Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 2.djvu/279

Rh bed and covered it with his robe to carry out the deception that he was still there. He told his dog his proposed plan of escape, that he intended to seek safety in flight beyond Tillamook Head, and that he wished him, after he had gone out, to lay curled up at the mouth of the hole so as to obscure the passage. If the cheatco should ask him which way his master had gone to send him off in the opposite direction; then bidding his dog a hasty farewell he hastened away. Fear lent speed and strength to his feet as he sped down the coast. The dog lay at the hole as he was directed to do.

When the giant got up to have his feast as he had planned, he lunged upon the bed of his host, but clutched only the stick of wood; he found that his intended victim had outwitted him and had already made his escape. As he looked around the room he saw the dog lying down, and asked him which way his master had gone. The dog pointed his nose up the river and said, "Yawa,' (that way). The monster rushed out and took his course up the river. After running about two miles, looking the meanwhile for tracks or other signs of flight and not finding any, he concluded that he had been misdirected, and his wrath against that faithful friend of the Indian knew no bounds. He determined that the dog should suffer for the deception he had practiced; so he returned to the lodge. The dog was still at his post, blocking the hole with his body. The giant went up and said, "You lying dog, you deceived me!' ' and gave him a kick; the toes striking the dog, tore him into pieces and threw him away from the hole. This revealed the way the Indian had gone. The cheatco immediately devoured the fragments of the dog and then gave pursuit down the ocean beach after the man. He was so large and fat and his weight so great that his tread as he bowled along the ocean shore sounded like the rumbling of distant thun-