Page:Iracéma, the honey-lips (1886).djvu/103

the waves in light Pirogos^[1] to make the shore. They form a great arch, like a shoal of fish crossing the current of a river.

In the middle are the fire-warriors,^[2] who carry the lightning; on each wing the warriors of Mearim, who brandish the tomahawk. But no nation ever drew the bow so unerringly as the great Pytiguáras, and Poty was the greatest Chief of all the Chiefs who carried the Inubia of war. At his side marches his brother, as great a Chief as himself, and learned in the stratagems of the white race, with hair like the sun.

During the night the Pytiguáras had by his directions fixed into the beach a strong Caiçára, or stockade of thorns, and had raised against it a wall of sand, where the "lightning" might cool and extinguish itself. Here they await the foe. Martim orders other warriors to man the tops of the highest palms, and there, screened by the broad fronds, to make ready for the moment of attack.

The arrow of Poty was the first which left the beach. and the Guaraciába chief was the first hero that bit the dust upon the strange soil.

The thunders roar from the right of the white warriors, but the bolts only burrow themselves in the sand or dive into the sea.

The Pytiguára arrows now fall from the heavens, then they fly from the earth and bury themselves in the enemies՚ hearts. Each warrior falls riddled with many arrows, like the prey for which the ^[3] fight in the waters of the lake.

The enemy once more embark in the canoes, and return to the Maracatim to fetch bigger and heavier thunders, which neither one man nor two could manage.