Page:Iracéma, the honey-lips (1886).djvu/68

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54
IRAÇÉMA.

his mouth. Poty and his brother have but one life."

The lip of Iraçéma spoke not—only smiled.

CHAPTER XVIII.

The forest literally trembled as it echoed the career of the Tabajára braves.

The form of Irapúam the Great first looms amidst the trees. His suffused eye caught sight of the white warrior through a cloud of blood; a hoarse and tiger-like roar burst from his brawny chest.

The Tabajára Chief and his tribe were about to fall upon the fugitives like the swollen waves which break on the Mocoribe՚s[1] flank.

But hush !—in the distance sounds the bark of the Indian dog.

Poty gave a cry of joy.

"It is Poty՚s hound that guides the warriors of his Taba to save his brother."

The hoarse sea-shell of the Pytiguáras bellowed through the forest. The great Jacaúna, Lord of the Sea-shores, was marching from the river of the herons with the best of his braves.

The Pytiguáras receive the first assault of the foe on the jagged heads of their shafts, which they loosed in showers like the porcupine[2] raising his quills. Presently resounded the War-Poçema of the Tabajáras ; the space between the enemies was narrowed, and the hand-to-hand combat began.

Jacaúna attacked Irapúam. The horrible fight

  1. ↑ Mocoribe, now called Mucuripe, means "to make glad;" it is a hill of sand in a bay of the same name, a league from Fortaleza, the great seaport town of Ceará.
  2. ↑ In the original Coandú, porcupine.
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