The morning news., 1888-06-20
ROMANCE AND FISHING.
The Bracelet of an Indian Girl in Lost
Lake.
From, the San Francisco Alto.

A3h0.
From the San Francisco AltG.
Capt. Kow suggested that we go a-fish-
ing to a certain lake some miles back in the
woods. We knew that no one had fished
there for several years, and that the Indians
never went near it, as they said an evil
spirit in the shape of a monster Ash lived in
its waters, and, though several Indians had
in bravado gone to the lake tD fish, none of
them ever returned. After a hard tramp
we reached the lake and in few minutes
had constructed a rough raft, pushed out to
the center of the lake, and thrown our flies.
| never had such sport III my life A fly
could scarcely touch the water before it was
seized by some hungry and keen-eyed trout.
Finally, tired of the sport, we determinedto
put back to shore, and just for luck | threw
my fly once more. There was a slight tug,
but to my annoyance | found the fly was
caught on bit Of drift. We padded up to
it, and reaching over to free the hook, saw a
piece of shining metal on the drift Ihauled
in the branch, and there was that bracelet
you have been looking at. AT first did not
notice the letters scratched on it, but fell to
wondering how it got into the lake, for GER
tainly for twenty years past no Indian had
been within mile of the lake. Capt. Kow,
who was one of the pilots on the river and
deeply versed in all Of the river lore, took
the bit of jewelry in his hands and began a
close examination. He was, in the main,
one of the coolest men | ever knew and
seldom showed the slightest emotion under
any circumstances. He had examined the
bracelet but moment or 81 when | heard
him eXclaim in what, for him, were most
unusal tones: "Here, G. H. that's what
he always called me), "look and see if these
scratches are letters" / looked and made
out as you have, the word Nomah. ''Yes,
yes," said the captain, that's what |
thought. The first part of the name has
been effaced by time, but the name in full
Multnomab. When | was boy | remem-
Der she was the most beautiful maiden
among the Kllckitats-and they were war
riors in those days"
"Why, captain" said /, this is quite
romance: tell n9e about it,"
"There isn't much TO tell, except that
thirty years ago Harry Sprague and myself
we're just of age, and the Klickitats were a
| powerful tribe of Indians, and during the
salmon season they came in great numbers
to the Cascades to fish and gather berries
| Harry and were Oh the steamers running
to the Cascades. and Multnomah was
beautiful Indian girl. | always thought
| that she must have been a descendant of
some adventurous fur-trader, for her fea-
lures were of Caucasian type and her COM
pexion was not more dusky than that of a
| Spanish beauty. Harry fell in love with
| her and she with him-those things often
happened in the early days, you know-and
| all would have been we'll but for the Indian
war which broke out about that time, and
| the tribe to which Multnomah belonged
| left the river to go upon the warpath. A
| little while before the tribe had disappeared
| Harry had taken one of Multnomah's brace
| lets and scratched on it with his knife her
name. Shortly after this the block house at
| the Cascades was attacked but the Indians
were repulsed, and that night we captured a
young Indian boy lurking around the settle
| ment who knew Harry and confided TO him
| that Multnomah wished to meet him the next
| night at the Lost lake. 1t must have been
| very important business that would have
| induced the Indian girls to visit the dreaded
lake; but we feared q plot and tried to dis
suade Harry from going. He went, and
when he returned day later 1t was only to
die of innumerabe arrow wounds. Before
he died he told me that he had reached the
lake lust at dawn He was at the point of
stepping from the underbrush when he
caught sight of Multnomah standing on O
log projecting over the water. Her long
hair fell over her shoulders in disorder and q
bright red blanket cluug in graceful folds
about her slender figure. She was gazing
intently on the lake Harry was just about
to speak her name when an arrow whizzed
| through the air straight to the heart of the
duskv maiden. Backward sho fell into the
lake and sank beneath the surface. At the
same time Harry received a mortal wound.
He never told us how he got back to the
river and we buried him in the woods he
| Iovad sO we'll