Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1881-09-15

besmeared set of guzzlers, never saw.
In spite of my precarious position /
had nearly laughed outright.
AT last the feast was over and the
pals were returned to the squaws, and
a grunt of satisfaction went round the
circle Of squatters.
4 NOW. was my time; lifting up my
voice IN the darkness, called out in
kiowa that / was a friend and wanted
to see the great chief Leaping Panther;
and then l walked boldly into the CEN
ter of the stolid group, with outstretch-
ed hands, in token of amity.
The great chief designated was the
only one who stirred, his first move
ment being to lay his hand ON his
knife; to remove it rs quickly when he
saw the intruder was an unarmed man.
Moreover my artful little bit of flattery
pleased lis vanity.
AS advanced he rose to meet me,
and introducing himself, asked my bust
ness with him.
Il am hungry, brother" said. LET
me eat first, and then | will tell the
great chief how have come to him
for refuge from the soldiers who have
chased me from the settlements
Those few words, and the hint they
conveyed, evidently pleased him, and
bidding me SIT down, he directed
squaw to fill pail of succotash for me.
Well the upshot of it all was that |
succeeded even beyond my hopes in
winning the confidence of the usually
suspicious chief. He was not merely
tolerant of my presence, but sought
me out to so on hunting expeditions
with him. for was good shot and
fearless rider. Unfortunately, however,
a number Of his braves always accom-
panied us, so that the success of my
project seemed as far off as in the be-
ginning, and there remained only three
weeks more of my allotted time.
AT last, as was puzzling my brains
how to allure Leaping Panther away
from his people, fortune came to my
aid and smoothed the way.
One morning the chief told me that
he was going on a visit to another tribe
to the eastward-some fifty miles away.
His two squaws only were to accom-
pany him, unless his white brother
would go also.
| had hard work to hide my exulta-
ton at this unlooked-for solution of my
difficulty. would have preferred, of
course, that the women should have
been left behind, but / felt no doubt
about being able to manage them when
the moment for action come.
The next day we started, four of us
in all, each mounted on good, stout
pony.
To deny that / felt no unpleasant
qualms regarding the underhand part
| was playing toward man who had
certainly been kind to me, would be to
deny the truth; but then | felt there
was no choice, and | knew that he
would have treated me differently had
he not believed that | was base, cruel
wretch, "a man after his own heart"
So | kept the memory of his wicked
deeds before me, and steeled my heart
by stern, uncompromising reason and
duty.
That very day, as we halted for the
squaws to prepare our dinner, his evil
passions swept away all reluctance on
my part and precipitated his doom by
some hours.
One of his wives displeased him, in
some trifling way, and with his heavy
fist he struck her to the ground. NV
blood rose suddenly to boiling heat, and
leaping tony feet | drew my revolver
and covered the astonished brute with
its six gaping chambers exclaiming
''If you stir hand or foot. chief, YOU
are dead man."
He laughed a little at first--for Indi-
ans laugh sometimes, traditions to the
contrary Notwithstanding it was
an uneasy sort of merriment, that
quickly died away as he saw that was
not joking, but in dead earnest.
Remember" l repeated, 81 will
shoot you if you move your hands, or
resist my orders"
He was no coward, but he saw that
had the power and the will to do as /
said; so, looking rather bewildered, he
stood motionless.
Still keeping my faithful revolver
ready for instant use, / ordered the two
frightened women the one knocked
down W as up again by this time to take
the ropes that lashed the luggage upon
the packhorse and tie Leaping Pan
Tiers hands behind his back; and in
spite of his black looks they trembling
ly obeyed, the magic of that little cyl
inder OF iron compelling prompt obedi-
ence to my will.
The chiefs hands tied by his squaws,
/ slipped the revolver back into my
belt, and approaching my now helpless
captive, made sure that the knots were
securely fastened, and l found the WORK
so well done that | strongly suspected |
the squaws had rather enjoyed the OPP
Grafton of binding their tyrant.
So at last the most difficult part of |
my mission was accomplished, and |
Leaping Panther was my captive, and |
that, too, without the shedding of |
blood.
| could hardly credit it, even as day
after day we journed on, strange par
ty, toward the fort had left nearly two
months before.
| kept the two women with me, for |
prudence sake, until the two hundred
miles that separated us from my destin-
alton were well-nigh traversed, and
.ba,, NJ or, within for, p,,log pf N N fnrt