The Washington weekly post. (Washington, D.C.) 1878-1916, 1899-04-25
RACE UP A MOUNTAIN.
How = Kanska Rnnaer Disssreed Half .
ID zen Horses.

Dt zen HORSES
did any of you ever hear of thirty
five mile steeplechaEe FOR man and teast.s
inquired one OF the California men In a
party OF turf followers. when stories OF
queer bets and long shots were going
s-ound on the return train on the last
day OF the BeHninE meeting. Wen, there
was an AFFAIR OF that kind down In the
Hawaiian bunch In the fan OF 50. when
that genial. chile concarne proposition.
Kalakaua. was King OF the islands. There
were no telephones joining tie Islands
then. and state messages and mandates
were carried BIZ the intefislana steamers
and delivered by Kanska runners. THESE
runners could gaIlop ali day, like Aneri-
can Indians in retreat OF on the tran ana
they didn't know what getting wtaded or
tired meant. Kalakaua thought good
ceal OF these runners OF his. he Always
maintained that they could so faster and
farther than horses over the rOugn ha-
waiian country. In this he was disputed
BIZ a number OF the white attaches or MS
court Kalakaua wcgered SEQ, In goos OF
81 COZ with FIVE Of them that ne could PICK
out a runner from among his hahAAas
who'd get from Hllo TO the top OF the
burning lake of Kilauea. a distance OF
thirty-fve miles, quicker than any morse
and rider could do the trip. They snapped
the King I'd at even money IL looked ds
II they had the good end Of H. The King
and big party from Horolulu sailed in
one of the interIsland steamers 20 Huo,
on the main island Of Hawaii. 10 see the
finish. The King picked out huge. little,
sinewy Kanaka. a man about thirty years
old. who had been employed as a runner
on the Island of Maui for number OF
years, 10 try the the trick for him. Eight
Kanakas made the start a-horseoack, o.
native ponies. bred away back from West
ern cayuses-stTong, sure-footed, hlppy-
tempered little devils, thoroughly used 10
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
Now I understand that that road from
Hilo I'D 10 the Burning Lake OF kilauea
has been improved since the time / m
Speaking of, but X surely was bad tran
then. 1t was only wide enough for enc
wagon, and il was about a 45-degree al
fair in the climb all the way up. The
palms that lined TIE road used 10 get
blown across the trail by the score IN
big wind-storms, and the coach-drivers
counted 1t a part OF their business 20
jump from their seats every time they
came 10 these Instructions and shoulder
them out OF the way. This work had all
been attended to carefully. however, in
advance Of the race by order OF kalakaua,
and 1t looked like pipe for the eayuses,
all of which had made the run up many 4
time. Kslakaua didn't ask for any ham
dicsp allowance for his man. The run
ner toed ths scratch with the horses and
IL r.. IL If
gun. The horses distanced the runner
rom the jump, and he let EN- dis lance
aim. he was dressed in G-strlng, and
ne Just took up 4 steady lope and let the
ca yUSeS get out OF MS sight For ten
Rifles the Cayuses were so lar above him
On the tran that he couldn't even see
them, but this kanasa knew how 10 wait.
Tie horses began 10 come back TO the
runner long before the Halfway House
was reached, and the Kanaka was just
galoping along at the beginning OF the
third hour with the same big stride he
h2d started in with, his arms up and
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 stopped down there
TO a spring beside the road and took a
couple mouthfuls of water. The cayuses
were up ahead a bit, blowing their heads
OF, for they had been going at a clip
that they had never been pushed to be-
mile beyond the Halfway House, and Il
was a big rOmp for him the rest of the
distance. He took a position for the re-
naming seventeen miles of the journey
about a city block ahead of the writhing
and painting horses, and he Just stuck 10
his lcpe like man wound up. He never
let EN- get nearer than a block to him
for the remaining three hours OF the trip
looking back at them with a grin once in
a while. When only three miles yet re-
manned before the Volcano House was tc
be reached, the Kanaka took another
drink out of q spring and began TO draw
away. The Kanaka riders whipped and
spurred their horses. but it was no good
The Kanaka runner disappeared out of
their sight on the tortuous trail. and when
six of the cayuses pulled UP at the hotel
varanda about three-dua~ters of an hour
later the runner was sitting on the steps
flaming himself and drinking saki. Two
of the horses had dropped dead in their
final effort The Kanaka made the thirty
five-mile triD over sticks and stones on
miry road in six hours and forty minutes
and he looked fit to run for his life when
he got through. When / was reading
about the young fellows who did the long
distance running In those Olympian games
in Greece couple of years ago, II struck
ne that any one of Dave Kalakauas run
Eers could have made the whole bunch
look like aluminium dollars