The Washington times., 1901-09-08

Il THE HUSBAND OF DORY
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Territory when he was seventeen years
old, because he thought life would be
very easy there. Like every other pio-
neer he went to the cow camps TO find
employment. At one place he was taken
on as assistant ranch cook and choreman
at the stables. He tried to establish him
self with the cowboys by riding . buck
ing pony, but had to be carried to the
ranch house by the man whom he had
hoped to impress; the pony had run
away. riderless and kicking. Two months
of scullery work was enough to satisfy
the boy that the COW camps were not his
destiny. Then he went to a haying camp,
where he drove a mule in an endless cir
Gle while a press stamped and fashioned
the new-cut grass into bales. And one
night he went with a companion to the
White Oak Hills to see a Shawnee Indian
stomp Dance"
This dance was held twice a year-when
the corn was planted in the spring and
when it had almost reached maturity in
the fall. Jerry sat at one side and watch
ed the dance for half the night, watched
the feet of the dancers pound the bare
earth of the arena. He noted the rush Of
the sparks upward as the attendant boys
and women heaped the wood fires. and
saw the flicker of the freight in the pol
ished leaves of the oak trees that encir-
cled the dancing floor. He listened to the
unceasing rattle of the little bells strap
ped to the knees of the dancing men, and
the monotonous tum-tum of the rude
drum beaten by an inscrutable old man.
The rhythm of the song chanted by the
excited, bright-eyed revelers held him
staring. Recurring again and again, the
strains of the Indian dance music rose to
a shrill pitch. Then the dancers waved
their arms and swayed their half-clothed
bodies far over toward the fire. Too
young to join in the actual dancing, the
children OF the camp squatted in the
shadows outside the light circle, and
swayed their bodies as the impulse to
join in the revel came upon them. Sud
denly one of the women who had been
piling the fire left her work, and bounded
into the line OF dancers. following close
on those whose duty it was TO represent
the sex on that night.
The charm OF the scene and the appeal
to the senses began to work on Jerry's
impressionabie nature. There was big
share of the poetic in the boys nature.
along with the shiftless. vagabond traits
that were most obvious. He felt the In
dams strong desire to join in the dance.
His companion laughed at him, but soon
the fever became too strong to resist.
He ran on to the dancing ground. broke
into the circle of dancers, and began, as
he circled the fires. to kick on the hard
earth with his heels. to make the quick
short hops characteristic of the perform
ers, and to sing out rhythmically with the
rest: Hi. va; hi. va; hi, va; wannah
hii" He chanted it over and over again,
turning. as the others hoped and turned.
to make obeisance to the flames He
staggered ont OF the circle in the early
daylight and went to sleep under an oak
tree near the camp.
jerry was feverish when he woke, and
old Painting Bear. high in the Shawnee
councils. took him to his tent. Painting
Bears daughter. whom Jerry called Dory,
fed the white man, kept him in the shade.
and. in a stoical sort of way. nursed him.
To be taken in hand and fed without any
labor was delightful TO Jer-
ry. He kept up the pretence of being Ill
after the need for care had passed. He
told old Painting Bear that he was CRATE
ful. and spoke TO the girl in the way
that, in one language or another, a man,
at least once In his life, speaks to a maid.
When the dance was ended, Jerry rode to
Painting Bears cabin with him, and stay
cd to share the old mans meat.
Rather than leave the Indians shelter
and face the search for another employ
msnt Jerry asked for the hand of the
giri in marriage. She had been fiattered
by the attention of the young white
dreamer She had felt an answering
when he had spoken of the
of the grass tops and his re-
gret that any green thing should die. She
had mistaken Jerry's selfish maneuvring
for a genuine devotion. She married him.
and was absurdly happy for week.
At the end of this week, Jerry showed
no mora inclination to win a place for
himself as a worker than he had before.
The cid man commanded him to leave his
daughter and the cabin. but the girl re-
belled. She begged her father for further
Thus worked upon. the
white man made an heroic resolve TO
worlk-he took out team of hardy Indian
ponies to piow his small field for a SOW
ing of oats in the spring. For three days
he worked steadily, then the renaissance
of the vagabond drove him into the woods
to Shoot squirrels.
He got away from the plowing by pre-
tending that he had larned his foot by
striking It against the plowshare. He
lfmped artisticaIly, and Painting Bear was
deceived. Jerry would not allow his wife
to examine his foot. but in the night she
discovered the deception. For hours she
sat up in the bed, trying in a dumb way
to fathom the man. She spoke to no one
about what she had learned, and purpose
ly kept her father busted at the front of
the cabin when she saw Jerry take the
squirrel rifle and limp out of the back
door
Sitting with his back to a fallen log, the
Jerry began to consider his
fate He mad thought that the Indians.
living in their Insignificant way, with but
a dozen acres OF cultivated land. were the
chosen i6le. He had married the girl.
and willingly adopting the
standards. to escape the grind
of economic effort. II was alarming TO
him to find that the round of drudgery
was to recommence. that food and cloth
ng even according TO the full-biood stan
dard. must be paid for In corn-fed hogs
and loads of stovewood, cut and hauled
to the market town in the cold winter
weather. He saw no way of escape from
detestable, liIe-Iong drudgery. To go
lway from the Indians would mean the
uncertain search for another. and per
haps. worse. berth. He was. after all,
as fortunate here as he was likely to be
anywhere. Painting Bear was a gruff. 81
lent old Indian. but demanded nothing be-
yond the work. Dory did not scold was
tireless in looking after his wants, and,
when il was possible. took share of his
work in her own hands But there was
always the work for the boys thoughts
10 get back to. The regularity of the au-
tumn plowing, the spring sowing. the