The golden west boys, Injun and Whitey to the rescueHart, William S. (William Surrey)
General
The golden west boys, Injun and Whitey to the rescue
Hart, William S. (William Surrey)
Adventure stories; Teenage boys -- Juvenile fiction; Western stories
Perhaps Sitting Bull had given the fever to Injun, for the dog was
trembling so that he shook the canoe; each particular hair stood on end,
and if any one had stroked Bull, he probably would have got the electric
shock of his life. Anyway, Injun sure had buck fever for the first time
in his young life, for in bracing himself for his next shot he sat too
far back on his left leg, and when he let go his arrow, over went the
canoe. All hopes for a successful issue of that battle would have ended
right there had not Injun's arrow by a lucky shot gone straight into Mr.
Deer's heart. With one mighty lunge in the air he fell back in the water
toward the shore, where his horns and part of his body remained above
the surface. When the canoe went over, Whitey held his rifle high over
his head, so it was still dry and ready for use--a needless precaution
in this case.
I hate to write this part of the story. The deer's daughter--she must
have been his daughter--had lots and lots of chances to run away, but
she didn't do it. She just stood there like the poor, timid, scared
thing she was, with every quiver of her graceful body, every look of her
big, brown, childlike eyes saying, "Please, why did you kill my father,
who was my only protector? And please, please don't hurt me!"
Did you, Mr. or Miss Reader, ever have a helpless animal look at you in
that way? If you did, you know it's awful--awful to remember!
Whitey fired. He couldn't miss at that distance. And he ran forward to
force Miss Deer to fall on the bank, clear of the water, which she did.
She looked at Whitey while he was shoving her over, Whitey nor no one
else can ever describe that look, and Whitey, boy as he was, turned away
his head as she fell. Injun stood by dripping, silent, his face a mask
for his feelings. And Sitting Bull was shivering, but not with cold or
excitement; he had caught the dying look of the doe. And Bull's ugly
face reflected the feelings of his heart, that was both brave and
gentle, for actually, yes, actually! there were tears in Bull's eyes.
The canoe was brought to shore, the water was dumped out of it, the
paddles were recovered. Then a rope was fastened to Mr. Deer, and by
means of a log lever he was hauled out of the lake and dressed. But
Injun didn't talk and Whitey didn't talk. And Bull didn't wander around
as usual and smell the scents that gave him so much excitement and
delight, and that the boys couldn't smell at all. The deer's head, hide,
and some of the meat were put into the canoe. The rest of the meat was
tied high in trees, safe from marauding animals. The boys didn't touch
Miss Deer. They got into the canoe with Bull and paddled away. They
didn't look back.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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