Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1900-04-19

unmerclluily upon o hot, dry plain,
where the Blackfeet were eucamped.
It was SO hot that even the keenest
hunters had not the energy to mount
their runners and ride forth to the
chase.
Under one of the raised lodge skins
an Indian trader recIined upon a
couch of robes, lazily smoking. The
people of the lodge were out gossip
ing, all but an old, old man, who, like
the trader, was thoughtfully smoking.
He had been blind for many year
his thin hair was white Not the white
Of the aged Anglo-Saxons, but yell
lowish, tawny white. His skin was
streaked and furrowed and wrinkled
with age; his form bent and withered; ;
he was the oldest OF his tribe, and had
seen nearly hundred winters come
and go on these northern plains. His
thin, low voice broke in upon the
traders reverie.
"White man." he said, ''are You
still here?''
''Yes," the trader replied. eyes,
| am here; what can do for Hollow
Horn?"
Hand me nv medicine sack; the
large one which is hanging up. / will
show you something, and then tell
you story. This day reminds me of
a journey once took to the south,
where every day was like this, only
hotter"
The trader arose and handed him
the painted and fringed cylinder OF
rawhide. Hollow Horn deftly opened
it and began to draw forth various
packages and parcels, until he found
the one he was seeking, which he
tossed across the lodge.
Look at that" he said.
The trader unwrapped its covering
Of buckskin and found that it was q
long, slender lance head of gray steel;
stamped on the sock st were the words:
Antonio Perez, Sevilla, 172a.'
Why" he exclaimed, "it's Span
ish lance head and very old. Where
did you get it?"
81 will tell you," the Indian re-
piled. cit is long story and a very
strange one; but strange things hap
pen. Perhaps we should not sly that
anything is strange, for is it not all
ordered by the gods?"
Then he told the story of the Span
lard who long dwelt with the tribe
and of his vengeance on the brother
who drove him from civilization out
among the Indians; a story such as is
seldom met with outside of books of
romance, but one which might even
now be corroboyated by records or
traditions in some old Spanish settle.
ment in the southwest.
Long ago." he said, "when I was
youth, we were hunting one summer
along the Yellowstone. One evening,
when the sun had nearly set, the peo-
pie saw something coming toward the
camp, and at first they could not make
out what it was, bnt after little they
saw it was man, llmping along very
slowly by the aid of staff. Some of
the young men were for rushing out
and killing him; but my father, the
chief, forbade them.
Let him come, he said; 'he can
do us no harm. We will find out who
he is and maybe learn news
so everyone stood aud waited, and
the man came on, very slowly and
painfully, nearer and nearer. He
came to where we all stood watching,
and the people drew back this way
and that, leaving my father to face
him. Indeed all were afraid, and
many of the women and children ran
away, for never had such man been
seen before. He was naked except
for long, ragged shirt he wore; his
long, thick black hair, his leard and
mustache, were matted like bulls
full of grass and burrs. His eyes
were wild and rolled like those OF a
wounded wolf when it is brought to
bay. He was thin; so thin and lean
that the bones seemed ready to burst
through the skin; his feet were sore
and bleeding; wound in the thigh
dripped blood down his leg. He did
not appear to see us, but kept limping
on, shaking his head, looking wildly
this way and that, and muttering to
himself
Where are you going?' aske my
father, stepping up and placing hand
on his shoulder. The stranger gave a
shrek, and fell senseless to the
ground.
''It was many days before he recov-
cred, anf o as nearly year before
he learno.. III speech. He said he
came from the far south, where the
weather was always warm, where all
kinds of berries and things grew the
year round, where snow never was
seen, except on the tops of the high
est mountains. His people were white
I men, but OF another race than the
trappers we had seen. His father had
died. leaving him and his brother
large square lodges male of stone. and
great riches of various kinds. This
brother had always been very mean
and crnel, and as soon az the father
died he began to plan to get all that
the old man left. One night the great
chief of that country came to the lodge
of the brothers for feast, and on his
way home some men sprang ont OF the
bushes by the trail and would have