The Hunters of the Ozark

  CHAPTER XXXVI.

  AMERICA VERSUS AMERICA.

  Terence Clark gathered himself for another rush and blow at theShawanoe, when the latter with a quickness which the eye of Fred Lindencould hardly follow, ducked under the arm of the Irish lad and againstruck him a resounding blow with the flat of the hand, first on oneside of the face and then on the other. Terry wheeled and returned theblows with skill. Once his hand grazed the black hair that was danglingabout Deerfoot's head, and several times he touched the noddingfeathers, but strive as much as he might, he could not reach the fellowhimself.

  Now that the combat may be said to have opened, it went through to theend without halt or break. Here, there, everywhere dodged and struck theShawanoe, while Terry was always just too late to catch him. Deerfootmight have inflicted considerable injury upon his plucky antagonist, hadhe struck him with his closed hand, but he always used his open palm.Some of the blows resounded like pistol shots. Having delivered all thathe wished, Deerfoot doubled up his left hand so that only the indexfinger was extended. With this he punched the right and left ribs ofTerry, then his chest, and then actually flipped each side of his nose,easily dodging the blows which the half angered Irish lad aimed at himin return.

  Suddenly Terry turned his back on his foe and deliberately struckseveral times at vacancy. Then he dropped his hands and walked back bythe fire, saying, with a shake of his head:

  "I've enough! ye could bate the divil and his uncle."

  Fred Linden was sitting on the ground shaking with laughter. He had notseen any thing for a long time that pleased him so much. He had observedTerry in more than one fight with the boys at home and he knew he was anugly customer, as full of grit as a bull dog, but the Shawanoe struckhim fully a dozen times, while the Irish lad with all his skilldesperately put forth never once touched him. The discomfiture of thebrave Irish lad was complete.

  No witness of the bout, however, could have failed to admire the skilland pluck of Terry. He acquitted himself well and kept up the struggle,even after he was convinced that he could do nothing with his alertantagonist. Then, when Deerfoot began to trifle with him, he turnedaround as I have shown and struck the empty air.

  "Why did you do that?" asked Fred, as the three stood by the firediscussing the incident.

  Terry passed his open hand over his cheeks, which were red and smartingfrom the sharp taps of Deerfoot, and closing one eye and scratching hishead, made answer:

  "I had been sthrikin' at Deerfut until I obsarved that ivery time Isthruck _at_ him I didn't hit him; so thinks I to mesilf, I will seewhither I can hit him by tryin' not to hit him; so I sthruck where Iknowed he wasn't, thinkin' he was there."

  "Well, I must declare Deerfoot the winner."

  "I can't deny that he is; I throw up the sponge and extind to him thebest wishes for himself and family."

  Smiling in a way that left no doubt of his relish of the incident,Deerfoot warmly shook the hand of his friend, whose brave fight hadincreased his admiration of him.

  "My brother is brave," said he admiringly; "perhaps he can lay Deerfooton his back; Deerfoot will rejoice if he can do so."

  "Be the powers! but that suits me," exclaimed the delighted Terry; "Iforgot we were to have a wrestling match; Fred, ye will be koind enoughto sarve as riferee again; we'll take side holts and it'll be the bisttwo out of thraa."

  Terry was warranted in feeling more confidence in this test of skill. Hehad failed--as he knew he would always fail--in a sparring contest, forthe reason that Deerfoot was so quick that he could not touch him; butone of the necessities of a wrestling match is that the contestantsshall first seize each other. Terry believed that he had as muchphysical strength as Deerfoot, and if he once got a fair hold, he wouldnot let go until he downed him.

  Terry being right and Deerfoot left handed, each was able to secure hismost effective grip. So, standing side by side, in the old fashionedstyle, with a dusky left arm around the white neck and a white armaround the dusky neck, they began the struggle.

  In this match, as before, Deerfoot allowed his antagonist to dally withhim awhile before he took the aggressive. Passing him over his hip Terrygave Deerfoot such a violent fling that a pang of fear shot through him,lest he had broken the Shawanoe's neck; but though he shot headlong outof the grasp of the Irish lad, the Shawanoe landed lightly on his feetand instantly leaped back and closed with Terry again.

  "I'll fetch ye this time," he muttered between his compressed lips; "yeshan't git out of me hands till ye's down flat on yer back and mesilflayin' a-straddle of ye. There's a difference between boxin' andsparrin' and I shall taich ye the same, as me grandmither--"

  Both went down that instant, but the Shawanoe was on top. Hisantagonist could not have fallen flatter had he been dropped from theroof of a house.

  "Mark the first fall for Deerfut," called out Terry, hastily clamberingto his feet, the Shawanoe extending his hand to help.

  This result weakened the confidence of the Irish lad in himself, thatis, so far as concerned his opponent. He reflected that many of theIndians are skillful wrestlers, and while Deerfoot had had no trainingin boxing, he had in the other art. Such a cool headed athlete would besure to learn fast. Terry recognized the peculiar flirt by which he hadbeen turned off his feet as the very trick he had played successfully onhis playmates at home, but which he never dreamed was known to Deerfoot.

  The Irish lad tried every possible lock, twist and turn upon his rival,but he could not get him off his feet. It seemed to Terry that hewhirled in the air when almost on the ground, and that if he had beendropped head downwards from the height of a rod, he would alight on hisfeet.

  Fred saw Deerfoot, who was carefully watching his antagonist, smile,and he knew what was coming. So deftly that, for the life of him, thespectator could not see how it was done, Terry went over again as "flatas a flounder." Not only that, but to the astonishment of the victim aswell as of the witness, the Shawanoe remained erect, so that heliterally flung his antagonist to the ground and looked smilingly downupon him.

  "Ye can baat the baaters," exclaimed Terry, rising to his feet, andshaking hands with his victor. "I niver met any one who could down me inthat sthyle. I don't know how ye did the same, but I haven't any doubtsthat ye done it, as me great uncle remarked whin the cannon ball tookoff his head."

  With the same shadowy smile Deerfoot looked inquiringly at Fred Linden.

  "Deerfoot thinks maybe his brother would be glad to lay him on theground?"

  "I'll be hanged if I don't try it," laughed Fred, springing to his feet,and instantly but cautiously closing arms with the graceful warrior.

  "My brother can not throw Deerfoot," said the latter; "but the heart ofDeerfoot would be glad if he would tell him how he would like tofall--on his shoulders, or side, or back."

  "I wouldn't like to fall at all; but if you think you can get me on myshoulders, just try it; that's all."

  "It shall be as my brother wishes."

  The words seemed yet in the mouth of Deerfoot when Fred felt himselfsailing through space, and the next instant he landed on his shoulderswith a shock that Terry declared made the ground shake.

  As before, Deerfoot himself did not fall, but looked smilingly down onhis prostrate friend as he began climbing to his feet again.

  "Now, if my brother wishes to fall on his back, it shall be so."

  "I've little doubt that you will not do just as you say you will; I onlyask that you wait till I say I am ready; you did the last before I hadtime to prepare."

  "Ye bitter not ax him to wait," said Terry, who rolled over on theground in the exuberance of his mirth, at the sight of his big friendgoing down before the lithe, willowy Shawanoe; "for since he's bound todo what he says, the sooner ye are out of yer suspinse, the sooner ye'llbe out of it."

  "Be kind enough to attend to your own affairs," said Fred stiffly;"Deerfoot and I are running this show."

  "It looks as if Deerfut had charge of the whole of it," was the commentof Terry, who brok
e into laughter again; "and whin he is done ye'llagraa with me."

  Once more the arms passed over each other's neck. Fred resolved thatwhatever came, he would not be taken by surprise this time. He wasstronger than Terry and he had thrown him more than once. He could notunderstand, therefore, why he should not at least give the Shawanoe astruggle. He braced his feet, with every muscle strained, and everyfaculty on the alert.

  "I am ready," said he; "do your best."

  "On which side shall Deerfoot throw his brother?"

  "On my right side, and as hard as you can."

  Now, you will see the difficulty of the task, for Fred had his right armtightly locked over the neck of Deerfoot, so that that side was guardedby the body of the warrior himself. It would seem, that if Fred shouldfall on either side it could only be on the left. Manifestly if itshould be the right, the Shawanoe could not go down with him. He mustbring him to the ground and escape from beneath him before he fell.

  He did it. For a second or two the contestants stood motionless. Then,like a flash, Deerfoot slipped from the grasp of his friend, droppeddown in a stooping posture almost to the earth, holding the right handof Fred firmly with his left (this was to prevent him using that hand tosave himself), and then by a quick dart to the left, he carried bothfeet of his opponent off the ground, and Fred fell squarely on his rightside, his conqueror straightening up as he went down.

  "I would be obleeged," said Terry, throwing back his head with laughter,"if yees will be koind enough to till me who is runnin' the show aboutthis time."

  Fred was chagrined at the ease with which Deerfoot had overthrown him,and it was not lessened by the honest compliment which the young warriorgave to his skill. Both Fred and Terry had been pretty well jarred, forthey were downed with such amazing suddenness that it could not beotherwise; but neither referred to it and they could only praise thewonderful ability of their friend.

  "I tell you," said Fred, seating himself on the ground beside the othertwo, after the flurry was over, "all this proves that skill is worthmore than strength. I am quite sure that I am as strong as you,Deerfoot, but I don't believe that Terry and I together could lay you onyour back. When I had my arm around your neck, I suspected you would tryto slip out, and I squeezed you pretty hard. You slid out so quicklythat at the moment you were down at my heels, I thought I had you fast."

  "I'm thinkin' that the nixt thing we should try is a race; Fred canoutrun me and I'll agraa that he will outrun Deerfut, that is, if ye'llallow me to make the conditions."

  "What would they be?" asked Deerfoot, Looking gravely down upon hisfriends.

  "The race should be for a hundred yards, and Deerfut must give Fredninety-five yards start, though to make it sure enough, maybe it oughtto be ninety-six or siven."

  "Then you would require about ninety-nine, according to the samecalculation," said Fred.

  "Ye's are right," replied Terry, to whom it seemed that no athletic featwas impossible for the Shawanoe; "nayther yersilf nor mesilf have aright to be mintioned in the same day with him."