THE UNFINISHED BATTLE
Run-all-day’s fighting force consisted of about one hundred and
forty warriors, well armed and trained. Every man of them could
shoot straight and strong with the bow, and throw his club and
spear with accuracy and force. All had strong shields with which to
guard their bodies, and blades of flint in their belts for use in
hand-to-hand grapplings. There were scouts lurking afar, to the south
and west,--swift runners to bring word to the village of the trend
and progress of the different battles and war-parties. The village
was enclosed in a breast-high fence of brush and tree-trunks, and the
warriors kept within easy reach of the lodges, ready to answer a call
to arms at any time of the day or night.
It was early of a June morning when two runners entered the village
gasping for breath, and told the chief that they had seen several
war-parties at a distance of about four hours’ journey to the
southward. They had found them at night, asleep around small fires, and
were not certain of their numbers. They were lying on the ground close
as the stones in the bed of a river, each rolled in his sleeping-robe
and looking very long and broad in the uncertain light. Run-all-day
called the lesser chiefs and most experienced warriors into his lodge,
and a council of war was held without delay. Jumping Wolf volunteered
to set out immediately, with a small party of the swiftest among the
young men, to spy upon the approaching enemy and return with word of
their strength.
“It is a good plan,” said Run-all-day; and the others nodded their
heads. So Jumping Wolf selected six youths to accompany him, and left
the village. They carried no arms save the knives in their belts; but
their shields, spears, and clubs were to be held in readiness against
their return.
When Jumping Wolf had been gone an hour, the council’s plans were
settled. A chief named Tall Pine advanced into the hilly, wooded
country to the southward, close along the eastern shore of the stream,
with thirty men. His orders were to halt and take cover a mile from the
village, throwing his men in a thin line across the probable course of
the enemy. This line was to let the leading body of the enemy pass
through it, and then close in, on the flanks of the invaders, with fire
of arrows and spears. Another force of thirty warriors, with a chief
named Red Sky in command, took position a few hundred yards in rear of
the other, where the river begins to widen into the bay, and spread
from the rocks of the coast across the front of the village. This party
was to strike the enemy in front, at the first sounds of conflict. Both
these parties were to fall back upon the main body, after loosing a
few volleys and striking a few swift blows. The main body, consisting
of over seventy men, and led by Run-all-day and several other chiefs,
lay in close ranks in front of the village, well hidden among rocks and
brush.
It was about three hours before noon when Jumping Wolf’s party returned
from the scouting and joined the advance line, where their arms and
shields were awaiting them. They had run far and fast, had seen the
enemy advancing in three lines, and had returned at top speed. Jumping
Wolf reported the number of the enemy as close upon three hundred.
A fresh runner was sent back with the information, and the scouts
remained with Tall Pine.
An hour passed--two hours passed--and still the wilderness lay quiet
under the warm and high-wheeling sun. Jumping Wolf crawled away from
the line of impatient warriors and slipped into the rugged places. He
was soon back again, and crouched beside Tall Pine.
“They are within bow-shot’s distance,” he whispered. “The leading party
will touch that open hillside,” and he pointed with his finger.
The word went along the line, and every concealed warrior fixed his
gaze on the rocky slope indicated, and set the notches of arrows to
the taut strings. The figure of a man appeared suddenly from the
scrubby growth above the clearing. He stood upright and gazed ahead,
and on every side, under a shading hand. At last, evidently satisfied
with the result of his survey, he waved his arm and advanced further
into the open. He stooped, and took advantage of every bit of cover,
moving swiftly forward all the while. They came after him quickly and
noiselessly, every man following the tactics of the leader in crossing
the open space. The party numbered more than seventy warriors. Upon
reaching the foot of the slope, where the ground was rough and lightly
wooded, they closed in an irregular formation and increased their
speed. They seemed to be in a great hurry to add one more smoking
village to the list of their military achievements. They hastened
along, four and five abreast, close-ranked, lulled to carelessness by
the ease of former victories.
The twanging of bow-strings opened the battle-music, and the arrows
swished and struck. The invaders scattered, and sprang to right and
left in search of Tall Pine’s hidden warriors; and from either side the
arrows continued to leap from rock and bush and tree. The long shafts
rattled across the shields and stood deep in flesh and muscle; and even
while the invaders dashed here and there, Red Sky appeared in front
of them, with his thirty men, and advanced swiftly behind a shower of
arrows. The leader of the enemy rallied his scattered fighters and led
them against the new arrivals; but only forty of his seventy were able
to join the charge. Red Sky met them with a flight of spears; and at
the same moment the bow-men under Tall Pine and Jumping Wolf sprang
into sight and closed upon their rear.
Soon the victors were busy collecting arrows, drawing them from dead
bodies and gathering them up from the ground. A few had wounds to
bind, but only a few. It had been a swift and easy victory for the
skirmishers of Run-all-day’s army, and not more than a dozen of the
invaders had escaped death by flight.
Suddenly more of the enemy issued from the woods above the open
hillside, and rushed down the slope, score after score. It was the main
body, numbering more than two hundred fighting-men. They came at their
best pace, wondering, no doubt, why the sounds of combat had ceased;
perhaps believing that Run-all-day was already overthrown, and in haste
to join in the looting of the village. By the time the scene of the
fight was reached, only the dead awaited them.
The sixty victors fell noiselessly back and joined the double line of
defenders in front of the village. Word of the brief fight and of the
approach of the main body of the enemy passed from mouth to mouth.
Then all lay still, close to the ground, and breathlessly awaited the
arrival of the invaders. They had a fairly clear view of the land for
several hundred yards in front of their coverts. At last the vanguard
of the enemy appeared among the little hummocks and clumps of trees,
and a great shout went up from them at the sight of what appeared to
them an unprotected village. Of what account is a barrier of brush if
there are no warriors to strengthen it?
Then, standing upright between the hidden defenders and the invaders
swiftly forming line for attack, appeared the figure of a young man in
garments of dressed leather, richly decorated. The advance was halted,
and the warriors of Run-all-day held their arrows.
“Go back to your villages,” cried the young man to the southerners.
“You have shed too much blood of your own countrymen. Turn on your
trail of blood and ashes, and go back to your deserted lodges.”
“It is the good magician. It is Wise-as-a-she-wolf,” whispered
Run-all-day’s warriors.
“Who speaks so mightily?” cried a young chief from the ranks in front.
“Are we to be turned back by a voice, who have scattered the people of
ten encampments?” and he bent his bow.
“Yes! Though the voice has been silent over-long,” replied the
magician. “Unstring your bows, and return to your own lands, and mourn
the ruin you have done.”
At that the young chief raised his bow.
“Loose the arrow, fool,” cried the other; and the arrow flew. And he
extended his hand and plucked it from the air and dropped it, harmless,
to the ground.
“I am Wise-as-a-she-wolf, whom men once called Highest Star,” said the
magician. “Is this your gratitude for a hundred seasons of protection?”
“Let us at them, master,” cried Run-all-day, springing to his feet.
The magician halted and silenced the great chief with a gesture of his
hand. Then he advanced upon the wavering southerners who lusted for
blood and the treasures of the village in spite of the fear in their
hearts.
“All the people of this island are my people, else would I strike you
for your sins of greed and blood-thirstiness,” said Wise-as-a-she-wolf,
walking steadily forward.
“The master is angry. I hear it in his voice. He will strike them in
his wrath,” whispered Run-all-day to a man beside him.
True, the magician was angry, for all the gentleness of him; and the
anger shone in his eyes, and scattered the men of the south before him.
They ran to right and left, but they did not turn back toward their own
villages. And the young chief who had loosed the arrow, called the
more daring of his followers to stand firm. So wicked was his heart,
and so full was it of vanity, that he knew nothing of discretion. He
hurled two spears, in quick succession, at the good magician.
Wise-as-a-she-wolf snatched the spears from the air, stood for a second
with one in either hand, and then vanished from the sight of friend
and foe. Next moment the arrogant young chief lay dead on the ground,
struck down by an invisible weapon. At that, the invaders turned and
ran southward, frantic with terror, each warrior expecting immediate
death from the unseen hand. Wise-as-a-she-wolf knew that their hearts
were hard, and that their lesson was not yet learned, so he ordered
Run-all-day and his warriors to follow the fugitives and deliver six
flights of arrows.
Not more than half of the three hundred southern warriors got safely
back to their own country; and they were spent and sore, and full
of regret for their misdeeds. Also, they were none the richer for
their great campaign, for they had retreated so whole-heartedly from
Run-all-day’s village, that they had thrown away their spoils of former
victories to lighten their flight. The women and children and old men
jeered the survivors and mourned the dead with a great and depressing
noise. All the villages of that region suffered hunger, for the fishing
and hunting had been long neglected.
Scarcely had they settled in their lodges again, humbled and sad,
before Wise-as-a-she-wolf appeared among them, and unseated the
remaining chiefs and set others in authority. After which, seeing that
their vanity was broken, he drove a herd of caribou close to their
village, that they might have food with which to support their lives
while they mended their ways. He made medicines for the sick among the
women and children and old men, and gave healing salves to some of the
wounded warriors. Then he left them, and flew upon his magic moccasins
to quell other clans and still the fighting in every quarter of the
island. In some cases he punished and in others he showed mercy, always
reading the hearts of the people. So, in a few days, he had brought the
island to peace again and struck all the evil counsellors, save Bright
Robe, with his wrath.
But Bright Robe he could not find, though he heard from many that
he had been in the country, urging the clans to warfare and flying
through the air like a bird.
So he knew that the red feathers were in the possession of his rival
again, and vowed to his heart that he would seek him over the length
and breadth of the world.