Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1883-04-12

spots were to be seen. The snow had dlSap
peared from the valley, and instead of tn
weary and eternal white that had met my eye
for so many months, noticed the welcom
green of spring spread like a carpet beneath me
l could almost smell the flowers.
MANTLE OF BLUE.
Far beyond and across the two great river
that ceave the glorious valley, I could see
boundless field of blue This was the CANA
blossom. This flower sweeps over and purple
all Oregon in the early spring. Civilization ha
laid hands on it, named it the hyacinth, ant
now in various colors, grows it in single stem
from bulbs, carefully kept in windows ant
warm places in the spring time. How
wanted to 60 down and gather handful o
those flowers! What gift would be so preciou
for some one waiting for my return back in thu
camp of snow and woods? | know this sen
tence and this sentiment reads absurdly, ane
my only excuse for it is its absolute truth
knew quite well that away down there in eacf
of those dark spots dead man lay unburied
and that the beautiful valley before me-anoth
er Eden from which man had been newly ex
pelled-was soon to De the scene of bloody
war; that my own life was in peril from botf
races and in all places, now and yet, all this
all these perils were as nothing compared te
my one desire-my determination to have {
handful of flowers AS we stood there grea
stars came out shyly, timidly, as on tiptoe.
saw them come out while it was yet day, trem
BILE bit and then 60 back, as if afraid. By
and by they trooped out in armies and al
heaven was ablaze with the biggest and the
brightest stars this side of Syria. They stood
out above the cleaning snowpeaks about us SC
near and clear that you might almost fancy you
heard them clink against their icy fronted hel
NETS. The stiffness was like song, an immor-
tai melody. We listened; we leaned and lis
tened; the stars leaned out Of heaven listening
No sound of life. No sound of strife now.
Eden was as still on the day before the fash
ioning of man. Should turn back as prom
ised? Perhaps if had not promised SO GER
tainly had not SO madly resolved to see more.
Yet could have resisted all the temptation to
slide down that steep mountain of snow had it
not been for the flowers. Oh, the mad glory of
going down there and grasping the summer in
my hand and taking her back to winter in the
wilderness.
INDIAN CAMP-FIRES.
Pretty soon Indian camp-fres began to CLEAN
about the green and wooded girdle of the val
ley. Fate set one of these camp-fires almost at
our feet, seven miles distant and two miles per-
pendicular. We looked each other in the face
as we stood there on the star-lit summit of
snow and saw the camp fires glow through the
green pine tops at our feet. That light down
there was death to any moth that might futter
too closely about it. But it was irresistible
and then the flowers, | tightened my belt;
the Indians did the same. Then with but a
single word we bounded down that steep noun
tain of snow with wild and savage delight
that defy any mortal to feel inside the pale of
civilization. The night was our friend. With
her protecting arms about us, her mantle shut
ting us in from the sight of unfriendly eyes, we
would look in upon the Indian camp, we would
hear their speeches about the council fire, see
their wild, splendid gestures! All, we would
have something to tell when we returned!
And then the flowers!
dare not say how soon we reached that
camp, nor have | time to enter into details.
What narrow escapes of discovery as we lay on
our bellies under the sweet-smelling pines and
listened to the supple, savage, brown and nearly
naked warriors How the blood tinges at
such times! What spice peril like this gives
to life!
Soon the feasting began. When the tempt
ing smell of roasted beef was too much for our
hungry stomachs to bear longer, and as we
could learn nothing more and could really do
nothing at all, we passed on around the camp
and went still on till we came to the level val
ley and the warm, naked bosom of earth, with
flowers at her breast and girdle. | snatched
these flowers from the hand of God that reached
them up from the south! And then with
little detour, where we saw nude dead man
mute, unchallenged witness of the massacre
we began, weak and hungry, to climb the noun
tain on our return.
DAYLIGHT AND DANGER
Day, with shining lances of light trailing the
mountain of snow, dashed in upon us long be-
fore we suspected it. We had forgotten the
stars and the dialplate above in the intense
excitement before us, and ere we had quite left
the last arm of the open valley we were in the
full light. Suddenly we met two old women
They were attached to an outpost which we
had passed in the night on our descent, and
were on their way to 'the camp we had been
spying out. We took them with us and ran I'D
the mountain as fast as our weak and worn legs
would carry us. When quite in the woods and
well up the mountain side, the Indians wanted
to kill the women, fearing they might escape
and give the alarm. I protested. The old
women listened and understood all that was
said. They, Of course, took sides with me.
The young Indians seemed very much set in
this notion of theirs; and finally, odd as it may
seem, we all sat down there on the steep and
snowy mountain side and argued the thing
quite awhile, the old women taking very ac-
tive part in the argument, as you may well
believe. Finally one of them broke away and
escaped. Then of course we set the other one
loose and dashed ahead with all the strength
that desperation could lend u.s. A hundred
swift fellows would be at our heels in an hour,
we knew right we'll. As we climbed one emi-
nence, with great hollow behind us, we could
see the trees alive on the ridge below and
across the steep, deep hollow. But they were
too far away to shoot at us yet. a8f U.l
One more eminence before us. As we final
ly struggled to the summit of the bald noun
tain where we had stood in the twilight of the
day before, being literally borne and dragged
between my two companions, we saw that the
base OF the height where we had stood few
moments before was black with savages.. And
could scarcely stand. The indians tore off
some tough cedar bark from dead trunk, tied
me in this hollow cradle, changed the. course
OF their fight, and so dragging me, darted
down the hill toward the McCloud river, ten |
miles away, on the swift run. On the bluff |
above the river they took me out, stood me be,
tween them and rushed down the steep wooded |
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