The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1896-09-26
termined to take time by the forelock,
make the most Of a chance visit Of a
clergyman, and be married in the mid

uIe VI July.
At this juncture HOwiand was being
sent away. and he grew desperate.
Nevertheless, he said goodbye to lit
tie Miss Trowbridge with exemplary
calmness, and vas more careful than
she not to show depression.
you'll come back, surely, won't
ycu:" she begged.
. course I will, goosey. Don't I go
TO the agency on an average of twice a
month, nearly all the timer
II know. But some way, this seems
different"
Rowland agreed with her, but he
laughed ut her for all that.
ITS like the legend of Sir Olof, isn't
1t: He went away the night before he
was to be married, and an eri maiden
made him die"
There's nothing as an cri 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, and all we'll
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 the 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 a pack of grotcsque rawhide
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 chiefs
grunted as the interpreter translated.
They were almost won to him, but
they postponed their decision until
they should have time to talk matters
over, so they babe him return after
dark. Rowland went away, after hav-
ing given the daughter Of one of the
bucks a bright handkerchief, and hav-
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 bandanna on her
knees. When he was gone she rose
and stood in front of her tepee to
watch him out of sight. Is 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 d.
rection he had taken.
When she found him it was dusk,
and the coyotes had begun to whine
and bark all about him, the n faint
star glimmered in the purpling Sky.
Her eyes were wonderfully bright. and
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~rotestation
of desperate, savage love in the most
even of voices and broken English, in
terspersed with Apache and Mexican:
Rowland answered her kindly. and
to her calm-toned pleadings smiled in
her tense face and turned away.
'Poco 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.
Eyes, POGO tempo, 1 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 r%attlesnake 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 n of these arrows that How
land jerked from his arm a few min.
utes later, rs he went into the hut
where the two soldiers were waiting.
He held it in front Of the candle and
examined it intently while the blood
dripped over his dusty boot. One of
the men asked him how it happened,
while he cut open the sleeve. "a mis-
take, very likely; it was not n of the
bucks; we parted good friends" The
woman he did not mention. He looked
at the arrow again. Its poisoned, l
guess. Rather hard luck" he said.
He passed one hand across his face
YEARLY and repeated: lizard luck"
Then he gave the men a detailed ac-
count of what he had done and accom-
plished, that they might tell the major,
in case he himself should be past
speaking. The agency doctor was off
on a two-day's hunting trip. so the sol.
diers bathed and dressed the wound,
and made Rowland drin kthe contents
Of n large flask of whisky. But he or
dered his horse and went back to the
post, nevertheless, across the long,
cleaning plain of sand under the pur-
pie arch with its stars Of glimmering
gold. three wierd, dark figures follow
ing the road through the night.
And just as the gray of dawn came
over the far-of black mountains, just
rs the dawn-breeze sprang up and blew
on his swollen and burning face, just
as the first call for reveille shriQed
through the valley, two dust-whftened
riders, supporting him In the saddle,
drew up ut the hospital.
At 9 O'clock q stretcher carried the
body of Lieut.. Rowland from the hos
pital to his quarters, and the flag was
put at half-mast.-San Francisco Argo-
maui.
Life of a Locomotive.
Some careful experiments which
have heen made in England prove that