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They had baited their hooks with flying-fish, as was the practice of the Pikirami people. "Master," said Roka presently to Harvey, "never have I had good luck with flying-fish when fishing for pura in mine own land of Manhiki. * Octopus. "Let us seek for one on the outer reef. Then we shall return here.
"Not thinking of such a thing," whispered Will. They pushed their way farther, crossed a small ravine and, resting a moment or two on the other side, heard a puffing, a low sound but of great volume. "Pteha," whispered Pehansan. "Among the cedars, scarce fifty yards away," said Roka. "Now suppose we separate and approach from three points.
"Think you that the snow is now too soft to bear the weight of the wolves?" asked Roka, breaking into plain prose. "Not yet," replied Pehansan, the mighty hunter, "but it may be soon. Hark to their howling on the slopes among the dwarf trees!" Will heard a long, weird moaning sound, but he only laughed.
"Poor things," he muttered, "the story of their father's crime will break their hearts, and make life desolate to them. Better for them if the Almighty, in His mercy, took them before this frightful tale is told to wreck their lives." An hour passed, and then Roka, who was one of the look-outs, came aft, stepping softly so as not to awaken the sleepers. "What is it, Roka?"
Roka and Pehansan were firing at the same time, sending in arrows with powerful arms and at such close range that not one missed. They stood out all over his body and he streamed with blood. But the bull did not fall. No arrow had yet touched a vital spot. Bellowing with pain and rage, he whirled, and catching sight of Will, who was only a few yards away, charged.
Will, trembling from his exertions and limping from the broken snowshoe approached cautiously, still viewing that huge, hairy form with wonder and some apprehension. Nor were Roka and Pehansan free from the same nervous strain and awe. "What is it?" asked Will, "a mammoth or a mastodon?"
Among these men was Roka, now recovered from his wound, and using a great bow with deadly accuracy. He and Will at length drew up side by side, and the stout Indian planted an arrow deep in the side of a bear. Yet the wound was not fatal, and the animal, first biting at the arrow, then charged.
He could walk well on the snowshoes though he was not as expert as the Indians, but he held himself steady and made no noise among the bushes as they advanced, Pehansan leading, with Roka next. "Very near now," whispered Pehansan, looking at the deep tracks, his eyes still glowing.
Will and his comrades, taking off their snowshoes, worked with frantic energy, clearing away the snow with their mittened hands, bringing vast quantities of the dead wood, lighting several fires in a circle about the bull, and keeping themselves, with the surplus wood, inside the circle. Then, while Will fed the fires, Roka and Pehansan carefully cut the arrows out of the body.
We're near the land; we can hear some kanapu about us, so we can't be more than five or six miles away." "The land is there," said Roka to Harvey, pointing to a dark shadow abeam of the boat, "and we could see it but for the rain-clouds which hide it from us."
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