Three Adventure Tales

by Ruth Chew

  “Why did you become one?” Amanda wanted to know.

  “My uncle was a saya-gay, and my family always thought I should be one someday, too. Saya-gays are born different from other people. I had dreams about things that would happen and knew what people were thinking. When I was thirteen, I had a vision of a bright light coming from the sky. That was a sign that I was meant to be a saya-gay.

  “I had to let my hair and nails grow, and this bone was put through my nose. The tribe sent me into the woods to make friends with the animals. No one else has been my friend until you and your brother came along.

  “I have the strangest dreams about you. You don’t belong in this time or place. Tell me how you came here.”

  Amanda told Bright Star all about Brooklyn and the museum and how she and Will had looked into the black mirror and been taken back in time.

  The saya-gay kept stopping her to ask questions. Amanda told him that the museum was a very big house built of stone where old, old things were kept. He understood that the totem poles there were so old that all the paint was gone, and the wood was worn and broken, but he didn’t know what a mirror was. When they came to a little tidewater pool on the beach, Amanda leaned over to look into it. She saw herself reflected in the still water. “A mirror is like this, Bright Star. You can see yourself in it, only it isn’t water. A mirror is flat and hard and shiny.”

  Amanda went on to tell how she and Will had looked into the magic mirror and what had happened afterward. “This is a wonderful place to be,” she told the saya-gay, “but I keep worrying about how we’ll get home. Our mother and father must think something terrible has happened to us.”

  Bright Star tugged at his scraggly beard. “Mandy, stop worrying! That never does any good.” He smiled at her. “Tell yourself that everything will be all right.”

  Amanda felt better at once. “Look, Bright Star, here’s the bush where we hid your rock!” She leaned over and pushed back the branches that covered it.

  The saya-gay leaned over to touch the black rock. “How did you know which bush it was under, Mandy? They look so much alike I was afraid you wouldn’t find it.”

  Mandy pulled a green twig out of her jeans pocket and showed him where she’d taken it off the bush. “I kept it to match with the bush just in case another bush had a broken branch.”

  Bright Star unrolled the mat he was carrying and lifted the rock onto it. Then he took hold of one corner of the mat, and Amanda grabbed another. Together they started dragging the mat across the sand.

  Long before they reached the saya-gay’s house they saw Will and Fox-of-the-Water running to meet them.

  Now the boys helped Amanda pull the mat. Bright Star followed behind, making sure that the rock was safely moved.

  “Sunset Moon wants all of us in the house before dark,” Fox-of-the-Water said. “She told me to warn you and Will not to drink from the streams or wade in the water once the sun goes down.”

  “Why not?” Will asked.

  “The land otters bewitch the streams and lakes after sunset,” the Indian boy told them. He lowered his voice to a whisper. “Of course, Bright Star is safe. He has a powerful charm to protect him from the otters.”

  The saya-gay said good-bye to the children and took the black rock into his little house.

  Fox-of-the-Water began to run. Will and Amanda chased after him. As they came near the line of houses, they heard singing. The people of the village were ending the day as they had begun it, standing on the beach to sing. The boats were all pulled up onto the beach.

  When the songs were done, they all went into their houses. Most of those in Mountain Echo’s house had already eaten supper, but there was still plenty of food in the wooden boxes by the fire. It didn’t seem to annoy anyone that the children were late. People ate whenever they were hungry. While they were eating, Amanda noticed that a row of drums was being set up on the big platform at the rear of the house. “What’s happening over there, Fox-of-the-Water?”

  “Someone in Aunt Snow Rainbow’s family must be sick,” Fox-of-the-Water told her. “They’re getting ready for the saya-gay. Come and watch.”

  Will and Amanda gobbled down the rest of the food in their wooden bowls. They ran outside to clean the bowls before putting them away.

  Mountain Echo had gone to fetch the saya-gay. While they were waiting for him to arrive, Snow Rainbow laid a boy about five years old on a sleeping mat in the middle of the platform. A line of people sat down behind the drums.

  Then Bright Star walked into the house. Mountain Echo came after him. The big room was very quiet.

  The saya-gay set down a large basket on the platform. He took out a cord decorated with feathers and stretched it around the little boy.

  “That’s to protect him,” Fox-of-the-Water whispered.

  Bright Star took the mask of an old woman’s spirit from his basket. He danced back and forth while the drums beat softly. The saya-gay changed into the mask of a bear spirit, then to an old man’s spirit. Next he was a spirit living in the clouds.

  Each time the saya-gay changed masks, the drums beat a little louder and Bright Star danced faster. When at last he put on a red mask with a wolf on top and three otters on each side, the little man was dancing like a whirlwind.

  Suddenly he stopped and leaned over the sick child. Bright Star took off his mask. He put his mouth first on the boy’s chest, then on his throat.

  “He’s sucking out the sickness,” Fox-of-the-Water said.

  The saya-gay blew a long breath toward the smoke hole in the roof.

  The people in the room smiled at each other. Amanda and Will could see they all believed Bright Star had blown the sickness away.

  Snow Rainbow held out a little bowl shaped like a boat. The saya-gay put three handfuls of herbs into it. “Mix these with a little water and put it on your son’s chest,” he told her. “Keep him quiet, and make him drink water. He’ll be better in the morning.”

  Fox-of-the-Water’s little cousin was much better the next morning. It was a damp, drizzly day, so he couldn’t go out to play, even if his mother had let him.

  On cloudy days everybody stayed indoors. Some of the people were making baskets. Sunset Moon set up a big loom and began to weave cedar bark string into a blanket. She taught Amanda to twist duck feathers into strings that were woven across the cloth.

  Fox-of-the-Water showed Will his bow and a sealskin case big enough to hold twelve arrows. Together the two boys made a bow for Will out of wood from a yew tree. They wrapped the ends of the stick in wet seaweed and buried it in the warm ground very near the cooking fire. The wood steamed until it was soft enough to be bent easily. A cord was made of the strong sinew from a walrus.

  “I’ve been saving the right kind of sticks to make arrows,” Fox-of-the-Water said, “but we have to make arrowheads.”

  “Do you have feathers for them?” Will asked.

  “We don’t use feathers on our arrows,” the Indian boy told him.

  In the afternoon Bright Star came to the big house. He put a little leather bag on the ground between Will and Fox-of-the-Water. “Make good use of these!”

  The saya-gay was wearing a pointed basket hat to keep off the rain. He visited the little boy he had cured the night before and then went back to his own house.

  Will opened the leather bag and poured twelve pieces of black stone into his hand. “Thanks for telling Bright Star that Fox-of-the-Water wanted these, Mandy.”

  “I forgot to tell him,” Amanda said.

  “That’s spooky,” Will whispered.

  “He has second sight,” Fox-of-the-Water said. He took one of the pieces of black stone and began to chip at it with a heavy stone pounder.

  Amanda tried to tell herself that Bright Star must have thought Fox-of-the-Water needed arrowheads. Everybody seemed to find reasons to be afraid of the saya-gay. But Amanda liked Bright Star. She decided to go and visit him the next day.

  The next day wasn’t just drizzling. It wa
s raining hard. It rained for three days. Everybody stayed indoors and worked. The saya-gay came to the big house to get food that he took back to his own place. He never stopped to talk to the children.

  Then one morning Amanda was awakened by singing. All the people in the village were outdoors again, in their boats or on the beach. The rain had stopped, and the sky was a clear deep blue. Sunlight danced across the water.

  Amanda had never seen such a beautiful day.

  When the singing was over, Mountain Echo stood on the platform in front of his house and raised his arm. The people on the beach all became quiet.

  “The Ripe Berry Moon is almost over. The Salmon Moon will soon be here. Today we will do the salmon dance.” Mountain Echo put on a mask with two red spots on the forehead, three black marks on the left cheek, and three red marks on the right. He picked up a carved and painted wooden salmon.

  Bright Star came out of the big doorway in the totem pole to join Mountain Echo.

  The saya-gay was wearing the beautiful fish mask he had made. The two of them walked to the edge of the water.

  The people followed them, dancing and singing. Then Bright Star called to the water spirits and begged them to bring back the salmon.

  After that the canoes were paddled away, and everybody on shore went about their daily routine.

  Amanda and the two boys went to get something to eat from the wooden boxes by the cooking fire.

  “When the salmon return,” Fox-of-the-Water said, “we will all go and camp by the rivers while we’re catching the fish. It’s fun. Instead of living with uncles and aunts and cousins in one big house, each family has its own little shelter of brushwood.”

  “Will that be soon?” Amanda asked.

  “Maybe the day after tomorrow,” the Indian boy told her. “It all depends on the salmon.”

  “You promised to teach me how to use the bow and arrow, Fox-of-the-Water,” Will said. “Why don’t we do it today?”

  Amanda had finished eating. “I don’t want to risk getting in the way of your arrows, Will.” She stood up. “Make him be careful, Fox-of-the-Water. I’ll see you both later.”

  Amanda walked along the beach toward Bright Star’s little house. When she got there she heard a scraping sound coming from inside.

  A mat hung over the doorway. Amanda went close to it and called, “Bright Star!”

  The scraping stopped. The saya-gay slipped out of the doorway without moving the mat enough to let Amanda see into his house. “Mandy! I thought it was you. Is anything wrong?”

  “I just came to visit,” Amanda told him. “Will and Fox-of-the-Water are busy with their bows and arrows.”

  “I know you think I’m rude,” the witch doctor said, “but I haven’t time for a visit. I’m working on something.”

  “What is it?” Amanda asked.

  “If I tell you, it will break the spell.” Bright Star went back into his house.

  Amanda felt as if she had been slapped in the face. She bit her lip to keep from crying.

  She went back to the Eagle house to help Sunset Moon make cakes of dried berries and pack them away for later use.

  When the tide was out, Sunset Moon put a mat on her back. “That’s to keep me dry,” she said. “Come along. I’ll show you how we dig clams.”

  The Indian woman jabbed the pointed end of a short, flat stick deep into the mud and twirled the other end. At once a great many clams came up out of the wet sand. Sunset Moon bent over at the hips as if she wanted to touch her feet with her face. She quickly reached all around to gather the best clams before the tide returned.

  Sunset Moon and Amanda roasted some of the clams over the open fire and shared them with the slave woman. They put the rest into one of the wooden boxes to steam.

  When the boys came back from their bow-and-arrow practice, they ate steamed clams and clover roots.

  The day became very warm in the afternoon. All three children went swimming in the bay. Both Amanda and Will showed Fox-of-the-Water the strokes they had learned at the Y.

  The Indian boy reminded them to get out of the water before sunset. “If you don’t,” he warned, “you will be forever in the power of the land otters!”

  The people in the boats returned before sunset, too. They dragged the heavy canoes up onto the beach as the evening singing began.

  Amanda was so tired by the time she lay down on her mat that she fell asleep at once.

  Sometime later in the night she woke. The big house was stuffy from the smoldering fires. Amanda got up and walked to the archway in the totem pole to get a breath of fresh air.

  She looked across the bay.

  A pale moon was rising above the mountain. By its light Amanda saw something moving on the water. It seemed to be a huge canoe, but of course it couldn’t be. The people of this tribe would not go out of the house on a cloudy day because they thought bad spirits were around them. They surely would not go out on the water at night!

  Suddenly Amanda had a terrible thought. Perhaps the people in the canoe came from a different tribe who were not afraid of the dark. They might be coming to this village to capture slaves!

  There was not a moment to lose. Amanda raced back to the fire and grabbed one of the fish that was used to make oil. She held it to the flame. The fish burned like a candle.

  “Wake up!” She held the blazing fish high and yelled as loud as she could. “Wake up! A big canoe is coming!”

  Mountain Echo was up and dressed in a wooden helmet and armor made of wooden slats before most of the other people were awake. “Go next door, Mandy. Tell Crooked Toe Eagle what you have seen.” He turned to Fox-of-the-Water. “You and Will must warn the people in the other houses of the village. Hurry!”

  Brave Warrior was in armor now, too. He started handing spears, clubs, and bows and arrows to the rest of the people in the house.

  Amanda didn’t stop to put on her sneakers. She rushed barefoot to the house next door, holding the burning candle-fish.

  The doorway of this house was covered by a mat. Amanda had to push it aside to get into the room. The room was very dark and smelled stale. The people were all asleep, and many of them were snoring.

  Amanda yelled, “Wake up!” several times, but everybody went right on sleeping.

  She ran over to the platform at the back of the house. Four men and three women and a number of children were sleeping there.

  “Wake up!” Amanda screamed. Still nobody did.

  She leaned over the oldest man and shined the light from the candle-fish into his face. He put his hand over his eyes.

  Amanda reached out and shook his shoulder. The man opened his eyes and sat up. “Who are you?” he said in a sleepy voice.

  “Mountain Echo sent me to warn you that the village is going to be attacked,” Amanda told him. “Get ready to defend yourself!”

  The man still kept staring stupidly at her.

  Amanda left him and shook each of the other men in turn, screaming, “The enemy is coming!” over and over. By this time the women and children were awake. They seemed to think Amanda was the enemy!

  She threw down the burning fish, which was getting very short, and ran back to the front door. Amanda pushed aside the mat hanging over it and slipped out into the open air.

  She looked around for her brother, but she didn’t see him anywhere.

  The moon was higher in the sky.

  Amanda wondered if the people in the other houses were like those in Crooked Toe Eagle’s house. They didn’t act like Eagles at all. She looked at the top of the totem pole in front of the house. There seemed to be a frog on top, or maybe, Amanda thought, it was a toad. Amanda began to understand why Fox-of-the-Water was so proud to be an Eagle.

  Amanda looked out over the water. The giant canoe was much nearer now. She could see that there were armed men in it. She ran back to the Eagle house. Brave Warrior was standing in the archway of the totem pole with a bow and arrow.

  “Did Will and Fox-of-the-Water come b
ack?” she asked him.

  “No,” the Indian boy’s father said. “I came out to watch for them. Go into the house, Mandy. It’s not safe for you here.”

  Amanda was older than either of the boys. She was not going to leave them in danger. She ran toward the next house.

  “Mandy, come back!” Brave Warrior called. Amanda kept on running.

  When she came to the third house, she saw a man in wooden armor just inside the door. Will and Fox-of-the-Water must have awakened the people here.

  The next house showed signs of life, too, but the last two houses were still quiet. Amanda was about to enter the fifth house when someone ran out and almost knocked her over.

  “Mandy! What are you doing here?” It was Will.

  “Where’s Fox-of-the-Water?” Amanda asked.

  “In the last house,” her brother told her. “He said the people there sleep like logs. Come on. Let’s help him wake them up.”

  They reached the sixth house just as the Indian boy was coming out. “Mandy, you should be indoors!” He was excited. “Let’s get our bows and arrows, Will!”

  Amanda looked around. She pointed at the bay. By now the great canoe was in shallow water. Most of the men who came in it were wading ashore.

  The children were standing in a patch of moonlight.

  “Get down!” Fox-of-the-Water dropped to the ground and slid on his stomach to the shadow of the nearest house. Will and Amanda did the same.

  As soon as they were out of the moonlight, the three of them stood up and stayed close to the wall of the house.

  The men in the boat must have hoped to surprise the little village and capture people while they were still asleep or, at least, unarmed. They formed six groups and came quietly ashore. Each group crept toward a house.

  The men of the village in their wooden armor waited in the shadows of their doorways. When the attackers came close they shot them with arrows and rushed at them with spears and clubs.