Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1891-08-08
MY APACHE PROTEGE.

never 20 cumming Win MI ApaCHcs
You smile at such strange advicep Well,
I might have smiled at 1t once myself.
But we are all creatures of circum-
stance. md was tcndcrfoot then.
anyway. This is how / chummed it
with my little Indian:
/ was swinging my red-and-blue
clubs under the pepper-tree at the
back of the station. This | did be-
cause had theory that exercise was
good for man living on desert
The lazy Mexicans and most of the
Americans thereabouts bad no ruddy
glow on their faces. They were all
sallow. What wanted was ruddy
glow.
NV red-and-blue clubs circled about
very prettily that day, and the ruddy
glow came; also dripping epidermis
and big desire 10 sit down in the
shade OF The pepper-tree and blow to-
bafco smoke. The tree was small
one. When the station tank ran over
which was not often. its roots received
a little moisture. So it grew slowly.
As soon as l dropped my clubs a
squeal OF disgust went up from some
where, aud. as turned about. Isaw
small. brown head dart behind
cactus-lined rock.
I said nothing but leaned back in
my seat. pulled my sombrero down
over my face and slammed sleep. with
one-half closed eye on the rock and the
big cactus shrubs. No use. You can
not get an Apache out Of his hole in
that way.
Next day, with my beautiful exer-
else theory still bristling in my brair
/ turned quickly. while in the midst Of
my club swinging, and saw tho wid~
open eyes aud gaping mouth OF the
chnningest little savage had ever be-
held He sprang about and fled be-
hind the rock. but not too quickly tor
me to read xxx Family Flour" in
large red letters on his back. His one
short garment was a cotton sack. with
holes cut through it for his head and
arms
Come, Tads.n cried. christening
him In that fleeting second with a
name that stuck to him all his life.
.'out OF thatw And ! jumped behind
the rock. swinging an open hand that
did not grasp the four-sack, as ! had
intended IL should.
Where was the wee savage?
Like lizard. he had darted from
sight somewhere in that little patch of
rocks and cactus. though there did not
appear to be cover enough there To
conceal jsek-rabbit.
..fhe spines must scratch him."
thought. as | looked at the prickly
cactus; but did not know then how
Apaches put up with such small irri-
tations. No. wanting to give the boy
unnecessary torture, | went back TO
my clubs. Throwing my eyes about
again, caught another fecting
glimpse Of the brown head as 1t lodged
behind the roik.
Taas must have been disappointed
next day, for there was no club.swing-
ing under the pepper-tree. The duties
Of telegraph sgent lay too heavily up
on me and the sun lay too heavily up
on the desert saw Tads steal away
from his lair about two hours after my
usual exercis. time and walk down the
sand-drifts with detected air, his one
garment tapping Ia the hot wind.
A wild nature like his was proof
against such snares ss the toothsome
copfection. the golden orange. or the
mealy peanut. found that out by
trial In the dourse of the next week.
But an old jack-knife won him over.
That was something his Apache mind
could grasp 1t was a greater delight
to him thav the red-and-blue clubs.
Sworn friends from that day were
Tads and /. His talk was ridiculous
mixture OF English. Spanish and
Apache. and his voice was very throaty.
But / understood him. Indian-like he
said little. 1t was therefore. easy to
get along with him. He would sit for
hours on a high stool listening to the
'funk-tunk.tunk" of my sounder. The
telegraph was an awful mystery to him
ut first and it sguelched his imagina-
tion; but he solved the problem at last.
A man awsy of in the mountains
spoke with his fingers to mc. and
spoke back t. him. That was his idea
Of It, and il was not bad one either.
The humming OF the wires overhead
were the voices of people with ponder
Gus fingers. bit they were not Of this
world.
How the cowboys laughed when
they saw Tady and me in the station.
That tenderfoot's a queer one."
they said of me.
The despised Apache could not crawl
Into their hearls--not even If he were
4 6-year old.
Hell steal everything the ,e nder.
foofs got" they pleasantly averred.
But he did mob
When Tads left the station OF an
evening, his little brown feet battered
straight over the roads to the wickiups.
hall mile away. In time he wore a
narrow trail ovcr to the huts.
Pity vell." was what Tads would
grunt to me every day when he came
shyly into the oiiice and greeted him
with friendly, ..how-de-dop" Then
he would shrus his shoulders in way
that would wrinkle the three KS into
such bewilderi,ig folds that you could
not have read them unless you had |
known what thsy were beforehand.
One day who he was meandering |
about the place. grunting quietly to
himself. he uplet one OF my battery
Jars.
"Tads." cried. angrily. for the
deserts breath was hot upon me, and |
was irritating enough. let alone spilled
vitriOl. you're u little beast! Skip |
out Of here. or I'll take stick to youl'
Then arose great howl from Tads.
and he kept on bowling until an
Apache woman came over the sands
from the wlcklups and gathered him
up In her arma She was his mother.
She eyed me su'piciously. and walked
away with her highly demonstrative
burden.
OF course regretted my hot lan-
guage aud wanted the little beggar
back again. 1t was 80 lonely there on
tho desert. The wireS walled SO heart
brokenly. while the sun beat down SO
6ercely Ia the daytime and tho coyotes
yelled 30 dolefullv ut night. How he
had crept into my heart. to DO sure!.
1t was several days before we were
~ satisfactory terms sgain. Tads '