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Page 7
R�n� sprang forward from his seat to seize and shake his friend's hand,
while from all, Indians as well as whites, arose shouts of joy at the
victory of the brave and much-loved lad who wore the Flamingo Feather.
As the angry Chitta turned away from the scene of his defeat, his heart
was filled with rage at these shouts, and he muttered a deep threat of
vengeance upon all who uttered them, those of his own race as well as the
pale-faces.
CHAPTER III
CHITTA'S REVENGE
So Has-se the Sunbeam became Bow-bearer to his father, the great chief
Micco, and Chitta the Snake was disappointed of his ambition. By some
means he became convinced that R�n� de Veaux had instructed Has-se in
his newly acquired trick of wrestling; and though he had no proof of
this, he conceived a bitter hatred against the white lad. He had
especially included him in his muttered threat of vengeance against all
those who greeted his final overthrow with shouts of joy; but, like the
wily reptile whose name he bore, he was content to bide his time and
await his opportunity to strike a deadly blow. After the games were
ended he disappeared, and was seen no more that day.
His absence was hardly noted, for immediately after Has-se's victory
the entire assembly repaired to the great mound which had gradually
been raised by the accumulation of shells, bones, broken pottery, and
charred wood that many generations of Indian feasters had left behind
them, and here was spread the feast of the day. Then followed dancing
and singing, which were continued far into the night.
At length the dancers became exhausted; the men who beat the drums and
rattled the terrapin shells filled with dried palmetto berries grew so
drowsy that their music sounded fainter and fainter, until it finally
ceased altogether, and by two hours after midnight the whole encampment
was buried in profound slumber. Even those whose duty it was to stand
guard dozed at their posts, and the silence of the night was only
broken by the occasional hootings of Hup-pe (the great owl).
Had the guards been awake instead of dreaming, it is possible that they
might have noticed the dark figure of a man who noiselessly and
stealthily crept amid the heavy shadows on the edge of the forest
towards the great granary, or storehouse, in which was kept all the
ripe maize of the tribe, together with much starch-root (koonti katki)
and a large quantity of yams. The granary was built of pitch-pine
posts and poles, heavily thatched with palm-leaves, that the summer
suns had dried to a tinder.
Occasionally the dark figure skulking among the shadows came to little
patches of bright moonlight, and to cross these he lay flat on the
ground and writhed his way through the grass like a snake. A close
observer would have noticed a dull, steady glow which came from a round
object that the skulker carried with great care. If he had been near
enough he would have seen that this was a large gourd, in which, on a
bed of sand, were a quantity of live coals taken from one of the fires
that still smouldered about the epola, or place of dancing. In his
other hand the man carried a few fat-pine splinters that would burn
almost like gun-powder.
At length, without having attracted attention from any one of the
encamped Indians, or the drowsy guards upon whom they depended for
safety, the figure reached the granary, and disappeared amid the dark
shadows of its walls. Crouching to the ground, and screening his gourd
of coals with his robe, he thrust into it one end of the bundle of
fat-pine splinters and blew gently upon them. They smoked for a
minute, and then burst into a quick blaze.
Beginning at one end of the granary, this torch was applied to the dry
thatch that covered it, and it instantly sprang into flame. As the
figure ran along the end of the structure, around the corner, and down
the entire length of its side, always keeping in the shadow, he applied
the torch in a dozen places, and then flinging it on top of the low
roof, where it speedily ignited the covering, he bounded away into the
darkness, uttering, as he did so, a long-drawn, ear-piercing yell of
triumph.
By the time the nodding guards had discovered the flames and given the
alarm, the whole granary was in a blaze, and the startled Indians, who
rushed out from the lodges and palmetto booths, could do nothing but
stand helpless and gaze at the destruction of their property. All
asked how it had happened, and who had done this thing, but not even
the guards could offer the slightest explanation.
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