The Wichita daily eagle., 1897-04-02
Stories Of an inland State.

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tened on his bony face and on the braided
sinews of his bronze, uplifted arm
Black Wolf Chief. Whence came ne ant
his warriors? Out of the night OF tht
| worlds infancy when men lived and diet
| and recorded 1t not. Forty centuries agC
Black Wolf stood upon the shore of an un
| trayersed land washed by the waves of ar
unexplored sea. For though but forty year:
| ago an Indian father turning from the
| child-bed of his squaw looked out upon tbs
| night and saw black wolf and so named
| the child. still the Black Wolf who stood
signally there in the sunlight today was
| the Black Wolf of the primeval dawn, reck.
| oning Of he did reckon) the loss of his
cLrving tai, as a mark Of superiority and
so starting across the ages. turning his
| thick hair into cloth and his growl to a
| language. and his arm from the office of de-
fense to the function of conquest.
! Then the Ammonites struggled, and the
| Scythian, and the Medes and the Persians
| idling scrawling their dates on bricks and
| ooelisks. Savage in all save courage, they
moved on, to written languag ge and history
| to government and public works, to dynas-
| ties, to literature, to art to love and may
hap universal peace But one. as capable
as themselves, as noble in courage, as
proud of race and nation. as unconQuerable
| did not follow But they left him standing
there back in the babyhood of time, back
of the scribbled brick, the written Ian
guage, history, government, dynasty, liter
| ature and art, standing there forever, OBJ
| stinately blind TO the fields of progress be-
| fore him, obstinately oblivious to the for
gotten track behind him. disdaining the ad-
| vance to industry, made by the dusky sons
of Ham, scorning the progress to COM
munal permanency of the yellow children
of Shem-they left him standing there, no.
BILE of courage, proud of race, eager of con-
quest, but unchanged through the ages
the Indian.
instinctively as acute as the tiger, Black
Wolf had caught on the prairie breeze the
presence Of g foe and a victim. He dis
mounted and tossed aside a garment of
thick buffalo hide, made from beast OF
the north for the hair was heavy, and from
the back of the beast for the hair was
tawny from the bleach of the sun. The
others dismounted. No word was spoken,
and only quick finger converse passed be-
tween them.
The warriors had started out al day break
from the camp, on a hunt and had left the
squaws and papooses there.
With the government agent out of sight
and out of mind, they had grown hourly
more tyrrannous and savage in their free
dom. They were now painted horribly and
ready for battle, ready to riot and revel in
the Indian bliss of carnage.
Black Wolf divested himself of his robes
with steady purpose, with grim sat;sfac-
ton Now he stood forth in the sunshine,
in moccasins and clout alone. Then he
cfa faJ he ~ 10 In
dams watched him grimly, his form dimin-
ished, both from the growing distance be-
tween them and his change of posture. For
Black Wolf slipped away and his head be-
gan 20 sink to his chest; next his bronze
shoulders dropped; next his knees bent, un-
til he looked like an animal: then his body
went close to the ground; his hands touch
ed and he crept on all-fours; and as he ap-
preached the little clump Of trees which
was his objective point, he was down on his
stomach, crawling like snake, and out of
sight OF the Indians.
Black Wolf lay for long time perfectly
still, his ear to the ground, his face be-
traying none of the swelling satisfaction
within his breast, his eyes of normal bright
ness.
Now he raised his head slightly and
crawled on as before He saw before him
a white mans vehicle, circle OF Mexicans
shouting and gesticulating together on the
ground and ten or twelve beasts.
That the party was smaller than his
group of warriors gave him infinite pleas
ure but he did not show it, Now he start
ed back crawling, now on his hands and
knees, now crouching, now with dropping
shoulders and now with bended hesi and
back with his troop, erect.
Quickly on his fingers he explained his
discoveries. The Indians had disrobed ex-
cept for the moccasins and the clouts.
Black Wolf was at their head and they
were mounted again. Still there was a
pause-a hesitation.
Why?
Was there still In their savage minds
some glimmering of the white agents les
son that no blow was tustifiable without
provocation? Possibly.
But they held still for only a moment
and then headed by their chief, they rush.
ed pell-mell. the hooves OF their beasts
striking noiselessly into the soft prairie
grass, pell-mell down upon the clump OF
trees.
Here they stopped.
At the same moment Miguel, the Me1i-
can, saw them. His head whirled and
grabbing a musket he discharged it in the
air.
Here was provocation. On his pony
Black Wolf Strengthened himself, touched
ii on its neck and whrled out from the
clump of trees.
S-s-s-h sounded the arrow as 1t feathers
left the bow.
Miguel grasped another gun, and looked
with alarm at the arrow which glided
through the air.
Miguel shot again.
1t was at this point that Tejada jumped
from the vehicle and bade the Mexicans
circle the beasts around the vehicle. The
drivers clutched their silver and scooped Il
into scerfs and drove their beasts quickly
around the carriage.
Come, you towards" cried Tejada ram
ming muSkef '.Ws haNn business IN