Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1904-05-28
CHAPTER XXI
THE FALL OF PENSACOLA.

L slipped down the anchor chain
without noise into the ~throbbing sea,
II swan ashore to a point some three
of four cable lengths away. Guided by
the single voice which still ang of war.
Of glory and OF death, l pushed easily
into the ring Of hideously painted saw
age who surrounded the singer. To
unaccustomed eyes this would have
been a fearful sight.
Two hundred warriors sat motionless
as bronze idols about their chief; two
hundred naked bodies glinted back the
pine knots ftful glow. In the center
of this threatening circle moved Tusk-
kahoma, two great crimson blotChoS
upon his cheeks, %treading that weird
suggestive measure the Indians knew
so well. Round and round a little pine
tree, shorn Of its branches, and striped
with red, he crept, danced and sang.
His words came wild and irregular, q
sort of rhythmic medley, now soft and
low as the murmur of the summer
ocean, now thrilling every ear by their
sudden f~erocity and fearful energy.
Now 1t was the gentle lullaby, the
mothers grooming, the laughter OF n
child; again, the bursting of the tenn
pest, the lightning's fash, the thunder's
rumbling roar.
His arms raised to heaven like some
gaunt priest Of butchery, he invoked
the mighty Manitou of his tribe, then
dropping prone upon the ground he
crawled, n sinuous serpent, among the
trees.
Gwn:r up1tf't4tA .aan =zs-~-A~-~A
the waiting one at home, to hunting
grounds Of peace and plenty; melOdi-
Gus as a maiden's sigh that SONG
breathed of love and lovers hopes, II
walled for departed friends, extolled
their virtues, and called down heaven &
curses upon the coward OF tomorroW's
fight. Then the fierce CLEAN of shin
Ing steel, one wild warwhoop and all
again was still. His words faded away
in the eCholess night till q holy hush
brooded DER the beach.
Then the solitary dancer wound
about the ring as the c~rouching pan
ther steals upon her prey, while peal
after peal came the frightful cries f
barbaric conflict, the shrieks Of the
w~ounded-a wild, Victorious shout
blended with a hopeless dying scream.
With a masters touch he played
upon their vibrant feelings; not a key
Of human emotion he left u~nsounded--
fame, pride, hate, love and death-his
song expressed them all.
Thoroughly frerZied, warrior after
warrior now began to join him in the
ring; voice after voice caught up the
dread refrain which terrorized the
trained soldiery OF Europe and filled
] InelT lIlldB lHdllOIS Will ne lldlllClCSS
horrors of ~unrelenting war.
High above the din Tuskahoma hft-
ed now his ferocious battle cry; ad-
vancing upon the blazed sapling he
sank his tomahawk deep into the soft
white wood, then moved swiftly out of
the circle to his own fire. This was
the act by which he announced his as
sumption of supreme authority.
Frantic with excitement the Unbiased
throng rushed pom his fancied enemy
and soon but the mangled fragments
and the roots marked where 1t had
stood.
And the forest slumbered n the
sentry paced his lonely path.
1t is not my purpose to speak in
detail Of those matters OF history which
have been so much better described
by men OF learning. l would merely
mention in passing such smaller ar
fairs as relate directly to my W mar
rative.
Short and sharp was the conflict
which, under COO, gave our arms the
victory at Pensacola. Swarming over
the palisades or bodily tearing them
down, the Choctaws, led by Tuska-
homa, swept the Spaniards from theil
works. 1t so happened that Tuska-
homa and l mounted the fertilization
together. AS l essayed TO drop dowr
upon the inside my sword belt caught
upon the top Of a picket, leaving mt
dangling in midair, an easy prey t
those below had they only noticed my
plight. Tuskahoma paused to sever the
belt with his knife, and by this acct,
dent l was first within the Spanish
works, sword and pistol In hand. SooI
a hundred were by my side.
The Spanish troops, Injured TO civil
lied warfare, could not stand before
these yelling demons, springing here
and there elusive as phantoms, WELD
ing torch and tomahawk with deadl!
effect.
In the very forefront, shoulder t.
shoulder, with a laugh and a parry,
lunge and a jest, fought the Chevalie,
de la Mora. Merry as a lad at play
resolute and quick, l could but stol
betimes to wonder at the fellow. Gal
liant, gay and ~debonnair, he sans a rip
ping little air from soft Provence, am
whirled his blade with such daiht.
skill that even the stoical Indians gaze
in awe upon the laughing cavalier
Fighting through a bystreet, he met
steel to steel, a Spanish gentleman
within the sweep OF whose sword la.
half a dozen of our good fellows.
De la Mora glanced at this silen
tribute to the Spaniard's prowess; hi
face lighted up with a soldiers JOY. H
planted one foot staunchly across
PROSTATE corpse, n right iauntil,
rang out the kissing music of thei
steel. Instinctively I paused to watch
and as ~instinctively understood tina
though pressed TO his best, de Ia Nor
desired to be left alone. Verify it wa
a gentleman's fight, and no odds, 70
love and glory's sake, though the Span
lard might have had a whit the better
Asa fought on. ! heard the swift hurtl