The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1896-11-26
Rowland agreed with her, but he

laughed at her for all tnat.
Its like the legend of Sir Olof, isn't
It? He went away the night before he
was to be married, and an eri maiden
made him die"
There's nothing as an eri maiden at
the agency, more'S the pity" he told
her.
Then he went and rode off in the
scorching sun in a cloud of dust. two
soldiers behind him, II all well
mounted.
The girl watched him until she could
see him no longer. and went back into
the tent to sit. with a white face and
| closed lips and dry eyes, looking at the
sands of tie parade ground:
Rowland held a long council with the
chiefs, and very nearly succeeded in
settling the difficulties before nightfall.
They talked sitting under a shelter OF
willow sticks and branches. There
was a half-cured ox-hide on the ground
upon which they squatted.
Two of the Indians played monte
with n pack of grotesque raWhlde
cards, and one Whitfield a stick for an
arrow shaft. They liked Rowland.
and they trusted him. This was
known. so missions of this sort gen
orally fell to him. He talked now. and
waXed very eloquent, and the chlets
grunted as the interpreter translated.
They were almost won to nm, Dul
they postponed their decision until
they should have time to talk matters
over so they babe him return after
dark. Rowland went away. after nav
ing given the daughter of one OF the
bucks a bright handkerchief, and nav
ing said n few words to her out of his
scant vocabulary. The girl looked at
him intently, with her bird-like eyes
twinkling. and said nothing in reply,
but smoothed the handanna on her
knees. When he was gone she rose
and stood in front of her tepee to
watch him out of sight, as the FAIR
haired woman had done a few hours
before.
After a time she put the handker-
chief on her head and went in the dl-
rection Ia had taken.
When she found him it was dusk,
and the coyotes had begun to whine
and bark all about him, the one faint
star glimmered in the purpling sky.
Her eyes were wonderfully bright, II
her wild gracefulness would have been
alluring to another man.
She went up behind him and touched
him on the shoulder. He faced about
and asked what she wanted. But for
the bright kerchief on her head, he
would not have remembered her.
When he saw that he smiled, and the
girl, encouraged, began a p~rOtestatlon
of desperate, savage love in the most
even of voices and broken English, in
]terSperSed with Apache II Mexican.
Rowland answered her kindly. and
to her calm-toned pleadings smiled III
her tense face and turned away.
POGO tempo you COME she said,
gliding after him and grasping his
hand. She followed him for a few
yards. still holding his hand. You
come" she insisted.
Yes, POGO tempo, l come TO see your
father"
Years ago there were poisoned ar
rows used occasionally: weapons dead
lier than the more popular rifle or car
bine, for their scratch was fatal. The
head was dipped in a poison ~curiously
made. A bit of liver, made putrid'
was held before a rattlesnake until he
had injected his venom into it time
and time again. After a few more
days the %virulent substance was put
upon the points of the arrows, to carry
agony and dissolution to Whatsoever
they touched.
1t was II of these arrows that How
land jerked from his arm a few min
utcs later. as he went into the hui
where the two soldiers were waiting.
He held it in front of the candle an(
examined it ~intently while the bloot
dripped over his dusty boot. One OF
the mel asked him how it happened
while he cut open the sleeve. "a mis-
take, very likely: it was not one of thu
bucks: we parted good friends The
woman he did not mention. He looked
at the arrow again. Its poisoned,
guess. Rather hard luck" he said
He passed one hand across his fac
YEARLY and repeated: Hard luck"
Then he gave the men a detailed &C
count of what he had done and accom-
plished, that they might tell the major
in case he himself should be pas
speaking. The agency doctor was OF
on a two-day's hunting Tip, SO the so
diers bathed and dressed the WounC
and made Rowland drin kthe content
of n large flask of whisky. But he OF
dered his horse and went back to tn
post, nevertheless. across the Ions
: cleaning plain of sand under the pun
pie arch with it's stars of glimmerin
gold, three wierd, dark figures follow
[ ing the read through the night.
And lust as the gray of dawn can
over the far-Off black mountains, jus
] as the dawn-breeZe sprang up and BILE
5 on his swollen and burning face, jus
, as the first call for reveille shrille
through the valley. two dust-Whitene
v riders, supporting him in the saddl
drew up at the lospital.
At . o'clock a stretcher carried II
body of Lieut.. Rowland from the no
Q pital to his quarters. and the flag ws
$ put at half-mast.-San Francisco Arg
i naut.
He Learned How.