In his wanderings around the island he found, scattered in numerous places, many bones of human beings in different degrees of decomposition. Among these decaying bones he was surprised to find the half-decayed body of a man lying on the ground, and he was still more astonished to hear this half-dead man say to him,[462] “My sister’s son, Oh, nephew! come to me.” The youth, in his surprise, obeying the voice, went to the spot where the man lay stretched out; there he stopped and stood waiting the pleasure of the man who had addressed him as “my sister’s son.”
Then the man continued to address him, saying, “Oh, my sister’s son, you will now become very wretched, for Sʻhagowenotʻha has now shut you in on this island. Take new courage and exert yourself, for, though you may not know it, you are endowed beyond measure with orenda. You must now put it forth by taking courage to overcome these deceptions of Sʻhagowenotʻha. Moreover, you must take the following measures for this purpose. When the sun is near setting you must run to and fro all over the island, from one end to the other. You must cover it with your tracks. As soon as it becomes night and darkness is here, then you must return to the place where the canoe was beached at the canoe landing of Sʻhagowenotʻha. When you have arrived there you must dig a trench in the sand sufficiently large to hold your body. In this you must conceal yourself by covering yourself with sand, but you must leave a small aperture for your mouth. Your enemy, of course, will come to visit you, as is well known; he will come at about midnight. Do not under any circumstances become impatient and do not fear at all. He will bring with [[710]]him his dogs, and as soon as he lands he will urge them to find you by saying, Twūʹăʻ, twūʹăʻ, twūʹăʻ. They will then begin to follow your tracks from place to place, smelling and sniffing as they run, and ever at their heels will be Sʻhagowenotʻha. Just as soon as you know by the faintness of the sounds of these pursuers that they have gone to some distant part of the island, you must come forth from your hiding place.
You must also make out of rough bark and soft wood three dolls or figures resembling the human body. When you have completed these you must make for each one a bow and arrows suitable for their size. When you have finished this work you must place one of these figures high up in some convenient tree crotch, and you must fix in the hands of the figure, in the attitude of shooting, the bow and the arrows. This you must do with the three figures.
After taking breath, for he was, indeed, very weak, the man who lay there a mere pile of bones said: “Yonder in the distance under that prostrate old rotten log you will find my skin-pouch of fisher skin, which do you bring me at once.” The young man brought the pouch of fisher skin to his uncle, who took from it a knife, a flint for striking fire, and a piece of punk. The knife he gave to the young man.
At once the young man began to fashion the three dolls which his uncle had advised him to make. He made also the three bows with arrows, to be held by these dolls or counterfeit men, which he had been counseled to fix in the crotches of trees to deceive the great man-eater Sʻhagowenotʻha, when he should come looking for the young man to devour him.
When the youth had completed this task he began to run over the island in such manner as to mislead the enemy and his dogs. The elder man cheered him in his undertaking, saying: “Have courage, my nephew; if you will perform my instructions with care you shall live, as I have said.” The young man replied: “So shall it be as you have instructed me.”
Then, going forth with the three dolls, he selected for each one a suitable place in which to secure the doll, choosing invariably a tree standing far from the landing place of the enemy. With some difficulty he fastened the doll in a fork of the tree in such manner that from the ground one might be misled into thinking that a person was hiding in the tree.
When it became dark he started for the spot near the landing place which he had selected for his own hiding place. Having arrived there he began to dig a trench large enough to hold and fully conceal his own body, and in time he had quite effectively concealed himself in the sand. When night came he lay there quite still, awaiting the return of his enemy, Sʻhagowenotʻha. He lay in [[711]]such a way that his mouth was not entirely covered with the sand, so he was able to breathe without much difficulty. He thus waited patiently many long hours, knowing from his uncle’s counsel that he had to contend with a crafty old cannibal, who was a past master in deluding his victims into a false feeling of security, the more easily to destroy them at his leisure.
It was some time after midnight when the alert young man heard peculiar sounds approaching the island. He was not long in recognizing the voices of the wild geese that had propelled the canoe which had left him a prisoner on the island. He heard also the then distant yelps of impatience of the dogs as they hungrily anticipated a bloody meal when they should reach the island. They were eager to pursue their prey, for they well knew the habits of their master. Finally the attentive ears of the young man heard the sounds which told him of the landing of his pursuers; and it was not long before he heard Sʻhagowenotʻha saying to his dogs: “Go you to find the person of the man. It may be that he lies now somewhere a heap of bones.” Then after releasing the dogs the old man shouted, “çtuäʻʹ, çtuäʻʹ, çtuäʻʹ” signifying, “Go, go, go ye” (usually applied only to dogs, much like the familiar “sick’em” in English).
With their keen noses the dogs soon took up the tangled trail of the young man, and followed it from place to place over the entire island. Sʻhagowenotʻha was overheard by the young man to say to the wild geese: “My servants, do you now go to seek for your food,” at which command they flew away. Thereupon Sʻhagowenotʻha followed his dogs in the direction they had taken. Just then he heard in the distance the barking of the dogs, Wau, wau, wau, as they seemed to say. When the old man arrived near the place where the dogs were barking, he heard one of them burst out, crying, Kwĕñʻ, kwĕñʻ, kwĕñʻ. Having arrived there, he found one of the dogs lying dead from the effects of an arrow which had fallen down its throat. Sʻhagowenotʻha was grieved to lose one of his dogs, which he highly valued, and he exclaimed: “Oh! it is discouraging. It would seem that his body is, indeed, in a measure possessed of orenda.” In a short time he again heard in the distance the barking of his dogs, and he at once started on the run toward the place. On drawing near the place he again heard one of the dogs utter loud cries, Kwĕñʻ, kwĕñʻ, kwĕñʻ. Once more he found one of his dogs lying there, also with an arrow protruding out of its mouth, into which it had fallen from the second doll in the tree. Again the old man loudly exclaimed, “Oh! discouraging, discouraging, is this. He is, I think, somewhat of a sorcerer.” By that time the last dog was heard barking in the distance and the old man started on the run for the place. As he neared the spot, he heard the last dog crying Kwĕñʻ, kwĕñʻ, kwĕñʻ. Thereupon fear came over the old cannibal, who exclaimed: “Now I shall [[712]]flee from this place, for he has now killed them all, my dogs. He is indeed a great sorcerer.” At once Sʻhagowenotʻha ran toward the canoe landing, which was some distance away.