Evening star., 1902-08-30

| until the sun had risen a mans height
above the Jagged horizon line Of the desert
| dld he order the watch fires trampled out
ana the tepee opened And at the threshold
ne paused. for there was no terrified, white
raced, witch woman to greet him, but girl
VINO slept in peace as a child and smiled
ana ne thought Of Puts last words and
turned back to the east again for a last
look.
And there was great stiffness among the
group OF gaunt half-nude figures standing
IN the red glow of the sunrise, for some
thing moved like a wounded animal on the
face Of the desert. and when 1t had reached
the edge where the giant cacti threw up
great thorny spikes 1t fell forward, and
Bfoken Arrow bade them go and bring
pack what was left of little Put
1t was the shrek of the woman who had
mourned that awakened the Angel, and she
prayed IN her heart, and kissed the re-
VolVer and rose to face the sunrise. But
when the tepee opened there were no cries
OF vengeance to greet her, no leaping fires
of torture, only half-clad Indian woman
grooming and weeping over starved-eyed
frightened boy child on her knees, and be-
fore her the body of little Put lay at the
feet of the Angel.
The rest is on record at Piety Flat In the
hearts Of the boys who rode out at mid
nlsnt TO hnd the lost ones, or wipe every
Indian within twenty miles off the face of
the earth. They searched the river bottom
and the washes and the hills, and found
only the body of a dead burro and a smash
eo KODAK, but when the sun rose they en-
tered Broken Arrows village reyolyers in
hand, a troop of sinewy, sunburned reso-
lutte American boys, looking for their own.
Ihat night memorial jubilee was held
up at the headquarters tent. They lifted
Put up on a table, and he broke the news
while the Angel smiled sadly at the eager
joyous faces of Jacks chums
Il found the dirty little beggar out under
a cactus shade, sprawled out like lizard,
fast asleep" said Put 1T was the getting
Ddck that broke I had q leave
morse back there somewhere when he fell
ana rolled on my foot, and 1t was hard
dragging along with dawn chasing you up
and a squallfng. starved Indian cub hang
Ing to your back. And that's ALL boys,
except that we fixed it up all right with
Samantha as witness. She's going to be
Mrs Putney Chadwick, and I'll try to take
Jacks place.
That was the cue. Put had passed the
word around when We first reached camp
ana every one was ready for the memorable
service. Put led. He told how Jack Ray
mond had come out with Sim Rogers among
the first bunch to hit the Flat; how his
hope and jolly good fellowship had kept
the rest alive, and how We all loved him.
Ihen Big Tom started to tell how Sim
mad caught the fever, the horrible insidious
fever that steals like poisonous quicksilver
through the veins Of man and leaves him
as the fever in India leaves its thousands.
We were cowards," said Tom, huskiiy
we left the boy alone over under the cot
eoiiWood, ana JACK TOOK him home and
nursed him all through the night"
He battled with the fever" put In Len
Mason. with gloomy emphasis.
And beat It," concluded Tom And then
before we knew it he was down himself
and he died like a hero in little Puts
arms"
Putt The Angel rose and stretched
out her hands to him. Put, and you never
told me that"
We stood back to let them by Put limped
and she made him lean on her arm. It
was awfully pretty, we thought. At the
door they looked back The Angels face
was wet with tears, and Puts was a study
In happy misery.
Il shall ride to Florence tomorrow, boys"
he said, 'and I'll bring one back with me-
You're all invited to the wedding
Plety Flat cheered. Gathered en- masse
Its citizens howled over the joy of little
Put and danced for the honor of his fair
lady until they were out of hearing.
Then there was a strange dead silence
Big Tom broke it. He gently moved the
box on which the Angel had sat over to
the doorway, where he could see the stars
We watched him meditatively take out his
bag Of North Carolina plug cut and fill his
pipe bowl with it's golden brown treasure.
Then he spoke.
And he was the dog-gondest meanest,
Whlte-ivered, lying cheat of a kid coyote
that ever came over the desert and got a
bullet in the right place" he said softly
as he passed the bag on to the rest "OnIv
I'm glad we urged Sim to move on across
the border, for her sake