The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1889-11-08
INDIAN REVENGE.
BY MARY A. DEN1soN.

BY MARY A. DEN1soN.
%, I do dotes so on Indians!"
So said q musical little voice, as Miss
Margery Tracy looked over a book OF
beautiful engravings.
so what?" exclaimed a silvery
headed old man who sat in an easy chair
by the winters fire. /.
Dole on Indians, dear grandpa; they
look SO noble in their richly colored
robes, their furs and their feathers"
Noble! the blood-thirsty rebels !" said
the old man, holding out one arm. as he
spoke and striking it with the other,
that and this and every part of my
body, in fact, is scared by those infer
nal dogs. Why, look here, child" and
he drew his white locks from his ample
forehead, "see the marks of their scalp
ing knives; they left me for dead once,
and came near having these hairs hang
ing to their girdles."
why, grandpa!" exclaimed Margery,
drawing up to the old man, "is it posi-
BILE that great white mark was made by
an Indian brave?"
San Indian coward?" cried the vet.
ern oontemptuously. "Talk about their
bravery, the stubborn, Unborn devils,
they don't know what it means. The
courage of a beast is all they have. My
patience, girl, if you had seer as much
OF the Indians as I have, you'd never
take these creatures of q painters i'm
agination to be, the simon-pure savage.
No, no, there's a difference. My child,
I'll tell you a story that will cure you
OF doting on Indians. When I was a
young man I had many a bout with the
children Of the Forest as your poets
call them. Now there was never
any poetry in your old grandfather,
Maggie. little one. I never could see
anything beautiful in their hideous,
painted faces, and, to tell the truth,
they killed my only brother, and I
hated the whole race.
we had a long spell of peace, and
had become tired of our cabins upon
Boone's station. It was too easy q lie
for young fellows, simply cunning,
fishing, sleeping and eating. We
weren't like the mo%ustachioed gentry of
the present day-even like the one who
came to see you last night, little child,
though he is a better specimen than
some. We couldn't dress up in those
days and take little bits of paper in
our hands and go call upon the pretty
ladies and show off our teeth and our
broadcloth the best part of the day. We
Were rough men in u hunting frocks,
who thought a good-sized deer none to
heavy to throw over our shoulders after
We had run him down, and to whom
other dears were as fabulous as myths.
But, as I tell you, we--there were
four of us-had become tired of idle
mess, and wanted another bout with
the Indians. So, knowing that a party
had stolen some horses, and that they
had taken their way to Chillicothe, we
set out after them to try and regain the
booty they had taken. We reached
Chillicothe d few days afterward, and
fell in with a drove of horses feeding in
the rich prairie. Of these we secured
six and started on our return. Before
we reached the Ohio a storm came up.
The heavens grew black with clouds
and the wind blew a perfect hurricane.
What to do with the horses we could
hardly tell. They had become unman-
agable and were difficult to control.
The river was so swollen-its waves
flashed into fury-that we dared not
venture to cross, and we were fearful of
being pursued. It was nearing evening,
end we could just find CIR way back to
the hills, where, after hobbling our an
lmals, we remained during the night.
1t was an awful night. The rain
poured in torrents, the lightning blazed
from point to point, and the thunder
seemed to crash and break against the
sides of the hills. We were all exposed
to the fury Of the tempest. In the
morning our clothes were wet and we
had only saved our powder by sleeping
on it. The wind, however had sub
sided, and We tried again to get our
horses over to the other side-the crea-
lures resisted every attempt, and we were
driven to the alternative of losing the
horses. OF course we chose the latter, |
and selecting each of us n Of the best, |
we made for the falls.
"There was a handsome young fellow
with us, q Kentuckian by birth, who
thought we had scarcely had adventure
enough, SO he proposed to me to let the
rest 60 on, while he and I captured
two splendid bays. We turned back !
accordingly, and came the first thing on
q trail of revengeful Indians, who had
undoubtedly been seeking us from the
first. My dear child, if you had seen
them az they really were, their faces
streaked withablack and yellow, their
untanned blankets, rough leggins, and
demoniac faces, you never would have
dotted upon them. Willis, the Kentuck-
ian, was some ways ahead of me, and
by some unsuccessful maneuyer fell inn
mediately into their hands. It was a
dreadful sight to see them each drive
with his heavy club at the head Of the
poor fellow. He fell instantly, and
they scalped him, throwing the fresh,
bleeding skin Owe their weapons and
waving it in my sight.
was % 4 splendid horse. They,