The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1899-07-01
TRAGEDY OF AFRAID EYES

creased IN volume ana then 0leO away.
whats that, do you s'pose?' Briny
asked. 81 -
Its one Of them fellers you shot out
or the ice singin' his death song" re-
piled Arnold, who was better versed in
Indian ways.
Then his pardners must a. lit out and
left him. said Briny. Anyhow, cart
stand this any longer. I've got to go out
and see If the rest really are gone" :
Yes, CO." Arnold urged, land put a
ball through that critter soft he won't
yowl any more. But first give me my
gun. SO can feel a, little safe while you're
gone" ,-,.l- .- a..
Briny slid out of the door and made
a short 'detour to where he could plainly
see the first two Indians he dropped.
Both were lying on their backs, arms out
stretched, having died without a struggle.
He went down the path to the river. The
two he shot at the water hole were lying
just where they fell, one of them partly
re sting on Hines body. The one wounded
when part way across the river had man.
aged to drag himself, gun and all, to the
other shore, but hadn't sufficient strength
to climb the steep bank into the bush.
There he was on his. hands and knees,
his body swaying and head dropping,
again chanting that wierd death song,
but in fainting. weaker tones. At the
crack of Briny's rifle he pitched forward
Having made a tour of the big timbered
bottom and found the trails of the two
survivors who had left it at different
points, and at good speed. judging by the
long distance between their footprints,
Briny returned to the house and reported
to Arnold, who had become very uneasy
after hearing the shot fired. The horses
were safe, he found, and that was some
thing to be thankful for
''Briny," said Arnold, after they had
made a pretence of eating some dinner,
we've got to light out O. here. In few
days the whole Assinniboine camp will be
here for revenge ..-. -.
II know it. I'll dig a nice deep grave
scmewhar this afternoon and bury Jim
as good as I kin, and to-morrer We'll
strike for the fort.''
A few days later they drove into the
little trading post. Arnold having had
soft and easy bed on top of the load of
furs. Briny hadn't much to say, but Ar
mold lost no time in telling all that had
happened and then the boys learned thei,
mistake they couldn't do enough for the
man they had before treated rudely.
The buffaloes, hemmed in on all sides
were practically exterminated in 18S3-84,
and with them went the days of prospect.
ty for most of the white inhabitants OF
the country and for all the Indians, who
were brought suddenly face to face with
starvation and want. Merchants failed
and most Of the small traders and the
hunters left the country. Steamers nc
longer brought goods up the 5000 miles
of swift river from st. Louis, to return
loaded to the guards with bales of furs
and robes. Railways were entering the
country and civilization was close at
hand The few whites who remained. in
the country turned their attention to
stock raising or farming, and lucky were
those who stayed with the few head of
cattle they managed to get togerner In
few years they found themselves rich
beyond their widest dreams.
Brlny located a ranch Oh the MariaS
river and put into practice some cherished
theories he had about raising crops on
the benchlamds without irrigation, Like
many another oid-timer he had married
an Indian woman, and with their child
of six or seven years, they lived frugally
and for time in peace. Two or three
miles up the river another former trader
had located, who was also married to an
Indian woman, and Brinys wife often
went up there to stay day or two with
her friend, who was of the same tribe as
herself Late in the fall big bull out
tit, or freight train of wagons drawn by
oxen, came to the river to winter, and
the owner of it, man named Tricket,
made arrangements with Briny's neigh
Dor to board himself and his men, Tricket
was a hne-looklng man and evidently we'll;
off, and seeing Brinys wife at the ranch
often, he finally persuaded her to quit
her husband and live with him. When
Briny heard that his wife had deserted
him, which he did in the course of a few
days, he Quietly saddled, his horse and
went up to where she was stopping. His
little son was playing out in the yard
with some other children, and calling
the child to him he lifted him up on to
the saddle and returned to his home /
il. While the boys mother DIDN'T care for
her husband she did for her son, and
fretted continually about him. One day
she told Trfcket that If he did not go
and bring the child back to her che would
leave him. Tricket dem,Mred; he had no
use for the boy and didn't want him
around, so he kept putting the woman
off with all kinds of excuses. Finally
Tricket's herder, wild young fellow
who had come West with his head filled
with dime novel yarns, told the woman
ne would get the boy for her, and sad
ding his horse rode away down the river.
Arriving in front of Brinys cabin he
shouted to him to come out, and when
Briny came to the door he leveled his
rifle at him and said: - .s.f~E
NOW, then, you old potato eater. I've
come after that kid; his mother wants
him. Give him out here quick, or I'll fill
you full of holes.'' s-,s ~
Briny looked him quietly in the eve and
replied: "The boy is mime I will not.
But he never finished his sentences: the
herder shot him square0y in the forehead
and down he went in heap The muir
derer got off -hds horse and, stepping over
Brlnys body into the cabin, grasped the
terrified child, threw him ,lp into the
saddle and returned home
by the time news of the murder reached
the settlers the murderer had become
alarmed and had disappeared without
leaving a trace Of his course. The little
band of determined men who hunted for
him were finally Obliged to give up> the.
search and return to their homes. a
month later they heard some news which
caused them to rejoice that they had not
found and hanged him. The mail carrier
from Fort Macleod, away across the bor-
der In Canada, brought word that on his
way north on the previous trip he found
the fellow wandering about on the pratt
RE badly frozen. He carried him in his
wagon, to the fort and there the SURGEON
was obliged to- cut off both hands and
both feet. Thus his punishment was vast. I
ly greater than If he had been hanged or
shot. No warrant was ever asked Tor has
extraditiOn; the friends Of Briny wished
him to live and suffer.
The following spring Briny's son died
and late in the summer the woman fol
lowed him. The writer was at the ranch
OF a friend where she was stopping the
night she died. She had been sinking
isiploly dill Tue evening an0 ABOUT II
o'clock, after repeated suppli cations to
the ranchman: "a s.
Pray to your white mans God for me.
Ask him to let me live
Woman" said he, 81 cannot pray for
you. cannot forget that you were the
cause of Briny's DEATH
A few moments later she died. s.
i,HI]-AlRNEsSlNG OCEAN WAVES