River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1889-02-21

door, and drew forth his knife. He
was armed, for he knew not what he
might encounter in his desperate work.
and he had sworn that no power should
cheat him Of success. He placed one
/ loot within the tent. and again glanced
/ back to make sure that all was uncon-
sciOus of mis- presence. In another
moment he was looking on the face OF
/ her whom he mad once loved, but his
/ gaze rested not there. Il was {
/ monetary glance, but he recogniz &c
the face in the moonlight which
/ streamed through the openings in the
tent He was STOPPING for Koska when
he discovered that the object which he
mistOok for the budding boy was
/ simply a bundle of clothes He made
careful survey of the interior OF the
tent. but no Koska was there. Again
had he met with sore and terrible dis.
appointment. Had the little one rolled
out the tent in his sleep? He would see.
/ fastening out he crept about the tent
only TO intensity his disappointment
/ He could not understand the absence
/ of Koska, unless the boy ha6
been left with playmates at an
other tent. For a moment he
| suspected that he had been betrayed,
but the success with which he reached
the tent dispeled this suspicion. and he
accepted the theory that the boys alb
| sence was accidental. Still confident
that he would succeed in stealing
Koska he was happy, though disap-
/ pointed. AS he was about to leave the
tent he heard a faint, startled cry, anC
in an instant the wife, who had beer
aroused by his prowlings. appeared al
the door of tie tent The crisis haG
arrived. Rain-in-the-Face was discov.
/ cred. Raising his knife and springine
| forward, he whispered a threat that il
| she awoke the camp she would pay the
penalty. She knew him, and was silent.
A few hurried words passed between
the couple, and Rain-in-the-Face de.
manded the restoration OF his boy. The
wife answered in lower tones than those
| in which she was wont to speak, and
as she did so the knife dropped from
the hand of the desperate chief, his
head was bowed, and with a wave of the
hand he left the tent and returned ia
his pony. RemOunting him, he drove
silently to the point indicated by his
wife, paused beneath tree, and there
in the limpid moonlight, kissed by the
saddened winds, was Koska He had
died on the day previous, and in ac-
cordance with the Indian custom his
remains, with all his worldly effects,
were placed in the limbs of The tree.
Rain-in-the-Face sat motionless, gaz-
ing into the tree. There was the bow
and arrow which he had made for his
boy even before the babe could walk;
there was the little buckskin coat, the
first that Koska wore. and there the
top that Rain-in-the-Face had taught
the happy child to spin. There, too,
was a small bronze face, pinched and
sunken in death, but the laughing eyes
were closed, the cooling voice was stilled
-Koska was not there. The weary,
grief-worn mother had told Rain-in-
the-Face that Koska was in the tree,
but the crushed and sorrowing chief
now knew that this was false.
IF Koska is in the tree. why does
he not answer me?' thought Rain-in-
the-Face My Koska was loving
boy. His pretty face was round and
dimpled. and wherever / found him
his chubby arms were quick about my
| neck" Thus unused the broken chief.
He saw in the tree the human frame
with which his Koska used to walk
and run; he saw the toys with which
he made the moments merry-but he
saw no KOska- His boy would not pc.
fuse TO greet him. He was not in the
tree, but had gone to the happy hunt.
ing grounds where sorrow is unknown.
where he could become far greater
than on earth, and where when ono e
they meet, there will be no separation.
So thought Rain-in-the-Face.
1t is not considered manly amongst
Indians to weep. 1t has become
proverbial that Indian men never shed
tears. Tears are womanish, and are
left to the squaws, but when Rain-in-
the-Face returned to Standing Rock he
did not speak. He Stunned his good.
kind friend for many days, and at last,
when he did meet him and told him of
the death OF Kosxa, he turned his back
and walked away-for he wished not
to be called a woman. j. NJ. Quinn,
in TaSIia'S Nausnapap