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

BY the time we had padded well out
into the current we had drifted so far
downstream that we were in full view
of the Fire Peoples abiding place. So
occupied were we with our padding,
our eyes fixed upon the other bank,
that we knew nothing until aroused by
a yell from the shore We looked
around. There were the Fire People,
many of them looking at US and point
| ing at us, and more We're crawling out
Of the caves. We sat up to watch and
forgot all about padding. There was
great hullabaloo on the shore Some
of the fire men discharged their bows
at us, and few of the arrows fell
| near US, but the range was too great
Ii was great day for Lop Ear and
myself. To the east the confagration
we had started was filing half the sky
with smoke. And here we were, per-
fectly safe in the middle of the river,
close to the Fire Peoples stronghold.
We sat and laughed at them as we
padded by. swinging south, and south
ward to east, and even to northeast,
and then east again, southeast and
south, on around to the west, great
wide curve where the river nearly
tied knot in itself.
Then we swept on to the west, the
Fire People far behind, a familiar
scene opened our eeyes. It was the
drinking place, where we had wander
ed once or twice to watched the ami
mails when they came down to drink
Beyond it, we knew, was the carrot
patch and beyond that the caves and
the abiding place of the horde We
began to paddle for the bank that slid
swiftly past and before we knew it
we were down upon the drinking
places used by the horde There were
the women and children, the water
carriers, number of them, filling
their gourds. At sight of US they
stampeled madiy up the runways,
leaving behind them trail of gourds
they had dropped.
We landed, and of course we neg
lected to tie up the catamaran, which
fioated of down the river. Right eau
tiously we crept up a runway. The
folk had all disappeared into their
holes, though here and there we could
see face peering out at US. There
was no sign OF Red Eye. We were
home again. And that night we slept
in our own little cave high up on the
cliff, though first we had to evict
couple of pugnacious youngsters who
had taken possession.
The months came and went The
drama and tragedy of the future were
yet to come upon the stage, and in the
meantime we pounded nuts and lived.
It was a good year, remember, for
nuts. We used to fill gourds with
nuts and carry them to the pounding
places. We placed them in .depres-
sions in the rock. and, with a piece of
rock in our hands, we cracked them
and ate them as we cracked
1t was the fall of the year when Lop
Ear and | returned from our long ad
venture journey, and the winter that
followed was mild. ! made frequent
trips to the neighborhood of my old
home tree, and frequently l searched
the whole territory that lay between
the BURBERRY swamp and the mouth
of the slough where Lop Ear and /
had learned navigation, but no clew
could get of the Swift One. She had
disappeared And / wanted her.
was impelled by that hunger which
have mentioned and which was akin
to physical hunger, albeit it came
often upon me when my stomach was
full. But all my search was vain.