East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1861-05-23
THE KNIFE OR THE RANSOM.

We clip the following hcart-touching
sketch from A Journey Through Kan
sas," by Mesrss. Boynton and Mason:
A few years since, at the base of this
mound, a chief resided, whose daughter
was a girl of uncommon beauty; and this
beauty was but the external manifesto
tion of pure and noble spirit. AS a
matter of course, she had many admirers
among the young braves of her nation.
Her nature was above the arts of CO.
quette; and loving one among them all
and only one, she hesitated not to let her
preference be known, not only to the
Young Eagle who had won her heart,
but also to those whose suit she had re-
jected. Among the rejected suitors, one
alone so laid it to heart as to desire re-
venge. He, the Prowling Wolf, was fill
ed with rage, and took little pains to con-
ceal his enmity, though he manifested no
desire for open violence. Both these
young men were brave, both skillful in
the use of weapons, which, far away on
the buffalo plains, had sometimes been
used in battle; but while Young Eagle
was noble, generous in spirit, and sway
ed by such high impulses as young
savage may feel, the Wolf was reserved,
dark and sullen; and his naturally lower
ing brow seemed, after the maiden had
refused him, to settle into an habitual
scowl. The friends of the Young Eagle
feared for his safety. He, however, was
too happy in the smiles of his chosen
bride to trouble himself concerning the
enmity of another, especially when he
knew himself TO be his equal both in
strength and skill. The happy couple
were in the habit of meeting at tho top
of the mound--Young Eagle armed with
revolver he had received from white.
One summer evening, just as the moon
was up, Young Eagle sought the top of
the mound for the purpose of meeting
his future bride, for their marriage was
agreed upon, and the appointed day was
near. One side Of this mound is naked
rock, which for thirty feet or more is al
most perpendicular. Just on the edge
Of this precipice is foot path, and by it
large, flat sandstone rock forms con-
vcnient seat for those who survey the
valley, while few low bushes are scat
tered over q part of the crest of the
mound. On this rock Young Eagle sat
him down to await the maiden's coming
In few moments the bushes rustled near
him; and rising, as he thought, to meet
her, a tomakawk flashed by his head, and
the next instant, be was in the arms of q
strong man, and forced to the brink of a
precipice. The eyes of the two met in
the moonlight, and each knew that the
struggle was for life. Pinoned as his
arms were by the others grasp, the Eagle
frustrated the first effort of his foe, and
then desperate wreste, death-wrestle,
followed, in which each was thoroughly
maddcned. The grasp Of the Wolf was
broken, and each instantly grasping is
adversary by the throat with his left
hand, sought his weapon with the right
the one his knife, the other his revol-
yer. In the struggle, the handle of the
knife Of the Wolf had been turned in the
girdle, and missing it at the first grasp,
ere lac could recover himself, the revol-
yer was at his breast and the bullet
through his heart. One flash of hatred
from the closing eye, and the arm of the
dying warrior relaxed; and as the body
sank, the Eagle hurled it over the preci
rice, and in his wrath porcd bullet after
bullet into the corpse as il rolled heavily
down; and, this not satisfying hisrevenge,
he ran round and down the side of the
mound, and tore of the scalp Of his foe.
There had been no witness Of this CON-
bat, for the young girl did not arrive till