The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1870-08-12

Wolf wants the fire milk. Where is
it? He cannot wait. His spirit is up.
and his forehead Is warm.'
~ saw that he grew desperate but
my resolution was taken. steruly de-
niod him; it was fatal denial.
During the colloquy my wife and
child had gone out on the green sward,
and the latter was picking wild flowers
and stringing them. The Crouching
Wolf left me, growing some gutteral
sentences to his companions; and oh
merciful Heavens ! saw them advance
toward my child. l was motionless,
and paralyzed with terror. AS the
Wolf approached my little girl, he
drew tomahawk from his belt, and
ilourishcd on high. l sprang toward
him, but was pushed back by his COM
panions. The dear, innocent, unaf-
frighted child smiled in the face of the
Crouching Wolf, and it seemed as if the
cheerful purity of her looks stayed his
vcngeful arm. lie paused, until a
scream from the mother aroused the
terror of her little girl. She .hen
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 child
iSh simplicity. Naughty Indian if
he hurts Sarah, ma will be angry, and
punish him."
AS she said this she burst into tears;
her last forever!
"In one instant the trenchant weap-
on of the infuriated Indian Glove asun-
der the head of my babe; in the next
his excited comrades, of whom now
there were five, had murdered the wife
of my bosom. l have an indistinct and
horrid remembrance of my burning
store-the red fiends yelling over the
consuming roof and wall-and my
escape to the forest. The rest was but
silence and oblivion. was mad man!
"Ten months after that l found my
self in New Orleans. l had reached the
city, no one knew how-had been con-
veyed TO hospital, kindly treated, ,and
discharged as cured, but an outcast and
beggar. MisfOrtunes seldom come
alone. found that during my seclus-
ion from the world my father had died
and as had already received my shar g
of his property, the residue melted
awayamong several brothers and sisters.
My inheritance on this side of the At
lantic being destroyed by Indians, l
was without home or friend.
"How l subsisted l scarcely know
AT last as 1 was one day walking mood.
lily along, saw agroup collectedaround
an Indian who was performing tricks
| from box with q rattlesnake. The
Indian was the Crouching Wolf.
"The murderer ofmy wife and child!'
1 exclaimed, as / penetrated through
the ring and with one fierce blow felled
the vile monster to the earth. L seized
him by the throat. Iplaced my knee
upon his breast. In few moments III
was distorted and ghas.ly corpse be
meath my feet.
"My award of retribution was con
sidered just, and no effort was made tC
arrest me. Awaiting myself of the box
belonging to the Crouching Wolf,which
/ contendcd was mine as debt, / soor
learned the mystery Of the art as if by
intuition. An upper drawer of the boa
contained the real rattlesnake; an un-
der drawer merely the skin of one
which could be inflated by the breath
at will. The motion of the tongue
which was dried and had wires within
was produced by load. stone; the move
ment Of the rattlcs by the same cause
Filled from the lungs, it could readily
be taken into the mouth and repassing
outward, inflated again. 1 bought {
new snake from the museum, which
killed and prepared according to th'
model before me. / could not endure
the thought of even using the same in
struments employed by the destroycl
of all that / most loved on earth, and
turned from his trickery with a feeling
of almost positive loathing; yet in the
end 1 did not see why / should no
make capital out'of it.
"a little practice made me an adep
in the mystery Of snake eating, and
have since wandered in loneliness from
town to town, attempting this curious
enterprise. My pecuniary success ha
been sufficient for my comfort ant
convenience. With q slight eXertion
can turn my face into the cOlors ant
contortions you have just witnessed
this evening, and which heighten thu
interest of the spectacle.
"But these things can only tempora
rily divert my thoughts, for carr.
within my heart an aching fever, whicl
no prosperit y can allay or remove. Th
objects which have cheered me can chez
no moro. l stand alone in this wilder
ness world a mourner and pilgrim
My visions are of my wife and child
my day dreams are of them; hut mus
suffer, you see, until / meet them il
that better country where the sun de
scends not, and darkness is unknown
where the wicked cease from troubling
and where the weary are at rest; / cal
forget my child, for her existence seems
to me like misty trance, in the fond as
| ouAdiIS iilNI tIiS olISA Ahil'lS NSN 'iOP iA'e
oXhaled in heaven but for the cherish
ed rose that sustained it, cease not t
grievc. Alas for the wife ofmy bosom!'
With the last words the snake cater
voice failed, his body was convulsed
until llood of tears relieved him, IL,
would hear n sympathetic words from
his friend but parted with him thus
"You alone have my secret. In few
months moro my body must be con
signed to the earth on the sacred spo
where my wife and child were murder
ed. You will be one of the executor
ofmy will and beseech you faithful.
to carry out my instructions"
The snake eater was right. A fey
months after this Interview he died
I Il n. L..