The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-01-11
WRITTEN FOR THE SUNDAY REPUBLIC.

THE RING OF SANAGE FACES Gu
WRITTEN O THE sUNDAY REPUBLIC.
1t was nearly y.
Along the northern horizon a rosy glow.
fading to the west and deepeling to the
east. marked the unseen dip OF the mid
night sun.
The cleaning and the dawn were so COM
mingled that there was no n~ight-simply
Il wedding Of day with day. a scarcely per-
ceptible blending of two circles OF the sun.
A kildee timidly chirped goodnight: the
full, rich throat OF a robin proclaimed
good-morrow.
From an island on the breast of the Yukon
a colony of wild fowl voiced its intermin-
able wrongs. while a loon laughed mock
ingly back across a still stretch of river.
In the foreground. against the bank OF a
lazy eddy. birch-bark canoes were lined two
rand three deep.
In the muddy current OF the river the
salmon-run was on.
In the background, from the tangle OF
skin tents. rose the voices of the tsher
folk.
Bucks skyIarked with bucks or rirted
with the maidens. while the older squaws
gossiped as they braided rope from the
green roofs OF tTailiHs NlleS.
At their feet the naked progeny played
and squabbled. or rolled in the muck with
the tawny wolf dogs.
To one side of the encampment. and con-
spicuously apart from It, stood a second
camp of two tents.
1t was a white mans camp.
In case Of offense, It commanded the In
dian quarters a hundred yards away; Of
defense, a rise to the ground and the
cleared intervening space; and. last. OF de-
feat. the swift slope OF a score Of yards to
the canoes below.
From one Of the tents came the petulant
6txy OF q sick child end the grooming song
of q mother.
In the open. over the sunoldering embers
of a fire. two men held talk.
"Eh? 1 love the church like a good son.
Bien!
so great a love that my days have been
spent In fleeing away from her and my
nights in dreaming drea.is Of reckoning.
Look. your
The half breeds voice rose to an angry
snarL
II am Red River born.
my father was white-as white as you.
But you are Yankee. and he was British
bred and a g~entleman's son.
And my mother was the daughter of a
chief, and l was q man.
"Ay. and one had to look the second time
TO see what manner Of blood ran in my
veins. for I lived with the whites and was
one of them. and my fathers heart beat
in me.
at happened there was a m~aiden-white
who looked on me with kind eyes.
Her father had much Lane and many
\ horses: also he was a big man among his
IL fY4-I 1900 ~ 10 80 ~.
French
He said the girl knew not her own mind.
and talked oveImuch with her and became
wroth.
But she knew her mind, for we came
quick before the priest
but quicker had come her father, with
lying words. SO that the priest stiffened hs
neck and would not make us that We might
live one with the other.
AS at the beginning, 1t was the church
which would not bless my birth, SO now 1t
was the church which refused me marriage
and rut the blood OF men upon my hands.
.Bien! Thus have 1 cause to love the
church.
so / struck the priest on his woman's
mouth, and we took swift horses. the girl
and 1, to Fort Pierre. where was a min
lister of good heart.
But hot on our trail was her father and
brothers and other men he had gathered
him.
And we fought, our horses on the run.
till 1 eInptied three saddles, and the rest
drew off and went on to Fort Pierre.
"Then We took east, the girl and /. and
we lived one with the other. and We were
not married. So in the end she bore me a
child. u woman-child, and died.
..Then | went among my mothers people.