Two Arrows: A Story of Red and WhiteStoddard, William O.
General
Two Arrows: A Story of Red and White
Stoddard, William O.
Indians of North America -- Fiction
It was pleasant to find the trail so good, at all events, and before
dark they made out to reach the very spot where Two Arrows had camped.
They had been more than twice as long in getting there, but the first
brave who pushed on into the open space found the dead embers of a fire
and began to study them. Not far behind him were Na-tee-kah and
Ha-ha-pah-no, and it was hard to say which of them was the first to
point at the black coals and ashes, and exclaim, "Two Arrows!"
The word was echoed from lip to lip until it came to Long Bear and his
wife. For a wonder he was walking beside her, which was as near as he
could come to carrying her load for her. She was only the step-mother of
Na-tee-kah and her brother, and had a pappoose of her own as part of her
burden, but she took her full share of the family pride when her husband
drew himself grimly up and shut off the strong temptation to "whoop."
"Young brave," he said to her with great calmness. "Great chief some
day. All like father. Same. Go steal pony pretty soon."
The camp was quickly made, and there was food for all in moderate
allowance. They were certain of resting in perfect security, and in the
morning they were as eager as Two Arrows had been to push on out of such
narrow quarters. Nothing happened to any of them until late in the day,
and then the whole band went suddenly into camp again.
The Big Tongue had become almost a silent Indian under the effects of
hard walking, but he had been stung again by remarks from Ha-ha-pah-no,
and he had gone ahead. He had not gone far enough to make him look
enterprising, but all at once the canon fairly rang with a whoop he sent
back, to let the rest know he had found something. At the same moment
three great vultures, or buzzard-eagles, arose from a prize they had
found, and soared away. They were wonderfully wide-winged birds, and
each carried off a good dinner, for they had nearly finished the offal
left upon the ground by the carcasses of the cougar and the big-horn.
The Big Tongue pointed proudly at the discovery he had made, and was
about to say something, when he was once more overwhelmed. His whooping
had brought a swarm of the braves around him, but of course no squaws
had presumed to push in. It was for that very cause that the eyes of
Na-tee-kah had been busy among the rocks, and so she had discovered the
charcoal "token" scored upon one of them.
"Two Arrows!" she screamed, and in a moment more there were warriors
there, taking away the stones which covered the meat and the skins.
It was time now for Long Bear to do all the whooping there was in him.
His son had slain a cougar single-handed, and had killed a big-horn, and
here were the proofs of it. The whole band could at once have another
feast of fresh meat, provided by the young hero, for whom they were
indebted to the great Long Bear.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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