The Wilmington daily Republican., 1895-08-09

words did my fhfhcf speak wiieA h9 toid q
his great dceds In the council My father
was great brave Mn did not live amonn
the women and children. He was mot
squaw man. HewAs Black Kettloin
Bewildered at THE strange outburst,
Helen called beseechingly to her husband.
He mado no reply. II was morning
when he arose from the prie dieu.
For tho next fcw days, except for an al
most unbroken silence he seemed more
like his former self. Late one afternoon
word was brought TO Helen that woman
had been confined In tho settlement and
was dying for lack Of food and clothing.
The circumstances appealed to her with
peculiar force. Filling a basket with food
and hastily selecting such articles as SEEM
ed most needfui, she set out on her lonely
walk.
The door of tho hut was ajar. The one
room was empty. In her charitable visit
ing in Boston similar experience had
often confronted her, and now, as then, an
involuntary vexation arose at having been
made the dupe Of her sympathies. She
made her way to the next hut; but, to her
surprise, u, too, was empty. Tho village
was deserted. "a ssi.,s ss;;ssssss- s-s-s.-,-S-
The last hut stood ON the brow Of an in
cline. In the hollow beyond was strange
sight.
4 Shrinking back into the shadow Of the
hut, petrified with horror, she stood watch
ing circlo Of savage figures, men and
women alternating, holding one another
by the hand, revolving slowly around a
large tree. A dirgelike chant filled tho air
as round and round the dancers went In
the same direction, with eyes closed and
heads bent toward the ground There
were young men in the circle. Had they
returned, then, from their hunting ex-
peditipnfn
Chained to the spot by the mystic spell
Of the "ghost dance" her own body sway
ed to and fro In unison with the dancers.
One figure seemed to exercise partic-
ular fascination over her. II was that of
q young brave, naked to the hips and with
streaks of red and yellow paint across his
breast. Darkness had long ago fallen, and
fires were cleaning in the hollow. BY
and by one after another Of the dancers
fell forward on his face, but the circle was
instantly reformed. The young brave who
had held her gaze was PROSTATE at last, in
the kind Of swoon to which the others had
sucoumbed.
Suddenly he leaped to his feet.
"I have seen the great father" he cried,
land he will not talk to me because have
married a white woman"
1t was the voice of her husbandl
Half frozen, blinded and staggering, she
reached her own door at last. She must
have wandered many times from tho path,
for the cold, gray morning light was break
ing. She dropped, from force Of habit,
into the chair by the workable. Sho
must darn those stockings of August's. 1t
was the morning for early service. There
was little illuminated book of devotions
IN which 1t was her daily habit to read
Was she going madP The words were re-
volying in circle over the page. A cap
ital A, in scarlet and gold, bore fantas-
tic resemblance TO the paint bedizencd fig
ure of tho dance.
There was sound without. The door
was pushed open, and naked savage
strobe into the room. She saw his pur-
pose.
"Augustl For the sake Of our unborn
babel''
What followed may not be told.-Edith
Robinson in A-s-r"0ut.