Then it occurred to Rolf that he had never seen any
but an oak struck by lightning.
"Is it so, Quonab?"
"No, there are many others; the lightning strikes the oaks most
of all, but it will strike the pine, the ash, the hemlock, the
basswood, and many more. Only two trees have I never seen
struck, the balsam and the birch."
"Why do they escape?"
"My father told me when I was a little boy it was because they
sheltered and warmed the Star-girl, who was the sister of the
Thunder-bird."
"I never heard that; tell me about it."
"Sometime maybe, not now."
Chapter 12. Hunting the Woodchucks
Cornmeal and potatoes, with tea and apples, three times a day,
are apt to lose their charm. Even fish did not entirely satisfy
the craving for flesh meat. So Quonab and Rolf set out one
morning on a regular hunt for food. The days of big game were
over on the Asamuk, but there were still many small kinds and
none more abundant than the woodchuck, hated of farmers. Not
without reason. Each woodchuck hole in the field was a menace to
the horses' legs. Tradition, at least, said that horses' legs
and riders' necks had been broken by the steed setting foot in
one of these dangerous pitfalls: besides which, each chuck den
was the hub centre of an area of desolation whenever located, as
mostly it was, in the cultivated fields.
Pages:
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72