further up on shore and looked about +them. + +"Come, we will go to the post," said Hawk Eye, pointing to a building +made of native limestone, with shutters and doorways of wood painted +white. + +As the boys drew near, they noticed groups of Indians with their squaws +and Canadian boatmen with pipes in their mouths, gathered in front of a +great wing, which on entering they found to be the company store. +Blankets, traps, sleigh bells, scarlet cloth, beads, silk handkerchiefs +and earbobs lay spread upon long counters. On others, already sorted +and packed for shipment, lay pelts of muskrat, fox, wolf, beaver and +mink, together with skins of deer and hides of buffalo. + +"You need not look for a gun," said Hawk Eye in a low voice, noticing +that Raven Wing paid little attention to the display on the counters. +"You already have Slow Dog's gun; it is a fine one. But you are in need +of powder and bullets, as I am." + +As he finished speaking, a white man of about thirty, tall and muscular, +came forward and asked them in the Sioux language what they wanted. + +Both boys held up their guns and answered that they wished ammunition +for their weapons. + +"What have you in exchange?" asked the trader. + +[Illustration: "WHAT HAVE YOU IN EXCHANGE?" ASKED THE TRADER.] + +"We have pelts; they are in our canoes on the beach," said Hawk Eye. + +"Bring them here and we will trade," smiled the trader. + +As the boys turned to go back to the river, the trader asked; "How +came you by the fresh scalps at your belts?" + +"We killed two thieving Chippeways," answered Hawk Eye. Here he paused, +thinking it best not to mention Slow Dog, for he was a Sioux and the +tribe must not be humiliated by the telling of his treachery. "We took +their canoes. Will you trade also for canoes?" Hawk Eye continued after +a brief silence. + +"I will go with you and look at them," answered the trader. Beckoning to +three Indians, he accompanied the boys to the river. + +"My Indian brothers will help you carry the pelts," he explained as they +went along. + +On arriving at the shore, the trader's eyes glittered as he looked at +the beautifully built Chippeway canoes. "I will take them in trade," he +said. + +"We would rather part with our own canoes," answered Hawk Eye. "We would +be proud to return to our village in our enemy's canoes and with their +scalps at our belt." + +The trader smiled at the boy's words. "In that case I will be content to +take the Sioux-built craft," he said. "The Sioux excels the Chippeway in +horsemanship, but does not equal them in canoe building." + +In the meantime the three Indians had shouldered most of the cargo. When +Hawk Eye and Raven Wing had shouldered the balance, they all set off for +the post. + +The trader had shown much generosity, agreed the boys as later on they +loaded their purchases in the Chippeway canoes. How delighted would be +Light Between Clouds with the scarlet cloth, thought Hawk Eye. Bending +Willow will appear even more beautiful with the necklace of bright beads +at her throat, thought Raven Wing. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +JOURNEY'S END + + +Early the following morning Hawk Eye and Raven Wing pushed off from the +landing and followed up the twisting course of the river. Paddling was +not so easy against the current. + +"We have no need to hurry," remarked Hawk Eye. "We will visit on our +way," and so they stopped to beach their canoes whenever they saw upon +the bluffs the summer houses of poles and leaves which the Sioux erect +in place of the winter tepees of dressed buffalo skin. + +Black Dog gave them a hearty welcome. For several weeks they enjoyed his +hospitality. Further up the river they disembarked at Penichon's +village, where an old warrior who had once gone on the warpath with +Smoky Wolf, made much of them on learning that they were from the band +of his old friend. + +"Say to Smoky Wolf," he commanded, as Hawk Eye and Raven Wing took leave +of the aged brave, "that I predict you will be great warriors." + +Again they beached their canoes on coming to Shakepay's village, the +largest of all. And so it went all the way up the sky-tinted water of +the curving, twisting river. At Lac Qui Parle, their last stopping +place, they visited the village of the Wahpeton Sioux, called the people +of the leaves. + +Here it was that Raven Wing was reminded of the time, many, many years +before, when his grandfather made his first offering to the Great +Mystery. + +"Red Feather was a great warrior," said an old squaw. "I remember when +he was very young that Uncheeda, his grandmother, led him to the top of +a high rock from which to fling his most beloved possession into the +lake." + +"It was a necklace of bear claws, was it not?" asked Raven Wing. + +"Yes, my son it was," answered the old squaw. + +At length the two boys took leave of the friendly Wahpetons. Indian +Summer had come and gone as they rounded the last bend in the river and +saw thin smoke rising from their village fires. + +Ohitika sensed the nearness of old familiar places and began to bark. +The boys bent to their paddles, sending their frail craft along at a +faster pace. + +The sunshine hung like yellow smoke over Big Stone Lake. Bright-colored +leaves, loosed by the wind, scurried along the ground. Only the burr +oaks held valiantly to their raiment. A thin crust of ice lay on the +quiet waters of slough and marshland, but at warm noon, they again +reflected the sky tints of an autumn day. Wild geese honked overhead and +wild ducks winged upward from the watery wild rice fields. + +On a rise of ground overlooking the river stood two squaws. + +"Six moons have waned since our boys left for the trading post," said +Light Between Clouds. + +"You have counted each moon as I have," sighed Bending Willow. "And +since the day Slow Dog disappeared so strangely from our village, my +heart has been filled with dread. He has been no friend to me." + +"He is jealous of Black Eagle," added Light Between Clouds. + +As she finished speaking, Bending Willow started to run down to the +river's edge. "I see two canoes rounding the bend," she called back. +Light Between Clouds ran swiftly after her. + +[Illustration: LIGHT BETWEEN CLOUDS RAN SWIFTLY AFTER HER.] + +Black Eagle, just returning with a young deer which he had killed upon +his back, let it fall upon the ground on seeing Bending Willow running +toward the river. He, too, had been worried over the long absence of his +stepson. As he passed Smoky Wolf's tepee, the aged chief, who was +smoking beside it, looked up. + +"I think Raven Wing and Hawk Eye are coming up the river," cried Black +Eagle as he ran on. + +Old Smoky Wolf slowly rose to his feet. "I, too, must welcome the young +braves," he murmured. In a short time all the men, women and children +were standing upon the bank to await the boys' arrival. + +As the canoes grated upon the sandy beach, Old Smoky Wolf raised his +right arm and shouted, "They come in Chippeway canoes with scalps at +their belts. My village has two more warriors to send upon the warpath." + +THE END + +[Illustration: {Right inside cover. Hawk Eye shoots arrow.}] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Hawk Eye, by David Cory + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAWK EYE *** + +***** This file should be named 33772.txt or 33772.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/7/7/33772/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Patrick Hopkins and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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