The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1895-07-06

| eide their claims TO prcfcrrnent.
When the medicine man entered the
| Fire-Holc basin of the Yellowstone,
! the full moon from mid-heaven was
flooding the cindered waste with a wan
radiance. Jets of steam from q
score of craters Kissed and wreathed
around them, leaping and disappear
ing like specters at play. The hot
stones aud ashes beneath their feet
tremblcd at intervals, as if to begin a
mimic earthquake, and then subsidized
amid sharp explosions and sudden
Kisses of steam that seemed to burst
from every pinnacle and projection of
the vhitened area.
Before a dark opening that broke
the surface and seemed to pierce down
ward to the very bowels of the earth.
the medicine man stopped Selling
Washable by the wrist, he bent for
| ward and pointed into the heart of the
| crater.
''There. Washakie!" he cried. ''thcre
is the heart of the Fire Spirit! White
| hair rope until thy feet touch the
ledge of rock. Then put thy hands
out and walk straight forward until
they touch q substance that is warm
and smells like powder. That is the
heart of the Fire Spirit. Then draw
them in one by one until they are all
gone. The blood will run forth, soft
and warm. Gather it in thy hands
and fill the culver. The hot breath of
the spirit will fill thy nostrils, but fear
it not. When all is done, pull on the
rope, and White Bull will draw thee
up and lead thee back over the moun-
tains to be war chief of the 'shoshones.
This decd has never yet been done by
man. Thou shalt be known as the
bravest warrior that ever led thy peo-
pie in battle"
mn
the Pickering jets of steam leaPing
from the broken surface of the basin
beyond; then he fell upon his face and
Peered earnestly into the darkness of
the hole. Superstition, dread of the
mysterious Fire Spirit that no man had
ever yet conquered, filled him with UNI
certainty. But he believed the words
of tho medicine chief of his tribe, who
had shown SO many others the secret
of bravery; and the glory Of leading
his tribe in war was worth an earnest
ness dumb to fear. He had trod the
forest many miles to find his toneano,cos;
his strong heart would not fail him
now. In another moment he was glid-
ing over the edge of the crater with
the moose of the hair rope bound around
him.
The medicine man braced back until
the relaxing strain upon tho rope told
him that Washal<ie's feet had touched
the ledge. Then he coiled the free end
of the lariat fast around q projecting
rock.
Whirlwind, arrayed in paint and war
bonnet, had crept through the forest
safety permitted. At night his thrice
repeated cry of a cougar had warned
the medicine man. of his presence.
Reaching the edge of the fire basin,
and screening himself behind a rock,
nc saw the medicine man standing
steam. He saw him turn and lift a
heavy rock, struggle under its weight
a short distance, and heave it apparent
~ into the Garth.
Then there was rurnbling as If q
hundred thundcrs had broken loose at
once. The medicine man retreated
hastily dense white cloud burst
from the earth at his feet and lowered
to the very sky. The earth shook, and
there came out of the cloud pro-
longed, wailing cry. that was swal-
lowed in an explosion as if the bowels
of the earth were rent in sunder. The
white cloud was transformed into
water, that shot upward in one mighty
stream toward the moon, piling volume
on volume, and casting itself in steam
and spray a hundred feet on every side,
like giant fountain of silver.
play. Whirlwind stood beside the medi
cine man.
where is Washakie?" he asked.
''!Vhere is the vvould-be war chief?"
There" answered the medicine
man, poin ting to an object lying near
the mouth of the crater. HE has
found the tomano,oos; but he pierced tho
heart Of the Fire Spirit with arrows,
and the Fire Spirit has slain him.
The water had subsidized and fallen
back into the earth. Washable lay
upon his face, crushed and smothered,
as far from the crater as the length of
the lariat to which he was bound per-
mittcd the water to throw him. In
his right hand he still clutched the |
culver, half filed with re d. ochreous |
earth. The medicine man had taken |
care that the body should not be lost. |
''Here is the secret" he said, taking |
up the culver. 1T is the blood of the !
heart of the Fire Spirit. Whirlwind
shall be war chief of the Shoshones. |
He shall wear the tonaanoaoos in his war
bonnet
Casting the body of Washable into
the crater, they turned their backs
upon the Fire-Hole basin and crossed !
the mountains into the land Of the |
Shoshones. White Bull at the council
fire told Of a fight between the
which Washable had been slain, but |
Then the crafty deed Of the medicine !
man was rewarded by the election OF
Whirlwind as war chief
That summer, when he led his people |
against the neighboring tribes, Whirl- |
wind placed tic toznono1os in the beak |
Of the eagle which crowned his war |
h,ooa4 THOUGH foremost among tho |