The Savannah morning news., 1903-07-26

in a little, the Teton nation was SUP
dued and brought to reservations, ana
herded in an overall-plug hat blanket
wearing multitude, even now but hdlt-
tanned. and fiercely instinct with ne
reditary ferocity and resourcefulness.
other Indians go to Carlisle, learn to
plough, and become at least partially
civilized. The Sioux, fierce, hawk
eyed, wide-nostrilled, sits in solitary
dignity before his lodge, broding. Oc-
casionally he has to be rounded up
with a Calling, as witness Wounded
Knee. l have never been able to envy
the agents of Dakota reservations.
When the statute of limitations ran
out, or whatever mysterious time-llmit
the government puts on it's displeasure
against Indian murderers, Sitting Bull
and a horde of his fellow-w warriors
came back. Sitting Bull joined Buff
falo Bills show, where he had a good
time until he began ghost-dancing and
was killed in the Wounded Knee cam
paign. But some, Lone VOLTS band
among them, remained in Canada.
They had various reasons for doing
so.
Lone Wolf stayed because he was in
hard luck. He had barely settled down
in his new home before the great
Manitou had seen fit to strike his chill
dren with the Spotted Sickness. When
finally the last case had been buried
! hastily, and its clothes and belong
ngs burned under the distant eye CT
the uniformed man, the formerly pow
erful band found itself reduced by al
most half. By dint of sitting innumer-
able days naked in a circle on the
prairie and beating a tom-tom until
the agent prayed for rain, the SUR
viVors managed to secure for them
selves immunity from the Spotted Sick
ness at least. Then song of the
ponies were stolen. Then D schism
occurred in the community; and Three
Knives took with him a dozen fami-
lies and established a new clan within
plain sight of the old. Lone Wolf was
powerless because of the uniformed
individual who frowned on the In
dian idea of patriarchal chastisement
A very young man of the band killed
the agent, hoping thus to earn praise
but almost before the embers We're
cold and before the scalp of Three
Knives had clotted dry, there appeared
an astounding number of uniforms,
who promptly decimated Lone Volts
warriors and took away all their arms
Lone Wolf discovered that these uni
formed men were in reality nothing
but soldiers-a disgusting fact which
he had not before suspected. They
hung six of his young men. and that
night a number of things happened
such as the unprovoked fall of Lone
VOLTS standard from over his lodge,
which showed plainly that Gitche
Manitou was still angry.
Lone Wolf gathered his remnants
about him and journeyed south to Spot
ted Tail.
There he enjoyed the disconnected
tranquility of United States reserva-
ton, with occasional privileges if he
was good
Lone Wolf had gone into the north
country at the head of 300 efficient
fighting men, we'll armed with rifles,
rich in ammunition, ponies and the
luxuries of daily existence. He came
back as the nominal chief of thirty
five warriors, with few arms and less
wealth. Counting in the women, chill
dren and old men, his original band
had numbered nearly thousand souls
"a large camp even for the old days.
Now there remained barely a tenth of
that number.
Misfortunes such as these must have
d reason. Gitchie Manitou is stern,
but he is not unjust Everybody
knows that. And the reason Lone
VOLTS band was so afflicted, Big Thun-
der, the medicine man, had discovered,
lay in the fact that the defiling of the
tribes token, after the Little Big Horn.
had been done by a member of the
tribe itself. Until the culprit should
be brought to justice the wrath If
Gitchie Manitou would continue to be
visited impartially on the entire band.
The recognition of Ripping Water
made profound impression on those
standing about. There flashed into
Lone VOLTS eagle face a CLEAN of
satisfaction so intense that Black Mike
started. He had not the renotest no
ton that he was in any actual dam
ger for his dealings with the tribe in
those old times when he had been a
member of it had always been rather
to its advantage than to his own. That
1t was unfriendly to him because of his
unceremonious desertion of it, he did
not doubt. Nor did he hope to escape
a typical Indian TRADE from the two
old hays who, so short a time ago,
had been his not unattractive young
wives. But beyond this and perha ps-
as he glanced over the motley indica-
lions of their poverty-the promise of
gifts, he anticipated nothing more Sc
rious in the end than a delay. A de-
lay, however. was what he could not
at. present afford
"Ah, well,' he acknowledged in the
Indian tongue. II am he, Man-who-
speaks Medicine You have known me-
1t is I. 1t is many moons that |
| have not seen my brothers, but have
accomplished many things, and have
| gathered gifts for my brothers which
will rejoice their hearts. 1 go to the
| lodges of the white men near Swift
Water now. and 1 haste: so l cannot
linger to clasp my brothers hands;
but tomorrow 1 return bearing the
gifts"
He took up his reins with all conf
| dence, for in those days no one was
afraid of Indians-at least when they
were accompanied by their women and
children. The two bucks at the horses
heads did not move, however; and at
a signal from Lone Wolf three Others
leaped lightly into the wagon body
| behind the half-breed and pinned MS
arms to his sides So suddenly was ii
done that Lafond could not even
struggle.
His captors tied his elbows together
at the back and lifted him to the
ground. where a number of Others
hustled him into wigwam, and after
tying his feet left him lying on the
! ground. In a moment he heard the
faint sound of wheels somewhere above
him, by which he knew that Billy
Knapp and Buckley were passing the
point of his intended ambush. He
drew deep breath and shouted. In
stantly two young Sioux ran in and
threw blanket over his head, nearly
smothering him. The sound of the
wheels died into distance.
After perhaps two hours he heard
| the hoof-beats of a large party of
horsemen. They. too, died away. The
men composing the party were looking
for him, Michail Lafond, but this he
did not know. He tried to distinguish
from the noises just outside what was
| taking place in the little Damn hut