The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-08-11
An Indians Hate.
He Tried to Vent 1t ON the Whites,
but 1t Reooiled ON Himself.
By George II. Wesley.

OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
Jed Wilson and l were neither of us
much over 20 when, in the reckless spirit
of adventure, we Joined company OF
threescore hardy fellows who were on
the point Of starting OF up the Umpqua
river.
After many days of the most difficult
travel we came Mt length in sight of an
Indian village, and, approaching this vii.
lage to within quarter of q mile, we
pitched our permanent camp.
We had not been there many minutes
before our redskin neighbors became
aware Of our presence, and Immediately
they swarmed down upon us. displaying
the most hostile intentions. The sight OF
our weapons cowed them. and they saw it
would be best to leave us alone.
The chief of the tribe was one Wah-
kama, tall. muscular Indian of per-
haps 45. As the days went by Wah-kia-
M became quite a frequent visitor. His
favorte lounging place was the log cabin
in which Jed and did the cooking.
One morning Jed discovered Wah-kia-
ma in the act Of jabbing a long, sharp
pointed piece of iron he invariably car
ried in his belt into the soup kettle, hop
ing, no doubt to fish out nice hot chunk
Of beef. This was more than my COM
panion could stand.
Knocking the iron out of the redskin's
hand with quick blow. Jed grabbed the
fellow by the scruff and the slack and
rushed him out of the cabin, quitting him
with push that sent him sprawling up
on the ground.
After that Wah-kia-na came to the
cookhouse no more. and in a month or SO
the incident had dropped completely from
our minds. But not from the Indians.
In his heart he nurtured vengeance
One day we learned that there empted
into the Umpqua certain stream, the
exploration of which promised consider
able sport. This tributary was known as
Smiths river after an unfortunate trap
per who had been killed by the Indians
many years before.
When we had arranged our plans. we
made them known to Waite Linn, a
sturdy old backwoodsman who had TAX
en- quite fancy to us youngsters and
had more than once proved himself true
friend.
"Don't We go, boys" said Waite.
"Why not?" asked Jed. eve can man
age the canoe all right"
""rain't that"
"What is it, then? Are you afraid Of
the Indians cutting lis OFF,"
WAL, yes; that's about it," replied
Waffle
Just as we were pushing off along came
Waite.
80 yer bound to go. boys?" he said
half reproachfully. "Waal, good luck to
ye. But look hyar. l want We to promise
me something Guess it'll take We three
days to get up to Smiths, thar bein a
freshet in the river, but day ought to
fetch We back slick as grease. Now, give
me yer word, boys, to be back hyaf by
five days at the latest-that is, il yc kin"
We promised the old fellow and dipped
our paddles. impatient to be off.
Good. lads, and now look hyar. If so
be ms you meet trouble and hev to quit
the canoe and tramp home make tracks
down the right bank of the riycr-the
right bank, do you hcarT'
Nothing particular happened until the
afternoon Of the third day. We were
ripping along very quietly when suddenly
Jed reached over the side of the canoe
and fshcd something out of the water.
It proved to be small, closely woven
Indian basket.
"That's bad, Jed" exclaimed. "Surc
rs guns Tiers redskins ahead of MS"
"We'd have met the bpgg0rs if they
nd do, CT
have con" up" said |. whats to be
donr JEDI"
done. Go ahead and trust in Provi-
d"nrc." replied jed. "They may be
friendly or they may not. Anyhow, we've
got our rifles"
"What's that yonder" cried jed point
ing TO IL hill little distance ahead. Its
sloring side was dotted with what look
ed TO be huts We rested on our paddles
and gazcd upon the scene with silent
anxiety.
We found the cause of our wonder to
be an old Indian burying ground. The
hutlko riSings were simply hilocks of
earth, each of which marked the resting
place of n warrior.
Padding n mile or two farther along,
we campcd for the night
As soon as it was light enough we
started TO mount to the top of what we
meant to be our long toboggan slide back
to tmppua. 1t was the worst rapid we
had yet encountered. After trying it sew
eral ways without success we had to re-
sort to the towing line.
We dragged our little craft up through
the boiling current yard by yard. 1t may
have been within dozen feet of us when
crack! the stout hide line suddenly snap
ped, and away went the canoe with all
our stores and Jed's rife, dashing madly
down the fails.
"What fools to worry" cried Jed,
"whrn we can get all the canoes we
want"
"Whcrc"
Down in the burial ground. of course.
It's only Il mile or so. Come along"
Fortunately we were on the same side
Of the river and an hours hard strug-
Cling through the dense woods brought us
to the cemetery. We found that most of
the canoes were in very bad condition,
but finally came across one that seemed
seaworthy. Our good fortune mendcd our
spirits, and as we sped onward we laugh.
60 ana ygkcd Dnd uionc INTO rolllcklng
SnngS.
We had Nude IL mile or so when, shoot
ing round II sharp elbow of the river, we
were thundersruck to find ourselves
abreast of II large Indian camp pitched
on the bank. The narrowing of the
stream ut this point brought us within 20
yards of our foes.
tttering II howl of rage, they made a
wild rush for the waters edge, threw
themselves into their canoes and came
after us in full pursuit. And foremost
among them we recognized the tall form
Of Wah-kia-na.
With n swift wave of our paddles we
turned the nose of our antique craft to-
ward the bank, reaching which, we leap
ed ashore. seized the gun, and in two
seconds we We're tearing through the
thick brushwood toward the forest be-
yond.
That afternoon and evening / tramped
many miles AT nightfnll, being utterly
tagged out, ! threw myself upon the
turf beside small stream and was soon
sound asleep.
! awoke n little after dawn, cold and
stiff and desperately hungry. | was about
to move along when | was startled to
hear cracking among the brushwood
| set my teeth and brought my rife to