The Lambertville record., 1903-07-08
THE INDIAN WHO
REMEMBERED
BY II. a. Bruce
Copyright, l9oe. by 7. e. Mcclure

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Sam Augustus was of the Algonquin
tribe, II typical Indian of these days of
reservations, lazy. shftless and ad-
dicted to strong drink As an Indian he
was more or less despised by the white
men with whom he came In contact,
but was much too easy going TO be dis
turbed by that. The possessor of Il
small farm on Gcorglna Island, he was
SO far true to the traditions of his an
cestors as to allow Mrs. Sam Augustus
TO earn his living for him, which she
eheerfully did, reaping harvest In the
summer time by weaving baskets of
sweet grass and reeds for the holiday
seekers who annually visited Beaver
ton.
Beaverton was the most picturesque
spot on the shores of Lake Simcoe, but
Sam Augustus. on the occasions of his
periodical visits to the mainland, never
stopped To contemplate its various
points of interest There was but one
attraction In the place for him, and
that, II must be confessed with shame,
was the barroom of the Alexandra
House
Sans visits to Beaverton or, to be
more exact, to the Alexandra House,
usually terminated In his crawling into
the loft of the hotel stable, there TO
sleep off the effects of the potent fire
water he had mhihed But on IL Satur-
day night in June he enjoyed novel
experience
Paul Wilson had come to the mill
that day with II load of grain and had
converted the grain not into flour, but
into greasy bits Of paper which he
deemed far more useful. Then, as he
WAS consumed with great thirst and
moreover, had the wherewithal to slake
IT, he naturally turned his team toward
the Alexandra House Matters follow
Ing In logical sequence, Paul Wilson
developed ere night into n drunken
bully. with sam Augustus the especial
object of his hcctorlng Sam, indeed
WIS In IL fair way to get the beating of
his life when Ed Daleton nterfercd
Daleton intcrfcred To such an extent
TINT Paul Wis escorted To the Village
hospital, while Sam Augustus ready
by that time To consent to any proposal.
acceded To Dnleton's request To 20
home with him and In the morning
join the haymakers ON the Daleton es
tnte
An hour later found Sum tucked into
-, IN
known. Ere morning came, however,
the bed was empty. The Indian had
already repented his rash promise to
go to work Still, he took away moth
Ing but himself and his dirty clothes,
wherefore, Dalcton argued, he must
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The summer days passed away, and
the autumn shadows heightened into
the hlackneSs of winter, but sam Au
gustus had not once appeared at the
Alexandra House since that night In
June. Whatever Coujpctures the ha
bltues of the place might have hazard
ed concerning his absence We're driven
out of mind, however, by Il series of
occurrences which gave the Villagers
ample reason for not only much gossip,
but also much alarm
Thieves made their presence felt In
that Sleepy Hollow of Canada. One
burglary followed another In rapid
succession First II was the residence
of the reeve that was visited; then II
was the doctors house and next the
real estate office. In every ease the
cracksmen went about their work In II
way that proved they Were no noyices.
OF all this sam Augustus WAS In pro
found ignorance. He and Mrs. Sam
were now the only inhabitants of GeOr
gina island, the half dozen Other lndi
ans who comprised the normal popula
tion being away with some wild west
show. For many moons Sam had re
manned at home with his wife, fighting
manfully against his lust for drink,
but at last day came when Sam de
cided that he must yield or die So
with the setting of the sun he strapped
on his skates and started over the Ice
to Beaverton
He had gone but II few rods IN the d
rection Of the long pier, some six miles
distant, when the brisk, shappy winter
air gave him an inscnsatc desire to
make n circuit of Georgina island be
fore striking out for the mainland
Now, II was not such II difficult task
that he had set himself, as Gcorgina Is
but three miles long by two wide.
He was passing little cove on that
side of the island farthcst from his
home when he noticed what looked un-
commonly like II boats sail Tapping In
the wind. This impressed Sam as being
bit out of the ordinary for mldwlnter,
but what gave him II distinct shock
was seeing light in IA log cabin that
10 his knowledge had been unoccupiod
for years.
There was enough of his ancestors
blood In his veins TO make him wary,
and he conJectured, not without renson,
that whoever was In the old cabin had
no right to be there. So he stoopfd
down, unfastened his skates, slung
them around his neck and, swift as
deer, ran to the shore Of the cove eau
tiously he crept over the snow until hc
stood behind the cabin and looked In
through Il window.
Seated ut little table were two men,
both keen yisaged, both well dressed
and both youthful. Overhead hung
dirty lantern. On the table between
them was spread out IA sheet Of white
paper, which they Were examining with
great Interest.
"This," Sam heard one say, pointing
to II mark on the paper, 'is the veran
da entrance | was telling you about. 1t
leads straight into the old mans room,
and they say he generally has a tidy
sum around. Farther along here ii u
window to one OF the guest chambers,
and we may pick up sparkle or two
In that room, for big house party IL
on at Simcoe Lodge just now, and the
wealthy Mrs. Vineland Is one Of the
guests. The young fellow sleeps In that
wing over there, so we need have no
fear of arousing him Then we'll back
to our lceboat and be under cover again
before they know we've paid 'em a Wis