The red feathers

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.