Legend upon the Cane Read Online Free PDF

winter. St. Denis
realized that these crops were valuable to the Indians, so he did
not want to encroach too much on their hosts and instructed his men
to not eat much of what they had harvested.
    St. Denis noticed how every
morning Natchitos would go up to the top of the hill overlooking
the river and would sit and stare out for an hour or more at a
time. He wanted to go up and join him but felt it best not to
interrupt him. One day he asked Sitting Crow, brother of Tooantuh,
why Natchitos climbed and sat on the hill each morning. Sitting
Crow explained to St. Denis, “Natchitos is the chief of our tribe,
but he is also our spirit guide. He sits on the hill in the rising
sun to cleanse his own spirit.”
    “ Has anyone ever
gone up there with him?” St. Denis asked.
    “ No, it is not
our place to interrupt the spirit guide when he is alone with his
thoughts,” Sitting Crow said. St. Denis decided not to push the
subject any further.
    After the work was done in
the fields, Tooantuh asked to form a hunting party. Natchitos
readily agreed to the idea. He knew there was ample wild game in
the forests. It was common to hunt for deer, hogs, bear, and even
buffalo during certain times of the year. The younger braves liked
to hunt for small game, such as rabbit, opossum, quail, and
squirrels. Tooantuh was eager to show off his hunting skills to the
newcomers. His skill with the bow and arrow was unrivaled within
the tribe.
    One afternoon, he and
Sitting Crow, took two of the young braves, LaRouche, and two of
the other soldiers on a hunting party. They quietly stalked the
forest with Tooantuh in front of the group. He held up his fist,
signaling them to halt. He sensed something in the brush a few
paces to his right. It was a rabbit! He signaled to the youngest
brave, Natchitos’ second son, Nito, to take his best aim. But
before Nito could strike, he was startled by the blast of a musket.
They all turned to see LaRouche standing with a smoking rifle
pointed towards the brush.
    “ Ah, I think I
missed him!” muttered LaRouche. Tooantuh and Sitting Crow were
dumbfounded on why he would try to kill a rabbit with such a large
weapon.
    “ You missed him!”
shouted Nito. “And now you’ve scared him away.” Tooantuh scolded
him as well, but LaRouche had no idea what they were
saying.
    “ Gee Sarge, at
least let the kid shoot at him first,” a young soldier piped up.
His name was Etienne Sommer.
    “ Mind yourself,
soldier!” LaRouche stammered. “What’s that kid going to use
anyway?” motioning to little Nito.
    Nito instinctively knew what
the sergeant was questioning. He smiled and then pulled out a
handful of small wooden arrows, about the six inches in length.
Each had a sharp, narrow arrowhead on the tips. They were called
hand darts. “This is what you use for a little rabbit, don’t you
know that?” Nito quipped in his own language. “Not that big noisy
thing!” Tooantuh and Sitting Crow both chuckled to themselves.
LaRouche was embarrassed and not amused.
    A few hours
later, the hunters again came across a rabbit. Tooantuh led Nito up
to the front once again. The Indians looked back at the soldiers
and gave them an obvious look not to interfere this time. LaRouche
held up both hands in compliance and a sarcastic smile on his face.
Nito took two slow steps forward then crouched down. He slowly took
two hand darts from a pouch. He readied one dart in one hand and
held the second in his other. He waited for the right moment. The
rabbit lifted his head, sensing he had been spotted. He began to
jump and scamper away, but it was too late. Two darts split through
the air, one after the other and hit their target precisely, thump, thump! Nito then stood tall and proud and turned and gave a
broad smile in LaRouche’s direction. Tooantuh looked on proudly and
patted the young brave on his head. “Nice aim, little Nito,” he
said with a smile. The soldiers applauded in admiration, including
the impressed