Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1894-08-23
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CHAPTER XIN.-Conttnued.

the tree" he cried. - on know my
soul is kept there. Why, Ula, who
told you that? and you woman. Bad
medicine. indeed. Some man has been
babbling whai he learned in the mys-
tcries. If this should reach the ears
of the King of the Rain" he paused
mysieriously.
"What? WHAT" Ula cried, Selling
his hand in hers, and pressing it hard
10 her bosom in her anxiety and eager
ness. Tell me the secret! Tell me!'
With Il sudden sharp howl Of darting
pain, Tu-kila-kila Withdrew her hand.
She had squeezed the finger the par
rot had bitten, and blood began once
more to flow from it freely.
A wild impulse of revenge came over
the savage He caught her by the
neck with his other hand, pressed her
throat hard till she was black in the
face, kicked her several times with
ferocinus rage. and then flung her
away from him to the other side of the
hut with fierce and untranslatable
native imprecation
Ula shaken and hurt, darted away
toward the door. with ia Of ali. ect
terror. For every reason on earth she
was intensely alarmed. Were it
merely as matter of purely earthly
fear, she had ground enough for fright
that powerful and implacable creature.
He would kill her and eat her with far
less conjunction than an English
farmer would kill and eat one OF his
own barn. yard chickens. But besides
that, it terrified her not a little in
more mysterious ways to see the blood
of Il good falling upon the earth SO
freely. She knew not what awful re-
suits to herself and her race might fol-
low from so terrible Il Dissertation.
But, to her utter establishment, the
great god himself, mad with rage ~
he was, seemed none the less almost
AIS profoundly frightened and surprised
us she herself was. what did you 40
that for?' he erred, now sufficiently re-
covered for thought and speech.
wringing his hand with pain, and then
popping his finger hastily in his month
to ease it, "lou are Il clumsy thing.
And you want to destroy me, too, with
your foolish clumsiness.
He looked Mt her and scowled He
was worry angry. But the savage
woman is nothing if not quicllwitted
and polite. In Il flash of intuition,
Ula saw ut once he was more fright
ened than hurt; he was afraid Of the
effect OF this strange revelation upon
his own reputation for supreme god
y
Of doprecatorv servility the woman
sided back to his side like Il whipped
dog. For second she looked down
on the floor ut the drops Of blood; then,
without one word of warning or oac
instant's hcsit ition, she bit be" own
finger hard till blood flowed from It
freely, II will show this to Fire and
Water she said; holding up before
his eyes, all red and beeding. II will
say you were angry with me and bit
me for punishment, as you often do.
They will never Ind out it was the
blood of Il gol. Have no fear TO- their
eyes. Let me look at your finger
Tu-klla- kila, half appeased by her
clever quickness, he'd his hand out
sulkily, like II dlsohed.ent child. Ula
examined it close. "A bite, she SAID,
shortly, "A bite from bird, II peck
from parrot.
Tu-kila Kila ierked ont surly as
sent
"Yes, the Soul OF all dead parrots, "
he answered. with an angry glare.
ut bit me this morning at the King
of the Birds \ vicious brute. But
no cue saw IT,.
Ula put the finger up to her own
mouth, and sucked the wound gently.
Her medicine stanched it. Then she
LOON II ttllu tCul ol VIC payer AluAbCIt.
soft, cool, and soothing, and hoand il
round the place with a strip OF the
lace-like inner bark as deftly Us any
hospital nurse in London would have
done it. These savage women are cap-
ltal hands in sickness Tu-kila-kila
sat and sulked meanw lille, like a eis-
appointed child. When Ula had
finished, she nodded her head and
glided softly away. She knew her
chance of learning the secret was gone
for the moment and she had too much
of the gile Of the savage woman to
spoil her chances by lettering about
unnecessarily while her lord was IN his
present ungracious humor,
AS she stole from the hut, Tu-kila-
kila, looking ruefully at his wounded
hand and then at that light and supple
retreatiug figure, muttercd sulkily to
himself, with Il very bad grace, the
woman knows too much. She knows
that Tu-kila-kila's life ana soul are
bound up in the tree. She knows that
/ bled and that the parrot bit me, Ii
she blabs, as woman will do, mischief
may come of it. | am great god, Il
very great god-keen, nloodthlrsty,
cruel And | like that woman. But
it would be wiser and safer. perhaps,
after all, To forego my affection aud to
make great feast of her"
And Ula, looking back with q smile
and nod and holding up her own hit
ten and bleeding hand with farewell
shake, as if to remind her divine hus-
band Of her promise to show it to Fire
and Water. murmured low to herself
as she went, He is very great god;
very great goi, no doubt; but hate
him, He would eat me tomorrow If
didn't coax him and wheedle him and
keep him in good temper. You want
to be sharp, indeed, to be the wife of
god. | got OF to-day with the skin of
my teeth. He might have turned and
killed me. If only could find out the
Great Taboo, | would tell it TO the
Il. = L. =