Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1899-12-21
COMMANDMENT TOM.s.s
Or A Brave Girls Fate.
An Original Story BY Too-Qua-Stee.

cess as, an Indian fighter, at once
secured his promotion to the
chief command of the company.
Under the leadership of Tom
Voting the rangers" at once en-
tered upon an unexampled career
of conquest. Tom never lost an
engagement with the savages; and
when once in the field, ne never
returned without some trophy OF
victory-such as a bow and quiver,
an Indian pony, belt with toma-
hawk, and such like, of which he
had rightfully, according to the
rules of war, despoiled the fallen
enemy. On more than one OF
these return trips, be was known
to bring along with him, human
scalp. or two; but these, he pro-
tested, he did not himself lift from
the pate OF the fallen foe; but that
he only took them from the dead
chiefs belt; that while they testi-
fed very well to his own valor,
they had no just tendency whatev
er to convict him of disgraceful
savagery. His fame as an Indian
fighter, spread far and wide, and
very quickly. His name was on
every body's lips; every tongue
praised him. By the women and
children especially, who had suf-
fered so much from Indian scares,
he was revere1ced as the guardian
deity of the settlement.
Little streams sometimes spout
up from the earth's surface at spots
discovered by many miles of inter
vening space, and they flow, and
flow, till they meet, mingle their
waters and are lost in each other.
Such were the lives of Tom Voting
and Maude Langfeld.
Miss Maude Langfeld was a ma
tive of Virginia. Her father, Mr..
Geo. Langfeld was a manof high
social standing, and honorably
connected with some of best fam
lilies both in the United States and
England. He had revolutionary
blood in his veins, and was fair
sample of the old dominion aristoc-
racy. He had once been a man of
ample means and political in
huence. He served two terms in
the state legislature, and was for
many years the judge OF the county
court. But fortune had at length
frowned upon him; his political
popularity had vanished and his
estate had become reduced to
few quarter sections of indifferent
land, some live stock and a score
or two of negro slaves, which, as
property, were really improbable
because of want of ground upon
which their labor could be utilized.
He therefore determined TO bid
adieu to his native state 60 to
Texas and embark in the cotton
culture.
Maude was Mr.. Langfeld's only
child. She was nearing sixteen
years of age at the date OF her
fathers removal to Texas. A
handsome brunette; born aristo-
crat: good -natured, vivaciOus, in
dependent in thought and action,
and always in a war of rebellion
against the conventional restraints
usually laid upon her sex by the
tyranny of society. She was nat
uralIy averse to books, school
books especially, and looked with
girlish contempt upon their bloat-
ed pages of stuff. At the sight of
one of them, her little cOsey lips
would pout, and blurt, 81 see no
use for French; the English is
good enough for me" As to as
Ironomy, shall never need that
until | go to live among the stars"
1.-The earth will do to be buried in;
there is nothing in geology to in
terest g person above ground;"
and a like dose of sarcasm she had
for almost every branch of knowl
edge, except history, and music.
She read history insatiably, es-
pecially that which gave an ac-
count Of adventure and heroism.
Among her mostaherished volumes
we're the thrilling stories Of bloody
encounters between the whites
and Indians along the frontier.
Her sympathies, too, were always
very strangely on the side OF the
red men. She would habitually
apologize for their most outrageous
depredatiOns by saying, 1--WE