THE HUNTERS’ STORY
There is no need to give the hunters’ story in their own words. At
best it would have to be interpreted out of what we should call a
monkey-like chattering, broken with queer clicking, and set off with
many gestures. In substance the account was this: The hunters, having
found nothing worth killing in the edge of the woods or along the
farther borders of the hills, had pushed straight out into the plain.
Here, besides dry, almost bare ground, cut up in places with little
ravines, or thrown into volcanic knobs and mounds, were small fertile
spots, and these made irregular groups of the nature of oases. There
were groups of palms as the principal trees, but also a few other
kinds, and strong undergrowth, and the usual rush-like grasses.
The hunters pushed out to the nearest of these small land-bound
islands, and stopped to eat a few of the nuts that some of the palms
bore--a sort of scrubby variety of cocoanut, and almost tasteless, yet
containing a little milk. They were stretched under the trees, in the
welcome shade, and were paying no particular attention to things out
of their immediate sight, when they heard a little distressed sort
of squealing, and in from the open plain beyond rushed a scamperer.
He was bleeding from a gash in one of his flanks, and was so wildly
frightened that at first he did not seem to notice the hunters. They
all scrambled up, not knowing what next to expect, or what kind of
pursuer they should have to deal with, and for the instant paid no
further attention to the scamperer. He swerved a little, and plunged
into the tangle of border trees and bushes.
The four men drew cautiously back to the foot of a large palm, and made
ready their weapons. They thought that the unknown beast could hardly
be one of the great lizards, for those creatures rarely strayed so far
from the low marsh country. Possibly it might be a terror-bird, and
if so the four should easily be able to dispose of him. In fact, they
thought they could vanquish a pair, supposing that they had the rather
hard luck to meet them. They were aware that the feathered giants
often hunted in pairs, a male being accompanied by his mate. This idea
of the fighting-powers of the birds, it is well to say, was based on
second-hand knowledge; it so happened that none of the party had even
seen one of the creatures. They were all young men who had never been
in this region before.
But rather to their surprise no pursuer appeared. They waited several
minutes, meanwhile peering through the openings among the trees and
bushes, but not a creature above an insect came in sight. They now
began to think that the scamperer had come a longer distance than they
had at first supposed, and that its panic had continued even after it
was out of danger.
Finally satisfied as to this, they lowered their weapons, and went
back to the bit of clear space, where they had been at first. Here
they picked up the nuts they had left, and then started for a little
exploration of the neighborhood. In particular, they meant to search a
bit of spur of this oasis that lay farther out toward the plain, and
while they were about it to scan the plain itself.
They carried out this plan, but at first made no discovery. There was
no dangerous creature in the spur-oasis, and none in sight in the
open immediately around. But after this they took a longer range, and
especially they scanned the tree-border of a large oasis directly to
the west. Here, after a little uncertainty, their keen eyes made out
some moving objects. They stood still and watched them, and by and by
first one and then another came out clear of the trees, and in the
strong light it was then certain what they were.
Their general look was that of gigantic herons, though herons, as we
know them, had not yet appeared on the stage. It was difficult, at this
distance, and with no other creatures near as a gauge, to say how big
they were, but they were certainly taller than ordinary men, and they
were more bulky than our modern ostriches. They had tufts of feathers
on their heads, and seemed to have stout beaks. By the way they moved
they seemed to trust mainly to their legs, and not to be much good at
flying. Their color was not easy to be sure of, but it was sober, and
inclined to brown, and at least the feathers were nowhere showy. There
could be no further doubt; these great creatures were terror-birds.
The hunters talked a little, and decided to stay where they were,
keeping in sight, and giving the birds a chance to make war if they
were so inclined. If they were peaceful and stayed where they were,
then the hunters would let them alone. It would be too great a risk to
go out and attack them in the open. Still their great bodies, tough
though the flesh might be, would be a valuable addition to the scanty
meat supply of the camp, and the hunters were willing to take somewhat
more than an ordinary chance.
This plan decided on, the four moved out a bit farther into the plain,
and there stood, and finally walked about, of course watching the birds
keenly meanwhile. It was soon evident that the feathered giants saw
them, for first one great head was raised, and then the other, and for
at least half a minute the two stood almost rigid, and gazed. This, the
hunters said, was both exciting and a little trying.
But at last the heads went slowly down again, the two shot out their
long necks this way and that, as if undecided, and finally both stalked
slowly off. They kept on in the same direction that they had originally
been going, which was nearly north.
This gave the hunters new confidence in themselves, and a measure of
contempt for the birds. They agreed that the stories about them had
been colored, and that the creatures were not half so savage or anxious
to dine on human flesh as had been made out.
Paying little further heed to them, the men also turned north, keeping
along parallel to the birds’ course, and crossed to the next oasis.
Here they found more nuts, some edible berries, and, to their surprise
and pleasure, the dead body of the wounded scamperer. The deep gashes
in its sides and flanks had drawn so much blood that it had been unable
to get any farther.
For convenience the hunters cut him up, and divided the pieces among
them, the whole giving them, with the nuts and other things, a fair
load each. Here, as they owned, they should have considered their work
done, and have turned back to the fort. Instead of doing so, they
deliberately pushed out into the plain and headed for the oasis that
the birds had quitted. They had a little hope of finding some of the
monsters’ huge eggs, and if they did they would have both a trophy and
something additional to eat.
They reached the oasis without mishap, and the birds did not turn
back, or at least they did not at the time. In fact, they were not
observed to look around. The place was very much like the others, and
the hunters found only a few valuable nuts, and no eggs. They were soon
ready to leave; and now they felt that they had wasted some of their
time, for they were a pretty good distance from home, the sun beat down
in waves of heat in the open places, and they had little to show for
their extra work. They were about to start when one of them suggested
that they stop long enough to get a look from the western side of the
place, toward the mountains, and as this would not take long, the
others were willing. They crossed to the outside fringe of trees,
therefore, and looked forth, and at once they made a little discovery.
At a spot not far out in the plain there were some low, rocky ridges,
from the midst of which rose a faint, white, steamy cloud. It looked
like the clouds that they had seen rise from the great mountains
themselves, only whiter, and of course infinitely smaller.
It was in reality a smoke, but they did not know it. None of them had
ever before seen one near at hand, and they had never been within
long miles of a fire. It was known that there were fire-holes in the
skirts of one spur of the mountains, and one wandering hunter had
been burned by going too near. Beyond that the nearest that any of
the party had seen a flame was when a mighty sheet, perhaps when the
earth was rocking, had shot skyward, quickly dying out again, or had
trembled waveringly for a longer time along the torn crest of some
rent and sinking ridge. They had also seen fire springing up from
trees struck by lightning, but again not near at hand. They looked at
this near-at-hand wonder now, and immediately resolved to have a still
closer look at it. They started on the instant, and made quick work of
crossing the short distance to the ridges.
The first ridge was like a low wall, its sides yellowed as with some
powerful stain, and entirely bare of vegetation. There was a deal of
fine, powdered stone, dark in color, on the top and farther slope of
the ridge, and this drift, as it might be called (it lay in a manner
like drifted sand on the seashore), continued to the next ridge. They
kept on, crossed the next ridge also, and then came abruptly upon the
mystery.
From the middle of a small basin, and shut in by the ridges, was rising
the strange white cloud, and it drove up from a rocky hole as big as a
modern cart-wheel. All about the powdered stone was yellow and reddish,
and they saw that a fine spray was falling on it from the cloud. Down
in the hole itself, at but a short distance, was what appeared to be
water, but it was in motion, as if somebody was stirring it, rolling,
and popping, and now and then flying in a little jet upwards.
They had already begun to notice a slight, queer smell, and this, as
they came nearer the mysterious hole, grew stronger and more insistent.
It was not a pleasant smell, and they stopped before they were quite at
the hole, feeling a little doubtful about the effect of it. Finally,
they skirted the hole and looked over the next little ridge. Here,
to their surprise, were very few of the stained rocks, and powdered
stones, but there was another mysterious hole near the middle of a
small basin or hollow. This, too, was bubbling, and otherwise in a bit
of turmoil, but it did not throw up much of a spray. As there was this
time no strange odor, they went boldly up to the hole, and one of them
stooped and thrust his finger into the water.
He drew it out with a yell, and jumped back. In his pain he relaxed his
hold of his piece of the scamperer’s flesh, and it dropped into the
hole.
The others were of course amazed and startled, and asked the dancing
experimenter what had happened. He held up his finger, which was very
red, and looked as if it might have been sunbaked, and snarled that
the water was hot. He looked around for something to relieve the pain,
but finding nothing, he left them, and made off over the nearest ridge,
to the plain. They understood that he had gone to dig up a little cool
earth, in which to wrap the finger. This was one of their ordinary
remedies for such mild burns as they had needed to deal with. Pieces of
falling stone, picked up thoughtlessly by hunters, when the mountains
had been spitting them out, was the limit of a burning substance that
they were familiar with.
They thought they would get the piece of meat out of the hole, and
follow; one of them, after a little prodding with his spear, found it,
and started to lift it out. Just then the fellow who had so suddenly
left them, popped as suddenly into sight again. In fact, he was moving
faster than before, and his face showed trouble considerably greater.
It was not now pain, but fright.
“They are coming,” he shouted--“the terror-birds!”
This very nearly threw the others into a panic. They looked at one
another, and made no move either to fight or to run. But then, as
the other man came up, and pluckily seized his spear, they pulled
themselves together, and as he was hastily saying that the birds were
already nigh, they spread out in line, and with him fell back to the
slope of the nearest ridge. They stooped, gripped their spears firmly,
and were now as ready for the strange battle as they could be.
The enemy was very quickly at hand. Up over the crest of the farther
little westerly ridge shot a great, flat-topped head, with wide-apart
eyes and a huge, curved bill. After the head came a long neck,
feathered, and as big around as a strong man’s arm. Next there shot up
a broad-chested body, feathered also, and supported by two sturdy legs.
These legs were as big as little saplings, and looked about as rough
and strong. The feet were made up of long, strong toes, ending in sharp
claws. These claws curved upward a little, and their points did not
press hard upon the ground. Consequently, they were but little blunted.
They might be said to match the great, curved bill, which looked
somewhat like an eagle’s, but was far larger. It was as big, indeed, as
the end of a modern ice-pick, and was fully as sharp. The creature must
have weighed more than a large man, and was nearly all bones and great
muscles. It towered above the tallest of the hunters a good two feet.
It was barely up in full view, when its terrible mate shot up beside
it. The two stopped for a moment, one of them gave a little harsh cry,
and the next instant they both thrust their dreadful heads straight
out, and in this goose-fashion, and flapping their stubs of wings, they
almost sailed down the slope, and shot like living engines up the other
rise, and upon the waiting men.
Not one of the men could tell exactly what happened then. As one of
them said, the air seemed full of great gaping red mouths and giant
bills and claws. Though the two men that mainly received the shock had
each held his spear steadily, and at a good angle, and though each had
seemed to get the weight of a bird’s body on his point, yet each had
been upset and knocked upon his back, and both birds had been able to
whirl and plunge at the others. Luckily the other two had stood in
flanking fashion, looking a bit inward, and so had found a chance,
as the birds broke past them, to put in each a vigorous thrust. Now,
placed separately on their defence, they had drawn their spears back,
and each drove home a stiff and powerful thrust.
They also were bowled over, though not quite so completely as the
first two had been, and with a scramble were up again. One had a deep
groove of a wound in his arm, where a claw or one of the great beaks
had driven along, but the other was unhurt. Desperate now, and furious
almost as the birds themselves, they caught their stone axes from their
girdles, and rushed in, smashing blow on blow.
It was all confusion and wild desperation. The other two men, already
on their feet, joined in. Hitherto none of them had dared to uncover
the defence of his spear to throw a dart, but now the headmost fellow
pulled one from the case, and drove it with his hand into the exposed
side of the nearer bird. He had not time to drop the shaft of the dart
before a side-kick sent him heels over head and ripped a strip of flesh
from his shoulder.
Here the case seemed desperate enough, and it looked as if the men
would soon be mere mangled flesh. But this was not to be, for as the
last man was twirled from his legs, his nearest companion smashed so
hard a blow down upon the thrust-out head of the second bird, that
the creature pulled up short, and then settled slowly to the ground.
It was in the other bird’s way for an instant, and in that brief time
three of the hunters were in a rough line again, two with ready axes,
and one with his spear. The man last kicked over was so dazed and
shaken that he still lay on the ground.
The little break in the fight proved also to be near the end of it. The
bird that was still on its feet saw that its mate was down, and looked
that way, seeming to be surprised, and perhaps daunted. It was at this
precise moment that the youngest and quickest-motioned of the hunters
let fly a dart, and caught the standing bird in the middle of its long
neck. The skin and flesh were so tough and hard that the dart went in
but a little way, and then dropped out, and the bird merely drew back
a step, and gave itself a shake. Nevertheless, some harm was done, and
the result was strangely important.
The bird stopped where it was, and began to stretch its neck, and then
to draw it in, as if it had been taken with a severe cramp. While it
was still at this the other bird showed signs of coming to, and a
moment later gave a lurch, and with the aid of its wings got upon its
legs. The hunters were getting their breath, and preparing for more hot
work, but at this crisis they discovered that there was to be none.
With wings hanging down, and moving feebly, the bird that had just
risen began to walk slowly away. Its mate, still in trouble on its own
account, saw it, and after a hesitating moment slowly followed. There
was not the slightest disposition to stop them, and quickly they were
over the westerly ridge and out of sight.
Relieved, and glad to get off so, the hunters waited a full minute or
two. Feeling then that they were safe, and that the terrible creatures
were not coming back, they lowered their spears, and turned to go.
All four were more or less hurt, but none was crippled, and they were
anxious to put as much good ground between themselves and the feathered
giants as possible. Considering how seriously wounded the birds had
appeared to be, this was speaking well for their fighting qualities.
The hunters, in fact, were sure that their victory was in part due
to luck and to the heedless and rather stupid way in which the birds
had charged. Had they known enough to separate as they came on, and
attack the flankers instead of the centre, they would have bothered the
defenders, and would themselves have escaped the flankers’ side-thrusts.
The party had proceeded but a few steps, when one of them thought
of the lost piece of meat. It was still in the hot water, where the
man who had started to spear it out had left it. They thought it was
probably spoiled, yet might be worth saving, and one man ran back, and
with his spear forked it out. He had to let it lie on the ground for
a few moments to cool, but as soon as he could handle it he dumped it
into a piece of lizard hide, made a bundle of it, and slung it over his
shoulder. A little later, at the last oasis, they stopped and bound up
their wounds; after that they made no halt.
Nothing else had happened, and so here at last they were, their cuts
and bruises witnessing their story. The scamperer’s flesh, too, which
they had dropped at the top of the path, was further evidence.
One thing they were prompt to say--they would never again speak lightly
of a terror-bird!