Evening star., 1895-06-01

1
| tended dirty hand-1c b. ~-..r
| ASK him what 4a1has to say" said the
| colonel to the in tefprster.a
| The Indian was HFinkled and bent with
| years, but he hadibeen a great chief in his
| day. More than anyfother man in his tribe
| he had stolen poneSj and lifted scaips. At
the coloners words. the skulking figure
| stood erect his dhh eyes flashed with the
| fire of old-tinle vigor. His speech bristled
! with the eloquence1 Of the plains. the hard
| gutteral tones flowing. from his ready
| tongue with all the force of savage ora
| tory. His withered. arms and bony fingers
| fairly flew from one gesture to another, as
| in pantomime and Indian sign he acted the
| cral speech. In Ani was represented all
| the wrongs OF his race, and all the counter
| balancing outrages upon the white settler,
but wise and crafty in his old age, he for
get his trespasses and even those who had
| trespassed against him; in his hard-earned
| wisdom he sought to save the remnant of
i his people from further trouble.
1T is night with my heart said he
through the interpreter, "and the blanket
of darkness is folded about me. You are
| the great chief of all the soldiers, but l.
| too. am a chief. l have seen many fights
between the white soldiers and the Indians,
and sometimes the soldiers have whipped,
| and sometimes the women of my tribe have
| sung the songs Of a good fight when their
husbands and their brothers and their sons
! have returned from a victory. But now the
| weight of many winters is on my back
The peace pipe is better than the medicine
| arrow. For many years l have been the
friend of the white soldier. and have tried
| to make my people live the whites live.
| When the great father has wanted US to do
/ anything l have always talked to my peo-
pie and told them that the great fathers
| heart was good.
| when he wanted Indians as soldiers 1
| talked to my young men and twenty of
| them came to the white chief and said they
would be soldiers. And now I am in trou-
| BILE and l ask the great white chief of all
| the soldiers to help me. For the hearts
| of my people are not all good, and they
follow bad leader as the young sung
manitu follow the mother. Yesterday
killed white man. They had nothing to
eat their hearts were heavy. they went to
a scalp dance and there they heard old
Indians counting their coups.
Then the hearts Of the young men got
! bad they gave away their ponies, they
| painted their faces and made war medi-
cine and went out to kill. Over by Skull
| butte they saw a white man with many
cattle. They went up to him. and. while
| one young man asked him for tobacco, the
other young man shot him in the back.
| Then they stabbed him and took his SCALP
and the blood put their brains in a whirl
| They came back to the camp and gave a
dance and sang bad war songs. and tried
to get their friends to go out with them
on a war party. The blood stirred up the
hearts of many of the young men, and they
| joined in the war songs, because the blood
and the heat have made them crazy. The
| Agent Itancan sent his policemen to arrest
the two bad Indians, but their friends
drove the policemen away. 1 want to tell
the Agent 1tancan that it was not my
| fault"
| The Indian agent nodded his head
| He says" continued the Interpreter
| that he wants the great soldier Itancan
| to send out all his soldiers, and then the
people will see the white soldiers with all
| their strong guns, and they will know that
| they cannot whip the white soldiers, and
| their hearts will be good, and they will
give up the two bad Indians. He says he has
spoken" concluded the Interpreter.
Tell him." said the colonel to the inter-
prefer. that he has spoken well. and that
he is a good Indian. Tell him 1 will send
out my soldiers and capture the two bad
Indians, and ID ais9 & apy S other Indians whose
| "Wast." grunted the chief. 'wasti."
| which means good"
Once more the long roll was sounded at
craftier foe than the prairie fire. The men
| fell in under arms, and, wondering greatly,
| they were put in march along the road
leading to the Yanktonai village, the
colonel on his white horse at the head of
| the column. -
From BarrenaIl 70 the Indian village the
distance is two mites.. The country is a
| great basin for a. little creek that, with
| western exaggeraton, is termed river.
| The Indian village is but a stones throw
| from the main ROAD, and north, and east,
| and west of the village are the low hills
| that surround the creek basin.
AS the little column of soldiers neared
the village. the Indians were seen scamper-
| ing to the western hills. Young men with
their long bows, old men tottering under the
| heaviness of many years. squaws with
| whole flocks of dirty children clamoring at
| their skirts-all fled except old Sunka Wi
| casi. who stood his ground and grarely
| waited for the colonel
THE sun TO longer shines upon my
/ heart" he said. as the colonel approached.
| When the white soldiers were coming
| thought the blanket of darkness would be
| m T he hoI
young men would go back, bound at their
wrists with ropes; but, see-they have bor
| rowed ponies from their friends, and they
| have gone on a journey to kill-Sill-kill-
| and many winters are added to my age be-
| cause of my sorrows"
| But as he spoke there was sudden COM
| motion in the ranks of the soldiers.
| Away to the north. on the low hills. ap-
| peared the two Indians, chanting a war
| song, that was borne by the wind to the
| distant soldiers In the middle of the song
| they stopped ana shook their guns at the
| white men, and roared out mighty chal
! lenge.
"They say they want to fight all the SOL
| diers." said the interpreter.
| They are crazy walled the old chief.
1t was new phase of Indian warfare to
the experienced colonel, but he realized that
prompt action alone could prevent the
escape of the daring braves. Let them get
| away, and they would be Joined by their
| friends-an Indian war would result Be-
| sides, the haggard faces of his soldiers now
lit up with a light he had not seen for
many weeks; in the face of action the SOL
| dierly habits came back to them A fight
| like this would tide them over until the
| cold weather came.
| Forward, column right" he commanded,
| and at the sight of the flank march toward
| the hills on the east the Indians redoubled
| their taunts The faces Of the soldiers
grew dark and gloomy. Why did not the
| colonel give them a fight? They would
have no advantage in numbers: for all the
Indians of the village would join in at the
| first shot. But the old soldiers presently
| told the recruits to wait, and they would
| see that the colonel was not going to allow
the two murderers to escape.
| Halfway to the hills the command was
| marched, and then the colonel ordered a
| halt.
| capt. Knight" said he so that every one
| heard, "send two volunteers from your
| company to bring in those two Indians"
Two men-only two-why, every man in
| the company wanted to CO.
| Detail the two best Shots sergeant,
| said the captain, for he knew how the In
| dians would be brought in Then the two
| privates were ordered to fall out and the
| rest of the command was marched to the
| hills. out of rife range.
The Indians to the north saw the men
| fal af ark