THE FIRST WHITE MAN
ONE morning Massea said, “I am going out to hunt deer to-day.”
Docas went to a corner of the cave and got a deer’s head with the horns on it, and gave it to Massea. Massea took the head, picked up hisbow and arrows, and went away. He carried it until he had walked nearly to the top of the mountains, then he tied the deer’s head on top of his own head.
After that he looked as if he were a deer himself as he walked along through the bushes. He did this so that he would not frighten any deer which might see him coming.
By and by he saw some deer not very far off. He bent down so that only his horns showed above the bushes; then he walked toward the deer. They looked up when they heard the noise, and saw the deer’s head coming toward them. “It’s nothing but another deer,” they thought.
Massea kept walking closer and closer to them, until he was so near that he was sure he could hit them. Then he raised his bow, put the arrow into its place, pulled the string, and took good aim. He let go the string, and the arrow flew. In a minute more a large deer was lying dead, and the others were running away.
Massea went up to the dead deer. When he saw how large it was he said to himself, “That will give Ama and Docas something to eat for a long time.” He threw the deer over his shoulder and started to carry it home.
After a while he became tired, so he lay down to rest under a big redwood tree. By and by heheard a noise and looked up, and there, a little way off, were three deer. He picked up his bow and arrows to shoot, but saw something that surprised him so much that he stopped.
He saw two men with white skins. They did not see Massea, because they too were looking at the deer. One of them raised something long and black which he had in his hand. There was a loud noise, and one of the deer fell dead.
Massea was frightened, for he had never seen white men before. He hid himself so that they could not see him. He was afraid they might kill him in the same way that they had killed the deer, without even using a bow and arrow.
They picked up their deer and went off toward the ocean. Massea followed a little way behind until he saw that they were going down the mountains. Then he came back to where he had left his deer, and carried it down to the Indian rancheria. You can imagine how surprised the Indians were when he told them what he had seen.
A few days later, Docas and some of the other Indian boys were playing at the edge of the camp, when Docas heard a noise and looked up.
“Look! What’s that queer animal coming toward us?” he said.
“It has two heads!” exclaimed Heema.
That will give Ama and Docas something to eat for a long time“That will give Ama and Docas something to eat for a long time.”
“That will give Ama and Docas something to eat for a long time.”
“That will give Ama and Docas something to eat for a long time.”
The children were so surprised that they didnot think of running. They just sat still and looked at this thing as it came nearer.
“There are three more of them,” cried Docas. “They are coming toward us, too.”
“Now the first one is stopping! Now it’s breaking in two!” exclaimed Heema.
In a moment more, however, the children found that it was not one creature. It was a white man riding on a queer little animal with long ears that wagged backward and forward.
They walked toward Docas, and Docas called his father. Massea did not run away, but came up to where they were. The white men told Massea by signs that they were trying to find out how far the great bay extended to the south.
Massea showed them as well as he could. The white men made the Indians understand that they were going round the bay, and that there were more white men camped on a creek a few miles back.
After they had gone on, a great many of the Indians went up to the camp to see the white men. They took them some acorn meal to eat.
At the camp they found the white chief, Governor Portola. The white men had more of the strange animals at the camp. They let Docas and his little brother Heema look at them as long as they liked. Heema said to Docas, “Oh,Docas, do you think they would let me ride one of the queer animals a little way?”
Docas said, “I don’t know, but I will ask and find out.”
The white men smiled and nodded when they understood what Docas wanted. Docas went to Heema and said, “They do not care.”
In a moment Heema was seated on the mule’s back. As the mule began to walk, Heema held very tightly to the saddle.
“Riding a mule is easy,” said Heema.
“Let me try,” said Docas.
Docas led the mule to a rock, and Heema jumped down. Docas rode around until Massea said, “It is time to go home.”
After a day or two, the men who had gone south around the bay came back, then the whole party went away over the mountains to the ocean again. That was the last that Docas saw of the white men for eight years.