The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1897-11-19

III liz CulDS ~ III lollllS SN CS,
then droppe his toy and flew into the
forest with howl which betOkened his
fear of sorething less than sudden
death.
Abs frs impulse was to pursue his
sinful youg brother, but, after the first
leap, he cecked himself and paused to
pluck awy the thing which, SO light the
force ths had impelled it, had not gone
deeply i, He knew now that Bark was
%abandoed plaything, began it's exam
;nationheuShtfu!ly and %curiously. ON
The roung mans instinct toward ex-
perimnt exhibited itself as usual and
he pr the splinter against the string
and 9eW it back and let it fly as he had
seen Bark dO-that promising sprig, by
the Jay, being now engaged in peering
from the wood and trying to form an
estimate as to whether or not his return
forge of the bent twig would throw the
silver farther than he could toss it with
his hand, and he wondered what would
follow were something like this play
thing, the device of which Bark had
stumbled upon, to be a and tried on
a sreater scale. I'll make n like it,
ony larger" he said to himself.
The VentureSome but more or less
diplomatic Bark had, by this time,
emerged from the wood and was appre-
lensiVely edging up toward the place
where Alb was standing. The older
brother saw him and called to him to
come and try h thing again, n the
youngster knew that he was safe. Then
the two toyed with the p%laything for
an hOur or two and Alb became more
and more interested in it's qualities. He
had no definite idea as to it's POSSIBLE
tiles. He thought only of it as a curious
thing which should be larger.
n next day Alb hacked from a low
llmbed tree a branch as thick as his fin
ger and about a yard in length, and,
first trimming it, bent it as Bark had
bent the tWig and tied a strong sineW
cord across. 1t was not a discreditable
bow, considering the fact that it was
the first he ever made, though one end
was smaller than the other and it was
rough of outline. Then Alb cut a straight
willow tWlg, as long nearly as the bow,
n began repeating the experiments
of the day before. Never was a MAI
more astonished than this youth after
he had drawn the tWig back nearly to
it's head and let it so.
SO drawn, by a strong ARM, the shaft
when released flew faster and farther
than the maker Of what he thought Of
chiefly as q thing of sport had imagined
could be possible. He had long to search
FOR the head!ess arrow, and when he
u IL lc Ntlll away 70 NlleIe were
Dare open stretches that he might al
Ways see where it fell. Once as he sent
1t from the string it stuck fairly
against an oak and, pointless as it was,
forced Itself deeply into the hard brown
bark and hung there quivering. Then
came to the youth a Has of thought
which had it's effect upon the ages:
what if there had been Il point to the
flying thing and it had struck a rein
deer or any of the hnntnI ojnooIc o'
He pulled the shaft from the tree and
stood there bordering for a moment or
two, then suddenly started running to-
wards the cave. He must see Old Mok!
The old man was at work and alone
and the young nan told him, some
what eXcitedly, why he had thus come
running to him. The elder listened with
some patience, but with a commiserat-
ing grin upon his face. He had heard
Young men tell of great ideas before, Of
a new and better way of digging pits,
or of fishing, or making deadfalls for
wild beasts. But he listened and yield.
ed finally to Abs earnest demand thai
he should hObble out into the open and
see with his own eyes how the strung
bow had sent the shaft. They went to-
gether to an open space, and again Alb
Shove to his old friend what the new
thing would do. With the second shot
there came a new light into the eyes Of
the veteran hunter and he bade Alb run
into the cave II bring back with him
his faNorite spear. The u man was
back us soon as his strong legs could
bring him. and When he burst into the
open space he found Mok standing a
long spears east from the greatest of
the trees which stood about the open
ing.
"ThrOw your spear at the tree" said
Mok. Throw strongly as you can
Alb hurled the spear as the Zulu of
later times might hurl his assagai, as
strongly and as we'll, but the distance
was oVermuch for spear throwing with
good effect, and the flint point pierced
the wood SO lightly hat the weight Of
the long shaft was too great for the
holdins; force and it sank slowly to the
ground and pulled away the head.
\ Wild beast struck by the spear ut
such distance would have been soreIy
pricked, but not hurt seriously.
"Now take the plaything," said old
Mok, land throw the little shaft at the
tree with that
Alb did as he was told, and, poor
marksman with his new device, Of
course, missed h big tree repeatedly,
broad as the mark was, but when at
last the bolt struck the hard trunk
fairly there vas a sound which told Of
the sharpness of the blow and the head
less shaft rebounded back for yards.
Old Mok looked upon it all delightedly.
1T may be there is something in
your plaything," he said to the young
man. w will make a better one. But
your shaft is good for nothing. We will
make a straighter and stronger one and
upon the end of it we will put a little
sDeurhead, n then w can tell how
deeply it will go into the wood. We will
work.
For days the two labored earnestly to-
gether, and when they came again into
the omen hey bore a stronger bow. one