The daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Ind. Ter. [Okla.]) 1898-1902, 1899-11-21
RACE UP A
How = Kanaka Rupner Easily Dis
tanced Half a DoHen Horses
In n Long Hum.

stories Of queer bets and long shots
were going around on the return train
on the last day of the Benning meet
Ing. "Well, there was an affair Of that
kind down In the Hawaiian bunch in
the fall of 's9, when that genial, chile
con carne proposition, Kalakaua, was
king of the islands. There were no tel
ephones joining the islands then, and
state messages and mandates were car
ried by the interisland steamers and
delivered by Kanaka n These
runners could gallop all day, like Amer
ican Indians in retreat or on the trail,
and they didn't know what getting
winded or tired meant. Kalakaua
thought a good deal Of these runner of
his. He always maintained that they
could 90 faster and further than horses
over the rough Hawaiian country. In
this he was disputed by a number of
the white attaches of his court. Kala-
kaua wagered $1,000, in gobs of $1,000,
with five of them that he could pick
out a runner from among his Xanakas
who'd get from Hilo to the top of the
burning lake OF Kilauea, a distance Of
35 miles, quicker than any horse and
rider could do the trip. They snapped
the king up at even money. 1t looked
as if they had the good end of it. The
king and a big party from Honolulu
sailed in one OF the interislapd steam
ers to Hil0, on the main island of Ha-
xx-ntf a. rna 4La Grtnh Tho lin r nfolra6
out a huge, 1.-THE, sinewy Kanaka, a
man about 80 years old, who had been
employed ms a runner on the island of
Maui for a number of years, TO try the
trick for him. Eight Kanakas made the
start a-horseback on native ponies, bred
away back from western cayuses-
strong, sure-footed, nippy-tempered lit
tie devils, thoroughly used to the bad
roads and the climbing. The king and
his party had gone up to the Volcano
house, at the top Of Kilauea, in coaches
the day before to be on hand to greet
the winner.
Nov, l understand that that road
from Hilo up to the Burning Lake Of
Kilauea has been improved since the
time I'm speaking of, but it surely was
a bad trail then. It was only wide
enough for one wagon, and it was about
a 45-degree affair in the climb all the
way up. The palms that lined the road
used TO get blown across the trail by
the score in big windstorms, and the
beach drivers counted it q part of their
business to jump from their seats every
time they came to these distractions
and shoulder them out of the way. This
work had all been attended to care
fully, however, in advance of the race
by order of Kalakaua, and it looked
like a pipe. for the cayuses, all Of which
had made the run many a time. Kala-
,Saua didn't ask for any handicap al
lowance for his man. The runner toed
the scratch with the horses, and they
got off together at the crack of the gun.
The horses distanced the runner from
the jump, and he let 'em distance him.
He was dressed in a G-string, and he
Just took up a steady lope and let the
cayuses get out of his sight. For ten
miles the cayuies were so far above him
on the trail that he couldn't even see
them, but this Kanaka knew how to
wait. The horses began to come back
to the runner long before the halfway
house was reached, and the Kanaka was
just g~alloping along at the beginning
of the third hour with the same big
stride he had started in with, his arms
up aud shooting out in front of him
like soldiers on the double-time drill.
"There wasn't a pant in him when he
fetched up at the halfway house. He
-s,oonac acwu there to a spring beside
the road and took a couple OF monthfuls
of water. The cayuses we're up aneao
a bit, blowing their heads of, 10. lpey
had been going at a clip that they had
never been pushed to before. The Ka-
naka headed the bunch a mile beyond
the halfway house, and 1t was a big
romp for him the rest of the distance.
He took a position for the remaining
II miles Of the journey about a city
block ahead of the writhing end pant
ing horses, and he just stuck to his
lope like a man wound up. He never
let 'em get nearer than a block to him
for the remaining three hours of the
trip, looking back at them with a grin
once In awhile. When only three miles
vet remained before the Volcano house
was to be reached the Kanaka took an
other drink out Of a spring and began
TO draw away. The Kanaka riders
whipped and spurred their horses, but
it was no good. The Kanaka runner
a..annoa-a - 1t. ..nht u