The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1869-03-06


awaken afresh the wells of mournful |
tenderness in my breast, without pouring |
one ray Of sunshine upon the troubled
fountains; they must flow on in darkness
without prospect of day; yet listen to
my story. .-.r..
About eight years ago, with the spirit
Of adventure stirring within me, l came
from the walls of an English university
to the far western States of America. |
wrote to my parents for money; in fact |
asked for my patrimony, and said would
never expect any more from them. They
sent me handsome sum, and l sought
with this capital in hand to make trade
with the Indians, and, therefore, took land
close on the frontiers bought furs from
the natives, and bartered generally with
them. For all the country could produce
gave manufactured articles; and thus |
went on prosperously My capital
doubled, trebled, quadrupled-in fact in
all respects / was prosperous. Then fol-
lowed love affair, and it was pure love
with me, my friend. The family of my
afflanced thought lived too much out of
civilized life, and would not consent to
our union and so we eloped, and what a
wife she made mel speak not in rhap'
sody, but she was the loveliest being that
ever inhabited this lower world None
could excel her in beauty, and she made
that beauty perfect by the graces of a
mind pure and highly cultivated, Her
voice was melody, her smile burst OF
pure and living light, and her calm, blue
eyes were the sweet expositors OF a sin
less affection. To speak no more Of her
perfeCtions, suffice it to say that loved
her with my whole soul. She was my
idol her happiness was the center of my
every wish, and she was the object of
every aspiration.
We were married time went on, and
brought me a bud from the rose | had
established in my green bower at home
We were indeed happy then. Aloof from
society, though we missed few of its
luxuries, we suffered none Of its veXa-
tions and demOralizing corruptions, On
Sundays we rode many miles through the
wilderness to attend a place Of worship
established by the missionaries, and to
hear the word of God read and revealed,
"On the day that my dear little Sarah
had attained her second year, she was
seated near to my counter, and her mother
was standing by, when three fierce-lOokiDg
! Indians entered the store They had
evidently travelled a long way, for their
| lcggings were torn and dirty, and their
feet were almost bare I recognized one
of them instantly as the Crouching WOLF
a desperate being who hung alternately
around the skirts of settlements, begging
for rum, or getting it in barter for the furs
Of wild animals. Just year previous to
this he had visited me for the purpose of
procuring the fire water; had refused
him. and he left me with the VOW Of future
| vengeance.
"'HoOgh 7 said he, as he reeled up with
his gruff- looking companions toward the
counter where my child was playing and
my wife stood, the Crouching Wolf said
he would come back. He wants the talk
ing-water; he wants that, or revenge. He
will have one.'
"I tried to reason with him, but he was
deaf to reason. He had tasted from the
fagon of one of his red companions, and
the fumes were in his brain.
"tCome, medicine-man,' said he, the
Wolf wants the fire-milk. Where is it?
He cannot wait. His spirit Is up, and his
forehead is warm
I" saw that he grew desperate but my
resolution was taken. l sternly denied
him; it was a fatal denial.
"During the colloquy my wife and child
had gone out on the green sward, and the
latter was picking wild flowers and string
ing them. The Crouching Wolf left me,
growing some gutteral sentences to his
companions; and, oh merciful Heavens
saw them advance toward my child. /
was motionlesS, and paralyzed with terror.
AS the Wolf approached my little girl, he
drew q tomahawk from his belt, and
flourished it on high. | sprang toward
him, but was pushed back by his COM
panions. The dear, innocent, unafrightsd
child smiled in the face of the Crouching
Wolf, and it seemed as if the cheerful
purity of her look stayed his Yengeful arm
He paused, until a scream from the mother
aroused the terror of her little girl. She
then shrunk back from the relentless
savage, while her mother, like myself, was
kept at bay, and the dear little innocent
quivering with dismay, said, in childish
simplicity, Naughty Indian! if he hurts
Sarah, ma will be angry, and punish him.
GAS she said this she burst into tears
her last for eVerl
, ain one instant the trenChant weapon
of the infuriated Indian Glove asunder the
! head of my babe; in the next his excited
! comrades, of whom now there were FIVE
! had murdered the wife OF my bosom.
have an indistinct and horrid remem
:: brance of my burning store-the rec
> fends yelling over the consuming roo
! and walls-and my escape to the forest
! The rest was but silence and oblivion.
4 was nadmanl
"Ten months after that found mysel
i. in New Orleans. had reached the city
, no one knew how-had been conveyed t,
! hospital, kindly treated, and discharged
J as cured, but an outoast and beggar
: Misfortunes seldom come alone. | fount
I that during my seclusion from the Worlt
my father had died, and as had already
4 received my share of his property, tn
. residue melted away among seVera
! brothers and sisters. My inheritanc
Z on this side of the Atlantic being destroyet
|. by Indians, I was without a home or
4 friend.
q Chow l subsisted | scarcely know. A
last, as was one day walking moodil,
y along, saw group collected around al
J. Indian who was performing tricks from
e box with a rattlesnake. The Indian wa
d the Crouching Volt
O "'The murderer Of my wife and child
!, / exclaimed, as penetrated through tn
d ring, and with one fierce blow felied tn
J. vile monster to the earth. 1 seized hiT
e by the throat. / placed my knee upo
a his breast. In few moments he wa
e distorted and ghastly corpse beneath m
/ feet.
V My award of retribution was consit
q cred just, and no effort was made to arref
u me- Awaiting myself of the box belong
u ing to the Crouching Wolf, which l cor
0, tended was mine as debt, soon learne
N the mystery Of his art, as If by intuition
An upper drawer Of the box contained th
E real rattlesnake; an under drawer merel
the skin of one, which could be initiate
d by the breath at win. The motion of til
A tongue, which was dried, and had wire
,e within, was produced by load-stone tn
a movementof Of the rattles BY the same caus
re Filled from the lungs, it could readily /
y taken into the mouth and compressed int
"a a very small compass, and while re-pas
ld ing outward, inflated again. ] bought
d new snake from the museum, which
\. 1vilIad and y,rnv,ovod aonordfp0 ~ N