The Flamingo Feather | Page 5

position, and had long been in training for the
contests. His most dreaded rival was Chitta; and, while Has-se felt
ready to meet the snake in the games of running, shooting, and hurling
the javelin, he feared that with his greater weight the latter would prove
more than a match for him in wrestling. Could Ta-lah-lo-ko advise and
help him in this matter?
"Ay, that can I, Has-se, my lad," cried Réné; "thou couldst not have hit
upon a happier expedient than that of asking advice of me. 'Tis but a
week since I removed a cinder from the eye of Simon the Armorer, and
in return for the favor he taught me a trick of wrestling that surpasses
aught of the kind that ever I saw. I have practised it daily since, and
would now confidently take issue with any who know it not without
regard to their superior size or weight. I will show it thee if thou wilt
promise to keep it secret. Ha!"
As they talked the canoe had drifted close in to the shore, until it lay
directly beneath the gigantic limb of a tree that extended far out over
the water, and from which hung a mesh of stout vines. As he uttered the
exclamation that finished his last sentence. Réné seized hold of a stout
vine, and with a quick jerk drew the light craft in which they were
seated a few feet forward. At the same instant a tawny body was
launched like a shot from the overhanging limb and dashed into the
water exactly at the spot over which, but an instant before, Has-se had
sat.
The animal that made this fierce plunge was a panther of the largest

size; and if Réné had not chanced to catch sight of its nervously
twitching tail as it drew itself together for the spring, it would have
alighted squarely upon the naked shoulders of the unsuspecting Indian
lad. Réné's prompt action had, however, caused the animal to plunge
into the water, though it only missed the canoe by a few feet; and when
it rose to the surface it was close beside them.
Has-se seized his paddle, and with a powerful stroke forced the canoe
ahead, but directly into the mesh of trailing vines, in which it became
so entangled that they could not extricate it before the beast had
recovered from his surprise, and had begun to swim towards them.
A bolt was hurriedly fitted to Réné's cross-bow and hastily fired at the
approaching animal. It struck him near the fore-shoulder, and served to
check his progress for a moment, as with a snarl of rage he bit savagely
at the wound, from which the blood flowed freely, crimsoning the
water around him. Then he again turned towards the canoe, and seemed
to leap rather than swim, in his eagerness to reach it. A second bolt,
fired with even greater haste than the first, missed the panther entirely,
and the boys were about to plunge from the opposite side of the canoe
into the water, in their despair, when an almost unheard-of thing
occurred to effect their deliverance.
Just as one more leap would have brought the panther within reach of
the canoe, a huge, dark form rose from the red waters behind him, and a
pair of horrid jaws opened, and then closed like a vice upon one of his
hind-quarters. The panther uttered a wild yell, made a convulsive
spring forward, his claws rattled against the side of the canoe, and then
the waters closed above his head, and he was dragged down into the
dark depths of the stream, to the slimy home of the great alligator, who
had thus delivered the boys from their peril. A few bubbles coming up
through the crimson waters told of the terrible struggle going on
beneath them, and then all was still, and the stream flowed on as
undisturbed as before. For a few moments the boys sat gazing in silent
amazement at the place of the sudden disappearance of their enemy,
hardly believing that he would not again return to the attack.
When they had regained the fort, Laudonniere heard with horror Réné's

story of their adventure with the tiger and the crocodile, as he named
panthers and alligators, and bade him be very careful in the future how
he wandered in the wilderness. He did not forbid his nephew to
associate with Has-se, for he was most anxious to preserve a friendship
with the Indians, upon whom his little colony was largely dependent for
provisions, and he considered Réné's influence with the Indian lad who
was the son of the chief very important.
On the afternoon following that of their adventure, Has-se came into
the fort in search of Réné, and anxious