The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1891-10-24
LOVE OF WHITE FAWN.

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 60 astray without
sharing the same social ostracism as that
meted 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, it has been limited that these In
dians 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 IN
forgivable offense.
Nobody knew this better than Charles
Dorr, a 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 and 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 exped-
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 he made the
plunge; but he swan like cork and soon
arose, shaking the water from his head
like 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 it deftly as she reached him Dorr,
with one hand lightly placed on the side Of
the canoe and swimming alongside, was
padded ashore Returning rapidly size
recovered the canoe and the paddle, but
DORIS rifle and set of traps were at the
bottom of the river.
Now the ordinary Indian maiden would
have left Dorr 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. 1t would have been be
cause they knew 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 bis 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 a little in fault for the accident, as
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 Coquette ia
her composition
The accident had occurred opposite the
eneampment 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 in the all
sence of her father, and Dorr, before rou,-
ing fire, dried himself hunter and warrior
fashion, and stiled his chattering teeth
with a swallow Of whisky from curious In
carved cup of elk horn
Not word had passed between them up
to the moment when DOrr arose to 70, and
then he essayed to thank the lady in his
best but briefest Sioux
Now be it known the Indian possesses as
keen a sense of the ludicrous conveyed bv
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 this
reason unlocked another secret, and that
was the secret of their admiration for one
another DOrr was smltten, and the White
Fawn furnished another Of the hundred
keys to wOman's heart She responded
in English "A timd "tauk YOU, and looked
into DORIS eyes for any ridicule that might
be there. She only saw glowing admira-
ton IN those eyes and she dropped her own
Dorr Went back to the settlement only to
return the next day with an improvised
graphing hook, with which to recover his
gun and traps. lie never found them, but
failure only seemed to lend impetus to his
industry. In fact he never looked for them
after the first days search but he found
their loss convenient excuse for several
days of absence and return to the shop
without his usual quantity Of game.
While ostensibly occupied in the search
he continued to communicate with White
Fawn, and to establish secret meeting
place, instead of openly entering the camp
like bold warrior. lie lived in a mild de-
lirium Of satisfaction, only disturbed by