The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1904-05-26
CHAPTER XNf
THE FALL OF PENSACOLA

I slipped down the anchor chain
without noise into the ~thrOhbing sea,
and swan ashore to a point some three
of four cable lengths away. Guided by
the single voice which still sang OF war.
Of glory and of death, l pushed easily
into the ring of hideously painted saw
ages who surrounded the singer. To
unaccustOmed eyes his would have
been a fearful sight.
Two hundred warriors sat mOttonless
as bronze idols about their chief; two
hundred naked bodies glinted back the
pine knots itful glow. In the center
of this threatening circle moved Tusk-
kahoma, two great crimson blotches
upon his cheeks, ~treading tina weird
suggestive measure the Indians knew
so well. Round and round a little pine
tree, shorn OF it's branches, and striped
with red, he crept, danced and sang.
His words came wild and irregular, d
sort of rhythmic medley, now soft and
low as the muTInur of the summer
ocean, now thrilling every a by their
sudden ~ferocity and fearful energy.
Now it was the gentle lullaby, the
mothers grooming. the laughter Of a
child; again, the bursting or the tenn
pest, the lightning's flash. 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, a sinuous serpent, among the
trees.
For awhile his listeners wandered
away upon their chieftain's words to
the waiting ones at home, to hunting
grounds of peace and plenty; melodi-
GUS as a maiden's sigh that song
breathed of love II 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
ir the echoless night till a holy hush
brooded Ger the beach.
Then the solitary dancer wound
about the ring as the crouching pan
Their steals upon her prey, while peal
! after peal cane the frightful cries #
barbaTic conflict, the shrleks Of the
wounded-a wild, victorious shout
blended with a hopeless dying scream.
With a masters touch he played
upon their vibrant feelings; not q key
of human emotion he left insounded--
fame, pride, hate, love n death-his
song expressed them all.
Thoroughly frenzied, warrior after
| warrior nov began to join him in the
ring; voice after voice caught UP tbs
| dread refrain which terrorized the
L III ocihiCI VI L$uioIC Il1b L
their ~imaginations with the nameless
horrors of unrelenting war.
High above the din TuskahOma lift
ed now his ferocious battle cry; ad-
vancing upon the blazed sapling he
sank his tomahaWk deep into the soft
white wood, then move swiftly out OF
the circle to his OWL fire. This was
the act by which he announced his as
sumption of supreme authority.
Frantic with excitement the Unbiased
throng rushed upon his fancied enemy
! and soon but the mangled fragments
and the roots marked where it haC
stood.
And the forest slumbercd and the
sentry paced his lonely path.
It is not my purpose to speak II
detail of those matters of history which
have been so much better described
by men Of learning. I would merely
mention in passing such smaller at
fairs as relate directly to my oWn mar
rative.
Short and sharp was the contlic
which, under God, gave u arms tht
victory at Pensacola. S~warning owe
the palisades or bodily tearing then
down, the ChoctaWs, led by Tuska'
homa, swept the S%paniards from theil
works. It sc happened that Tuska
homa and I mounted the fertilization!
together. AS l essayed to drop dow
upon the inside my sword belt caugh
upon the top of a picket. leaving M
dangling in midair, an easy prey t.
those below had they only noticed NJ!