emans' fine
chaise.

CHAPTER VI

AMANDA'S CONSCIENCE

Amos Cary and Jimmy Starkweather lay on the warm sand in the narrow
shadow cast by a fishing dory pulled up on the beach. No chief returning
from far-off islands could have been more a hero than was Amos among the
boys and girls of the settlement. They followed him about, and listened
eagerly to all that he had to tell them of the Indians. Then, too, he
was to go in the "Sea Gull" with Captain Nash, the swiftest schooner and
the smartest captain sailing out of the harbor, and Jimmie Starkweather
felt that Amos was having greater good fortune than any boy could hope
for.

"Maybe the 'Sea Gull' can't get out of port," said Jimmie, digging his
bare toes in the soft sand. "The English ships keep a sharp outlook for
a schooner loaded down with salt fish. I'll bet Captain Nash won't get
beyond Chatham."

"Pooh!" responded Amos scornfully. "We can sail right away from their
old tubs. But 'twill be great if they do follow us."

"'Twould be just your good fortune," said Jimmie. "I do wish my father
would let me go with you, Amos. Who knows what adventures you may have!"

For a few moments the two boys did not speak; they lay looking out over
the beautiful harbor, and their minds were full of vague hopes of
adventure. Jimmie was the first to break the silence.

"You won't see Shining Fish again, will you, Amos?"

"No; did I show you what he gave me?" And Amos pulled out a stout
deerskin thong from inside his flannel blouse. The claw of a bird was
fastened to the thong. "See! It's a hawk's claw," exclaimed Amos; "and
as long as I wear it no enemy can touch me. I gave Shining Fish my
jack-knife," continued Amos. "You'd like him, Jimmie; he knew stories
about chiefs and warriors, and he had killed a fox with his bow and
arrow. He told me about a chief of their tribe who lived long ago and
was the strongest man that ever lived. He used to go on long journeys,
way beyond Cape Cod, with his band of warriors, and once he met an
unfriendly tribe, and they laughed when the braves told how strong their
chief was. 'Can he conquer a wild bull?' one of them asked, and the
brave answered, 'Aye, or two wild bulls.'

"So the unfriendly Indians laughed louder, and were glad, for they
thought they could destroy the chief even without a battle. Well, they
arranged that this brave chief was to go alone into a fenced-in place
and meet two wild bulls, and if he conquered them t