Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1891-07-13
LOVE OF WHITE FAWN.

However II may be now; whatever OF de
moralization has followed the tribe since
fate and the United States government
pushed them to the beggarly life OF reser.
walton rations, the time once was when the
Sioux girl could not go astray without
sharing the same social ostracism as that
melted out as a punishment for her white
sister When the Sioux dwelt in and
around the famous hunting grounds now
known as Minnesota and Dakota, the same
nicely Of distinction prevailed among them
as in any refined white community as be
tween the moral and the immoral woman
Indeed, il has been hinted chat these In.
dams went a step farther than the whites
in their respect for virtue in their women,
that one Of their braves emulating Roman
heroism, killed his wife, and that one OF
their chiefs slew his daughter for the un,
forgivable ofIense.
Nobody knew this better than Charles
Dorr, young Michigan man, who went to
Minnesota In the early COS and found
employment as a clerk In one Of the shops
Of the advance settlements.
Dorr was fond Of hunting and fishing
and his good natured aud shrewd employer
allowed him ample time for the bent OF his
inclination, when, on the occasion Of the
young mans first sally for game and fish,
he returned full handed and with sufficient
to support the family for fortnight.
On one Of these single handed expedi
tions from the settlement down the Red
river OF the north. late in the fall, DORIS
birch bark canoe was upset by sliding up
upon a concealed rock midway the com.
paratively narrow stream, and Dorr took a
header into the cold water
Knowing the stream so well, his quick
eye would have avoided the accident under
ordinary circumstances, but his eyes were
elsewhere at the time, and intent upon the
graceful form Of an Indian girl who stood
upon the wooded bank Of the river, for the
Red river banks are prairie on one side and
wooded on the other
Dorr heard ringing laugh as be made the
plunge; but he swan like cork and soon
arose, shaking the water from his head
like a retriever He struck out for the
shore, but he scarcely struck half dozen
strokes before the girl with one of the ca
noes, which were drawn up on shore, was
by his side, so agile were her movements.
Turning il deftly Us she reached him Dorr,
with one hand lightly placed on the side OF
the canoe and swimming alongside, was
padded ashore Returning rapidly she
recovered the canoe and the paddle, but
DORIS rifle and set Of traps were az the
bottom OF the river.
Now the ordinary Indian maiden would
have left Durr TO sink or swim, and get his
own canoe as best he might, and would
have stood laughing at the exhibition
from the foyer of the shore until the cur
tain of Dorr went down, no matter that
the rain swollen river swept the swimmer
helplessly along II would have been be.
cause they knew a brave would lose caste
by being helped by women in anything but
a battle where the foes were two to one
but it was no ordinary Indian girl who had
helped Dorr out Of his difficult if not dan.
gerOus predicament
She was White Fawn, daughter Of Gray
Otter chief Of the principal band OF the
Minnesota Sioux, the impulses of whose
kindly heart modified the strict observances
of tribal forms and rules Besides, her
woman's instincts told her that she herself
was not little in fault for the accident, rs
she had observed DORIS steady gaze, which
had pleased and had not abashed the Da.
kota beauty, who, like all OF her sex. had
just the faintest trace OF the toGuette in
her composition.
The accident had occurred opposite the
encampment Of White Otter's band, which
was but few rods back in the timber.
Thither she invited him, and played the
kind hostess IN the chiefs tepee il the alb
sence Of her father, and Dorr, before rous.
ing fire, dried himself hunter aud warrior
fashion, and stilled his chattering teeth
with swallow Of whisky from a curiously
carved cup Of elk horn
Not a word had passed between them III
TO the moment when Dorr arose to 70, aud
then he essayed 70 thank the lady ia his
best but briefest Sioux
Now be il known the Indian possesses az
keen q sense Of the ludicroUs conveyed by
broken language as that entertained by the
whites, and this was the secret that locked
the tongues OF the twain up to that mo
ment. But locking their tongues for thi.
reason unlocked another secret, and that
was the secret Of their admiration for on,
another. DorT was smitten, and the Whit.
Fawn furnished another Of the hundred
keys to a woman's heart. She responde,
in English timid tank you,n and lookes
into DORIS eyes for any ridicule that nigh
be there. She only saw glowing admira
tion in those eyes, and she dropped her own
Dorr went back to the settlement only 4
return the next day with an improvise.
graphing hook, with which TO recover hi
gun and traps, He never found them, bu
failure only seemed to lend impetus to hi
industry. Intact he never looked for ther
after the first days search, but he foun
their loss a convenient excuse for sewers
days Of absence and a return to the sho
without his usual quantity Of game.
While ostensibly occupied IN the scare
he continued TO communicate with Whit
Fawn, and to establish a secret meetin
place, instead Of openly entering the cam
like bold warrior. He lived in mild d
irium Of satisfaction, only disturbed I
any long interval that separated him fro
2 the Indian girl.
.
b Later il the fall Gray Otter's band too
Q up their long journey to the westward
one Of their great hunting expeditions al
did not return till the spring. News car
down to the settlement of their return, al
:. with it also the news that the hunt h
been comparative failure. The viii,
10 were driving off the game. This, togeth
r with the fact that the government was q
4 keeping its pledge with the Indians, ma
a the prospect anything but pleasant for t
settlement. As the spring waned I
ominous news arrived that the more we
:, erly bands had begun the war dance, q
then that actual hostilities had beg