The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1890-10-31

there and what my business was.
EXPLAINED my escape from the Indians,
AMI then they treated me better.
They picked me up and Cal ried me to
n small house come distance away.
| v hen they entered the house an In.
dian woman. who proved to be the
| vile OF one of the men, assisted them
! to nut n,e on few skins spread upon
the floor. A half breed girl, tall and
handsome, abont IL or Is years old,
I the daughter, was in the house, and
paid scarcely any attention to my
] entrance. l was teveri sh from hunger
and wanted to gorge at once, but
! they give me food in small quantities.
| For two days did not stir from thu
house. In my delrium must have
talked about the claim had staked,
for as soon as l became lucid MOTTO
ed that q change had taken place in
| the people. resolved to play deliri-
Gus in odrer to discover their plans.
Iraved and talked incoherently and
finally cried out: 'I'll come back and
work my claim
| 1.-The two men we're present.. They
looked at each other and one said:
That settles it; if he doesn't die of
fever he must never leave here alive.
He'll have a thousand people here
in less than a month.
! "The other responded cody: Yes;
we'll do him up il he happens to get
well. am sorry we didn't leave him
to di the mornin, we found him.
| well, that talk settled me / re-
solved to escape that night. / could
not because found that I was a
prisoner. The Indian woman re-
NAMED awake all night at the door.
In the daytime they frequently lett
me alone, and then managed to get
at the food and eat enough to
husband of the Indian woman kept
watch. The next day l was natural.
ly sleepy and slept soundly until
noon. Then awoke and raved IN a
weaker tone of voice, as ii were grad
ually sinking. The half-breed girl, !
noticed, was sleeping all the after
noon. But before sunset she awoke,
and the mother said to her in Sioux
language, which / understood: Ia
coma, the stranger may dieto-mor.
row. Tonight you will have to
wat oh him.
"Tacoma replied: ooh. why not
get rid OF him tonight? We do not
wish to be bothered with him further
''They then discussed in detail my
chances OF getting well. The girl PICK.
ed up a large hunting knife and looked
at me. Her mother M Toned her to
put the kniK down. l believe | would
have been settled thec and there bat
for the girls mother. made up my
mind to escape that night, no matter
ii had to fight my way out. 1t was
q bright moonlight night, and / felt
that stood good chance to have a
rifle bullet put in me a. long range in
making q dash for liberty and lite
The girl took a seat lear the door and
the others soon fell asleep. My rifle
was standing in the corner and my
large hunting knife was on the pallet.
Why they left the knife so near me is
mystery. unless they expected me
10 use it when eating jerked beet. Tao
omas death watch on me
began at 8 O'Clock. For
two hours she scarcely moved
in her chair and appeared deeply en-
crossed in thought. l remained per.
fectly quiet and at long intervals
groaned feebly, as if my end were
near. Between II and IL o'clock she
rose and looked at me. dared not
open my eyes. Then she turned ana
walked stealthily to the door, and to
my great Joy, opened it and went out.
In a second was on my feet. secured
my rifle and had my knife ready for
action. With cat-lke tread reached
the door and stepped out into the
broad glare OF the moonlight. The
girl was nowhere to be seen. had
resolved to level my rifle and threat
en- o shoot her if she made an out
cry or tried to prevent my escape. l
turned to the right OF the house and
reached the corner. intending to run
down to the creek. Tacoma reached
the correr from the other direction
just as did. and we collided. She
seized me and gave a loud yell. 1t
was all too sudden tor me to reflect,
forgot she was a woman and plun1-
ed my knife to the hilt in her bosom.
AS she fell sprang over her body and
made for the creek. heard the two
men coming and knew that could
not escape them by flight. l got be-
hind the banks OF the creek and shot
them bOtn down before they came
within fifty yards OF me. ! do not
know to this day whether they are
dead.
'Durine the night fed to the scuth
and when daylight came l was manv
miles away. Ii that girl Tacoma had
not"
Canyon Joe's sentence was never
finished. The half-breed scout who
had listened intently, without NOV
iny muscle, to the -blooded re.
cital sprang over the fire that separat-
ed him from Joe and buried his large
hunting knife to the hit in the heart
OF the man who killed the beautiful
Tacoma. Joe expired without
groan and before any OF us could III.
terpose the scout had cut his scalp
clean from his head.
| Tacoma woc hiS oaro scin'o c;st nv