Morris tribune., 1904-06-18
Indian Revenge

ONlp-4tld river. 4ne cnlef OF thf
tribe was one Wah-kia-na, a tall
muscular Indian of perhaps forty
five. Wah-kia-na became quite &
frequent visitor. His favorite loung.
ing place was the log cabin in which
Jed and l did the cooking.
One morning Jed discovered
Wah-kia-na in the act of jabbing a
long, sharp pointed piece of iron he
invariably carried in his belt into
the soup kettle, hoping, no doubt,
to fish out nice hot chunk of beef.
This was more than my companion
could stand.
Knocking the iron out of the red
skins hand with a quick blow, Jed
grabbed the fellow by the scruff and
the slack and rushed him out of the
cabin, quitting him with push that
sent him sprawling upon the
ground.
After that Wah-kia-na came to
the cook house no more, and in a
month or so the incident had drop
ped completely from our minds, but
not from the Indians. In his heart
he nurtured vengeance.
One day we learned that there
emptied into the Ump-qua a certain
stream the exploration of which
promised considerable sport. This
tributary was known as Smiths riv-
er, after an unfortunate trapper who
had been killed by the Indians many
years before.
When we had arranged our plans,
we made them known to Waite
Linn, sturdy old backwoodsman,
who had taken quite a fancy to US
youngsters and had more than once
proved himself a true friend. Just
as we were pushing off along came
Waite.
"Waag" he said, "good luck to
We. But look hyar, / want ye to
promise me a something. Guess
1t II take ye three days to get up to-
Smiths, thar bein' a freshet In the
river, but a day ought to fetch ye
back slick as grease. Now, give me
yer word, boys, to be back hyar by |
five days at the latest--that is, if
ye k55n."
We promised the old fellow and
dipped our paddles, impatient to be !
off.
"Gond, lads and now look hyar:
If so be as YOU meet trouble and hev
10 quit the canoe. and tra1ap home,
make tracks down the right bank Of
The river; the right bank, do you
lear?'
Nothing particular happeaed I'M
Ill the afternoon of the third day.
We we're ripping along very quietly
when suddenly Jed reached o&er the
tide of the canoe and fshedi some
hing out of the water. 1t proved
% be small, closely woven Indian
basket.
'tThat's bad, Jed" 1 exclaimed.
Sure as guns there's redskins,ahead
# u.s."
sWe'd have met the beggars, if
hey had come down stream; SO they
must have gone UPS" said I. '|What's:
% be done, Jed !"
'FDone! Go ahead and TRUST in
orovidence;'' replied Jed. S<They
nay be friendly or they may not.
we've got our rifes-'
"What's that yonder ?" cried Jed,
pointing to- a, hill little distance
head. Its sloping side was dotted;
With what looked to be huts. We
'ested on our paddles and gazed,
lpon the scene with silent anxiety.
We found the cause Of OUT wonder
o be an old Indian burying ground.
The hutlike risings were simply
lillocks Of earth, each of which
marked the resting place of war
ior.
Padding a mile or two farther
long, we eamped for che night.
As soon as it was light enough
We started to mount to the top OF
What we meant to be our long to-
,oggan slide back to Ump-qua. 1t
vas the worst rapid we had yet en-
:ountered. After trying it several
Ways without success we had to re-
ort to the towing line.
We dragged our little craft up
through the boiling current yard by
ard. 1t may have been within a
lozen feet of us when, crack! the
tout hide line suddenly snapped, 7
md away went the canoe with all
,ur stores and Jed's rifle, dashing
nadly down the falls.
''What fools to worry" cried Jed,
when we can get all the canoes we
want"
"Where %
'Down in the burial ground, of