Evening star., 1895-10-12

proximity, that his pony stumbled and
threw him. l must own that the men who
had spent years in the west would never
admit the possibility of my theory being
the correct one; it is true. too, that 1 don't
see how his pony ever got him off. But.
since no one knows the reason, l suppose
a simple statement of facts will nave to
suffice. And these are the facts: Half an
hour after we went into camp one after
noon l found the wounded creature. He
was lying fiat on his back. SO near the
river that his feet touched the water The
place was about an eighth of a mile :,elow
the place where we were encamped. He
was unconscious. with an ugly wound in
his head that had evidently been caused ley
d sharp stone against which he had fallen.
A slight examination served to show that
his right arm and his left leg were broken.
His pony was feeding near: indeed, l found
his pony some minutes before l discover
ed him
The savage had no weapons, and search
in the vicinity of the place where he was
discovered resulted in the find of none.
The face h:deouSly painted. 1t would
have been repusive enough, 1 doubt not,
under any circumstances. Seen under
these conditions and at that hour-between
day and dark-it was doubly so.
a shot from my rifle brought half
dozen men from the camp-and still that
senseless form never stirred. How his soul
would have rebelled could it have known.
Among the half dozen who came hurry
ing were at least two who had spent the
grea ter part of their lives upon the plains.
They bad no great admiration for the In
dian character. and one of them rather
petulantly asked why l had wasted my
arlmunition-why 1 had fired into the air
instead of into the Indian. I had hard
time to secure my own way But L pre-
vailed at last. We took the poor wretch
into camp. L set his broken bones. l
bound up the wound in his head. l nursed
him back to health again.
The man-shall 1 offend any prejudice,
antagonize any judgment. by so desisnat-
il1rp nj 7 chn n cal
him over twenty-five at the outside. He
recovered rapidly-as any healthy animal
will do if given fair chance.
The man-Ta atient or prisoner, guest or
ceptve-could not speak a word of En-
glish. l feel sure he could understand lit
tie, If anything. of what was said to him
or in his presence. What he must have
thouSht-if creatures of his sort can think
when he came TO himself surrounded by
wkite men. and something of white, mems
comforts, can only dimly imagine. How
he must have regarded his treatment,
given the softest bed in the easiest wagon
day after day and fed on the most nourish-
ing OF foods. reinforced by the best wine
the train could furnish, is quite beyond my
ability to say. He may have read the
truth in cur faces, our hearts in our ac-
tions. and realized, dimly and vaguely, that
teyond the great gulf God has placed be-
tween the white race and the red there
We're men VINO knew and loved a golden
rule of watch his low intelligence had
never dreamed. He may have guessed that
our kindness was simply assumed. our for
bearance merely temporary, and that he
was reserved for the torture that would
have been the pitless prescription of his
GeviiSh creed. Or he may have made a
short cut, stunning even the exercise IF
primitive savage logic, and decided We
were fools.
In due time he was well. We gave him
his pony We gave him "a supply of food
We saw him ride aWay-and disappear. /
rever thought to see him again. But this
is a small world-even to an Indian. and
With steam and electricity left out of the
count.
l returned home by sea. 1t was six years
before l found myself crossing the plains
again, end again with a wagon train. Char
acters-much the same before. Some of
them rather more strongly emphasized
than of yore, possibly lecause of the years