HOFFMAN 



THE MAGIC ARROWS 197 



Away flew the arrow, and the moment it struck and entered the earth 

 there was a small hole in the ground, around which sprung up a dense 

 growth of brush. The little boy ran to the hole, crawled into it, and 

 then went to the edge of the brush, where he came up and hid by the 

 side of a tree which also had sprung out of the ground. As the bears 

 came to the spot where they had seen the boy disappear, they began to 

 tear up the brush until not a piece remained standing. Not finding 

 the hunter, the bears began to search for his last footprints, and finding 

 that they terminated at the hole made by the arrow they at once fol- 

 lowed him. As the bears were now in close pursuit of the boy, he 

 again disappeared in the ground and started away irntil he had got 

 quite a distance from the tree, when he again emerged and started to 

 run away along the prairie. 



By the time the bears reached the tree where the boy had rested for 

 a moment, they were again delayed in trailing him, but they finally 

 succeeded in tracking him out to the prairie, where they espied him 

 running in the distance. They immediately set out in pursuit, but it 

 was a long time before they neared him. When the bears approached, 

 the hunter took his second arrow, and shooting it into the air before 

 him, said to it, "When you come down there shall be about you a copse 

 as wide as the range of an arrow. There I shall hide myself." 



When the arrow descended and entered the earth there appeared a 

 dense undergrowth which completely hid the boy, who then went to 

 the hole, crawled into it, and traveled along in the ground until he had 

 passed beyond the end of the copse, where he emerged and hid by a 

 tree which also had sprung up. 



As before, the bears were infuriated at the escape of the boy, and 

 tore up the brush in every direction in their search for him. Finally 

 they discovered the arrow hole, which they entered. Following the foot- 

 steps of the boy they soon found the place where he had taken refuge, 

 but before they reached him he found himself pursued, and, again div- 

 ing under the surface, he started away for some distance, when he 

 emerged from beneath the ground and started away over the prairie as 

 before. A second time were the bears baffled, and by the time they 

 found the footprints of the boy he was far off. They at once started in 

 pursuit, and as the boy began to tire a little the bears gained rapidly 

 on him, until he found that the only way to escape was to use his third 

 arrow. Taking the shaft from his quiver and fitting it to his bow- 

 string, he aimed upward into the air before him and said, "When you 

 come down there shall be about you a copse as wide as the range of an 

 arrow. There I shall hide myself." 



The arrow descended, making a hole in the ground as before, and a 

 copse appeared all around it, hiding it from view. The boy at once 

 went down into the hole and away to the edge of the copse, where he 

 ascended to the surface and hid near one of the trees which had sprung 

 up at his command. 



