Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1886-11-18
A LOST OPPORTUNITY.
a Tale of disappointment from
Queue Tortue."

saCoS ACA eaot
In an out-oi-the-way section OF what
is known in Louisiana as the Attakapas
country lies the little prairie of Queue
To'tue, or Turtles Tail. Its ;nhabit-
ants are the descendants of the original
Acadian settlers, and for over a
century past they have kept almost en-
tircly TO themselves, marrying and
intcrmarrying so that every resident
there is related TO every body else in
ths prairie. They have decided
distastc for any thing that tends toward
progress, and the habits and manners
of their fathers are followed as pieous-
ly as are the instructions OF their
priest Supplemented. gay and inn
bued with all the esprit Of their French
ancestors, they arc probably as con
tented people as can be found on
either side of the Atlantic. Raising
cattle. tilling some cotton and loving
their families, they entertain but little
regard for what is transpiring in the
great world beyond the boundaries of
few, and with enough coffee, tobacco
and corn, they live contentedly to
ripe old age. Strong in their affections,
family ties are held in reverence, and
n fourth cousin receives as hearty
welcome at their simple homes as
brother or near relative. They are,
however. exceedingly shy of strangers,
and il requires long residence in that
locality to secure even the faintcst APP
proach of intimacy with them.
Near the center Of the prairie, in a
plain cottage of four rooms, the Pom
pom fami y lived in that bucolic sim
plicity which had given such longevity
10 their ancestors 10 the observer Il
would seem that the same strings of
red peppers were hanging from the
rafters that were picked in the forties,
and the same little black coffee-pot
was resting beside the hearth out of
which their grandsire, Pierre Alcihiade
Ponpon, had taken his morning cup.
There could be no question about the
furniture, for all of it, save one modern
bedstead, purchased in Later times for
the girls, was Of so primitive a type It
was even eloquent of its antiquity. At
one end of the gallery an antiquated
hand-loom told where the family nan
Kin oottonado cams from, and COT
lection of empty sardine boxes under
the house suggested newly ac-
quired tastes not entirely in keeping
with the primitive character of tho
aforementioned loom. Four Yellow
haired dogs dozed languidly in the
afternoon sunshine on the bare patch
s.f In L..
and then mastering up sufficient energy
10 go through sort of baliO-picking
Vibratory movement with the loft hind
log, as they sought TO remove the
predatory flea.
Beyond, the swclls OF the prairie
went rolling away in the distance like
great billows Of green, with here and
there knots of cattle like bits of sea-
weed ailoat on the surface. Still be-
yond, sky and grass met where il ap-
peared the world ended. Skrtings of
cypress in some directions told of me-
andering bayous, and once in a while
n thin column of sIuoke indicated the
pos ton of the nearest houses, some
four or five miles away.
IL was a bright October afternoon
md the air was fragrant with the odor
of the ripening grasses and flowers of
The prairie. Great white clouds in
broken outline lay along the horizon
like mountain ranges, the sides of
which were iiyen by gorges and can
yons of shadow. A crew of nOmadic
white cranes were pluming themselves
at n water hole about a quarter Of a
mile away, while above. seeking the
shelter Of the far-oif sea marsh, wisps
Of bluc-winged teal were scudding be.
fore the first north winds OF the
autumn. Tied 10 a china tree near the
Pompon dwelling, with dropping head
and eyes half-closcd. stood small
Creole pony, as uneanny a looking
quadrupcd as horseman could well
imagine. A rough saddle with heavy
wooden stirrups. "a rawhide bride with
strong curb bit aud n saddle blanket
mado Of moss, were the only Orna-
ments Of the little beast Diminutiye
ns was the animal, It was evident from
the length of the stirrup straps that his
rider was quite tall individual.
such a surmise would lave
been at once corroboraled by a glance
into the front room. which served at
once rs parlor. bed chamber and sit
ting-room. There. on q low, straight
backed oa.: chair OF raw hide bottom.
sat young man OF about twenty-five,
his face broDzed by exposure, and his
long boots bespattered with mud.
Standing Ia those same boots the wiry
cavaliey would have measured some
thing like six feet two inches His
features showed that hc was Of Anglo
Saxon blood. Hc was known in the
noighborhood as IN sicu nareose," a
sight variation on his paironymic,
Harris Some eighteen months before
the afternoon referred to he had pur-
chased tract Of land in the prairie,
aud on IL had opened stock farm on a
small scale. ur was industrious,
genial and frank. SO that aftera period
OF probation ho was greeted by ther resi-
dents thereabcuis with something like
cordiallty. His little ranch. as he liked
60 oall ii, was about iiyo miles away
from the Ponpon residence, and on
this occasion he bad galloped across
tho pnAirle and ridden directly into
what Wonld have been the front yard
~ that family. had there bcon any
fences around the place. Ihore WAS
10 his face that hoiokened
unpsual earneslnrss, and whoa be
kAnllcd Qua III The iaddln and. hat Ia
hand. inuulr0d q the YOUNG iady, IN 4