The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current, September 24, 1905, PART FOUR, Page 46, Image 46

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THiS SUKJJAX OKJEliONIAJN', I'OKTIiAIST), SJTJSaiBEK 24, .1903.
Okame, the
c X the old days when the great chiefs
I of Hawaii loved shark hunting most
of alt their sports, and of all the
zomrk-tataters there was none who loved
It m well as did Kins Kamabameha I.
So groatly dtd he love the sport that
he made a pea beside the temple of Koo
ktaf, near Kawalhae, and there he kept
Ms enemies to serve as shark bait, bo
oae It was believed that the big: sharks
pretferrrd taunaa flesh to any other.
Taore wore Ave different kinds of shark
around the Hawaiian Islands In those
4ays the hammer-head shark and tho
wfcKo-a, wMch are still seen In the Ha
wattaa markets today becauso the people
ltk to oat tm; the mano, wlilch was a
large wMte shark; the mano kanaka, or
wmn shark, which was worshipped by
the peajwe bocattoe they believed that the
maw kanaka was a man transformed
lata a shark, and, laat, greatest and flcrc
M of an. th ntuht.
Tk King and his chiefs disdained to
bant aay shark excopt Nluhl, becauso
ttmt waa tha only shark that the com-
aativos dM not dare to attack. The
spoke of niuhi only In whispers.
ad to say that at night a niuhi
could he seen afar off by tho terrible
pwi light of Its wicked eyes as It drove
through the sea.
Onr day a fleet of native canoes came
arurrjrtag Into the harbor and the fright
ead aoherwua reported that a monster
ntatti had driven their boats from the
dep mem. flatting grounds and had pursued
Uhwi till they reached the Inshore waters.
So tomk w this shark and so savage,
according to their description, that Kamc-hnnn-ha
became eager to find the huge
nob and five St battle. Hastily he gave
order to nave his great war canoes pre
pared for the expedition and to have three
prhTooarfc o4ectd to serve as balL Before
dunk the carved boats were speodlng over
the long rolkva of the Pacific Ocean,
ooand for the distant sea-place where
tho groat nlnhi dwelled.
Now. among the prisoners In the pen
was Okame. a yoaag fisherman from the
Sahtad of Kauai. He had been sentenced
to doath ay the fierce King because he
had mounted the Goddess Pcle by ventur
ing to one of the sacred craters and
throwing a stone Into the middle of the
pit of are.
The men who had selected prisoners to
err ac shark bait had left him behind,
toot he trembled at the thought of what
waa to come; for he recognized the niuhi
from the description s a fish that he had
tried to catrh hlmnelf, and he knew that
there waa small rhmoe for the King to
'HKN Captain Tiller lost hisJ
whale ship on the rocks of
Trtatan de Cunha he retired
from th son to live on the intorcst
oaraod for him by all the many whalos
that ho had killed during 30 years of
seafaring.
Ho bought a house la Crovllle, which
'was a far from the sea as he could
Kt. for It was almoat la the vary mid
dle of the United Statos, and Captain
Tiller, like many old sailors, thought
that he would he delighted to get
iwar from the ocoaa.
But Ue good captain had not lived
there mi' montha before he bogan to
pine for "something to do. This was
not eaar. however, booaase everybody
around him was farming, and all that
Captain Tiller knew was whales,
which dM not interest the people of
CreviUe at all.
He woe sttUajr disconsolately on a
fence one day. whoa an automobile got
mock In the aandtoot spot of the
candy roads that wore all around Cro
vllle. The captain had seen this happen
many times to many automobiles, and
had extracted a 8-noA deal of amuse
ment out of the frantic efforts of the
people to pull their heavy machines
out of the aand. They did not get as
much amuoemeat from it as the cap
tala did. for the sandy roads were not
only terribly aandy. but they were
terribly long and hot and uphill be
Ftdeo, ao that often the poor owners of
the automobiles had to pull and push
theft- machines over a mile of road- be
fore they reached soli where they
could make them go again.
On this day the captain was about
to smite as ttaual. but the next mo
ment hla brews furled in thought.
rWoa he struck his knee with his hand
and said:
"By grin&or, that's the scheme!"
The very next day he called on his
neighbor. Farmer Smallquart, and af
ter an hour, bargaining he bought
two oxen from him.
That afternoon he nailed .up a wood
en alga at the very beginning of the
6ot bow 5
... .
Irrt VioT-
A
i i ua i i(itf a m v r -it
Hawaiian Shark Hunter
kmc umxt
MFA' KILLED HIM.
capture him. That meant that the party
would return after they had cut up the
three unfortunate prisoners and would
try the same experiment with him, for
Kamehameha would never give up until
he had tried every means to catch the
fish, once he had set out to do It.
He thought hard all night. In tne
morning he called the guards and asked
them to help him prepare a bait that
would certainly catch the great niuhi.
The guards, eager for the favor of the
King, consented and brought him what
he ordered, which was a vast quantity of
the roots of the awa plant. He pounded
these up with a little water until they
made a pulpy mass, and then sot them
aside in gourds and waited for the fleet
to return.
This happened within a few days. The
King was in a furious mood. The niuhi
hhd appeared and he Justified everything
tandy road. On It was painted In
showy blue and red paint:
CAPTAIN JOHN TILLER.
LAND TUGS TO HIRE. AU
TOMOBILES TOWED.
Everybody In Crovllle heard of the
curious sign, nnd before long any
number of people were asking Captain
Tiller what it means. But he only
smiled and told them to wIt.
Pretty soon "a groat green automo
bile came thundering and rumbling
and banging into the sandy stretch,
only to stop dead, despite all Its noise
and explosive puffing, as all other au
tomobiles had etopped.
Tho occupants sat in It helplessly
fore him. But he did not drive them
the way the farmersof Crovllle did.
until one of them spied the sign.
"Hullo!" said he. "Here's a hopeful
outlook. Lot's go for him."
So the man hurried to Captain Til
ler's house, and soon that old mariner
appeared driving his pair of oxen be-
"See Here," Said He."
He had fastened regular rudder lines
tp the horns of each, and these were
led back to a large steering wheel,
such as Is used on ships.
wifci urfe a. poliehtJ ,e-
? -
she ..Sid-, $rc 'fcW
SWfEW KILLED HIM. - JJ&t-Htttr
AfW julf JffrU bored' ire
TOO.
i i ii . , hi i HfcjI
that the frightened fishermen had said
about him. His jaws were huge enough
to engulf the whole bow of the King's
own canoe with the bow paddler, and his
dorsal fin stuck out of the ocean like
the sail of a white man's ship. But never
had a niuhi treated a King of Hawaii
with such insulting contempt.
When the King's canoo advanced to
give battle, the mighty shark attacked
with such rage that even the King, brave
as he was, had to give way and let his
men paddle backwards to avoid the fierce
rushes of the terrible fish. ' After the
nluhl had driven the other canoes to flight
In their turn, he sank under the surface
and did not reappear, although the priests
cut up the three prisoners and threw
thorn Into the water to lure the mon
ster to the surface again.
When the King's men came to the pen
for Okame. he said:
between the heads of the two oxen
dangled an anchor, and on their rumps
was a little platform, on which Cap
tain Tiller had arranged a binnacle
-with a compass, a. great tin horn and
a speaking trumpet.
As soon as he was abreast of the
stranded automobile Captain Tiller let
go his anchor. The oxen stopped, and
the captain blew a long, mournful
blast on his horn. Then he seized the
speaking trumpet and hailed the au
tomobile. I "Ship ahoy!' 'he- cried. "Do you want
i assistance?"
J "Aye, ay, sir," said the occupants.
"Very well," said the captain. Un-
' der the maritime laws concerning der
elicts, I could take you Into port and,
hold you for salvage, bat I'll be oasy
on you and tow you through the" sand
and to tho good hard road for 55 a
mile."
, "Very well, captain," said the au
' tomoblilsts.
1 4 Hold hard, thon till I come along
side," shouted the captain through his
1 speaking trumpet. "Stand by to take
a hawsor." And with that ho threw
a line, which the owner of the au-
' tomoblle made fast to hls.vohlcle.
The captain hauled In his anchor,
blew another long blast on his horn
and twisted his steering wheel. Off
went the oxen tug, dragging the au
tomobile easily through the sand.
When they got half way up the road
the factory whistles blew for the noon
hour, and Captain Tiller lmmcdlataly
took out his sextant and took an ob
servation, which he entered In his log.
When they reached the good part of
the road ho threw vmt his anchor
again, tooted his horn and cast off the
line. Then he collected $5 and -went
off, saluting the departing ajitomobllo
with three sharp blasts from his horn.
Captain Tiller's land ' tug brought
him a groat deal of money, and Anally
Farmer Smallquart grew Jealous.
"See here," said he, one day. "You've
"been tying up your oxen to my fence
for eight weeks and three days. Now
If you're doing a tug business, it's the
same as tying up to a wharf for you
to tie up to my fence, and I'm going to
collect wharfage from you at the rato
of a dollar an hour."
The captain refused to pay It, and
Farmer Smallquart Immediately hired
a lawyer and brought suit, much to
the captain's fright, for he was very
timid about lawyers and courts.
Ho was lying awake one night wor-,
rylng when he noticed that there "was
a heavy fog outside, and with that an
Idea struck him. Before many min
utes he had yoked his oxen up and was
steering toward Smallquart's farm. He
had a bright red-light on the horns of
one ox and a green one on the other
and when he reached the road imme
diately In front of the house he an
chored and began to toot his great tin
horn most dismally.
He had not been doing that long be
fore Farmer Smallquart came out and
shouted:
"For goodness sake, stop that noise.
We want to sleep."
"Can't help that." said the captain.
"You can seo for yourself that it's a
heayy fog; and. as I've come to anchor
here to wait till 'it lightens I've simply
got to give the regular fog signals ac
cording to maritime law. You ought
t . 1
j "stop it: stop itr
, -t
I :
"I will go with you willingly, but first
tell the King that if he will give me a
chance I will catch the niuhi alive for
him and we can briny him ashore in tri
umph." .
The King agreed eagerly and ordered
that the young prisoner 'be supplied with
all that he wanted. Immediately he set
men to- work boiling down the livers of
hammer-headed sharks until he had
enough to load fifty of the largest canoes.
Then he loaded the awa root into one
of the 'canoes and the fleet set forth.
On arriving at the placo of" the great
nluhl. he began to throw the liver over
board, and within a few hours the oil
had spread throughout the water until
It tempted tho nluhl out of the deep-sea
cave where he had been hiding. It was
night when he came up. but the men
could see his green eyes glimmering many
fathoms deep until he appeared with a
rush and began to gulp dpwn the liver.
The next day the young fisherman con
tinued to feed the fierce fish. but. although
he became greedier and greedier for the
delicacy, he was too cunning to venture
near any of tho canoes. Then Okama
began to mix the pounded awa root with
the liver and throw it to the shark. The
nluhl gulped down pound after pound, till
all at once he became stupid. The awa
root was delicious, but deadly, and the
young fisherman had learned of its stupe
fying effect from his father.
Soon the shark had become so stupid
that he swam almost alongside, Okame's
cande, where, he finally took bundles of
liver and awa right out of the young, pris
oner's hands.
Then Okame rose softly and dropped a
nooso over his head. The paddlers Imme
diately started paddling for the. shore,
and the rest of the fleet set up a great
shout as they saw the shark following
willingly.
At times he would start to pull away,
but Okame would throw some more liver
and awa immediately and the shark
would follow on again.
Thus the mammoth nluhl was led In tri
umph Into the shoal watev near th.e shore,
and there King KamehaxneHa leaped
overboard with his long knife and at
tacked the big fish and killed him.
Every bit of skin and bones was then
collected carefully and carried to the
King's house, where It was put away In
secret places, so that no one except Ka
mehameha should ever touch them, be
cause the ownership conferred unequal cd
bravery on the possessor. .
Tho King pardoned Okame and made
him Chief Catcher of Nluhis. and from
that time on until the coming of the white
men and the passing of the Hawaiian
Kings, nluhis were always caught as
Okame had caught the greatest nluhl of
all.
Xote-The method described here Is the
method actually used by the Hawallans
.up to the beginning of tho last century
for catching the great shark. Sometimes
a hundred canoos would go out for this
novol "sport of kings" and each fleet was
accompanied by a priest to call the shark
forth from the deop hiding places.
to be the last one to object, seeing that
you are such a stickler for maritime
law yourself as to charge wharfago
for tying up to your fence." And tho
captain continued to blow his fog sig
nals steadily.
Ho did It all night and next night,
which was foggy, too. "When tho third
nlgnt brought a still more heavy fog
and the tooting, began again. Farmer
Smallquart could bear It no longer. Ho
ran to the captain, and asked:
"What can I do to have thlsJ
stODDed?"
"Nothing, so far as I can see." said
i the wily captain. "You know, or bught
, to know, that the rules of maritime
law are too sacred to be broken for
anybody's convenience. Whenever I
have to anchor In the fog In tho road,
or. rather, the channel, of. course I
t must give the necessary signals. To
. be sure. If I were tied up to a wharf
I could lie there without signalling;
but wharfage Is far too expensive
j around here, "so there's nothing for It
except to ancnor.
'Til let you tie up to my fence I mean
my wharf for nothing," said Farmer
Smallquart.
"I'd like to accept your offer," said
the cunning captain, "but I daren't, be
cause you know you havesued me for
back wharfago and I might hurt my
case by making fast."
j He began blowing his horn harder
1 and more dolefully than ever, and all
j the dogs began to bark, and the Small
quart babies began to bawl, and even
the cattle bogan to low and bellow.
I "Stop it! Stop it!" said the farmer
J desncrately. "If von will nromlso to
j 1 stop. I'll withdraw my suit and give
l ! you free wharfage forever along my
1 j fence."
"All right, my hearty," said the cap
tain. "And Just remember hereafter
that you can't fool with maritime law."
TIck-Tnck's 400th Anniversary.
Exactly 400 years ago. In the year 1503,
there was a yoang apprentice to a lock
smith In Nuremberg. His name was Peter
Henleln. He had nolther money, friends
nor lnnuencc. ana sccmca doomed to re
main a simple, poor locksmith's helper all
his life.
There were more than 100 locksmith's
apprentices In Nuremberg at that time,
and most of them said hopelessly that the
field was overcrowded. We hear some
thing like that every now and then In
these da)'$, too, don't we?
Nobody remembers the names of any of
these apprentices today except that of
Henleln. Ho dldn t waste any time grum
bling and worrying about the "ovorcrowd
od field." but sat down In his spare time
tlnkorlng at a curious machine.
When It was finished It was shaped like
a drum and was iuvt small enough to,go
into the big pockets of the coats of that
date. What was It? ,
It was. the first watch.
There Is a general belief that these first
watches were of the shape of an ess.
This Is not so. They were shaped like a
drum and were really pretty clumsy, far
more suitable for the capacious costume
of a rider than for the more tightly fit
ting dress of a courtier or a dandy. But
they kept good time and ran 10 hours
witnouL needing winding.
The watchmakers of Nuremberg have
Just erected a flne statue In honor of
Peter, the apprentice of the Middle Ages,
who found something new to do In an
overcrowded profession. And there Is n
big watch exhibition to last until the end
of this month, also in his honor.
The Hardships of Farming.
Little Dick has been thinking some time
that he would like to be a farmer when he
grows up. The other evening he toddled
to his father's side on the veranda and
asked:
"What do 1 have to do in the evening
when I bes a farmer?"
"Why," said hla father, "you have to alt
on the porch of your farmhouse, like this,
with your feet up on the ralL"
Dick watched his father put his feet up
and tried to do tho some with, his very;
short and fat little legs. The rail was so
high that he had to sit nearly on the
back of his head in order to get his feet
up. and before many moments he slipped
down and landed on the veranda floor
with a bump.
He got up and rubbed himself. Then he
said:
'Maybe I don't want to be a farmer,
after alL I might change-my mind and be
something else."
The Dogfish's Desire.
Th dofffitn sighed: "Oh. bow 1 xlab
I were a dec sd not a fish.
A doe with hark and hair complete.
And fnrnUhed not with fins, trat zeet.
My little xnlrtrtM would be proud.
Because l'dNbrk for her so loud.
But. ah! I spose 'tlx all In vain.
A wet. damp fieh Imun remain I" -
The Crazy Canoe.
A man who went ia a canoe
Said: "I Jiardlr knoV what It will do.
Bat I'm sore It will tin,
. Because viewed. as a hlj,
Ife fona make 'me feel very blue."-
Pioneer Sugar-Makers of
EACH HOLDING TWO OB THREE INDIANS PASSED THEM AT A FURIOUS RATT
, I
Chnptcr IX. N
OK hero, sister," said Will, after
I thinking for a while, T think we
must change our plana. We haye
come upon a large tribe of Indians, and
are certain, to meet some of them In the
forest If we keep on. I think the river
we saw Is called the Grand, and that.lt
flows Into Lake Michigan. Down near
Its mouth Is quite a large town called
Grand Rapids. If we can get down the
river to that town we shall be safe."
"Aro wo Nto walk along the bank?"
asked Sadie.
"No. We would meet with Indians at
once. My plan Is' to wait here until dark
and then steal one of the canoes we saw
on the bank. How far we shall have to
paddle I don't know, but I think we can
reach Grand Rapids In two days."
The children went farther back Into
the woods to wait for the coming of
night. Their food was all gone, and
being so near the village Will did not
dare to fire bis gun. With his knife he
cut some bark from a slippery elm tree,
and they had to chew on that In place
of food.
Bunny's Escape From Impending Danger
MOTHFR RABBIT sat on the porch
of a deserted log cabin In tho woods
and looked very, very seriously into the
round eyes of Bunny, her little son.
"Remember this," she said. "Of all
your enemies the one most to be avoided
Is man. He Is dangerous."
Bunny's round eyes grew rounder.
"What will he do?" mother.
"He will catch you In a trap or shoot
you with a gun. Either way he will kill
you. Then he will cook you over a fire
and eat you."
Bunny shuddered from the tips of his
longyears to his stub of a tall.
"Owls arc bad and foxes are worse, but
man Is the worst of all," Mother Rabbit
went on solemnly.
"What shall I do If I see him coming?"
"If you are far enough away, run for
all you are worth, but If he sees you first,
crouch down, flatten yourself- and lay
you oars back, keep as still as a stone
and he may go by. If he sees you and
shoots It's no use doing anything. You
can't run from a gun. You'll either be
dead or you won't. Traps are the most
treacherous, though, because you can run
Into them day or night, and when you 'do
you're either killed or maimed for life.
See that?" and Mother Rabbit showed
her right hind foot whore two toes were
missing. -
"O-o-oh!" shivered Bunny. "How fearful."
The Great War With the
MANY, many years ago giant eagles,
known as thundcrblrds, lived In the
mountains on the shores of the
Yukon River. But they all disappeared
except one pair which lived on a moun
tain with a round top, from which they
swept In search of prej".
Sometimes they seized a red deer from
a passing herd and bore It back to their
young, and sometimes, soaring with their
mighty wings spread so that they dark
ened the sun, and making a nolso like
thunder, they swooped on a fisherman In
his canoe and carried both man and boat
to their hlgh-bullt nest.
Many hunters tried to kill the thundor
blrds. but none succeeded; and at last
people were afraid to go abroadupon the
river.
One day the thunderblrds looked down
and saw a little boy playing before a
hut. Quickly one of the birds swooped,
and, catching the little follow, carried
him to the rocky nest on the mountain
top.
The little boy's father was the greatest
hunter In tho Tillage. Whcn""he heard
the noise like thunder and the screaming
of the eagles he rushed out of the house,
only to see his boy being carried off to
be devoured.
Seizing his bow and arrows and his war
spears, the hunter rushed toward the
mountain, though' all tho people called
out to him to come back.
When ho reached the rocky nest of the
thunderblrds, he peeked over the edge
and saw the two old birds and two young
ones, while seated in a corner was his
little boy. The thunderblrds were quar
reling as to which of the young ones
should havo the boy for dinner. The
hunter was acquainted will) the language
of birds and boasts, and understood every
word they said.
"Oh, well." said the father thunderbird
finally, "let's not quarrel any more. Go
back and get tho boy's father and then
there will be enough for all."
"Here -I am," shouted the hunter, pop
ping his head up.
The two thunderblrds made a swoop at
him, but he dodged so quickly that their
claws only caught the smooth surface of
the rock. At the same time the hunter
drew his bow and sent an arrow right
through the heart of one of the birds-"'
The other bird flow around flapping its
great wings and making an awful noise,
and every now and then swooping down
to get at the hunter, but missing him
every time on account of the rock behind
which he was hidden.
Arrow after arrow the hunter dis
charged at the bird, but he was unable
to do more than wound it, and with each
wound the rago of the thunderbird in
creased. Finally tho hunter took his war spears
and began to throw them. When he did
this the thunderbird .swooped down and
grabbed up the boy, calling out to the
hunter: "Now, If you throw the war
sp?ars you will be likely to hit the boy."
"Throw them, father, throw them!"
Several times during tho afternoon
they heard Indian hunters In the wood3,
but no one came near to disturb them.
They would have liked to take the pony
with them, but of course this was not to
be done. He would have to be turned
loose In the forest, and, within a day or
two he would probably find his way Into
the Indian village. They might wonder
how he came there, bur, they would keep
him nevertheless.
When darkness began to settle over the
forest, tho children moved out of the
thicket and down tho river until they
wero half a mile below the village. Then
they approached Its banks. To get one
of the canoes they must make their way
up stream and perhaps pass some of the
wigwams.
They knew that Jndians were always
watchful, whether they were at war or
'not, and that an Indian dog scented a
whlto person afar off.
The pony had been turned loose and
they had brought the gun. ax and blan
kets with them. Sadie began to whim
per as she realized the danger, and Will
offered to go alone If she would stay be
hind and wait for him.
This she would not do. and he said:
"Then we will go together and you
"So you see. my dear, that while you
only have to fear owls at night, and
foxes arc pretty still In 'the daytime,
you've got to look out for man every
minute of your life."
Bunny shuddered again. There seemed
to be no chance at all for him to have
any fun living.
"There's a boat coming across the pond
now," whispered Bunny excitedly, cock
ing his left ear forward.
"And there are men In It. Let us fly!"
cried Mother Rabbit, and she and Bunny
went leaping through the bushes on their
long hind legs.
So the men came and occupied the de
serted log cabin. Mother Rabbit and
Bunny lived in fear and staid In the deep,
deep woods.
It grew rather monotonous after a
while, and one day while his another was
taking a nap Bunny said to himself:
'"I'm not going to stay crouched up
here every minute of this long Summer.
I'm going out along the trail and see
what's going on."
So off he started, hopping leisurely
along. The forest was very still. The tall
pines had all stopped whispering and
were fast asleep. Not one of the waggly
leaves on the poplars was stirring. The
sun came down warm and bright and
dappled the dead leaves on the trail with
a lighter brown, and Bunny would have
sung aloud If he had only known how.
All of a sudden, coming straight toward
called out the boy, but the hunter was
afraid to do so for fear of killing his son.
Watching his opportunity, the hunter
now Jumped over the edge of the rocky
nest and with his war-spears threatened
tho two young birds.
"If you do not bring back the boy,"
cried he to the thunderbird, "I will kill
your young."
"I will eat both you and the boy," an
swered the thunderbird and made a great
swoop toward the hunter. But the bird's
claws wero engaged In holding the boy,
so that all It could do was to peck at
the hunter with his great beak as he
passed.
The hunter Immediately let drive one
of his war-spears and killed one of the
young birds.
"Try that again," said he, "and I will
kill the other."
The thunderbird now began to parley
with the brave hunter, saying: "What
terms can we agree to? I will give you
, f m
j t '. : i I H
the Forest
must try and be a brave girl. Keep close
to me and do as you see me) do and we
may come out all right. If we run into
any danger don't scream out. Even Jf
the Indians capture us they will not kill
us."
They were hidden by the- bushes until
they were almost on the first wigwam.
It stood back about 30 feet from the wa
ter, and after peering through the dark
nes for a few minutes Will made out two
canoes drawn up on the shore.
He whispered toSadle that they would
take the nearest one, and that they must
be careful to make no noise l'n entering
the boat.
The Indian family belonging to the wig
wam were cooking and eating back of
the shelter, and the ll(.ht of "their fire
mado things dark around them.
The canoe was reached and the things
loaded In without discovery. When the
little craft had been pushed Into the
water Will discovered that there were
no paddles. He searched the other ca
noe, but found none there!
He believed they had been taken to the
wigwam, and no matter what the danger
was, he must go after them. Sadie began
to cry, but tfe whispered In her ear:
"If you make the least noise the In
dians wilhave us. Keep hold of the ca
noe and don't stir a foot until I return."
v ith that he crept away, but luck waa
with him. Half way to the wigwam he
found two paddles on the grass, and he
wa3 only a minute getting back to1 the
canoe and his sister.
In another minute they were afloat, but
Just then they heard whoops and snouts
from the center of tho village, and by
the light of a big fire they caught sight
of Sam coming Into the village and lead
ing his pony behind him.
He had got free and followed on after
them, and if he had been an hour earlier
he would have overhauled them in the
woods.
"Sam will tell them that we are near
at hand," said Will, as both plied their
paddles. "When he found that we had
let his pony go he must have suspected
that we were going to steal a canoe. Do
you hear thoso yells? The Indians are
running about to see if their canoes are
safe. They will soon find this one gone,
and we shall be followed. Instead of
keeping on down the river let us paddle
across and hide under the limbs of some
overhanging tree."
A mile below where they had taken'
the canoe they found a tree to give them
shelter, and the canoe had scarcely been
'drawn In among the branches when six
canoes, each holding two or three Indian,
passed them at a furious rate. Had the
children kept on they would have been
overtaken before going another mile.
"We must wait until they come bnck."
said Will. In answer to the query from
Sadie as to what they should do. "The
Indians will go down stream three or four
miles, and not finding us will turn back.
As they come back they will search out
all places where we must hide, but we
will have to trust to luck that they don't
find us. We must listen carefully now,
to hear when they turn back."
(Concluded next week.)
him. he saw one of the men. Bunny
dared not fly. so he crouched, as his
mother had taught him, with his ears
laid back and his body flattened till he
looked like nothing but a bit of gray fur.
His round eyes never even winked.
The man came humming along the trail,
carrying a fishing rod. and oh, horror!
the great eyes looked straight at thei fern
loaf under which Bunny was hiding. The
horrible creature stooped above him. and
spoke In a language strange to the cow
ering Bunny.
"Why, It's a baby rabbit!"
Then a long arm came out from the
side of the man. Bunny was certain then
that he would be grabbed, killed, cooked
and eaten. His blood froze in ills veins;
frar stared out of his round eyes; it
seemed as if he must Jump now.
But he did not. The long arm came
lower and lower, and the fingers touched
the little gray back. Again the soft ca
ress. Then the man laughed very gently
and said:
"Why, Baby Rabbit, you needn't be so
scared. I wouldn't hurt you for the
world."
Somehow Bunny knew then that he
was safe. He lifted his ears and with a
leap he was gone In the bushes.
But he will always think that he had
a narrow escape, and Mother Rabbit said
to him afterward:
"It happened to turn out all right, but
what If the fishing rod had been a gun?"
Thunder - Birds
back your boy if you will go away and
spare my young bird."
"You must do that and more." said
the hunter. "Give me back the boy and
then take your young and fly with It far
away to the north and never come back.
We want no thunderblrds around here."
Finally the thunderbird agreed to this
and placing the boy at his father's feet
it took up the young bird on its back
and flew far away to the frozen north.
Since that day no thunderblrds have
been seen by men, but the natives say
that somewhere away up close to the
farthest north there are still thunder
blrds. Perhaps Peary will find them when
he discovers Ihe North Pole.
A Kitchen Talk.'
Bald the carving- knife to the sharpening steel:
"You are far too hard with me, I feel."
But the steel replied: "I act afraid.
That you are such a rude young blade.
That you need some polish before each meal."