The Argosy, April 1912 — page 54: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

40 powder upon the black loam. The touch of the fiery coal had done the rest. Per- fectly simple, as you see. But these sav- ages had neither seen nor heard of gun- powder. 7 : At the flash and the puff every Indian had sprung backward. I gave the impres- sion no chance to pass. Raising my pow- der-blackened hand, and waving it dra- matically in front of the sub-chief, I shouted: “You seek further test? You shall have it. I shall now make fire burst from your face. A flame so fierce that it will blot out your eyes and burn away your flesh. Behold!” But with a very unstoical yell of alarm the sub-chief jumped back, shielding his face with both arms. “Coward!” I scoffed. He stared down at me, irresolute. “These foolish bands at our ankles!” I raged on. “Could I not burn them through at a touch? Could I not smite you all dead by calling upon the invisible manitous that serve me? Even as, at my orders, my invisible ones slew your two comrades back in the forest yonder?” Another gasp and a start of dismay, as each Indian looked nervously about him to ward off possible attack from one of my unseen “ spirits.” “In the hot nights,” I continued, “you have seen the flash of my fire and heard the sound of my voice. You called it lightning and thunder in your ignorance. You have seen next day a great pine-tree blasted and prone. You thought it a light- ning-stroke. It was my blow.” This last flight of imagination, I saw, was well-nigh too much for even these sav- ages’ credulity. “You doubt?” I asked sternly. hold the proof.” I reached forward and picked up one of the two muskets that had been laid near the fire. A great buzzard, attracted, I sup- pose, by the smell of cooking meat, was winging heavily toward us. I pointed out the advancing bird. “Watch!” I commanded. I raised the musket and took swift aim. The target was not a difficult one for so good a marksman, yet when I realized all that depended on my shot my hand well- nigh shook. The forest quiet was rent by the roaring report of the musket. The flash lightened (<3 Be- THE ARGOSY. up the shadowy clearing. The buzzard fell with a bump to the earth, torn half to pieces by the heavy charge of shot I had fired into him. 3 Four or five of the natives fell prone on their faces. Others incontinently bolted for the woods. One or two of the bravest stood poking at the shattered buzzard and murmuring guttural appeals to the Great Spirit for protection. “Ts it enough?” I demanded of the sub- chief. “It is enough,” he croaked from between ashen lips. He knelt and undid the thongs from my ankles, but I noticed he made no move to free Smith. “My fellow manitou,” said I, “is as great as myself. Witness the test. He can hear the words whispered by the leaves and the tree-bark.” . I: picked up a strip of birch-bark from the fagot pile. On it, with the charred end of a stick, I wrote in English: “Give this man the kerchief from your neck.” Handing the bit of birch-bark to the trembling, frightened sub-chief I said in a low tone: “Whisper to this bark the wish that my friend may give you the scarlet cloth that binds his neck. Then carry the bark across to him.” Sheepishly, yet as if not daring to refuse, the savage held the bark to his lips and mumbled the wish under his breath. Then he crossed to where Smith sat alert and watchful, and handed him the scrawled message. Smith glanced at it, then held it to his ear. Presently he nodded, as if hearing something. He dropped the bit of bark and unwound from his throat the neck- cloth. ‘He reached out his arm to the savage, proffering the handkerchief. But the sub- chief, who, of course, had never heard of writing, shrank back from it in terror. He was convinced. Was it more incredible that gunpowder and chirography should have fooled these sons of the forest than that I, at first sight, in London, should have mistaken Aquia for a demon? “You will wonder,” I went on, “why two spirits like ourselves allowed you to capture us. We did it because we demand your escort to your king, Powhatan. To COMmICELOOKXS.cConn