The Red Cloud chief., 1881-08-11
DEH'S MESSAGE.

Deborah tells belonged would have
puzzled one Il tell had she been seen
alone on the highway. She looked like
a ''poor white angry rs the suggcs-
ton would have made her. Sheowned
a large amount OF land; a year before
our story she had possessed twenty
slaves; but within a twciyemonth all OF
these who were nbic-bodied. without
any folding OF tents, silently sole away
and lett her 10 take care OF herself.
She WAS equal that emergency at any
time. One afternoon snc came and
stood IN the door OF her house. with
bare head and arms akImbo. She list
eDcd, mutterinW TO herself; for she
IN led 10 hear "A certain du.l roar that
all the morning had r~cverberated
through the woods abu-t her home. IL
was IA the month oi June and AZ the
hour OF sunset; but neither significant
fact could make this person or place
charming. Even IN a rosy light, the
mems that scratched about the deserted
negro quarters were Observation-Disclosures
ing old fowls. The long, rambling
house was bare of paint. 4 chimney
fallen, many windows gone. Not far
away was an old horse, his skin ike
~sairon-co.orcd calico. half bleached
and notified by age. Skulking under
the cart attached to him, and seeming
10 be made IA of a bit of the same
stuff left over from the horse, was a
tanker dog. A lame negro was list
lcssly trying TO strengthen 3 harness al
ready more OF rope than OF leather;
and these were all the living creatures
in sight except the III She was
about forgive Years old, so tall and
big boncd in body, SO YanSee hating in
soul, she had more than once threat
ened q disguise and an irregular JOIN
ing of the Confederate army. Her
swarihv face was heavy in repose; but
when She spoke out loudly, saying,
ats all over. / reckon" the old negro
made no answer but 4 grunt. Grunts
were safer than words with
Deborah. She stood sluggishly
rejecting a while longer. then
lifted the tangled. gray ish hair
slipping into her neck. and wound it
into Il hard coil, looking about the door
step meanwhile for her Sun-honnet. 1t
WAS below in the dirt, moving mystic
riouslv here and there; bat when she
stopped down for il a much-bedraggied
hen walked out and left it for her. She
put il on at once and struck oil into the
woods. al first following a beaten path,
then. hating AT the sound of voices that
seemed to be approaching, she strobe
of again at a crUsS-cut through the I'M
derbrush. Her gait was like a mans,
and no feminine finery impeded her
limbs. a scanty. dark skirt cleared her
ankles and showed her strong. leather
shoes; a small shawl was crossed hand
kerchief-wise over her breast and tied
behind, leaving her arms free 10 hold
back the bushes that came IN her way.
She continued muttering, and the words
nudibie now and then were tough ones;
the mildest were of Yankee cuSses;''
the harshest-we,l. Deb had lost hcI
money. lost her slayes-the money q
rough Old father left her, the slave
whose owner and ovcrseershe had been
for wears. Last OF all. and chiefest, she
WAS q and she had lost her son.
He WAS bigger and coITSer than his
mother. When she bad him. they quar-
relied many 4 time, but all the same,
she loved him with the passion of 3
Wild, strong nature He might be dead
months before, left on some battlefield,
but that she would not believe.~E
NOR once reached her that he had heer
taken prisoner and sent North. Since
she had lost all trace of him she had
been like a wild beast robbed of hel
young. After intervals of apparent
apathy, OF living stupidity quiet with
her enc old slave. she would be missing
for days. The stories were that she
followed the army; that, after battles,
she had gone stealthily over the fields
and robbed the dead and refused to
help the dying by SO much as a turn Of
her hand-if the dead or the dying
wore the color she abhorred. Perhaps
these stories wronged her; those were
not DAYS for just Judgment: but God
knew the wild love and the hale were
both there in the heart OF this gaunt,
ugly Feb.
This dav there had been q battle
near her home. Tom. the old negro.
hidden in the woods. had limped back
and forth TO bfr~er reports. always
O nused and contraT etory. Not tina;
she cared much. in M way, how mat
tiers went. The worst had happened
for her: that six-foot Firginian Rich
was her country. her word; and she
had lost himl Her passion for ven
geance WAS not greater than her grief;
although it was a certain satisfaction to
her TO know that scores of Northern
mothers SOS Law dead
On she went through the woods, out
on a lonely road, a mile or so along it,
across another patch OF forest. then
along its edge where it skirted The
highway. The sun was now down, but
it was Vet light. She saw many strag.
glers, heard there had been a brief,
indecisive fight, with small loss on
either side. She did not show herself.
Indeed. she had no definite object in
view; she had not thought to lind hel
son among the dead. Sometimes she
questioned wounded Confederate sol
diers. hoping for news of him or hi:
comrades; but to-day she heard thai
the wounded had been carried away of
the field Stopping in the thicket, 8
+. prt distance from the scene of action,
felt no curiosity to GO further. The
details were familiar by ~.