Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1893-06-24
THEM TWO TWINS.

The world may seem Dig TO WIN
boy of 10, but it is all out Of doors t
the brown boy of the desert, and es
pecially after raid such as there MAJ
been that morning, when the whit
folks blood had flowed as freely a
water. For be it known that, be
cause of the raid, there were wonder
full new things TO play with-th'
things that the white children
father had bought for his little one
last Christmas.
1t was evident that the whole
Thacker family had been 'cleaneC
out" The ThacKers had known tina
Geronimo had left the reservation
and was tearing offscalps all over thu
country; but they had watched To-
him until they had grown weary; anC
in the early morning, when one sleeps
so soundly on the desert, they haC
been set upon with true Apache fair
ness, and had, to all appearances
been wiped off the face Of the earth
the whole six Of them.
or course, the twins had not &C
tually participated in the slaughter
They had been over the ridge with
Squaw Mary, their mother, when il
happened, but Father Jose had had q
big bloody hand in it, so it was all in
the family. And when the loot be.
gan the twins were not far away and
they scampered in among the ruins
with the rest Of the braves and took
what they wanted.
So now they were making merry in
Coyote Canon, half mile from the
ash pile that had once been Thacker's
cabin, footing little dead JohnnY's
trumpet and shaking the baby rattle,
while they flung bits Of poor Mrs.
ThackeTS f1nerY to the breeze A
strip Of the dead woman's pink rib
hon was tied around each bare, brown
waist and to it hung a silver plated
table knife.
And they danced, and yelled, and
footed, and ratified as only l0-year-old
Apaches can, telling each other,
over and over again, that the white
folks were all dead-all dead, and
that the brave Indians ruled the
whole world.
tut they were not all dead-not
quite. Up behind that rock, twenty
feet from where they stood, lay John
Thacker himself, with bullet in his
leg and great black hate in his
heart, that alUernated there with
terrible rawness that was the rawer
because it was so very new. 1t was
all so frightfully fresh, this awful
Scourge that had made raw his heart
ALI so frightfully fresh and new.
II it were only the end of next
month. But it was now. 1t must
still be present to him, and perhaps
forever, that awful picture 1t was
still before his eyes; he could see
nothing else.
"And it ran down her side-poor
dead Barb'ra's side-the blood of the
poor little baby. And tnen they
they're all dead now-all five Of nv
darlings."
Oh, how eye-Searing was the pic
ture, all set in red. Even when he
covered his eyes, there was still be-
fore them that red. The whole world
was red.
The sun crept around the edge of
the rock and stabbed down upon his
naked head and neck He moved
little further aside, and, moving, the
corner of his eye took in the twins.
They were so near at hand and so uu-
mistakably Apache that another
shiver shot through him. 1t was
only for an instant that his vision
cleared, and then the red danced be-
fore him in great waves and blotches,
and it was some little time before he
could see the small Indians again.
But unwinking stares and keenly shot
glanceS did clear things up again, and
be saw that the dread enemy was be-
fore him, making merry after their
feast of blood.
why, it's them two twins of old
Mary's" he said.
Then his leg drew up suddenly for
great throb of pain shot through it
and made him vince and groan.
"Wall, they're just ordinary, COM
mon Apaches, he remembered, land
it won't be more'n year or two be-
fore they'll be shOotin' and cuttin'
white folks"
He slid the barrel Of his rife over
his body turned little on his left
side, his elbow resting on the ground.
The black, stubby barrel grated along
the lip of the rock, siding and dipping
until the pin-pOint sight stood pre-
cisely on a fine imaginary line rum
ming from the mans right eye to the
nearest twins brown breast The
boy was blowing the trumpet in a
desultory way, the newness of the
thing having worn of. His black
eyes were dancing under the tangled
mat of black that crowned his ugly
little head. In those eyes the man
behind the rock saw the same light
that he had seen In the eyes Of the
slayers that morning, and his cheek
Rugged the butt of the ride lovingly,
while his forefnger reached forward
an inch and lowered about the trig-
ger. That the boy should still have
stood there unframed at TIE end of a