Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1872-08-23
Then began In earnest the life of the

coins.
The history of this rugged country fol-
two centuries, is the history of almost
uninterrupted strife. The earliest and
latest of the military, whose isolated posts
stand at intervals through the land. is 4
history of small campaigns, but seldom
successful and often disastrous. against
the lshmaelite of the mountains. In the
earliest Of these expeditions by our forces,
the cavalcade which filed into one of the
long-since abandoned and almost forgot.
ten posts, showed a grotesque addition to
It's numbers in curious group of cap
tives.
In a huge basket, slung upon either side
OF donkey, were three Apache children,
the largest upon one side and the two
smaller upon the other. They blinked
their small black eyes upon their new
surroundings, with an expression in
which there was little change of wonder
or fear, ate ravenously all that was given
them, and uttered never word. Besides
these, there was a girl of fifteen, who
stood apart, of whose face, as many curl
Gus eyes looked upon it that day, it seem
ed hard to tell whether it was beautiful or
only wild and strange. The low fore
head, tawny skin, and straight black hair,
betrayed the Indian; but the full lips, the
small nose, and the round and graceful
figure, were strange to Apache lineage.
But more than all, the eyes. big and sad
and bright, with the slight downward
curve of the outer corners, were the his
toric, troubadour-sung brilliants which
have been the Inheritance of the gazelles
and the swarthy daughters Of the South,
and none others, for glorious centuries.
Clad in rags, moccasined and barehead-
ed, this child of savagery looked around
her upon the first walls, the first civiliza-
ton, and the first white men she had ever
seen with their own surroundings; showed
her white teeth in smile which betoken-
ed the realization of something she had
heard or dreamed Of; said slowly: "Ah!
may graa1de, may gr01ade," and then Gov
cred her poor head with a corner of her
scant blanket, and cried like any child.
The squaw could speak Spanish then ?
in that supreme moment she did. But
few heard her, and they forgot the cir
cumstance. They clothed her in decent
garb and placed her among the laundress-
es, and these loud-voiced and kind-heart-
ed women, whose rowing fortunes had
begun in the green Gem of the Sea, and
whose husbands were dragon corporals,
taught her the mysteries of the rubbing
board and the smoothing-iron, and the
virtues of cleanliness and calico. Truly.
she learned early and well, and while
they scolded and taught, they also gave
her a name, strange one for squaw,
one to which many blue-eyed and rosy
Irish lass has answered ere now, for thew
called her-Kate.
But in compliance with orders from the
supreme authority at the post, they also
watched The adobe walls were high.
and the guards were vigilant, but this
daughter of the wilderness would be un-
like her kind if she failed to use dark
night, agile limbs, and Indian cunning to
return to her kindred. Therefore these
Amazons were an unarmed guard, a kind
of committee of safety, and were cogni-
zant of most of the sleeping and waking
moments of this lovely and bright-eyed
captive, who passed her days and nights
seemingly unconscious of surveillance,
and who in her daily growth in stalwart
beauty and patient docility, belied all the
traditions of her tameless race.
But, by-andby, they came to watch her
less and love her more. Kate had learn
ed to come when called and to do when
hidden in the rich brogue of Cork. But
she never talked and seldom laughed. In
times of leisure she would sit for hours
upon the ground, her back against the
wall, and with her brown hands clasped
upon her knees look far across the bare
parade-ground and over the wall at the
blue sky and white mountain tops beyond
and far away. And when, in the early
evening, the brief signal-fire would blaze
a moment and die upon the hills, Kate's
eyes would glitter and her breath would
come quick and fast. But her dull tutors
never noticed that.
Three months passed away in this man
ner, and Mariana was taken up on the
quartermaster's roll of "persons and arti-
cles" as the "hired scout" and became
a resident of the post. His situation and
his surroundings pleased him. He had
always been more or less hero, and now
he earned money and was in the matter
of authority only less than the command.
ant himself. One day he invaded the by
no means sacred precincts of the laun.
dresses quarters, and in going in thithel
he came upon Kate sitting upon the
ground and looking away off at the sky
He passed her and stared, and passed on,
still looking back. The first Amazon he
saw he piled with torrent of Spanish
and whole pantomime of gesticulations
Amazon listened and stared for while,
and then placing the knuckles of her red
hands upon her hips, marched up to him,
and obtruding her square jaws and pug
nose as nearly as she could into his very
face, babe him "Git out wild ye," and
the scout, understanding the action if not
the words, departed. Mariana passed
the captive again, and stared at her in
wondering admiration, like a child at a
new toy. And when he caught --hel
startled eye he took off his embroidered
sona5rego and bowed low, and then won
dered at his temerity, and fastened away.
AS for Kate, she looked after his gigantic
figure with an expression upon her face
which probably in all her life had never
found place there before, and arose and
went away, more strange and silent than
ever.
Of course, Marianne learned the story oil
the captive as soon as he found some one
who understood his questions. But il
only mystifed him, being contrary to al
his experience. But his keen eye watch
ed the laundress' quarters as closely as
they had watched for the trail, and some
times he caught a glimpse of Kate, and
then he bowed low and smiled, and she
ran away He had never heard her speak
He concluded that she could not, and
never got near enough to her to test the
matter: Somehow, had she only smiled
he would have considered 1t the suprem
est happiness He would not have touch
ed her with the tip of his finger He was
little afraid of her. He-afraid! Should
Mariana fear squaw? No, he did not
| think of it in that sense; but after all he
was, because it is the same old story
Mariana was in love.
All this time there were preparations fol-
an expedition against the common enemy
Mariana continued to go in and out