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Updated: September 18, 2025
"I question not the wisdom of Choflo who understands the mystic things that are withheld from the rest of us," old Yaro meekly protested, "but, had it not been decided that Oomah was next to be leader of the tribe? As the coming headman, should not his life be guarded? Should not he be shielded from peril?
Did Choflo hope that the quarry would kill him, or at least elude him? In either event he would be out of the way. The whole thing seemed very mysterious but he had no alternative but to obey. Oomah was young, tall and strong. As he walked there was the rippling play of well-formed muscle under his brown skin.
That effort had cost Oomah his last particle of strength. He shuddered, swayed, and clapping his hands over his eyes as if to shut out a frightful dream, sank to the ground. Nechi, on her way to the fish-traps in the river found the unconscious youth when the sun was two hours high in the heavens and claimed him for her own by right of discovery.
The moon had disappeared and the glimmer of the stars did not penetrate the canopy of foliage overhead. Even the goatsuckers, queer birds that looked like giant whip-poor-wills, had ceased their wails and in the jungle reigned the darkest hours of night. Oomah awoke with a start, as if in response to the prod of a rude hand, and shivered.
On those rare occasions when he saw game his arms trembled so violently as he drew the bow that the arrow went wide and fell far short of the mark. Choflo had guessed well. He was sure that the Black Phantom would prove too elusive or too savage for any human pursuer, and that he should never see Oomah again. In both things he was right.
If he perish in the attempt to slay the Black Phantom; or, if he should fail and thus become an exile, we should lose him forever." "If Oomah be lost another will be found to take his place. Wana, son of my sister, is a promising youth. And besides, there is another reason why Oomah has been chosen." "What is that reason?" Yaro persisted.
"Do you not recall your own words, Yaro, uttered during the last hours of darkness? 'He who slays a tiger, possessed of an evil spirit though it be, shall lose his next of kin by another tiger appearing suddenly in the role of avenger?" "Yes, it is true." "Oomah has no next of kin. He is alone in the world. He has neither father, mother, sister, brother, wife nor child.
They raced toward the oncoming figure still a few hundred yards away on the edge of the sandbank. Each wanted to be the first to reach his side and to hear from his lips the story of the afternoon's hunt. "Oh, look," the leader said in wide-eyed wonder when they all came to a stop in front of the mighty hunter. "A gura and a chapla. Tell us, Oomah, how did you get them?"
Unheard feet were treading in his own footsteps; unseen eyes were watching his every movement. He was being followed and observed by an invisible enemy. Oomah was sure of it, so sure that he swerved out of the forest and walked along the edge of the bar where the sand was softest and after he had gone a distance of fifty paces returned to the forest.
The sound, enough to drive the uninitiated into a frenzy caused even Oomah to turn his head toward the direction from which it had come, and what he saw were two points of greenish fire glaring at him out of the blackness not ten paces away. Terror lent strength to the faltering arms.
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