The red feathers

In the days of which I write, in the island now known as Newfoundland, men made prayers to the sun, the winds, the frost and the stars. They believed that giants lived in the no...

“My cooking-pot is full,” replied the other, “and I have many soft skins for bedding; but I fear me, chief, that to sleep in my lodge you will first have to practise magic on th...

The home in which the baby had been born was only a hut, built of poles and sheets of bark. It was a fine house, though, for the time and country. Its door was the hide of a car...

The men of the party sat late around the fire, telling stories of prowess at the fishing and in the chase. Some of them even talked of the battlefield, for they were all of one...

Wind Lake was entered early in the evening of the second day of the journey. The voyagers did not land at sunset, but continued to paddle up the long, narrow lake until they rea...

The first winter of Run-all-day’s chieftainship passed quietly in the wooded valley on Wind Lake. No magicians came to the little village, and the magic feathers remained safe i...

Now it happened that Bright Robe, having wandered to the vicinity of Great Devil’s Lake after months of fruitless searching for Wise-as-a-she-wolf, saw Run-all-day, in his wavin...

When the young man awoke after a sleep of sixteen hours’ duration, he begged for food. Whispering Grass held a small vessel of broth to his lips. He drained it at a gulp, and de...

Wise-as-a-she-wolf had not been gone from the clearing of Whispering Grass more than ten minutes before the little brown owl that had once been Bright Robe made his appearance f...

The little brown owl was both astonished and enraged at the bear’s behaviour. He wanted to cry threats and derision after her; but he had already learned that it is not wise for...

Of all the great magicians in the north, Wise-as-a-she-wolf alone worked solely for the welfare of mankind; and, as his reputation for virtue grew, so did his enemies multiply....

Jumping Wolf was a young man of twenty years of age, who belonged to a big village in the south. His father had been chief of the village until an enemy--a coward who knew a lit...

The cry from the lake was heard by Run-all-day and other early risers in the little village. It was also heard by Jumping Wolf’s enemies, who had camped, for the night, on the o...

The “carry” around the falls was accomplished by noon. Fifteen miles farther down stream was another dangerous place, not a fall, but a long rapid that no canoe could get throug...

Red Willow was slim as a girl, and so her weight was but an inconsiderable matter to the arms of the chief. Also, the red feathers seemed to increase the strength of his body as...

Now what of the little brown owl? We last heard of him, foiled in his sneaking enterprise against Whispering Grass, escaping from the fox with the most desperate and painful eff...

The little brown owl waited in the woods, near the village, until close upon midnight. All was quiet when he at last flew to the lodge to which he had seen Red Eye retire, hours...

When Strong Hunter, after a lengthy stay within the lodge, appeared again among his fellows, he looked both elated and impressed and would answer none of their questions. But he...

All went well with the baby in the good magician’s lodge. He remembered nothing of the world and the people that were without the magic walls; and yet, when Run-all-day visited...

Run-all-day was very much ashamed, and very angry, at the loss of the magic feathers which the good Wise-as-a-she-wolf had trusted to his care. So hot was his anger at first, th...

Jumping Wolf stumbled around the margin of the lake, felt the touch of a guiding hand on his arm, and saw, suddenly, the glowing windows of the magic lodge. Next moment, as the...

The head and shoulders of the giant immediately appeared, and from under a fringe of tangled hair a pair of alert eyes, gray as ice, glared about on every side and up in the air...

This little brown owl that had been a spectator of the whole of Wise-as-a-she-wolf’s interview with Crack Bone, and that now sat and watched the giant prancing victoriously, was...

The seasons passed, with melting snow, waning summers and scattering seeds. Many moons were born, each to grow and dwindle, and leave behind it in the blackness the germ of anot...

Run-all-day’s fighting force consisted of about one hundred and forty warriors, well armed and trained. Every man of them could shoot straight and strong with the bow, and throw...

While Bright Robe was yet a little brown owl, watching the pine-tree in which he had hidden the red feathers, far away in the Land of Giants, old Whispering Grass had gathered h...

Bright Robe was well aware that, until his power should be as great as his rival’s, or the quest of the red feathers should be forgotten, he must practise every precaution to av...

Having restored peace to his beloved islanders, Wise-as-a-she-wolf allowed Featherfoot to return to his father, and devoted himself to the search for the red feathers. He questi...

The brief but sanguinary uprising of the clans was followed by nine years of peace. Featherfoot spent a great deal of his time with his own people, and the rest of it in Wise-as...

“He felt a sudden pang, as of the touch of flame, in his arm. He reeled backward, and at a glance discovered a tiny arrow of strange form, and no longer than a man’s finger, emb...

As autumn stole over the forests and barrens, ripening, searing, and slaying, old men predicted a winter of more than usual severity. They read the signs in the moss, in the fli...

The westward villages made but slight resistance to the mountaineers. They were taken unawares, scattered blindly and many were slain. Some of the fugitives hid, and others ran...

The note of the whistle was not repeated; but Featherfoot ran straight toward the village of Little Heron. The last red light of the short winter day was fading below the west,...

The good magician found his old enemy bleeding in the snow, and bound by thongs magic-strengthened, which he was powerless to break in his weakened condition. Having seen that t...