The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-01-06

It was near twelve. Along the north
ern horizon a rosy glow, fading TO the
west and deepening to the east, marked
the unseen dip of the midnight sun. Inc
cleaning and the dawn were so com
mingled that there was no night-slmply
n wedding of day with day, a scarcely
perceptible blending of TWO circles OF the
sun. . 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 wlld
fowl voiced its interminable wrongs
while a loon laughed mockingly back
across a still stretch of river.
IL the foreground, against the bank OF
q law eddy, birch-bark canoes were lined
two and three deep. In the muddy cur
rent of the river the salmon-run was on.
In the background, from the tangle OF
skin tents. rose the voices or the hsher
folk. Bucks skylarked with bucks or
nirted with the maidens, while the older
souaws gossiped as they braided rope
from the green roots Of trailing vines. At
their feet The naked progeny played and
squabbled, or rolled in the muck with
the taWny wolf dogs.
To one side of the encamDnent, and
%CDil5DitQOu5ly t4Jc1 I oAh -, -
ond camp of two tents. It was a white
mans camp. In case of offense, it COM
manded the Indian quarters a hundred
wards away; Of defense, a rise 10 the
ground and the cleared Intervening space:
and last, Of defeat, the swift slope OF a
score Of yards to the canoes below. from
one Of the tents came the %petulent cry
CT a sick child and the grooming song OF
a mother. In the open, over the smould-
cring embers Of a fire, two men held
talk.
"Eh / love the church like a good son.
Bienl So great a love that my days nave
been spent in fleeing away from her ana
NV NIGHTS in dreaming dreams of reckon
inc. Look you," The half breeds voice
rose to an angry sparl. 4 am Red
River born. My father was white-as
white as you. But you are Yankee, and
he was British bred and a gentlemans
son. And my mother was the daughter
of a chief, and I was a man. Ay, and
one had to look the second time to see
what manner of blood ran in my veins,
for | lived with the whites and was one
of them, and my fathers heart beat in
me. It happened there was a maiden
white-who looked on me with kind eyes.
Her father had much land and many
horses; also he was a big man among
MS DGODi6, d1u HIS IOO was II VI
the French, He said the girl knew not
her own mind. and talked overmuch with
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 his neck and would
not make US that we might live one with
the other. rs at the beginning it was
the church which would not bless my
birth, so now it was the church which
refused me marriage and put the blood
of men upon my hands. Bien! Thus nave
7 cause to love the church. SO I struck
the priest on his woman's mouth, and we
took swift horses, the girl and I, to Fort
Pierre, where was a minister CT 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 I emptied three
saddles. and the rest drew off and went
on to Fort Pierre. Then we took east
the girl and I, and We lived one witt
the other, and we were not married
So in the end she bore me a child, a
woman-child, and died. Then | Wen
among my mothers people, that it NIGH
nurse at a warm breast and live. But M
hands were wet with the blood of men
look you. because of the church, wet will
thS VI = hia IN
the North came for me, put my mother
brother, who was then chief in his owl
right, hid me and gave me the horse:
and good. And We went away, my woman
child and I, even to the Hudson coun-
try, where white men were few and tht
questions they asked not many. And
worked for the company as a hunter, a.
a guide, as a driver of dogs, till my Wo
man-child was become a woman, tai
and slender and fair to the eye.
"You know the winter, long and lonely
breeding evil thoughts and bad deeds. III
Chief Factor was a hard man, and bold
And he was not such that a woman
would delight in looking upon. But h
cast eyes upon my Woman-child who wa
to become a woman. Mother of Ged, H
sent me away on a long trip with tn
dogs-you understand, he was a har'
man and without heart. She was mos
white, and her soul was white. and
Well, she died.
ct was bitter cold the night of my re
turn, and | had been away months. TIL
Indians and breeds looked on me in 81
lence. and / felt the fear of 1 kney
rot what, but I said nothing till tn
dogs were fed and I had eaten as a MAJ
with work before him should. Then
spoke zip, demanding the word and the
shrank from me; but the story cam
out, word for word, and act for act, al
they marveled that / should be SO quiet
When they had done I went TO tn,
Factors house, calmer than 1ow in tn
telling of it. He had aed tc the hous
OF the priest. Thlther / followed. Blu
when I was come to that place, the prizes
stood in my way, and spoke soft words.
asked by the right Of a fathers wratl
that he give me past, but he said onl,
over his body, and besought with me t
pray. Look you, it was the church, al
ways the church; for l passed over hi
body and sent the Factor to meet ny
woman-child before his god, Which is
bad god.
Then was there hue and cry, foT wor
was sent to the station below, and | cam
away. Through the Land of the Grea
Slave, down the valley of the Macken
zie to the n~ever-opening ice, over tn
white Rockies, past the great curve O
the Yukon, even to this place did l come
And from that day TO this yourS in III