The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1901-07-25

THE Yakimas, the Nez Perces and
i the Umatillas were holding q
midsummer love feast. IL was q
country fair, camp meeting, an ath.
letic meet, n Knights Templar con-
clave and Monte Carlo fused in one
and poured into picnic mold. For
assembly room and banqueting hall
they had n sandy plain on the first
standard parallel of latitude. not far
from the confluence of the Snake
and Columbia. 1t was walled by the
horizon, rooted by q sapphire vault
and festooned at night with innumer-
able scintillant sparks, to account for
whose origin and destiny the Indian
does not lie awake at nights, though
he has his explanations of such mat
ters, too.
The sportively-inclined braves Of
the three tribes-and what Indian is
not sportive ?-had come to the meet,
bringing their ponies and blankets,
their fine baskets, their trinkets and
pelf, and, incidentally, their squaws
and papooses. Your Indian is reso-
lutte player and good loser; games
of hazard are his inbOrn racial pas
sion, to which he devotes himself
with all the ardor he erstwhile dis
played IN war and the chase He has
favorite game which the pale faces
call Indian poker, and such of them
as have mastered it's intricacies saw
it is quite as efficient as the white
variety.
And now, after three days of play,
the loot was stacked up in heaps ON
the Nez Perce side. The Umatillas
and the Yakimas had not a pony, a
blanket, valuable of any kind left
them-scarcely battered tin to boil
water in. The fun was over, there
was nothing left to do but to break
up the conclave and return whence
they came. But among the Yakimas
was one young man, Homework by
name, who was not as good loser as
the others; when he looked over Mt
his two fleet ponies, with headstalls
and bride reins of braided horse
hair, his finely woven baskets,
worth much money in the marts Of
the curie hunters, his thick blankets,
his beaded belts and moccasins, his
trusty knife, his heart rebelled within
him. He strsrle up to Blue Heron,
the Nez Perce, who had been his prin.
cipal opponent, and said to him,
"One game between us two only. I
will stake my squaw against all you
have won from me-"
Blue Heron laughed. He was q tall,
straight-linsed, devil-may-care fell
low. fresh from a morning plunge In
the creek, and groomed TO the very
perfection of IN Indian toilet. "The
Nez Perces have plenty Of girls" he
replied. II had rather have the
ponies"
Coward" sneered Homework.
"You refuse a challenged"
"Never!" said Blue Heron. "But
what kind of squaw is it that you
think to put up against two ponies
and two blankets and baskets and
bead work? I never saw one worth
so much"
There she is. standing among
those women. The one with her hair
unbound. She is angry because I
made her give me the strings Of beads
and silver pieces she had braided in
with it."
"Huh!" said Blue Heron, surveying
tho young woman, critically. "She
has temper"
Sometimes" admitted Homework.
"But she is strong and good cook;
and very pretty"
"Well. agree" said Bi1e Heron.
The Nez Perce brought one Of his
lately won blankets and spread it in
a convenient spot. Homework pro-
duced a deck Of cards, and the two
sat down. News Of the wager rapidly
spread throughout the camp, and the
players were quickly surrounded by
a triple ring Of deeply interested spec
tators.
Either from q malicious desire to
torment his opponent, or from a wish
to prolong the excitement of the
game, Blue Heron chose IN original
method Of wagering. "The pinto
pony against her head" said he, as he
sat down opposite Homework. He
won the head.
"The buckskin pony against her
heart" said Blue Heron, winking
gravely at brstander opposite him.
He lost the heart and the buckskin
pony. Homework laughed jubilantly,
and wave of excitement ran through
the crowd, which then settled into a
silence to watch the result
of the next wager.
This blanket against her hands,"
said Blue Heron. He won the hands.
"The other blanket against her feet"
said Blue Heron. He won the feet.
BY this time dense throng sur
the contestants. A spokes-
man in the foremost rank commune
Gated the result of each play in gut
teral undertone to the man behind
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