CHAPTER III

CHITTA'S REVENGE

So Has-se the Sunbeam became Bow-bearer to his father, the great chief
Micco, and Chitta the Snake was disappointed of his ambition. By some
means he became convinced that Réné de Veaux had instructed Has-se in
his newly acquired trick of wrestling; and though he had no proof of
this, he conceived a bitter hatred against the white lad. He had
especially included him in his muttered threat of vengeance against all
those who greeted his final overthrow with shouts of joy; but, like the
wily reptile whose name he bore, he was content to bide his time and
await his opportunity to strike a deadly blow. After the games were
ended he disappeared, and was seen no more that day.

His absence was hardly noted, for immediately after Has-se's victory
the entire assembly repaired to the great mound which had gradually
been raised by the accumulation of shells, bones, broken pottery, and
charred wood that many generations of Indian feasters had left behind
them, and here was spread the feast of the day. Then followed dancing
and singing, which were continued far into the night.

At length the dancers became exhausted; the men who beat the drums and
rattled the terrapin shells filled with dried palmetto berries grew so
drowsy that their music sounded fainter and fainter, until it finally
ceased altogether, and by two hours after midnight the whole encampment
was buried in profound slumber. Even those whose duty it was to stand
guard dozed at their posts, and the silence of the night was only
broken by the occasional hootings of Hup-pe (the great owl).