The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1897-10-21
THE LITTLE CAPTIVE CHEF
By MARGARET f. OWEN.

| liedISI Iue me- Cdilu's iohins3 Cut III
glass eye and closing the lid to res
the muscles-a proceeding whicl
never failed to deeply interest th
embryo Major General, otherwis
little Roy Roylston, sitting on hi
knee. To this young soldier Uncl
Jacks visits were seasons Of delight
bringing ". .th him, as he always did
stores of tales which in their glowins
realities far outshone the most exert
ing books Roy had ever vet been al
lowed to read.
"Halloo, I have dropped that eye
again. exclaimed Uncle zach.
Here it is-let me pick it up sale
Roy, hopping down. How did yor
lose the real one, Uncle Jack 2"
oh! I'll tell you about that somt
other time | have begun now on the
Little Captive Chief .
80. yes-well, you were fighting?'
inqui ed Roy with a sigh of satisfac
ton. comfortably settling himself
No story was worth anything tc
Roy that did not begin with fighting
This is the tale Uncle Jack tolC
] him:
Yes, we had been fighting since
reveille, and the Indians haG led us &
pretty dance. They knew every inch
of the ground. while to MS it was al
! unknown. We suspected their OBJ
ject they wanted to retreat, fighting
to their village, warn their women
and children, and at the same time
get us so deeply into the Bad Lands
that we should lose our way and fall
an easy prey.
They were smart fellows but they
| didn't know us.
"We did not attack them We let
them lead us on. not gaining as we
might have done. but creeping slowly
along. keeping them in sight. What
work it was! You never IN all your
life saw such walking. The horses
| had all been left in camp There we
trudged over hills and through mo-
rasses. now sinking knee-deep in mud
and now struggling to gain foot
hold on the almost perpendicular side
of bluff.
"At last, in the distance, we saw a
thin line of smoke, and presently with
field glasses could distinguish the
Indians huts, and could tell by the
commotion in the village that the
runners had arrived and were getting
the women and children out of the
way Our advance guards were In
dian scouts of a friendly tribe who
cherished deadly hatred against the
Snake Indians, and although orders
had been given if any were captured
not to kill the squaws, we feared-and
the Snakes knew-that no quarter
would be given if any were captured
by the scouts.
I've were now ordered to advance
and the fight began in interest, They
were brave-those redskins and they
were fighting for their homes; but
little sympathy did they get from us
for we all had it present IN mind thai
only a week before they had attacked
a white village and wantOnly killed OF
| captured every beng in it.
They seemed to have some trouble
in getting the squaws to leave They
knew the white soldier wonld not Kill
them, besides they had implicit faith
in their own braves and wanted to be
on hand at the victory and enjoy
themselves by torturing the cap.ives
for tiendish cruelty commend me tc
a hostile Indian squaw. They did not
know at first that we had the Indian
scouts-when they saw them. how
| they rani / must say we lost all con
troll over the scouts. They dashed
Yelling through the village, shouting
scalping. capturing anything, every
thing in their path. The Snakes pre-
ferred death to falling into their
hands. It's horrid story-my little
man-but a true one | saw one
| ken by scout, and | was hurrying ur
to prevent him from harming them
when before | could reach them she
snatched a tomahawk from her belt
and striking each child on the head
felled it to the ground dead! She
then tried to kill herself, but the
scout saved her the trouble--I killed
that scout" laconically added Uncle
Jack.
Think what war is, Royr'
Here Uncle Jacks story seemed tt
end. At last Roy said, But the little
chief, UncIe?"
so. yes! Well. of course we cut the
Indians TO pieces, killed ever so many
captured some. and the rest, a small
remnant, escaped to the mountain,
leaving the village deserted. l wa
ordered to go through the huts to sec
If any white captives were contine,
there, left to stsrve | hurried through
that business, for one does not care t,
stay long in lately occupied Indial
house. and l soon came to the chief
"a hut of more pretentions than th
rest.
The moment | entered the door
heard a feeble cry-was it dog? No
There it was again, evidently human
voice. l searched everywhere, an,
presently found just on the threshold
of the rear entrance a little papoose
screaming and kicking and going O
much as civilized baby would unde
the same circumstances.
| could only account for his bein
there by supposing that in the hurr
of escaping, his mother had lot Sc
curely fastened him to her back, an
in her panic failed to notice that b
had fallen While she was far ava
the son and heir of Snake Chic
was in the bands of the white! Quit
tenderly, after all, did l lift the MOI
sci from the floor The importanc
of such a capture could not be over
estimated. We could probably brin
the chief to any terms we should pre-
pose when he demanded, as he mos
certainly would, the return of his sol
But whatlwas to be done immed
ately with the baby? He was hungr
and we had no milk to give him. Di
babies ever eat anything but milk