Crosses

93 Ready for the Happy Hunting Grounds 131 Primitive Weaving-Frame 137 Comb from Fin of Fish 140 The Marmoset 166 Proboscis Monkey 167 The Mysterious Message 170 Orders of Architecture 179 The Peculiar Illya Village 212 Diagram of Cross-shaped Cave 219 Paper-making Machine 231 The Stars and Stripes 236

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p. 11

THE CONQUEST

CHAPTER I

THE COMPACT BETWEEN THE FOUR ALLIED TRIBES

When the morning sun was struggling to come up over the mountains in the east, the whole camp was startled by Sutoto, who, with a number of the Berees during the night, had acted as a picket, to observe the attitude of the defeated tribes.

He made his way to the Professor, who had taken his old place in the wagon. "The Tuolos, Kurabus and Illyas have all united and are now on the big river."

"When did you last see them?"

He held up his fingers to indicate the time, and the Professor called to Will: "Do you know what time he means?"

Will soon interpreted the sign to mean three in the morning.

"If they have not been separated it is a sign that they intend to continue the fight," said John.

"I suggest," replied the Professor, "that we call a council of the principal men in the tribes, and let them fully understand what our aim and desires are, and thus unite the four tribes in a bond of unity. This is a most opportune time."

The news of the obvious action of the tribes to the north was soon learned by all, and whenp. 12 the Professor's view was communicated there was a universal assent.

Within an hour the chiefs assembled, and the Professor addressed them as follows: "My brothers, I am glad to be able to talk to you, and Uraso and Muro will tell you what I have to say. The Great Spirit sent us here, and we tried for a long time to tell you why we came, but you did not understand it.

"The Great Spirit is the same to all tribes; he does not favor one more than the other, but sometimes one tribe will understand better than the other what he wants, and when they do know what he says it makes them stronger and better.

"We believe the Great Spirit wants the different tribes to live together in peace, and not kill each other, and for that purpose he has given each one something to do. If he does that in a right way he not only helps himself, but he helps everyone else.

"We want to show you how to do this, but before we can start we must all be like one family. We do not ask the Berees to give up their customs and become Saboros, nor do we want the Brabos to do as the Osagas do. We do not care what you believe about this or that, or how you shall dress, or what language you shall speak. The only thing we should be careful to do alike is to so work that we shall not injure each other.

"It will not be hard to learn this, and we will all be patient, and we ask you to be patient with us. We want to show you that the ground is your mother, and when you ask her for fruit shep. 13 will give you plenty, and you can soon learn to make things which will make your wives and children happy and contented.

"You will know that anything you own will be yours, and none can take it from you, and if anyone tries to take it, everyone will stand up and protect you. The tribes which are now to the north must be made to understand this, and we must unite to compel them to agree to this manner of living.

"I know that the tribes are powerful enemies, and can bring a great many warriors to fight against us, but we do not want to kill, nor do we want them to kill us. Your weapons are not any better than the ones they have, and we want to make some that will enable us to overcome them, not for the purpose of killing them, but only to protect ourselves and our homes and children.

"If that is what you want and you agree with me that it is the right thing to do, we will help you. To do that you must not fight each other. I have heard that you do not believe in sacrificing captives, as the Tuolos and the Illyas and the Kurabus do, and I am glad of it.

"I am told that you all know Suros, the great, father of the Berees, and that he is wise. He is my friend, and he must be present at our councils, but we cannot go to him now, because we must protect our friends, the Brabos, against the warring tribes.

"But we must also be prepared to meet those enemies, and where we live, we have the workshop by which we can make all the wonderful thingsp. 14 needed for our protection. We must go to the Brabos' village, to be on guard, while others must go to our village and bring back those articles, and we will make the things at your own homes, so we can compel those tribes to submit."

These words affected all the warriors, and they gathered around the chiefs and expressed their willingness to do all that the Professor had suggested.

One after the other, the chiefs assented, and the Brabos were especially pleased. Their chief, Oma, arose and said: "We have been fighting our friends, and not our enemies, but we did not know any better. We thought everyone was an enemy. The Great White Chief has told us a new way to live, and we will do whatever he says."

Uraso, chief of the Osagas, held up his hand, and turned to the people: "I was wounded by the White Chief, and he took me to his village and treated me like a friend. He cured me of my wounds, and I