The Acorn-Planter | Page 9

Cloud's voice.)_
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
The Sun Man is dead!
Hoh!
Hoh! Hoh!

The Sun Man and his Sun Men are dead!
{Red Cloud}
_(Shaking his head.)_
His brothers of the Sun are
coming after.
I have reports.

_(Red Cloud beckons one after another of
the young hunters to
speak)_
{First Hunter}
To the south, not far, I wandered and lived
with the
Petaluma. With my eyes I did not
see, but it was told me by those
whose eyes had
seen, that still to the south, not far, were many
Sun
Men--war chiefs who carry the thunder in
their hands; cloth-makers
and weavers of cloth
like to that in Red Cloud's hand; acorn-planters

who plant all manner of strange seeds that ripen
to rich harvests of
food that is good. And there
had been trouble. The Petaluma had
killed
Sun Men, and many Petaluma had the Sun Men
killed.
{Second Hunter}
To the east, not far, I wandered and lived with
the
Solano. With my own eyes I did not see,
but it was told me by those
whose eyes had seen,
that still to the east, not far, and just beyond the

lands of the Tule tribes, were many Sun Men--
war chiefs and
cloth-makers and acorn-planters.
And there had been trouble. The
Solano had
killed Sun Men, and many Solano had the Sun Men
killed.
{Third Hunter}
To the north, and far, I wandered and lived
with the
Klamath. With my own eyes I did
not see, but it was told me by those
whose eyes
had seen, that still to the north, and far, were
many Sun
Men--war chiefs and cloth-makers
and acorn-planters. And there had
been trouble.
The Klamath had killed Sun Men, and many
Klamath
had the Sun Men killed.
{Fourth Hunter}
To the west, not far, three days gone I
wandered,
where, from the mountain, I looked
down upon the great sea. With
my own eyes
I saw. It was like a great bird that swam upon
the
water. It had great wings like to our great
trees here. And on its back I
saw men, many
men, and they were Sun Men. With my own
eyes I
saw.

{Red Cloud}
We shall be kind to the Sun Men when they
come
among us.
{War Chief}
_(Dancing stiff-legged.)_
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
Let the
Sun Men come!
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
We will kill the Sun Men when
they come!
{People}
_(As they join in the war dance.)_
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
Let
the Sun Men come!
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
We will kill the Sun Men
when they come.
_(The dance grows wilder, the Shaman and
War Chief encouraging it,
while Red
Cloud and Dew-Woman stand sadly at
a distance.)_
_(Rifle shots ring out from every side. Up
the hillside appear Sun
Men firing rifles.
The Nishinam reel to death from their
dancing.)_
_(Red Cloud shields Dew-Woman with
one arm about her, and with
the other arm
makes the peace-sign)_
_(The massacre is complete, Dew-Woman
and Red Cloud being the
last to fall.
Red Cloud, wounded, the sole survivor,
rests on his
elbow and watches the Sun
Men assemble about their leader)_
_(The Sun Men are the type of pioneer
Americans who, even before
the discovery
of gold, were already drifting across the
Sierras and
down into Oregon and
California with their oxen and great wagons.

With here and there a Rocky Mountain
trapper or a buckskin-clad
scout of the
Kit Carson type, in the main they are
backwoods
farmers. All carry the long
rifle of the period.)_
_(The Sun Man is buckskin-clad, with long
blond hair sweeping his
shoulders.)_
{Sun Men}
_(Led by Sun Man.)_
We crossed the Western Ocean

Three hundred years ago,
We cleared New England's forests
Three hundred years ago.
Blow high, blow low,
Heigh hi, heigh ho,
We cleared New
England's forests
Three hundred years ago.
We climbed the Alleghanies
Two hundred years ago,
We reached the Susquehanna
Two hundred years ago.
Blow high, blow low,
Heigh hi, heigh ho,
We reached the
Susquehanna
Two hundred years ago.
We crossed the Mississippi
One hundred years ago,
And glimpsed the Rocky Mountains
One hundred years ago.
Blow high, blow low,
Heigh hi, heigh ho,
And glimpsed the Rocky
Mountains
One hundred years ago.
We passed the Rocky Mountains
A year or so ago,
And crossed the salty deserts
A year or so ago.
Blow high, blow low,
Heigh hi, heigh ho,
And crossed the salty

deserts
A year or so ago.
We topped the high Sierras
But a few days ago,
And saw great California
But a few days ago.
Blow high, blow low,
Heigh hi, heigh ho,
And saw great California
But a few days ago.
We crossed Sonoma's mountains
An hour or so ago,
And found this mighty forest
An hour or so ago.
Blow high, blow low,
Heigh hi, heigh ho,
And found this mighty
forest
An hour or so ago.
{Sun Man}
_(Glancing about at the slain and at the giant
forest.)_

Good the day, good the deed, and good this
California land.
{Red Cloud}
Not with these eyes, but with other eyes in my
lives
before, have I beheld you. You are the
Sun Man.
_(The attention of all is drawn to Red
Cloud, and they group about
him and the
Sun Man.)_
{Sun Man}
Call me White Man. Though in truth we
follow the sun.
All our lives have we followed
the sunset sun, as our fathers followed
it before
us.

{Red