Chapter XVI: Part III: In the Woods (8)

A surge of reaction came over Yan. He might have fainted, but again he remembered the Trapper's words, "Bravery is keeping on even when you _are_ skairt." He pulled himself together and very cautiously worked his way back to the leaning tree. Hearing strange sounds, yells, growls, sounds of conflict down below, expecting every moment to hear the Lynx scramble up the trunk again, to finish him, dimly hearing but not comprehending the shouts, he rested once at the leaning tree and breathed freely.

"Hurry up, Yan, with that revolver," shouted Blackhawk.

"I dropped it long ago."

"Where is it?"

Yan slid down the sapling without making reply. The Lynx had gone, but not far. It would have got away, but Turk kept running around and bothering it so it could not even climb a tree, and the noise they made in the thicket was easy to follow.

"Where's the revolver?" shouted Caleb, with unusual excitement.

"I dropped it in the fight."

"I know. I heard it fall in the bushes," and Sam soon found it.

Caleb seized it, but Yan said feebly, "Let me! Let me! It's my fight!"

Caleb surrendered the pistol, said "Look out for the Dog!" and Yan crawled through the bushes till that dark moving form was seen again. Another shot and another. The sound of combat died away, and the Indians raised a yell of triumph--all but Little Beaver. A giddiness came over him; he trembled and reeled, and sank down on a root. Caleb and Sam came up quickly.

"What's the matter, Yan?"

"I'm sick--I----"

Caleb took his arm. It was wet. A match was struck.

"Hallo, you're bleeding."

"Yes, he had me--he caught me up the tree. I--I--thought I was a goner."

All interest was now turned from the dead Lynx to the wounded boy.

"Let's get him to the water."

"Guess the camp well is the nearest."

Caleb and Sam took care of Yan, while the others brought the Lynx. Yan grew better as they moved slowly homeward. He told all about the attack of the Lynx.

"Gosh! I'd 'a' been scared out o' my wits," said Sam.

"Guess I would, too," added Caleb, to the surprise of the Tribe; "up there, helpless, with a wounded Lynx--I tell you!"

"Well, I _was_ scared--just as scared as I could be," admitted Yan.

At camp a blazing fire gave its lurid light. Cold water was handy and Yan's bleeding arm was laid bare. He was shocked and yet secretly delighted to see what a mauling he had got, for his shirt sleeve was soaked with blood, and the wondering words of his friends was sweetest music to his ears.

Caleb and the city boy dressed his wounds, and when washed they did not look so very dreadful.

They were too much excited to sleep for an hour at least, and as they sat about the fire--that they did not need but would not dream of doing without--Yan found no lack of enthusiasm in the circle, and blushed with pleasure to be the hero of the camp. Guy didn't see anything to make so much fuss about, but Caleb said, "I knowed it; I always knowed you was the stuff, after the night you went to Garney's grave."

XXXI

On the Old Camp Ground

It was threatening to rain again in the morning and the Indians expected to tramp home heavy laden in the wet. But their Medicine Man had a surprise in store. "I found an old friend not far from here and fixed it up with him to take us all home in his wagon." They walked out to the edge of the rough land and found a farm wagon with two horses and a driver. They got in, and in little less than a hour were safely back to the dear old camp by the pond.

The rain was over now, and as Caleb left for his own home he said:

"Say, boys, how about that election for Head Chief? I reckon it's due now. Suppose you wait till to-morrow afternoon at four o'clock an' I'll show you how to do it."

That night Yan and his friend were alone in their teepee. His arm was bound up, and proud he was of those bandages and delighted with the trifling red spots that appeared yet on the last layer; but he was not in pain, nor, indeed, the worse for the adventure, for, thanks to his thick shirt, there was no poisoning. He slept as usual till long after midnight, then awoke in bed with a peculiar feeling of well-being and clearness of mind. He had no bodily sense; he seemed floating alone, not in the teepee nor in the woods, but in the world--not dreaming, but wide awake--more awake than ever in his life before, for all his life came clearly into view as never before: his stern, religious training; his father, refined and well-meaning, but blind, compelling him to embark in a profession to which he was little inclined, and to give up the one thing next his heart--his Woodcraft lore.

Then Raften stepped into view, loud-voiced, externally coarse, but blessed with a good heart and a sound head. The farmer suffered sadly in contrast with the father, and yet Yan had to suppress the wish that Raften were his father. What had they in common? Nothing; and yet Raften had given him two of the dearest things in life. He, the head of the house, a man of force and success, had treated Yan with respect. Yan was enough like his own father to glory in the unwonted taste; and like that other rugged stranger long ago in Glenyan, Raften had also given him sympathy. Instead of considering his Woodcraft pursuits mere trifling, the farmer had furthered them, and even joined to follow for a time. The thought of Bonnerton came back. Yan knew he must return in a year at most; he knew that his dearest ambition of a college course in zoology was never to be realized, for his father had told him he must go as errand boy at the first opening. Again his rebellious spirit was stirred, to what purpose he did not know. He would rather stay here on the farm with the Raftens. But his early Scriptural training was not without effect. "Honour thy father and thy mother" was of lasting force. He felt it to be a binding duty. He could not rebel if he would. No, he would obey; and in that resolution new light came. In taking him from college and sending him to the farm his father had apparently cut off his hope of studies next his heart. Instead of suffering loss by this obedience, he had come to the largest opportunity of his life.

Yes! He would go back--be errand boy or anything to make a living, but in his hours of freedom he would keep a little kingdom of his own. The road to it might lie through the cellar of a grocer's shop, but he would not flinch. He would strive and struggle as a naturalist. When he had won the insight he was seeking, the position he sought would follow, for every event in the woodland life had shown him--had shown them all, that his was the kingdom of the Birds and Beasts and the power to comprehend them.

And he seemed to float, happy in the fading of all doubt, glad in the sense of victory. There was a noise outside. The teepee door was forced gently; a large animal entered. At another time Yan might have been alarmed, but the uplift of his vision was on him still. He watched it with curious unalarm. It gently came to his bed, licked his hand and laid down beside him. It was old Turk, and this was the first time he had heeded any of them but Caleb.

XXXII

The New War Chief

Caleb had been very busy all the day before doing no one knew what, and Saryann was busy, too. She had been very busy for long, but now she was bustling. Then, it seems, Caleb had gone to Mrs. Raften, and she was very busy, and Guy made a flying visit to Mrs. Burns, and she had become busy. Thus they turned the whole neighbourhood into a "bee."

For this was Sanger, where small gatherings held the same place as the club, theatre and newspaper do in the lives of city folk. No matter what the occasion, a christening, wedding or funeral, a logging, a threshing, a home-coming or a parting, the finishing of a new house or the buying of a new harness or fanning-mill, any one of these was ample grounds for one of their "talking bees"; so it was easy to set the wheels a-running.

At three o'clock three processions might have been seen wending through the woods. One was from Burns's, including the whole family; one from Raften's, comprising the family and the hired men; one from Caleb's, made up of Saryann and many of the Boyles. All brought baskets.

They were seated in a circle on the pleasant grassy bank of the pond. Caleb and Sam took charge of the ceremonies. First, there were foot-races, in which Yan won in spite of his wounded arm, the city boy making a good second; then target-shooting and "Deer-hunting," that Yan could not take part in. It was not in the programme, but Raften insisted on seeing Yan measure the height of a knot in a tree without going to it, and grinned with delight when he found it was accurate.

"Luk at that for eddication, Sam!" he roared. "When will ye be able to do the like? Arrah, but ye're good stuff, Yan, an' I've got something here'll plase ye."

Raften now pulled out his purse and as magistrate paid over with evident joy the $5 bounty due for killing the Lynx. Then he added: "An' if it turns out as ye all claim" [and it did] "that this yer beast is the Sheep-killer instid av old Turk, I'll add that other tin."

Thus Yan came into the largest sum be had ever owned in his life.

Then the Indians went into their teepees. Caleb set up a stake in the ground and on that a new shield of wood covered with rawhide; over the rawhide was lightly fastened a piece of sacking.

The guests were in a circle around this; at one side were some skins--Yan's Lynx and Coon--and the two stuffed Owls.

Then the drum was heard, "Túm-tum--túm-tum--túm-tum--túm-tum----" There was a volley of war-whoops, and out of the teepees dashed the Sanger Indians in full war paint.

"Ki ki--ki yi--ki yi yi yi
Ki yi--ki yi--ki yi yi yi!"

They danced in exact time to the two-measure of the drum that was pounded by Blackhawk. Three times round the central post with the shield they danced, then the drum stopped, and they joined in a grand final war-whoop and squatted in a circle within that of the guests.

The Great Woodpecker now arose--his mother had to be told who it was--and made a characteristic speech:

"Big Chiefs, Little Chiefs, and Squapooses of the Sanger Indians: A number of things has happened to rob this yer nation of its noble Head Chief; they kin never again expect to have his equal, but this yer assembly is for to pick out a new one. We had a kind of whack at it the other day, but couldn't agree. Since then we had a hard trip, and things has cleared up some, same as puttin' Kittens in a pond will tell which one is the swimmer, an' we're here to-day to settle it."

Loud cries of "How--how--how--how--" while Blackhawk pounded the drum vigorously.

"O' course different ones has different gifts. Now who in all this Tribe is the best runner? That's Little Beaver."

("How--how--how--how--how--" and drum.)

"That's my drum, Ma!" said Guy aside, forgetting to applaud.

"Who is the best trailer and climber? Little Beaver, again, I reckon."

("How--how--how--how--" and drum.)

("He can't see worth a cent!" whispered Guy to his mother.)

"Who was it won the trial of grit at Garney's grave? Why, it was Little Beaver."

("An' got pretty badly scared doin' it!" was Guy's aside.)

"But who was it shot the Cat-Owl plumb in the heart, an' fit the Lynx hand to hand, not to speak of the Coon? Little Beaver every time."

("He never killed a Woodchuck in his life, Ma!")

"Then, again, which of us can lay all the others on his back? Little Beaver, I s'pose."

("Well, I can lick Char-less, any time," was Guy's aside.)

"Which of us has most _grand coups_ and scalps?"

"Ye're forgittin' his eddication," put in Raften to be scornfully ignored; even Little Beaver resented this as un-Indian.

"Which has most scalps?" Sam repeated with sternness. "Here's a scalp won in battle with the inimy," Woodpecker held it up, and the Medicine Man fastened it on the edge of the shield that hung from the post.

"Here is one tuk from the Head Chief of the hostiles," and Caleb fastened that to the shield. "Here is another tuk from the Second Chief of the hostiles," and Caleb placed it. "Here is one tuk from the Great Head War Chief of the Sangers, and here is one from the Head Chief of the Boilers, and another tuk in battle. Six scalps from six famous warriors. This yere is the record for the whole Tribe, an' Little Beaver done it; besides which, he draws pictures, writes poethry and cooks purty good, an' I say Little Beaver is the one for Chief! What says the rest?" and with one voice they shouted, "Hoorah for Little Beaver!"

"How--how--how--how--how--_thump, thump, thump, thump_."

"Any feller anything to say agin it?"

"I eh--" Guy began.

--"has got to lick the Chief," Sam continued, and Guy did not complete his objection, though he whispered to his mother, "If it was Char-less I bet I'd show him."

Caleb now pulled the cover off the shield that he fastened the scalps to, and it showed the white Buffalo of the Sangers with a Little Beaver above it. Then he opened a bundle lying near and produced a gorgeous war-shirt of buff leather, a pair of leggins and moccasins, all fringed, beaded and painted, made by Saryann under Caleb's guidance. They were quickly put on the new Chief; his war bonnet, splendid with the plumes of his recent exploits, was all ready; and proud and happy in his new-found honours, not least of which were his wounds, he stepped forward.

Caleb viewed him with paternal pride and said: "I knowed ye was the stuff the night ye went to Garney's grave, an' I knowed it again when ye crossed the Big Swamp. Yan, ye could travel anywhere that man could go," and in that sentence the boy's happiness was complete. He surely was a Woodcrafter now. He stammered in a vain attempt to say something appropriate, till Sam relieved him by: "Three cheers for the Head War Chief!" and when the racket was over the women opened their baskets and spread the picnic feast. Raften, who had been much gratified by his son's flow of speech, recorded a new vow to make him study law, but took advantage of the first gap in the chatter to say:

"Bhise, ye'r two weeks' holiday with wan week extension was up at noon to-day. In wan hour an' a half the Pigs is fed."

* * * * *

INDEX

Arapahoes
Arrows--
How to make
Individuality of
Arrow-wood
Illustration of
Ash--
White
Illustration of
Black

Bagg's, Widdy, place Bald Eagle Bald-Eagle-Settin'-on-a-Rock-with-his-Tail-Hangin'-over-the-Edge Balsam Balsam-fir Balsam bark, used for tanning Boughs for bed Wood for rubbing-sticks Illustration of Banshee Basswood Usually hollow Leaf illustration Beavering Bear hunt Beaver River Beech Illustration of Blue, illustration of Biddy Birch-- White Black Canoe Dishes Mahogany Sweet Black Illustration of Blackbirds, Red-winged Blackbird, purple (Jack) Black Cherry Lung balm As a remedy Blaze-- Special Road Blood Robin Blood Root Bloody-Thundercloud-in-the-Afternoon Bluebird Blue-bottle Flies Plague Blue Cohosh Blue Crane (Heron) Blue-jay Bobolink Boilers Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum) Bow-- How to make Bowstring Bow-drill Yan makes How to light a fire with Boyle Char-less Burns, Guy Is captured by Yan and Sam Becomes a member of the tribe His stuffed Deer His test of courage Kills the Woodchuck Name changed to Hawkeye Butterfly, black Butternuts-- Used for dyeing

Caleb Clark
His description of a teepee
His Indian adventures
Makes Indian war bonnet
His standard of a good shot
He tells Yan how to find his way in the woods
Shows the boys how to skin a horse
and how to tan skin
How to make moccasins
His opinion of hunters and hunting
His marksmanship
Encounter with Mr. Raften on the coon hunt
Story of his quarrel with Mr. Raften
Encounter with Bill Hennard
Gets possession of his farm
Calfskins, sold by boys
Used as drum-heads
Tanning of
Cardinal flowers
Cat
Fight with Skunk
Adopts young Squirrels
Is caught in the ketch-alive
Catnip--
Tea
How it cured the Cat
Cedar,
Cedar-birds
Char-less (Red-squirrel)
Chenopodium
Chipmunk
Sam's Chipmunk capture
Chickadee, cock
Choke-cherry
Clam shells
Cohosh
Connor, Kitty
Coon--
Hairs
Hunt
Tracks
Cottonwood root
Indians use to light fires
Council, the Grand
Coup, Grand
Cow-bird
Crawfish
Creeper
Crow--
Split tongue
Common, tracks of
Cuckoo, black-billed
Cypripedium

Dachshund
Daddy Longlegs and the cows
Dam--
The boys build
Dandelion roots
Coffee
Deer--
Guy's stuffed
Shooting game
De Neuville, Granny
Mr. Raften buys her Pigs
Her love of flowers and birds
She prescribes for Sam's leg
Her herb lore
Her visit from the robbers
Dew-cloth
Digby, Cyrus, (Blue-jay)
Dipper
Dog--
How to tell height by track
Dogans
Downey's Dump
Droseræ (Fly-eating plants)
Ducks, flock of
Dyeing--
With Butternuts
With Hemlock
With Goldthread
With Goldenrod
With Berries
With Pokeweed
With Elder shoots
With Oak chips
With Hickory bark
With Birch
With Dogwood
With Indigo herb

Eagle Feathers As worn by Indian Warriors Elderberry-shoot, used for pipestem Ellis, Bud, is cured by Lung Balm Elm-- Slippery Swamp Bark for teepees Emmy Grants Eupatorium perfoliatum (Boneset)

Fire--
How to light without matches
Right woods to use
Signal
Flicker
Illustration of nest
Flying-squirrel
Fox--
His Rabbit hunt
Callaghan
Frogs

Galium Garney, Bill, grave of Ginseng Goldenrod-- Used for dyeing Usually points north Golden Seal (Hydrastis Canadensis) Goldthread Graybird Grip, the Dog Gyascutus

Hawk-- Sharpshin Fight with King-bird Chicken Red-shouldered Sparrow Hearne, Samuel Hemlock, bark Tree Used for tanning Henbane Hennard, Bill Herb-lore, Biddy's Granny's Heron (Blue Crane) "Highbelier" Hornet, blue Horse, how to skin Horse-hair-- Turns to a snake Humming-bird Hydrastis Canadensis (Golden Seal) Hyla pickeringii (Frog)

Indian--
Sense of smell
Teepees
Head-dresses
Telegram of good luck
Meaning of Eagle feathers
War bonnet
Ability to foretell storms
Games
Tests of eyes
Well
Drum
Smoke signs
Trail signs
Method of tanning skins
Paints

Indian cucumber Indian cup Indian squaw-- Yan's story of Indian turnips Indigo herb Injun tobacco Ironwood

Jack-in-the-Pulpit Jewel-flower Jewelweed

Ketchalive, how to make a Kingbird Fight with Hawk Kingfishers Kingroot

Lancewood Larry, how he made brooms Lavender tea Leatherwood Lindera Benzoin (Spicebush) Little Beaver Lizard, Whistling Lobelia Long Swamp, trip to Loon Lung Balm Lynx-- Yan meets Is killed in Long Swamp

Mallard Duck Mandrakes Maple Martins, Sand "Massacrees" May Apple Mink-- Kills Muskrat How to catch Minnie, makes peace between Yan and Sam Minnow Moccasin-- How to make Mosquitoes, how to keep out of teepee Mouse, Field Mud albums Muskrat-- Killed by Mink Burrows hole in dam Mussel shells

Needles, made of Catfish bones Niagara, Yan visits North Star

Oak, pick to make holes for sewing bark
Ojibwa
O'Leary, Phil
Osage orange
Oven bird
Owl, Stuffed
Hoot
Screech
Horned
Cat
Horned Owls, killed by Yan and Sam
How to stuff

Parlour, the Raftens' Partridge head for Mink bait Peeper Pelopæus, Mud-wasp Peter (Peetweet) Pine Pine Grosbeak Pipsissewa Pleiades Pleurisy root Pogue, Dick Pokeweed Prattisons Prayer-sticks

Rabbit, how he escaped the Fox
Rad--
Unkindness to Yan
Goes Lynx-hunting with Yan
Raften, Bud
Raften, Mrs.,
kindness to Yan
Raften, Wm.,
His characteristics
Helps the boys make their bed in teepee
Makes friends with Caleb and helps him out of his trouble
Rail
Sora rails
Red Squirrels
Nest robbed by boys
Robin--
Guy kills

Sam-- His collection of birds' eggs He visits Granny de Neuville His skill with the axe Sander-- Taxidermist's shop Exhibit of birds Sage-brush root, Indians use to light fires Sandals, worn when Dear-hunting Sanger-- Account of settlers Custom of framing coffin-plates Santees (Sioux) Sassafras Scarlet Tanager Sees Yan again at Granny de Neuville's Sharp-shin Shells-- Mussel Clam Shore-lark Meadow-lark, pursued by Hawk Shrew, Yan finds body of Si Lee Teaches the boys how to stuff Horned Owls Skunk, fight with Cat Skunk Cabbage Skunk-root Smoke, signs used by Indians Snake, dies at sundown Snipe, Teetering (Tipup) "Sorry-plant" Sparrow-- Vesper Song Sparrow-hawk Spear-mint Spicewood (Lindera Benzoin) Spider, kill a spider to make it rain Squaw berries Stramonium Superstitious sayings, Biddy's Swallows, shooting Keep off lightning

Taxidermy, Si Lee gives a lesson in
Teepee--
Is begun
Does not prove satisfactory, smokes
Is blown down
Caleb Clark's description
Second teepee is begun
Storm-cap
How to place poles and ropes
Should face east
How to secure in a storm
Toads, give warts
Trails--
Paper
Corn
Signs of
Trees, points of compass indicated by
How to tell height by shadow
How to measure distance between trees
Tree-frog
Turkey feathers for arrows
Turtle, mud
Tutnee

Umbil, or "Sterrick-root"

Veery Vireo, Red-eyed

Wakan Rock War bonnets Wasp, mud Wesley (Blackhawk) Whangerdoodle Whippoorwill White-man's Foot White Oak pins for teepee Whooping Crane Willow, withes for tying teepee poles Wind, how to tell direction of Wintergreen Witch-hazel-- Will find water Granny de Neuville's medicine Woodchuck-- Sam's story Guy kills the old Woodchuck Wood-duck Wood-mouse Wood-peewee Woodpecker, Red-headed Worm, measuring Wormweed

Yan--
Homelife
His attempts to buy Owl
Love for spring
How he made the last dime for his first nature book
His meeting with the unknown naturalist
Discovery of Glenyan
Building of the shanty
Imitation of Indians
Makes a drawing of a Hawk
Identifies Coon-hairs
Is made ill by chewing leaves of strange plant
His list of trees
Tries to kill Wood-mouse
Makes a pipe and learns to smoke
Is punished for caricaturing his teacher
Finds his shanty destroyed by tramps
His illness
Begins to recover and visits Glenyan
His adventure with a Lynx
Takes Rad hunting
Is reproved by his mother for killing the Shore-lark
He goes to Sanger
His duties
He sees Sam's treasures
He and Sam begin the teepee
They light a fire in the teepee
Which smokes them out
They find the teepee blown down
Their visit to Granny de Neuville
Yan sees Biddy again
They visit Caleb Clark
They begin their second teepee
The canvas is sewn by Si Lee
Caleb teaches them to light a fire without matches
First fire in new teepee
They make bows and arrows; practice with them
They build a dam
Yan's story of the Indian squaw
He visits the Sanger Witch again
Takes dinner with her
They capture Guy Burns; admit him into the Tribe
Yan fights Sam and Guy
Comes to the assistance of the school trustees
Goes with Sam to live in the teepee for two weeks
Their first night in the woods
They are joined by Guy
Their foraging trip
Their Deer-shooting game
Their visit from Caleb
They sun their blankets
How they kept off Mosquitoes
They clean their camp
Carry their remnants of food to Wakan Rock
Dig an Indian well
Make an Indian drum
Yan sees fight between Cat and Skunk
They destroy a Red-squirrel's nest
He learns to build signal fire
Caleb tells him how to find his way in the woods
The boys learn how to tan skins
And how to make moccasins
Makes a ketchalive
Their visit from Mr. Raften
Yan's story of the Boy-that-wanted-to-know
The trip to Downey's Dump
They kill two Horned Owls
Si Lee gives them a lesson in taxidermy
Yan's test of grit
He draws the tracks near Bill Garney's grave
The Grand Council
The Coon-hunt
The Bear-hunt
Yan finds a Shrew
Is ill-treated by Bill Hennard
Trouble with the Boilers
He wins the fight with Blackhawk
The Boilers join the Sangers
Yan beats the city boy in wrestling-match
They start on hard trip
Yan and Pete make an exploring trip
Yan finds the Indian village
His fight with the Lynx
Receives bounty for killing lynx
Is made War Chief
Yan's Mother--
Her morbidly religious nature
She reproves Yan for killing Shore-lark
Yellow Warbler
Yew--
Spanish
Oregon