Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-05-24

nest. My mother and the Chatterer
| had gone away together toward the
| BURBERRY swamp He must have plan
/ ned the whole thing, for | heard him
returning alone through the forest,
rearing with self induced rage as he
came Like all the men of our horde
when they were angry or were trying
to make themselves angry, he stopped
now and again to hammer on his chest
with his fist. 49,.
realized the helpleSsness of my
situation and crouched trembling in
the nest The Chatterer came directly
| TO the tree remember il was an oak
tree-and began to climb up. And he
never ceased for a moment from his
Internal row As have said. our Ian
guage was extremely meager, and he
must have strained il by the variety of
ways in which he informed me of his
undying hatred OF me and OF his in
tention there and then to have it out
with me. 49,.
As he climbed TO the fork tied'out
the great horizontal limb. lie follow
ed me, and out | went. farther and
farther At last | was out amongst the
small twigs and leaves The Chatterer
was never a coward, and greater al
ways than any anger he ever worked
I'D was his caution He was afraid TO
follow me out among the leaves and
twigs. For that matter, his greater
weight would have crashed him
through the foliage before he could
have got to me.
But il was not necessary for him to
reach me, and well he knew it, the
scoundrel! With a malevolent expires.
sion on his face, his beady eyes CLEAN.
ing with cruel intelligence, he began
lettering. Lettering and with me
out on the very edge of the bough,
clutching at the twigs that broke con-
tinually with my weight. Twenty feet
beneath me was the earth.
Wildly and more wildly he teetered,
grinning at me his gloating hatred.
Then came the end. ALI four holds
broke at the same time, and fell back
downward, looking up at him, my
hands and feet still clutching the
broken twigs. Luckily there were no
wild pigs under me, and my fall was
broken by the tough and springy
bushes - "#
Usually my falls destroy my dreams,
the nervous shock being sufficient to
bridge the thousand centuries in an in
slant and hurl me wide awake into my
little bed, where perchance l lie sweat.
ing and trembling and hear the cuckoo
clock calling the hour in the hall. But
this dream of my leaving home have
had many times, and never yet have
/ been awakened by it. Always do
Crash, shrieking down through the
brush and fetch up with a bump on
the ground. I'LL. 1855
Scratched and bruised and whimper-
ing, lay where had fallen. Peering
up through the bushes, / could see the
Chatterer. He had set up demon.
iacal chant of joy and was keeping
time to it with his lettering, quickly
hushed my whimpering. | was no
longer in the safety of the trees, and |
knew the danger ! ran of bringing
upon myself the hunting animals by.
too audible an expression of my grief.
remember, as my sobs died down,
that became interested in watching
the strange light effects produced by
partially opening and closing my tear
wet eyelids. Then l began to inyes-
tigate and found that / was not so
very badly damaged by my fall. |
had lost some hair and hide here and
there. The sharp and jagged end of a
broken branch had thrust fully an inch
into my forearm, and my right hip,
which had borne the brunt of my con-
tact with the ground, was aching intol-
erably But these, after all, were only
petty hurts. No bones were broken,
and in those days the flesh of man had
finer healing qualities than it has to-
day. Yet il was severe fall, for |
limped with my injured hip for fully
a week afterward. >.s:
Next, as lay in the bushes, there
came upon me feeling of desolation,
consciousness that was homeless.
l made up my mind never to return to
my mother and the Chatterer woulS
go far away through the terrible forest
and find some tree for myself in which
to roost As for food, / knew where
to find it. For the last year at least
had not been beholden to my mother
for food. All she had furnished me
was protection and guidance.
crawled softly out through the
bushes. Once looked back and saw
the Chatterer still chanting and teeter-
ing. II was not a pleasant sight. |
knew pretty we'll how to be cautious,
and was exceedingly careful on this
my first journey in the world.
gave no thought as to where was
going. | had but one purpose and that
was to 60 away beyond the reach of
the Chatterer. | climbed into the trees
and wandered on among them for
hours, passing from tree to tree and
never touching the ground. But ! did
not go in any particular direction nor
did travel steadily. 1t was my ma
ture, as it was the nature of all my
folk, to be inconsequential Besides,
was a mere child, and 4 stopped a
great deal to play by the way.
The events that befell me on my
leaving home are very vague in my
mind My dreams do not cover them.
Much has my other self forgotten, and
particularly at this very period. Nor
l. n u -.