Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-06-10

Some Of them went into the forest
and returned with leads of dry wood,
leaves and grass. All the Fire People
drew in closer While most of them
stood by with bows and arrows, ready
to shoot any of the folk that exposed
themselves. several of the fire men
heaped the dry grass and wood at
the mouths OF the lower tier of caves.
Out of these heaps they conjured the
monster we feared-firei At first
wfsps of smoke arose and curled up
the cliff. Then i could see the red
tongued flames darting in and out
through the wood like tiny. snakes.
The smoke grew thicker and thicker,
at times shrouding the whole face of
the cliff But | was high UP, and it
did not bother me much, though it
stung my eyes, and / rubbed them
with my knuckles. ..E-
be smoked out. A light fan of air
drifted the smoke away at the time
so that | saw clearly. He broke out
through the smoke, stepping on a
burning coal and screaming with the
sudden hurt of it, and essayed to
climb up the cliff The arrows chow
cred about him. He came to pause
on ledge, clutching knob Of rock
for support, gasping and sneezing and
shaking his head. He swayed back
and forth. The feathered ends of a
dozen arrows were sticking out of
him. He was an old man, and he did
not want to die He swayed wider
and wider. his knees giving under
him, and as he swayed he walled most
plaintiyely. His hand released its
grip, and ne lurched outward to the
fall. His old bones must have been
sadly broken. He groaned and strove
feebly to rise, but man rushed in
upon him and Drained him with a
club.
And as it happened with Marrow
Bone SO 1t happened with many of
the folk Unable to endure the smoke
suffocation, they rushed out to fall
beneath the arrows. Some of the
women and children remained in the
caves to strange to death, but the
majority met death outside.
When the fire men had in this
fashion cleared the first tier of caves
they began making arrangements to
duplicate the operations on the second
tier of caves It was while they were
climbing up with their grass and wood
that Red Eye, followed by his wife,
with the baby holding to her tightly,
made a successful flight up the cliff.
The fire men must have concluded
that in the interval between the smok-
ing out operations we would remain
in our caves, so that they were un.
prepared, and their arrows did not
begin to fly till Red Eye and his wife
were well up the wall. When he
reached the top he turned about and
glared down at them, roaring and
beating his chest They arched their
arrows at him and, though he was
untouched, ne fled on.
] watched a third tier smoked out
and fourth. A few of the folk es-
capped up the cliff, but most of them
were shot off the face of it as they
strove to climb | remember Long
Lip. He got as far as my ledge, cry
ing piteously, an arrow clear through
his chest, the feathered shaft sticking
out before, shot through the back as
he climbed. He sank down On my
ledge, bleeding profusely at the
mouth. ~ ,..
1t was about this time the upper
tiers seemed to empty themselves
spontaneously. Nearly all the folk
not yet smoked out stampeded up the
cliff at the same time This was the
saving of many. The Fire People
could not shoot arrows fast enough.
They filled the air with arrows and
scores of the stricken folk came tum-
bling down, but still there were few
who reached the top and got away.
The impulse of flight was now
stronger-in me than curiosity. The
arrows had ceased flying. The last
of the folk seemed gone, though there
may have been few still hiding i'm
the upper caves. The Swift One and
! started to make a scramble for the
Clifftop. At sight of us a great cry
went up from the Fire People This
was not caused by me, but by the
Swift One. They were chattering ex.
citedly and pointing her out to one
another. They did not try to shoot
her. Not an arrow was discharged.
They began calling softly and coax.
ingly. stopped and locked down
She was afraid and whimpered am
urged me on. So We went up owe
the top and plunged into the trees.
This event has often caused me to
wonder and speculate If she were
really Of their kind she must have
been lost from them at a time when
she was too young to remember, else
would she not have been afraid of
them. On the other hand, il may we'll
have been that, while she was their
kind, she had never been lost from
them; that she had been born in the
wild forest far from their haunts, her
father maybe a renegade fire man,
her mother maybe one of my own
kind, one of the folk But who shall
say? These things are beyond me
and the Swift One knew no more
about them than did |. a. ..."
We lived through a day of terror
Most CT the survivors fled toward the
BURBERRY swamp and took refuge in