The Red Cloud chief., 1880-01-01

around some moose the hunters hal
just brought in Che Indians being poor,
very poor. loved % gaze on their meal
before eating ii), she united the ligh,es'
and fastest canoe, and. getting In, start
ed for the Aihabasca River, % far dis
tant. Wakuxza had with her, when she
fed for her home, n few deer sinews, q
piece Of iron hoop four inches long and
one and a half wide, a little bit Of iror
shaped like an awl, that had an eye In
IL, and could Ice used for sewing. and
her clothing. The early night was bare
If mooa. Toward morning n crcscen
moon threw n faint light over the waters
If the swelling river, and added 20 the
energy Of her stroke. She was padding
for her life, and bending Ia her WORK
the broad blade wa neryouslv, silently,
thrust in and out Of the cold water. The
sun arose. On she swept, high noon,
aud the handsome, determined face oi
the woman showed signs Of anxiety,
She had forgotten the many winding'
of the river and lakes, and did not
know the way. The 1.-THE, active body,
spurred Ia action by her strong will,
swayed regularly 10 and fro, and the
speed Of the light never slack.
ened. Atnrn in the river; "A pool, where
4 small stream discharging from the
swamps of the northwest Joined the Ath.
abasca River. Never hesitating, losing
no time in useless consideration If the
probable result Of yenturing into the un-
known, untroddcn swamp, she padded
the canoe into the pool, and began the
ascent Of the small stream that slug
pulled its waters through the
swamp.
When the second night was far spent
and the dim moonbeams peercd through
the underbrush and rank grass that
grows on the breeding grounds Of the
wild water fowl, Wakuzza, exhausted
with her long continued work, tied the
10 a bush with a deer sinew, and
carefully propping it away from
the bank with a paddle, SO as to leave
tell-talc mark, she fell asleep. Awak-
ing Ia find the sun high above her, she
again bent over her paddle, and the ca
noe sped up the sluggish stream. For
days WakuzZa worked without
Then she rested. Setting snares,
she caught swamp rabbits. When she
had five of these saved as 4 little store
of food she again padded. The stream
became embargoed with the remains of
old beaver dams, and spread out into
marshes of great area. She had
Ia carry her canoe over the dams, To
wade in the water and mud, and drag
the boat or push it ahead of her. The
fowl were nesting, and she gath
cred eggs from their nests for food.
For two weeks, with matchless courage,
She pressed on through this marshy
of the north to the northwest.
One evening her heart rose with a thud
10 her throat rs she saw the white tops
If the mountains rs the SUI sank slowly
behind them.
That night she got her foot on dry
land, and the next day she reached the
point under the cliff where the grove of
spruce was. Lost in the wilds of the
north, she gave up the attempt to join
The Dog Ribbed Indians. Free from the
ithaba>cas, she concluded Ia build n
hut of the fallen trees and to live in the
little grove the rest Of her life. Work
steadily with great labor she built
he hut. Then she built her fire. She
sat, poor woman, and pounded two sui
stones together to produce
which she hoped would fall on
.he bits of punk she had gathered. For
1 whole day she pounded the stones,
and the rare patience was ut last re-
varded. That night, for the first time
two months, Wakuzza ate cooked
meat.
Her entire capital for her start in her
new life consisted of the bit of iron hoop,
he awl, Il few deer sinews, her youth,
her perfect physique, and a solitude.
She shared grouse and rabbits; she
beaver and porcupine; once she
shared u deer. She made, and orna-
mented highly, dresses Of skin and fur.
She was at rest happy and cheerful.
When the gentle wind blew through the
spruce boughs she said it sounded to her
ike the cooling of her dead baby, and
hen she was very happy. The tracks
hat had been her betrayal she had
made in hunting for signs of game.
She was anxious TO increase the number
IF her deadfall traps.
Humbly she told her story rs she,
again a captive, sat ut the foreign camp
fire. AnXiously she looked from face to
of the members of the exploring
party to see if she had their sympathy.
The story of the murder of her family
and of the crushing of her infants head
received with shouts of laughter by
he Athabasca Indians. Turning her
lark eyes and handsome, grave face TO
he Scotchman, she begged him to take
her for his slave, TO say that he desired
her. Bending before him she, with the
language of the Indian tongue,
for salvation, as a lost soul might
beg at Gods Judgment bar. Coldly the
Scot refused her. He did not
want another woman, he said. Cool
and unsympathetic, McAlpine was
untouched by the grandeur and
richness of the woman's character, SO
fully revealed by her story, and by the
evidences of her hut, its comforts and
Injuries, and the cleanliness and pretti-
hess of her clothing, and the skill and
patience with which, unaided and alone,
she had triumphed over adverse cir
cumstances that would have been ia
Ial to most men, and through all
had preserved q girls sweetness
and ~cheerfulness. 1t did not touch him.
Her helplessness did not move him. Her
rare beauty did not warm him-and he
has left it on record that she was the
finest Indian woman in face and figure
he had ever seen. He shut the door of
his Shetland heart against her-not with
a slam, but 1uietly-because he could
make nothing by her. He had silently
ciphered her up, and there was no
money in her; on the other hand, some
expense, perhaps some trouble. Yet he
acknowledged the wonderful heroism of
her achievement, and saw that in the
rich success of her solitary life in the
arctic SHOWS she was almost super
humanity endowed. And her young
Ioveliness? He well knew tina; the In
iian men under his command would kill
each other to get her. Yet he did not
beckon her TO him and put his arm
around her, and wave back the Atha-
bruteS, and say "This woman is
No. The factor from the Shet-
land isles could not see a shilling in her,
and away back at the company's Jasper
was a squaw that cooked and
sewed well enough.
McAlpine liohted his nine The WON.