The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1884-04-02

SllotSl " XIV tiSii SsASt"
When the old man ceased speaking the
crowd just got up and shrlekcd the
awfullcSt blood-curdling .vells You ever
dreamed of . for Il minute | Thought my
time had come, and that | should he
torn to pieces by the Screeching mob:
hut the old man shook his madicinc-rat-
tic at en- and down they set again, quiet
as you please.
"'L.istcn.,' he said. Go home now,
my children, to your tcpccs and sleep;
come not here till morning, when you'll
find the bad medicine Of the whites
harmless as the water Of the Cooler. He
shall not hurt You. Go and leave me
with the mcdicinc-dog; for ! must
breathe again upon him. and my breath
will take away all his charms and al his
magic. He shall kctch no more bullets
in his teeth. Go, my children, for my
breath is sacred and can br of no good
until all the members Of my tribe are III
their lodges.
"And do YOU believe it, they all got
up and skipped out Of there, every
mothers son of EN-. There | was lett
alone with the hccdyuS old beast. | had
worked drSputly all the time he was
talking. trying to draw my hands from
the rope. lonSrncd one of en- Just Il
tritlc. enough t" know that in half IN
hour of hard work ! could bring my
wrist through. by pccling ill tn" SKIN of
with it. Well. when they'd conc and
the last sound Of EN- died away, the old
iuyglcr stuck his face inside.
IL 90 now says he, 4 30 to my
tcprr to prepare my medicines against
the medicine of the white dog. When
come again the white mans magic shall
all be mine; he will tell me all his mrli-
cincs.' Then he came inside. felt "l all
my knots. made himself SURE of en-, and
then went out and left me.
$50 that's your game, is III thought
l., and | began to take hope ut once. |
hadn't time to think over the situations;
| lust worked like II beaver, with the
sweat pouring of me like rain oil i
Slickcr.
cit waS Il struggle for life; for of
course | hadn't Il doubt but the Incidence
man meant to kill mt, whether | told
him any of my tricks or not. lie would
smother me like Il cal in Il sack, and pre-
tend to his tribe that his breath had
killed the medicine man of the whites.
when he would possess himself of my
trinkctS and be the greatest MAI that
ever trod Il Comanchc town.
swell he was gone longer than had
any reason to hope for; and after II time
| wrcnchcd my right hand through the
loop that held it. And | peeled it, too,
peeled it horribly. But after that the
work was easy: l got my arm loose, got
my jackknifc ont of my pocket. managed
to open the big blade with the stiff,
swcllcd fingers of my other hand. Then
| cut and SlaShcd for u minute, tore the
bandagc off my mouth, and spit out Il
dccr's-horn charm. | WAS nearly
smothcrcd with my efforts; for of course
/ couldn't breathe through my mouth till
GOT the scarf off: but | soon gained my
breath and set up II free man.
Then | began to think and to act.
NY right hand WAS just streaming with
blood, and an idrc struck mt. smcarcd
it all over my face, till it was perfectly
red with blood. Then | got up and
fShcd a white sheet out of one of my
chests, a piece of white factory that Id
used in some of my tricks. | put that
around me. turned down the lantern and
the other light inside the curtains, got
out my slx-shootcr. then leaned back.
against the wall and waited.
Il was nearly half an hour yet before |
heard the old heather coming. lie stole
in, soft as Z cat. and slid along up the
curtains. | always carry three lamps
with me. Two of them were burning in
the room: but he seemed puzzled about
the light behind the curtain. Presently
he opened q crack and pcckcd in. What
do YOU think saw? The horriblcSt fac
ever a human being wore. The checks
painted Il blarish green, half-moons of
CHASTITY yellow under the eyes, Il jet
black ring about the ugly, grinning
mouth, and three blood-rcd stri pes across
the forehead; while the little black eyes
shonc with q fierce, beastly glitter that
couldn't be described.
lied got himself up in a more fearful
shape than l had. He was going to scare
me: but he didn't succccd--not any.
ellie give Il surprised 'whooh' as he
looked on the floor; there was nothing
there but Il bloody spot. Id cleared
away the ropes and tossed EN- one side.
Then he looked up and | stepped for
ward. jcrkcd the curtains one side, and
exhibited my git-up to him. With Il
sharp yell he threw up both his hands,
and there came ovcr his bcdaubrd face
the ghaStlicSt look of fright its ever been
my fortune to behold. | wish | could
have painted it; | should be famous to-
day.
But didn't give him any time to re-
cover; | jumped for him, and struck out
us | jumped. He went his length on
that platform like IA bccf-ox. Then |
grabbed the pieces Of rope, and before
he come to himself enough to realize
what the movement meant. | had him
tied, yes, and had that old dccr's-horn
charm between his jaws, bound there
with his own red scarf, tighter than
wax.
''l'd bound him with limp muscles. and
he was thcr" to stay. He came to him.
self in Il minute and glarcd at me fright
fully.
CHA: ha! says I. You'll breathe on
the white dog, will ycu-you? Lay there
and learn to let the medicine of the white
man alone.
But | didn't waste time palavcring at
him. | hustled my things out of there,
hitchcd onto my cart. and skipped out
and away: and, gentlemen, | never went
l1,--,
agin."- Youh'x C"mg0nioh.