The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-04-21

| move westward with them. Ii was dlHi-
cult for the Indian, even with the help OF
| Minnawaqua in basket making, to earn
living for his little family. There were
white hunters in the woods now, and game
was getting comparatively scarce. Even
after the removal to Pine creek the In
Il dian was sorely pressed by poverty. and he
soon determined, though with great re-
luctance, to join his tribe at the headwaters
of the river, nearly forty miles away.
1t was a sad day. Minnawaqua, with
all the stoicism of her race, could not re-
press her grief, and tears trickled from the
! beautiful but nearly sightless orbs OF Star
Eyes, now handsomely framed youth OF
fourteen years. And there were moist
eyes, too, in the Quaker's family, and In
the households of the other settlers.
1t was in the autumn following the
spring when Fleet.Foot Joined the tribe.
Rumors had been rife all summer that the
Indians were in ugly mood and that a raid
down the river to sweep away the advanced
settlements was imminent. The conse-
! auence was that the settlers were fully
armed and prepared to quickly muster all
the men within a dozen miles along the
| river.
Just at daylight one morning the
|
! lent pounding on the door. On opening it
they were amazed at finding Star Eyes
there in most pitiable plight. He was weak
and haggard; his buckskin clothing was
almost in shredS; there were only remains
| of his moccasins, and his feet were bleed
| ing terribly.
He quickly told his story. The Indians
were on the warpath up the river. After
/ Gro cd he W IN,
the woods, made a long detour in the
mountains, running at his best speed all
| the time, and then struck the river be-
| low the advancing redskins. His imper-
/ feet sight had caused his clothing to be
! torn to tatters by underbrush, and his
! moccasins had worn out in that almost
perpetual run day and night for forty
| miles. He thought the Indians would
| surely reach the settlement the following
night.
The alarm was quickly sounded along
the valley. A good force of brave men
hurried up to meet the savages and to take
a good defensive position. But their serv-
ices were not needed. When the Indians
| found that their approach had been herald
| ed and that the settlers were ready for
them they abandoned the raid and re-
| treated.
| Star Eyes remained with his Quaker
| friends. About two weeks after the events
| just noted he and two of the Quaker chill
dren were gathering nuts in the woods.
| Suddenly there was small volley Of rife
shots, and poor Star Eyes fell dead in his
| tracks without word or groan. The other
| children were unframed.
This was the awful retribution visited
| upon the nearly sightless Indian boy for
saving his white friends from slaughter
Within an hour after the dastardly act
| of assassination a dozen brave settlers were
on the trail of the murderers, five in num-
ber as indicated by their tracks. The long
strides shown by the moccasin tracks
showed that the assassins were running
and that they were determined to make
sure of escape. But the pursuers were
| swift runners too Nerved by their graft
| tude to poor Star Eyes and by the horri-
BILE atrocity of the Indians, they were de-
termined to aFenge the crime at all haz-
ards.
| AS evening approached, the pursuers
found that the trail was getting warm
they were nearing the culprits. Shutdown,
twilight, and the trail still warmer. AS
the tracks grew indistinct, and when fully
| twenty miles of distance had been covered,
one of the party suddenly saw glimmer
! of light in a little valley some distance
! ahead. 1t was evident that the Indians,
believing themselves now safe from pur-
! suit, were camping for the night
A careful reconnaissance, a patient wait
of three hours under the glimmering stars,
a cautious advance, the simultaneous
crack of dozen carefully aimed rifles at
close range.
Four of the sleeping Indians never
awoke; the fifth one helplessly writhed in
agony. AS the settler rushed up to dis
patch the wounded redskin the light from
the camp fire fell upon his face and they
suddenly stopped as if they had been
[ riveted to the ground.
1t was Fleet Foot, the father of Star
Eyes!
The muzzle of a rife was at his head and
finger on the trigger. His eyes turned
up sadly; he recognized the settler, raised
his hand and family said:
eyes; but listen" They knelt beside
him to catch his words, for he was evil
IDENTIFY dying.
When the war party returned" he
said slowly and painfully. they knew OF
course that Star Eyes had betrayed them.
They bound me, NIinnawaqua and my
three young children to stakes, intending
to burn us all. Older Indians. with one or
two chiefs, urged that we knew nothing
about the act of Star Eyes. In the end
| there was a compromise. Five warriors,
including myself, We're to go to the settle
ment and kill Star Eyes. was obliged to
accept the terms to save Minnawaqua and
my three little ones. You know the rest"
! And you were one of the murderers Of
1 your own boy" excitedly exclaimed the
settler that covered him with the rife.
No" came family from the dying In
dian. II might shoot myself, but not Star
| Eyes. There was no bullet in Fleet Foot's
| rife-I deceived them"
Suddenly he raised his head, turned his
already CLASSY eyes toward the twinkling
stars, pointed his finger upward and said:
There is Star Eyes now! Do you see
him? He is reckoning to me. / must so
| to himl'
Then his head fell back, his hand drop
| ped-he was with his Oy.-Philadelphia
! Times.
| A Carpenters Rise in Life.
H. c. Brown. of Denver, has now one of
! the finest hotels west of the Mississippi
river at cost of si,50o,OOo. He has paid