The weekly messenger., 1889-11-16

and halting my horse l made the peace
| Signs with my blanket. Ten minutes
later was surrounded by a dozen war
riors, who were evidently astonished at
jmy foolhardiness, l could speak their
lingo fairly well. and told them what l
had come for, and asked to be taken to
the nearest village. This request was
sulkily complied with, and at the end of
two hours l found myself in the village Of
Ped Moon, Chief of all the Comanches.
The village was scattered along the river
for mile or more, and numbered at least
a thousand souls. Ny advent was hailed
with whoops and yells and other tokens
Of satisfaction, and even when it was
known that had voluntarily come into
camp OF an errard of mercy it was hard
to restrain some Of the young bucks from
doing nc injury. was taken directly to
Red -,ioon's tent, and my reception there
was anything but cordial. He was any
thing but noble in speech and look. He
was dirty, unkempt and out of sorts, and
I had no sooner set eyes on him than 1
knew my mission would be failure.
"Why does the dog of white man
come to my camp7' was his salutation.
| "Four days ago some of your warriors
captured white hunter a suns journey
OF the west" l replied.
| "They did, and tomorrow he shall
dic!n .-.,--,..--,.
~ have como from his friends to buy
his liberty. They will give Red Moon
more silver than he ever had before"
81 spit upon the white mans money!
he retorted. "Thc white man has killed
my young men, built his forts on my
land, and would drive US away if he were
strong enough. would not take food
from his hand if was starving"
| named the price which we would pay
! for the Doctor, and tried to make him un-
derstand how many guns and blankets
and other things the amount would pur-
chase, but he grew more and more ex-
cited, and finally shouted:
''Docs the white man regard the Co.
manchcs as squaws that their heads can
be turned By soft TALK Only the Dog
Indian begs for mercy from foe or takes
presents from an enemy. Were you to
offer all you had I would not give him
up. lie shall die. have said it,"
Finding him so obstinate and deter
mined, I mentioned that 1 had come
alone and placed myself in his power,
trusting to his honor to be permitted to
return in safety. >,.:.%f,,.s----- -...
"Did Task you to Gomez" he thundered.
"Are you not here to insult me? You
shall see the other prisoner die, and then
, you shall suffer the same fate!"
1 began to protest, bat was hurried
away to u lodge, disarmed, searched, and
very roughly used. Before being left
: alone my hands and feet were
tied, and the buck who did
this gave me good-day in the shape OF
| q slap ii the face which made my teeth
, rattle. was left alone until just at dark,
when boy brought me gourd of water,
and helped it to my lips while drank.
: thanked him, and inquired where the
: Doctor was. He replied that he was con-
: fined in lodge about two hundred fee,
away, and that he would be put to the
torture next day. All the tribe within
call had been notified to be present.
asked him about my own fate, and he
said it was understood that was to die
l the day after. If there was any doubt
about this it was soon dispelled. The
boy had scarcely disappeared when ole
Red Moon appeared. He was now fully
dressed as chief, and had on all hi:
dignity. was lying on my back, and
he stood over me far moment, glover
ing down upon me with savage expression
before he said: - -: ..ss;yr
s'Does the white man think the Co
. manche dog that he can come into hi!
village and insult him2"
son the contrary, the white mai
knows the Comanches to be brave" l re-