The Savannah morning news., 1903-07-26

ton. In the first place, the haiti
was pleading for his very life. y eed
second place, he was in reality me
lutely innocent as to the main $3.50
therefore, he had faith and earnes uIHos,
fortune was, that the exigancsioIHi ms
the situation demanded that in ~ 'e9 Of
of truth one falsehood shonid "so
woven. u4u be
Beyond the circle of light tho J.,
forms OF the women and children SIN I'm
ed 1alntly against the DINNER ~.
ground of the sea-like prairie IN
had followed with great attention icy icy
generations before them, but in I 81
renee ana with oecorum, as is prone
in such cases. Now suddenlv p1Oper
them slipped forward through tho ~, u
Gle before her companions or the VII ~'r-
r1ors between whom she passed 80
detain her. Before the fire she tut, Toul9
and faced Lone Wolf. 1t was ~ ~ neg I1
hag who had first recognized oIu
fond. Id
The warriors looked on her in cola
surprise. Such a thing as VOW
intruding on council was unhear5 o.
unthinkable, punishable by almost an,
penalty any
My doughter has been deceived .
said Lone Wolf gravely. This is ~.
a gathering of the women. She e m not
go'' must
She did not seem to hear him br4
broke out painting as soon as she conIS
get her breath.
MY brothers listen to forked words,o
she cried, and the spirit of lies hos
blinded them, so that they cannot sac
the truth. They are deceived by much
lying because it is mingled with ~
truth, like tobacco and willow barE
He says he has been on the long war
trail and now returns to his brotbars
with the ponies of his enemies Tbo
trail has indeed been long for if is
many moons since he took the nonias
How long has he been rich?" she cried
Many moons! Are the trails closad
that he could not find his brothara
before, while they We're starving? Does
he find them now because he calls IN
them from afar on the war trail? If is
lies!
And my brothers forget" she went
on contemptuously, the Yellow Hair
of the Hills and the little child What
was 1t this one demanded of my broth.
ers? To def1le Pah-sap-pa by the sr9v-
ing of his enemies. 1t was for that
he made US rich, for that he used HE
craft to bring us power. It was his
power. And when he led my brothers
OP AAllO L slll-OdP-Pd, the voice OF (TiTpha
Manltou spoke to them and they Went
away leaving this ones enemies I'M
harmed, and so he was angry with NV
brothers and swore to do them an in.
jury So he killed Buffalo Voice and
def1led the totem in order that Gitcha
Manitou might turn his hand against
us! He speaks forked words WHY
has he not brought his gifts long be-
fore, if what l say is not true? There
has been need"
She turned as suddenly as she had
come and left the circle, again EMMY
except for the leaping fire In her
spoke the spirit of "reminiscences, a
deserted woman. She touched with un-
erring instinct on the one weak spot
in Lafond's defense, and thereby dis
credited the rest. Her reminder of the
soreness of their need, when this rene
gade brother had held out no hand TO
help them, hardened their hearts and
brushed from their minds like cobwebs
the structure of confidence which La
fond had so laboriously spun. Without
one dissenting voice they condemned
him to death. Then the sitting arose.
The hays of the camp advanced and
stripped the half-breed naked, in spite
of his frantic struggles. They were
as strong as men, and they We're glad
he struggled because that indicated
cowardice. Lafond was badly unnerv-
ed; his blood was partly Latin and
his consciousness of innocence was
keen. When he went into a thing with
his eyes open, he was ready to take all
the consequences with stoicism, should
luck turn against him; but a feeling
of outlines was unusual enough to
render him desperate when unjustly
condemned. Sc he made a pitiful spec
tacle of himself.
The old hays jeered him. They told
him he had a chickens heart, and
promised themselves the pleasure of
tasting it after it was torn from his
living body. They spat in his face
and pinched his arms to see him vince.
When he was stripped quite naked,
they staked him out to picket pins
with rawhile bands, one to each of his
four limbs.
While this was going on, the war;
riors, having thrown aside their blan-
kets, appeared in the full 1.-THE glory Of
their naked bodies. To the accompani-
ment of a strange minor chant they
circled slowly around the fire and their
victim, hopping rhythmically first on
one foot, then on the other, stepping
high, STOPPING low. AS they passed the
PROSTATE man. they struck their knives
deep into the ground near his head,
for the purpose of seeing him shrink,
After a little, they became sufficiently
excited, and so the fortunes began.
Toward morning the squaws wrap
ped in a blanket the mutilated burnt
carcass, and laid it on a litter which
had been preparing while the torture
was in progress. The litter was raised
in the air to the hight of ten feet
bound securely to upright poles. Man
who-speaks- Medicine had been mem
Der of the tribe. Whatever his SINS
he must have a tribal burial.
Then in the grayness of the dawn the
little cavalcade filed away, like muI-
fed phantoms, toward the east. In the
sky the last stars were Pickering out
On the hill top the last embers OF the
fire died. A bird high in the heavens
piped up clearly for moment, ana
was still. The breeze of morning RIP,
pied over the family DISTINGUISHES
grasses. and stirred the drying leaves
of the litter that stood like scaftold
against the sombre shadows Oh las
Hills.
(The End.)