Children of the forest : a story of Indian love

Front matter

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H D:i:rARDED A

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Contents

I. Nabuno ....

II. JlSOOKEOO THE CoNJURER

III. IsQUASis' Story .

II 22 36

47 56 65 74 85 96 105

234 244

255 265 276

List of Illustrations

Facing page

Nabuno ....... title

" He Told Me OF His Plans " . . .48

"She Struck Him with Her Tomahawk" . 72

*' Recklessly Dealt Each Other Murderous

From Behind There Rang out the Report of

Another Gun . . . . .108

With a Howl of Despair He Fell Headlong

into the River . . . . .120

They were Startled by Metassa . . .160

Her Father was Vowing Vengeance . .210

The Death of Jisookeoo .... 220

Climbed up from Behind and Peeked Over . 228

Off into the North in Search of the Hunters 256 Gave the Full Purse to Pukwaka . . . 268

I

Nabuno and her bird friends — Her father's mysterious sickness— Jisookeoo, the conjurer — Nabuno aroused.

THE idyllic picture before us is now only a vision from the vanished past, a glimpse into the " forest primeval," a dream of times gone by, ere the irresistible march of the " paleface " crushed down the prairie flower, and obliterated the forest trail. The beautiful Indian wigwams, and at their doors the dark eyed maidens, in picturesque apparel of the fringed and ornamented deer, skins watching for the coming of their fathers from the chase, or of their lovers in their light canoes, are nowhere now to be found on all the great American Continent.

Of a vanished race I write, while many voices chide at the long delay, for with the rapid flight of the years, the mantle of oblivion has already fallen over much that ought to have been preserved to profit and to entertain.

That Nabuno was really beautiful, would be questioned by some, but as regards her cleverness and industr}'^, there was nothing heard but the highest praise. We catch our first glimpse of this bright young maiden as she stands at the door of her beautiful wigwam. Although but eighteen years of age, her strong features and well tanned complexion, tell us that she has begun life's battles and that they have not all been easily won victories. Yet, until her father had been stricken down with the mysterious illness which now afflicted him, life had been to her one joyous holiday. A child of the forest and allowed the freest liberty by her indulgent mother, she early acquired the habit of wandering away from the wigwam home into the forest retreats, where the wild birds build their nests, and sing their sweetest lays.

Possessing in a remarkable degree the Indian gift of imitating the songs of the birds, Nabuno so won the confidence of her feathered friends that her appearance among them, and the singing of their songs and the thrilling of their lays, was a signal for a gathering that to many would have seemed as magical.

But was it only the magic of her voice and her gentle winning ways that had thus enabled her to make these loving friendships with the many feathered songsters that loved to gather around her ? True there were some so shy and timid that for months they hesitated ere they surrendered their suspicions, and allied themselves in confident companionship with this fair maid of the forest. That Nabuno frequently fed from her hands some of the feathered songsters that gathered around her, was not the only reason why they gave her their confidence and love, for there were some of them whose food was very different from that furnished by the limited resources of an Indian wigwam. Yet these birds, that cared not for the little fragments of fish or game, which were all that was in the power of Nabuno to bring, and that at rare intervals, were just as friendly and joyous as those who greedily ate from her open hands the dainty morsels.

Each species of birds has its own language. This Nabuno well knew, and it was to her a revelation as well as a joy, by patient study and mimicry, to find -out and repeat those notes of love or alarm. Thus she was an expert in all their notes, from the blue jay's shrill discordant cries, or the robin's coquettish songs, to the mother bird's love notes to the little helpless brood in the cleverly hidden nest.

To the alarm signals of the birds, which have been noticed by so many students of the wild birds, Nabuno gave especial care. These she studied with patient insight until she was at length not only able to imitate, but also to form a fairly correct idea of the character of the enemies against which the birds were signalling and also of the direction from which the danger threatened. Little dreamed that happy Indian maiden that in the years to come, the knowledge which she was so pleasantly and patiently learning of the songs of the birds, would save her in more than one time of peril, and rescue her from the cunningly laid purposes of deadly foes.

The long sickness of her father and the breaking down of her mother's health, in her assiduous and constant care in waiting upon him, called Nabuno from the songs and companionship of the wild birds, into the toil and active responsibilities of life. The disease from which her father was suffering was a mysterious one, and this fact made the duties of those who waited upon him the more arduous and trying.

Nabuno's father, whose name was Shunio, was firmlv convinced in his own mind that his sickness was the work of some evil magician, or unknown foe, who had cast his baneful spell over him.

Thus the bright Nabuno had to spend much of her time in the darkened wigwam where lay her afflicted father, the prey of many terrors, that assailed him, as he brooded over the thought of evil men or spirits, who w^ere, for some reasons unknown to him, invoking the aid of the Muche-Munedoo, the evil spirit, the source of all diseases, against him.

The presence of the old conjurer and medicine-man who came frequently to give his medicines of roots or herbs, and also to perform his horrid ceremonies, and exert his magic arts to endeavour to expel the evil spirits, was always a source of dread and terror to Nabuno. Pretending to believe as all these old conjurers professed, that the evil one was to be driven out more by his conjurings than his medicines, Jisookeoo came each day, arrayed in a most repugnant way. Skins of snakes, entrails of bears, dried lizards, and frogs, with many other hideous things, hung from him in profusion, while his face was painted in a hideous fashion. When he began his weird dancings and contortions in unison with his unearthly yells and sounding rattles, one might easily believe that if his Satanic Majesty could be induced to beat a retreat by a sight most repellent, and sounds most discordant, here was all that was essential for a decided victory.

To Nabuno these things were distasteful, but such was her love for her father, that with her strong nature she crushed down her annoyance and bravely remained, alert and watchful, at her father's side, during the trying ordeal. It was not long before her suspicions were aroused, and with a woman's quick intuition, she became convinced that the visits of the conjurer were doing her father more harm than good. Little, however, did she dream of the motives which were prompting him to do what was now exciting her suspicions.

Indians have a good knowledge of the medicinal properties of many roots and herbs. They know not only many of those that are beneficial and disease-curing, but they also are well acquainted with the properties of the most dangerous. From the poisonous toadstools, they extract a poison that can quickly kill the objects of their hate. From other plants they can manufacture medicines that while not suddenly taking away life, will keep the poor victims as helpless invalids for years. And what is more remarkable, they know the plants that are the antidotes for most of the slow poisons that have made many a strong hunter as helpless as a child.

Nabuno noticed that while Jisookeoo at each visit went through with his horrid ceremonies, he was always ver}' particular about administering his medicines. She was also quick to observe that her father was always worse after he had taken one of these decoctions, and indeed had sometimes hardly recovered from the stupor it brought upon him, ere the next visit of the conjurer was made.

What this medicine was, Nabuno was resolved to find out, for she had now shrewdly come to believe, that the conjurer was, for some reason she had not yet fathomed, retarding her father's recovery, instead of trying to bring it about. That her surmises or suspicions were correct, came to her in a way that very much startled her. Returning to the wigwam one day in which, at the commands of the conjurer, she had left her father alone with him, she heard her name mentioned by Jisookeoo in a way that chilled her very heart, and rivetted her to the spot.

In that hour there came to her that swift transition, that abrupt revelation, that others in some sharp crisis in their young lives, have suddenly had to face. To Nabuno it was as vivid and as real as an actual transmigration, as she stood there compelled against her will by some subtle power to listen.

" Is it possible," she said to herself, " that I am more than a mere child, and that that old man has dared to ask my father to give me to him to be his wife ! "

As she listened to the insulting words of the conjurer, becoming more and more threatening, and contrasted them with her sick father's expostulations, as he pleaded the youth and inexperience of Kabuno, there was a sudden kindling of a fire and a passion in the young girl's soul, that so thrilled her that she could hardly restrain herself from rushing into the wigwam and attacking the old wretch, with the first weapon upon which she could lay her hands. But in those brief moments, while there raged this first storm that had ever rufiled her quiet life, there was also the arousing of those cautious instincts of the Indian nature, and that power of self-control which is possessed by these children of the forest, in such a remarkable degree. So Nabuno, whose love for her bird friends up to that hour, had been marred only by her solicitude and anxiety for her sick father, was now suddenly changed into an alert, cautious detective, fully resolved to learn all of the foul purpose of this old conjurer, and of his intentions towards her father and herself.

Hardly daring to breathe, she continued to listen to his words as he strove to bear down all the opposition of her father. "When, however, speedy health was among other things promised, Nabuno could hardly keep from crying out, for by that promise she was confirmed in her suspicions that the wicked old man was.

by means of his semi-poisonous medicines, the cause of her father's mysterious illness.

With this knowledge in her possession, and her natural repugnance to continue the part of an eavesdropper, even if her own destiny was being discussed, Nabuno noiselessly withdrew to a short distance into the forest, and there in the sweet companionship of some of the birds that fluttered around her, lighting on her arms and shoulders, she tried to quiet her excitement and think out some plan by which she could rescue her father from the dreadful schemes of this wicked man, whom she well knew would not for a moment hesitate to kill outright, rather than to be thwarted in his designs.

" Nabuno ! "

The cry which fell faintly upon her ears was one of anguish and of weakness, and it came from the wigwam of her father.

"With a sudden bound she was off, and as she threw back the deerskin that served as a door to the lodge, she saw the conjurer, with a look in his face that was more like that of a fiend than a human being, making the most desperate efforts to pour down the throat of her sick father, a dose of some medicine. Seizing a heavy wooden club, she struck Jisookeoo a blow which spilled all of his medicine and sent him senseless to the ground.

Ere he recovered consciousness, Nabuno's quick eye detected his sacred medicine-bag, and being resolved to discover the character of the medicine he had been giving her father, she quickly emptied it of its contents, which she hid under a fur robe on the ground. Then speedily filling up the medicine-bag with moss, she replaced it in the spot where she had found it.

When the conjurer regained his senses, his first thought was of his prized medicine-bag, the contents of which he would have no one know. Seeing it where he had left it, and apparently undisturbed, he quickly secured it and crowded it into its customary place under his belt. Then his wrath blazed out and wnth many threats he vented his ire upon the young maiden, who had dared to strike him.

Almost any other man than the Indian, in his reckless madness, under such conditions, would have rushed upon the girl and taken summary vengeance. But Jisookeoo was not accustomed to take his revenge that way. And indeed he was deterred also by a look in the eyes of this fearless girl, who, still holding the club in her hands, was alert to notice his every movement.

Shunio had now about recovered from the effects of his struggle, and this, joined to the fact that he had not swallowed any of the stupefying medicine, enabled him to sit upon his robes, and with a strength that surprised even Nabuno, he ordered Jisookeoo out of his wigwam. This was about as unexpected as had been the blow of Nabuno.

For long years his despotic power had caused Jisookeoo to be feared by the people. He was accustomed not only to see them treat him with the greatest deference, but even to tremble at his appearance. Now suddenly to be thus struck by a girl, and then ordered out of the wigwam by her father, he felt to be the greatest insult that had ever been offered hira.

Furious, he quickly gathered up the vessels in which on the fire in the centre of the wigwam, he had steeped his medicines, his sacred drum also and his rattles, and then angrily strode out of the tent.

Nabuno listened to his angry threats with indifference.

" Be careful what you do, for I have found you out," she said to him as he left the tent.

Stung to the quick, with his suspicions aroused, his cowardly nature made him quail before this young girl, who seemed to read his very life, which it had been his ambition to keep in deepest mystery. He drew his great blanket around him, and hurriedly retreated to his wigwam.

II

Jisookeoo's sulking — Nabuuo's wisdom — The sacred medicine-bag— Shunio's startling discovery — Power of superstition— Isquasis and her sad lot,

JISOOKEOO, like the rest of his mysterious craft, had the greatest horror that any of his secret practices or doings as a medicine-man, should be discovered. Not only did he try to keep the qualities of his medicines, be they harmless or poisonous, from being known, but he also endeavoured to make his life such a mystery, that no one would have any intimation of what were his thoughts or purposes. But now, after all his efforts to mask his life, there suddenly had come to him words, and these from the lips of a mere girl, that seemed to indicate that the mystery of his career and actions had become known.

Like all such characters Jisookeoo at heart was a coward, and a superstitious one at that, and so more terrible to him than the blow which felled him to the ground, were the words of Nabuno which still rang with mysterious terror in his ears :

" Be careful what you do, for I have found you out."

Pondering over these words, he moodily shut himself up in his dark wigwam, which was pitched where the dense balsams and hemlocks so over-shadowed it, that hardly a ray of sunshine ever pierced through the gloom. The song-birds shunned a spot so dark and repellent. Only a melancholy pair of owls, at times, were there heard to hoot out their mournful cry, fit music for such a place.

As soon as Nabuno was certain of his departure from her father's wigwam, she resolved that before he discovered the raid upon his sacred medicine-bag, and returned in fury to regain possession of its contents, she would find out for her father and herself all that she could about his medicines, especially those he had been giving to the sick man.

Going outside of the lodge ISTabuno uttered a few notes of the blue jay, which was the signal call arranged between her and her younger sister, Geeta, who with her mother, and the rest of the family, had been obliged by the conjurer to remove to another wigwam, some hundreds of yards distant. To this bird call there was a quick response, and great was the surprise of Geeta when informed that all that was at present required of her, was to watch well the trail that led from the wigwam of the conjurer, and to give instant alarm if the old fellow were seen approaching. The strange determined look on Nabuno's -face was quite suflBcient to repress all questionings on the part of Geeta, and so she very promptly began her watch on a spot from which she could command the whole of the trail.

Having taken this precautionary measure Nabuno uncovered the medicines and handed them to her father. He, as many of the Indians apart from the conjurers, knew much about roots and herbs, and their medicinal properties. Jisookeoo's totem image, which was a beaver, Nabuno quickly threw into the fire. The medicines, which the father carefully examined, were principally poisonous. There was one kind, however, that especially attracted his attention. It was an herb, the decoctions of which while not causing immediate death, so debilitated the system, and weakened the mind, that the victim of it became a mere tool in the hands of him who administered it.

When Shunio found this out, he asked Nabuno to find, if possible, some of the medicine which Jisookeoo had that day prepared for him. This she had not much trouble in doing, as her decisive ending of his efforts to force the draught down the sick man's throat, had so deiaoralized him, that he had not as usual burnt up the herbs when steeped, and they were found to be of the kind just described.

This fact confirmed Nabuno's suspicions, which she had had for some time, and which now for the first time opened the eyes of her father to see the vile schemes of the old conjurer.

Now they could understand why it was that Jisookeoo had insisted that the sick man should be obliged to live in a wigwam away from his family and have, as his only attendant, this young, inexperienced girl. No relative or friend had been allowed to visit him, for dire were his threatenings of sudden disaster, if any one should presume to interfere with his treatment, which he had declared would take some months to effect a cure.

With this discovery of villainy, there arose such a revulsion of feeling towards the man who had so long cast the witchery of his superstitious spell over them, that that conjurer's power was broken forever. But that this terrible man would do them all the harm he could they were also convinced, and so they resolved to act as promptly as possible.

Carefully hiding the bad medicines, for it was not her purpose to destroy them yet, Nabuno went out to the place where her sister was on guard. Informing her that the matter was urgent, she sent her to several wigwams not far distant, where dwelt some uncles and other male relatives, with earnest requests that they should at once come to the wigwam of Shunio. They were prompt in responding, for the sick man was one of the most honoured men in the tribe.

When they saw Shunio, they were shocked at his weak and emaciated appearance, and could not but feel indignant at the lies of the conjurer, who, while refusing to allow them to visit him, had declared that he was rapidly regaining his health.

Shunio was too weak to say much and so he requested Nabuno to tell the startling story.

In their impassive way, they lit their pipes and smoked and listened, while Nabuno told of all that had occurred. The medicines were then brought out from the hiding-place for investigation. The sight of them, with the knowledge of what some of them meant, caused great excitement and curiosity.

We can hardly blame them when we remember the carefulness with which a conjurer guards his sacred medicine-bag, and the superstitious fear that he tries to throw around it. So here with the contents exposed, of one long guarded by a conjurer of such a reputation, it is not surprising that there was among them a

SHUNIO certain tremour and awe, as they gazed upon what had been its contents, which Nabuno without any fear or hesitancy turned over before the 111.

These, with Shunio's explanations of the medicines that had been given hira, and of what was evidently the design of the crafty conjurer, aroused the ire and indignation of the relatives present. Nabuno's courage in striking him down was commended in their quiet way, although the bravest of them feared that her life would now be beset with dangers, as long as that desperate man lived.

Jisookeoo's audacity in asking for such a young maiden as Nabuno to be his wife, while already he had two or three old ones, as well as one young one, whom he had brought back that very summer from his meeting with the conjurers, very much angered them. They were also indignant at the heartless method by which he was attempting to secure her. Instead, as was the custom of the tribe, of being willing to purchase her from her father, he was here discovered to be trying to so weaken Shunio by bad medicine, that he would be compelled, as the price for restored health, to surrender his child. Then, looking at it from the selfish standpoint of their own peace and security, they wanted no marriage alliance with this dangerous man, whom they only feared and dreaded. And so there was a unanimous objection to his even having their relative ISTabuno, vsrhom they respected in their quiet way, to be his wife, or rather, slave, which undoubtedly would be her lot.

Doubtless if Jisookeoo had suddenly made his appearance while ISTabuno was speaking, or displaying the contents of the medicine-bag, the people while there all together, might have mustered up courage sufiQcient to have attacked him, but as the excitement died down, the old fears of most of them reasserted themselves, and one after another arose and quietly flitted away to his own lodge, hoping in his cowardly superstitious heart, that the old conjurer would never hear that they knew anything of his doings, or had seen the contents of his medicine-bag.

There were some, however, who were not thus terrorized b}^ their fears, and who did not stand in such dread of the old conjurer. These resolved to stand by the sick man and his brave daughter, and see if possible that no harm came to them.

The first thing they did after burning all the bad medicines, was to assist in the reuniting of the family, so cruelly separated by the command of Jisookeoo, and the recital of as much of w^hat had occurred as was thought best to be known by all.

Shunio, while thankful to have his loved ones around him again, made but slow progress towards recovery. So many and severe had been the doses of the injurious medicine Avhich he had taken ere his revolt, that his whole system seemed poisoned by their effects. Added to this, were the fears under which he lived, as regarded the threats of the conjurer.

Fortunately for them Jisookeoo had been so humiliated by his defeat that he remained for a long time in the seclusion of his wigwam, brooding over his fall. He did not even take the trouble to consult his sacred medicine-bag as these men generally do in their perplexities, hoping for some responsive impression as to the course to be pursued.

As the days went by, Nabuno who could not bear the suspense, resolved to at least find out what old Jisookeoo was doing.

Girl though she was, the events of the last few days had transformed her very being. So now she decided that the best thing for her to do was to carry the war into the wigwam of the old conjurer. This she resolved to do from the fact that she had already become acquainted with the young wife of the conjurer, to whom reference has been made. Nabuno had met her out in the forest where talking and singing with the wild birds, Isquasis, for such was her name, toiled hard with a heavy axe to cut the wood required in the conjurer's wigwam.

Nabuno had become much interested in her, so had arranged several interviews, and had at length heard enough of her pathetic story, to excite her curiosity to hear more. So jealously guarded, however, was she by the old wives of Jisookeoo, who treated her as a slave, that it was only for a few minutes at a time that she and Nabuno could be together. However she had told Nabuno that she had had a brave young lover, who was a successful hunter, in the villages from which she had been forced. She told how that this old Jisookeoo had come in between them, and had so terrorized her father, that he had compelled him to give her for nothing to him in spite of all her tears and entreaties, while her young lover was far away in his hunting-grounds. With impassioned words, and flashing eyes, she talked of the manly beauty of her lover, and contrasted him with this wretched old sorcerer, who had thrown some magic spell over her father, so that he had submitted to thus give away his child.

As Nabuno at first heard these passionate words, and the bitter protests against such wickedness, before her own deep sorrow had come to her, her simple childish nature was terrified by them. So much so, that for some weeks she had purposely seen but little of Isquasis. But now that there had come such a sudden awakening in her own experience to a new life, she resolved to go and see Isquasis, in the hopes that by the sharing of each other's sorrows, there might be devised some way by which there would come at least a mitigation, if not an end of their troubles.

This decision having been reached by Nabuno, she resolved as quickly as possible to carry it out. Fearful of some disaster happening to her father, she had only for very short intervals left his side, although some relatives had promised to stand by her and see that no harm came to either of them.

Encouraged by the presence of several of them in the wigwam, and assured of their devotion, Nabuno resolved to have a quiet interview with Isquasis and find out all she could regarding the old conjurer, whose very silence was now a mystery to her.

The meeting was arranged by Geeta, who was a brave, cautious girl, although she was only about twelve years old. She had heard of her father's sad treatment, and was naturally indignant. She readily entered into Nabuno's spirit and helped to carry out her plans.

Geeta found Isquasis returning on the forest trail, with a load of rabbits which she had snared. She introduced herself as the sister of Nabuno, and told her that Nabuno desired to meet her alone to talk over a very important matter. Isquasis was glad to arrange such a meeting.

When Isquasis reached the wigwam, although her bundle of rabbits was a very large one, she received no words of commendation, but was met with blows and execrations for her long absence. Then she was ordered off to cut wood for the wigwam fire.

Curious as to the purpose of the coming visit of Nabuno, Isquasis vigorously plied the axe, on the uncut wood near at hand, and soon had a sufficient pile for present needs which she carried inside of the wigwam. Then again taking up the axe she hurried off to a secluded spot where she was in the habit of going for wood, and where it had been arranged with Geeta that Nabuno should meet her.

To talk bitterly or even disparagingly of a man to a woman, who is his only Avife, generally has the tendency to arouse all of her anger and passion in his defense, even if at times, her own quarrels with him are many and fierce. But in the case of the polygamist, this rule does not hold good, and especially in a case like this before us, where the aggrieved wife was only taken into the family to be the slave and drudge of the older wives, who tyrannized over her most unmercifully, while also there are the sad memories of crushed hopes, and of a far-away lover, who, it may be, has not yet become aware of his loss, or of her sorrow.