The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1903-07-30
The Love Of:
Sun Fire
By lola L. FORESTER

NOopyIlshtt Asoot W bal4J otOTy IuD OOD
MTAH-NE-OTA, the Indians called
w her over at the reservation.
Fire of the Sun. Up at the fort, we
cut it short to Sun Fire. She was
different from the other Indian girls
who came to stare and barter bas-
kets and bead work. Her mother was
a French half-breed, and Sun Fire
was brought up at the mission school
of Our Lady of Sorrows, over beyond
Great Spirit lake. When she came
back she wore her glossy hair in one
long braid instead of the typical two,
and sat her pony with the easy gracs
of cowboy.
The first time she rode to the fort
with old Red Buck, her father, Aims
lee stopped his talk up on Burton's
piazza to watch her. Red Buck came
twice a week to trade and confer
with Tapley, the Indian agent. If
there was any private understanding
between the two, they kept it to
themselves, and so long as the In
dams made no complaints the colonel
did not interfere
AS she rode past the piazza later
on her way out Ainslee sauntered
down and spoke to Red Buck. He
also raised his hat, and Red Buck
grinned pleasantly at the unusual sal
utation and said something to the
girl as they rode out of the fort in
closure. She nodded and looked back
over her shoulder. That was the
dash of French blood in her. Ainslee
smiled and raised his hat again.
Sometimes in the long June days
that followed we saw them ride away
together before Red Buck had fin
ished his trading. There were trips
to the reservation and northeast to
the old pipestone quarries that
reared red bluffs here and there
along the dry bed of Skull creek.
Ainslee said he was collecting notes
and data on geological phenomena.
The middle of June Estelle Howard
came to the fort. She was on her
way east from Oregon and stopped
to visit her sister, Capt. Burton's
pretty bride. 1t hardly seemed fair
to the other boys when Ainslee sailed
ahead with flying colors in the new
quarter and gave no one else Show
but she liked him and his interest in
geological data went down to zero.
1t was interesting the first time
Sun Fire saw them together. Ainslee
had always met her lately when she
visited the fort, and had stood be-
side her pony talking, while Rec
Buck went to see the agent. AS she
rode up the drive she saw him on the
Burton piazza, twirling a blue silk
parasol idly over his head and laugh
ing up at figure in the hammock.
The next day Red Buck appeared
and held / private interview with
Ainslee that left the latter flushed
and angry.
BY the first of July things were Sc
rious. Ainslee was overheard and
drifting Every evening found him
on the Burton veranda. and at sun
down he code with Miss Howard.
Sun Fire came no more to the fort.
and Ainslee did not bother to raise
his hat to Red Buck when the old
Indian went to Tapley's alone.
The Fourth dawned a scorcher For
miles around the prairie lay, hot and
blasted by the long drought. The
heat seemed to rise from the tall,
scorched grass in quivering waves,
and the colonel had issued orders
that no fireworks were to set off.
"a spark would set the grass GO
ing" he told Burton. "There is no
wind but it's too great a risk to
run"
So, with the exception of flags
dropping in the still, hot air, and
bunting twined around the piazzas of
the officers quarters, there were no
outward signs of celebration. A
dance had been planned for the even
ing in Miss Howard's honor, as she
was to leave for the east in a day
or so.
At shutdown Trent, the sentinel on
duty, was startled by the sudden APP
pearance of Sun Fire. Her pony was
painting heavily and wet with perspi-
ration.
81 want Ainslee," she said, shortly
Trent told her he was out riding
She ficked the pony's side impatient
ly with her quirt and it started to
dance resentfully. She jerked it to
q standstill with a pull that left