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


ing it all They obeyed him and went
here and there at his commands.
Some Of them went into the forest
and returned with loads 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-fire! AT first
wisps of smoke arose and curied up
the cliff. Then could see the red
tongued flames darling 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 1t
did not bother me much, though 1t
stung my eyes, and l rubbed them
with my knuckles.
Old Marrow Bones was the first to
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
burning coal and screaming with the
sudden hurt of it, and essayed TO
climb up the cliff. The arrows show
cred about him. He came to a pause
on a ledge, cIutching 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
plaintively. His hand released its
grip, and he 1urchsd outward to the
fall. His old bones must have been
sadly broken. He 'groaned and strove
feebIy to rise, but man rushed in
upon him and Drained him with a
club.
And as it happened with Marrow
Bone so it 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 strangle 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 operation on the second
| tier of caves. 1t 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 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 we'll 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 a fourth few of the folk es
capped up the cliff, but most of them
we're shot off the face of it as they
| stroye to climb. / remember Ions
Lip. He got as far as my ledge. cry
1 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 tht
/ mouth.
4 1t was about this time the upper
tiers seemed to empty themselye.
spontaneously. Nearly all the foil
not yet smoked out stampeded up thu
cliff at the same time. This was thu
saving of many. The Fire People
could not shoot arrows fast enough
They filled the air with arrows anC
scores of the stricken folk came tum
bling down, but still there were a few
who reached the top and got away
i The impulse of flight was nov
stronger in me than curiosity. Tht
arrows had ceased flying. The las
of the folk seemed gone, though Their,
may have been few still hiding ii
the upper caves. The Swift One ant
started to make "a scramble for tn,
clifftop. At sight of us great CT,
went up from the Fire People Thi
was not caused by me, but by tn
Swift One. They were chattering ca
citedly and pointing her out to on,
another. They did not try to shoe
her. Not an arrow was discharged
They began calling softly and coax
ingly. stopped and looked down
She was afraid and whimpered an,
urged me on. So we went up owe
the top and plunged into the trees.
Il This event has often caused me I,
wonder and speculate If she wer
really of their kind she must hav
been lost from them at time whel
she was too young to remember, els
would she not have been afraid o
: them. On the other hand, it may we
have been that, while she was thei
kind, she had never been lost fror
them; that she had been born in tn
wild forest far from their haunts, he
father maybe a renegade fire mar
her mother maybe one of my ow
kind, one of the folk. But who sha
say? These things are beyond mC
and the Swift One knew no NOR