The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-11-07
YELLOW FEATHER.

dressed to lose none of his natural advan-
tages. But whit really gave him his air
Of distinction was not his clothes nor his
manner of wearing them. 1t was the long
blond mustacho that he constantly twisted
ind UNFINISHED at tho ends. 1t was a mus
tache SO imposing and ornamental in its
waving color that the Indians, quick to
seize salient points of personality for chris
tening, named him yellow Feather the
day he arrived on the reserve. Still Clay
son was more than a man with a mus
tache.
He certainly was not straining his fac
ulties as he sauntered from evening sta
bles'' to the officers clubroom in the
traders store on a bright day in May not
many years ago. To tell the truth, there
was nothing especial in his mind until he
turned the corner of the building. Then
he suddenly roused to mental activity, al
though the cause might seem trivial to
others-it was only a squaw, and squaws
were common, very common, in that VI
cinity.. She turned her head, and he saw
such eyes as he never before had seen in a
human head. They looked straight into
his brain-and staid there.
The souaw was on her pony, slowly rid
Ing away. He then noticed for the first
time that her hair hung loose down her
back. She was q married woman. When
she reached the end of the corral wall and
Just before she made the turn, she glanced
back, and that glance found him. The
light in those Turing eyes said, Follow
me!''
His impulse was to call to a passing
man and order his horse, but fortunately
the logic in his mind asserted itself and
- Ill., 49, L. ---y1 4v1% kuotI af%an a
squaw in broad daylight. He thought OF
something else and re-entered the store to
act upon that thought. He bought a pound
of tobacco and several bundles of cigarette
papers and with his purchase sought San
chez, the interpreter, in his camp below
the post.
He missed retreat and lost his dinner
at the mess before finesse and tobacco bad
drawn from Sanchez that Tinta was a Mex
lean captive, captured as a babe and aft
erward reared as the only child of Bonito,
head soldier of the Chiricahuas. She had
recently married Ramona, a young sub
chief, but within a moon from the we'd
ding feast they had quarreled, and, strange
to all the tribe, she had asserted her rights.
Apache women have rights-that is, prop
erty rights. She gathered her ponies and
drove them to her fathers herd. Now she
dwelt in Bonito's lodge, and it was an open
question how many ponies Ramona must
pay before he got back his bride-the num-
Der depended upon her sweet will as ex-
pressed through the arbitrator, Bonito.
| Ramona had begun to bid And sanchez
flung away the end of the fifteenth ciga-
rette, with the admonition, ''Tinta is heap
muncho dangerous camel"
With the rising CT the next sun Clayson
was three miles up the north fork inspect
ing the troop gardens. He wished to see
the dew on the cabbage sparkle in the
early light; besides the main camp of the
Chiricahuas was in the bottom land on
the opposite side, and Bonito's lodge stood
by itself close to the river bank.
1t may have been the sound of an iron
shoe striking the rocks. or it may have
been fatality-anyhow Tinta anne from
| the lodge while Clayson'S horse was drink
ing, knee deep in the stream. He refined
up the horses head and urged him through
the water straight for those eyes. She
smiled a welcome, and there, in the hiding
shadows of the tall cottonwoods, he kissed
her.
But shadows are never dark enough. 1t
soon passed froln squaw to squaw in the
| village that "Yellow Feather" rode to
Bonito's lodge, and, like the flame OF a
leaping prairie fire, the word swept on till
it reached Ramona in the upper camp in
the mountains. And as luck would have
1T at that time the upper camp was drink
| in 'ttizwin" Il dancing for war. SO Ra-
none drank Irwin with increased vigor
| and danced with the other wild spirits,
| while his Unborn general hate for he
| whites concentrated to ono fierce, burning
hate for one white.
The big moon came, and with 1t the last
dance in the, upper camp. The old and the
tender were sent down to the main camp
on the river, while the strong II active,
full of Irwin and hell, dashed into the
| night to make a merry killing in their
line Of flight. All the young bucks were
in the ride save one-Ra1none was too
drunk to mount or move. Three hour
later, by the light of the same big moon,
two troops Of cavalry had found and were
on the trail of the s'bronchos" at the uppe
camp. The next morning the agent, visit
ing the main camp to count a somewhat
scattered flock and separate the sheep from
the goats, as they had already sepai ated
themselves, found Ramona, tag, nulaber
and all, present to be counted as one OF the
/ remnant of sheep. He really was meek as
a lamb, sleeping most of the day in the
brush near his mothers lodge, but occa-
sionally waking to hear the frightened
talk of women n children. Once he
heard that the black horse and the gray
horse soldiers were on the trail, and he
knew that yellow Feather rode with the
grays.
He ate his supper in sullen silence, for
the tribe was not a unit on the outbreak.
Then, when the twilight merged into
night, he s3addled his war pony p left
the camp. sci tDa i7iw e9Gssds 10 9rc
Ra1nones knewlthe rendezvous; nalsel the
water holes'and the roughaa rugged Inpun-
tains between. Haloped along on "a trail
Of his own making, heading forb the far
peak of thedB Black range travelling mostly
by night and MAPPING III, day. On the
third sun he cut the trail OF his friends,
within an easy ride OF the1ligh peak, but
found no signs of shod horses upon 1t. He
had headed the soldiers. He could go on
or wait for the procession to pass, just as
he saw fit. Perhaps Yellow Feather was
not with the soldiers? II he was not, there
yet was time enough for Ramona to be
back on the reservation before the next
count on tissue day" He rode on the
trail for awhile, then left it, knowing a
single track would not be followed, al
though it was fresh, and hid the pony and
himself safe in the rocks above q point
where the trail led up from a side canyon.
sT - L IL ,~o1- H. 49,, - no coon