Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1894-06-15

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shall not now detail the agonies of that
Indian summer. Through all my grief
ran the thought of an DISCRIMINATING
vengeance. Nengeance?-nay, scant jus
| tee | sought what has been law since
| the world began-blood for blood. II
was vain in those early times of ju
dicial system in Canada to seek for a
| rigorous pursuit from the dispensers of
! legal Justice The criminal executive
might he willing, but their arm was
weak. Retribution, in the trackless wild
of wood and water where | dwelt. could
proceed only from my own steady pur-
pose and solitary endeavor.
| could depend for but small aid on
the settlers. Some of them, indeed,
cursed the foul murder in no stinted
| speech, but others again imputed little
crime to the blood stained redskin, and
even went SO far as to justify his sneak
ing code of vengeance. Olier had left
| the district. but certain instinct told
me he would ere long come back again.
! Likely enough, he would suppose !
could not long remain in a place 10
which such hateful memories chung, and
| that he might then safely venture back.
| waited my time Safe he was in the
tangled rhicket, but to the end | knew
Ilhat no covert under heaven would pre-
serve him harmless from my wrath.
! Winter set in. hard ana white and
cold. The river Scugog was a level
road of ice: the trees We're choked up
with snow and on each side of the ice
bound river the forests lowered like
massive cliffs of chalky rock. No path
could now be forced into the recesses sf
the forest below our village. Scarcely
| had winter settled down for his undis
turbed reign when | heard whisperings
that the villain half breed was again
| lowering on the outskirts of the settle
,cnt. II was told me that he was iv-
i Z in Il Kind of wigwam above the VII
!ge and also that he had more than
once come 10 The very dwellings of the
settlers 10y night, to visit his friends and
obtain various articles for his camp.
knew it would be vain to attempt to
tracE him to his wigwam or, at all
events to surprise him; his wood craft
was much too deep to admit of such a
possibility. But strange, wild joy
trembled through my being when |
heard he came by night to the village.
A terrible scheme of vengeance swept
across my soul. and | felt, no matter
how fiendish the spirit, that the doom of
the half breed was fixed. and that | was
TO be his unrelenting eXecutioner.
Night after night | lay concealed at
the bluff awaiting the murderer. ! was
armed with pistols and Wore skates
Skating was an amusement which | had
excelled in when schoolboy, and facil-
ity III the art was of the least Importance
to my scheme Of retributiOn. At length
he came. 1t was an exquisite night the
white expanse around sparkled i'll the
sheen of q yuung Canadian moon which
sailed calmly through Il cloudless sky
| could have shot the villain as he skated
by me within fifty yards, but ! would
not risk the chance, and, besides, my
vengeance cried for sterner fate than
death by the pistol.
No sooner was he past my hiding place
than with shout Of eXultation, ]
started on his track. Oher swerved "a
moment TO see who his pursuer WAS,
then quick as lightning tried to double
up the river again. But | had anticl-
pated this, and with "a cooked pistol in
each hand | barred his passage With
curse he turned and sped swiftly down
the ice.
And now the race for life began Mile
after mile we swept along i'll silence
An awful, porteutous silence it was
through which nothing broke save the
| hollow boom of the swift steel cutting
its way over the imprisoned river. The
neon lit me nobly to my vengeance.
He could not escape me. for | found
with savage glee that | was Il match for
the swiftfooted Indian. Olier soon be
came aware of this, too, for now and
again he would skate close to the woods,
looking III vain for AN aperture. But no;
there was but one outlet from this
walled in river, and that was over the
falls!
Faster and faster Yet we skated to-
ward the cataract. 1t could not be fan
off. | pictured TO myself what Oilers
thoughts might be, Did he know whittier
he was Fastening, or had that awfnl
| light yet to flash on his guilty mind:
The half breed made answer TO my
thought. saw him in the pale SHIN
mer start convulsively and throw his
arms in the air; but he dared not stop,
and on he darted again with a yell of
despair which echoed weirdlike up the
| frozen channel.
Another sound came to my ear, and
knew what had caused that cry of agony
to burst from Olier; it was the dull
thunder of the fallsi We were nearing
them fast Still the walls of snow shut
in my victim, and every moment less
mad hi frnil hnnns of pScann ln1