The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-07-18
HIS YOUNG APACHE FRIEND.
A Tenderfoot ecrapes an Acquaintance,
and a Chance Nee ting Occurs.
From the ArgorUdut

was a tenderfoot then, anyway. This is
how chummed in with my little Indian:
I was swinging my red and blue clubs
under the pepper tree at the back OF the
railroad station. This did because had
theory that exercise was good for a man
living on desert The lazy Mexicans, ana
most of the Americans thereabouts, had no
ruddy glow on their faces They were all
sallow What ! wanted was rudy glow.
My red and blue clubs circled about very
prettily that day, and the rudy glow
came; also a dripping epidsrmls anc Dig
desire to sit down in the shade OF the pepper
tree and blow tobacco smoke Inc tree
was small one. When the station tank
ran over, which was not often, its roots
received a little moisture. so 1t grew
slowly.
AS soon as l dropped my clubs squeal Of
of disgust went up from somewhere. and as
turned about | saw a small, brown head
dart behind a cactus-lined rock.
| said nothing, but leaned back on 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 never get an
Apache out of his hole that way.
Next day, with my beautiful exercise
theory still bristling in my brain, turned
quickly, while in the mids, of my club
swinging, and saw the wide open eyes and
gasping mouth Of the cunningest little
savage | had ever beheld. He sprang about
and fed behind the rock. but not too quickly
for 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." l cried, christening him
in that 1eeting second with a name that
stuck to him all his life, "out of thatm
And | jumped behind the rock, swinging
an open hand that did not grasp the flour
sack, as had intended it should.
Where was the wee savages
Like lizard he had darted from sight
some where in that little patch Of rocks and
cactus, though there did not appear to be
cover enough there to conceal a jack
rabbit.
The spines must scratch him, " thought,
as looked at the prickly cactus; but did
not know then how ADaches put up with
such small irritations Not wanting to give
the boy unnecessary torture, went back TO
my clubs Throwing my eyes back again,
| caught another fiseting glimpse of the
brown head as it lodged behind the rock.
Tads must have been disappointed next
day. for there was no club swinging under
the pepper tree. The duties of telegraph
agent lay too heavily upon me, and the sun
Law too heavily upon the desert. | saw
Tads steal away from his lair about two
hours after my usual exercise time and
walk down the sand drifts with detected
air, his one garment Tapping in the hot air
A wild nature like his was proof against
such snares as the toothsome CONNECTION, the
golden orange or the mealy peanut.
found that out by trial in the course of the
| next week. But an old jack-knife won him
over That was something his Apache
| mimi could grasp. It was greater delight
to him than the red and blue clubs. Sworn
| friends from that day were lads and l. His
| talk was a ridiculous mixture Of English,
| Spanish and Apache, and mis- voice was
throaty. But understood him.
Indian like, he said little. II was, there
fore, easy to get along with him. He would
| sit for hours on a high stool listening TO the
| "tunk-tunk funk" of my sounder. The tel
| egraph was an awfal mystery to him at
| first, and it squelched ais Imagination; but
he solved the problem at last. A man away
off over the mountains spoke with his
fingers to me and spoke back to him. That
was his idea of it, and it was not such bad
one, either. The hummings of the wires
overhead were the voices of the people with
ponderous fingers, but they were not of this
world.
How the cowboys laughed when they saw
Tads and me in the station.
That tenderfoot's a queer one," they
said.
The despise Apache could not, crawl in
to their hearts-no, not if he were 6-years
old.
He'll steal everything the tenderfoot's
got" they pleasantly averred. But he did
not.
Whom Tads left the station of an evening
his little brown feet battered straight over
the road to the wickiups, a half mile away.
In time he wore narrow trail over to the
huts.
Pity veil" was what Tads would grunt
to me every day when he came shyly into
the office and greeted him with a friendly
"How-de do" Then he would shrug his
shoulders in way that wrinkled the three
KS into such bewildering folds that you
could not have read them unless you had
known what they were beforehand.
One day while he was meandering about
the place, granting quietly to himself, he
upset one of my battery jars.
"Tads," cried angrily for the desert!
breath WAS hot upon me and was irritating
enough let alone vItrol, you are LITTLE
beast! Skip out of here or I'll take stitch
to youl
Then arose a great howl from Tads. and
he kept on bowling until au Apache woman
came over the sands from the wickiup and
gathered him up in Ter arms. She was his
mother. She eyed me suspiciously and
walked away with her highly demonstrativt
| burden.
OF course l regretted my hot Language
and wanted the little beggar back again
1t was so lonely there on the desert. The
wires walled so art-brokenly, while the
, ! sun beat Down SO ffercely in the daytime
and the coyotes yelled 80 dolefully at night
| How he had crept into my heart to be sure
1t was several days before we were on sat
e isfactory terms again. Tads wanted to be
3 | white man. He wanted to make "tall
? marks" on "pupper" with a feather
sometimes used quill pen, be it remarks
, and he wanted to speak with his finger
Well, l did manage to teach him few let
ters from railroad poster, and he Learned
to drawl out vt ads" in a drou way
With perseverance that was really startling
| afterward took him in an uncertain wa
through page or two of ''Can You See tn
Fat Ok" and so on, wherefore his heart wa
| glad.
cpl be white mans, heap sure" he de
clared in his bull-frog voice, after he ha
accomplished this wonderful feat.
3 Great distress racked Tads' soul on tn
- fatal day when tue wickiups were take
down aud the tribe mounted their mus
tangs to go over the hills. The Apaches ha
I to search all over the station to iud Tads
: At last ttey hauled him forth from unde
j my bunk, screaming like mad. OF no avai
5 were his screams; of no avail were his cry
"Me yanter to stay via him; me yanter b
wife mans"
Apache papas are unbending and Apach
mammas are memorable. Away the
= whisked fads, leaving behind him tender
z foot with queer feeling in his throat.
4 We'll, the boy has the instincts of
{ white man." [ said. for | was proud {
b what fancied had made of hin, IAN